2015 will be hard to top but let’s try…

I could not have asked for a better 2015, as a person, businesswoman and writer. I started the year with plans to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of my first published novel, with a series of free giveaways and visits back to some of the places which made that experience so beautiful. However, I wound up commemorating my introduction to the world as a published author in a more natural and befitting way which honored the entire transcendence I began a decade ago when that first novel came out. I was divinely corrected in my thoughts to fixate on just one, well-known moment in what has been a lifelong practice, habit and lifestyle of writing.

In ways I could have never planned or imagined, nearly every part of my life as a constant and lifelong writer flourished in its own organic way: fiction, non-fiction, stories, novels, theater, entertaining, reading, teaching and activism. I was just totally blessed. I was granted so many wishes professionally and personally that at one point I had so much coming in and going on at once, I simply could not keep up. Here’s a bit of what was so amazing:

An appreciation for my blog and readers and friends Negression has brought to my life, in readers and supporters of my work at times many others gave no attention to what I had to say, and just for our pure love of writing and the God-given need to express in language…

A final edit and publication date for my third published novel Solemn, after years of story development and rewrites for my most ambitious work yet…

The completion of my next novel Speaking of Summer, in a pretty tough and arduous Fall season of isolation to meet my goal of producing an excellent new novel draft before Solemn carries me away in travel and promotion land…

A great welcome and reception at New York University’s Institute of African-American Affairs in May, reading alongside Colin Channer and others…

Beautiful attention and care to my play, Conjugal Visits, by Athena Theatre Company and the Dramatists Guild Fund in New York this past May as well…

Great appreciation and developmental help to Conjugal Visits by such collectives as The Loose Chicks and Dandelion Theatre in Chicago and Rising Sage Theatre in Atlanta…

The publication of “Pick Me” as my first Amazon Kindle Single, a great venue and opportunity for an author like me who loves short fiction…

An invitation to join the fiction faculty of The Eckleburg Workshops, an avante garde collection of online courses directed out of Johns Hopkins University, with the goal of providing diverse classes and excellent professional writers at affordable rates for all people of all backgrounds…

An astonishing number of articles and stories published by editors who took great care with my work and delivered my ideas to their diverse audiences: SheKnows, BlogHer, Black Renaissance Noire, Fiction International, Kweli Journal, Helen: A Literary Magazine, pluck! Journal of Affrilachian Arts and Culture, Atticus Review, Winter Tangerine Review, Intellectual Refuge and Crack the Spine…

Attention to my work writing against violent crime from TVOne and BET, who invited me to appear on their true crime shows, once for a case I wrote about on this very blog where it was found as a piece which helped many people understand a little-known tragedy…

Personally, life had its share of ups and downs as usual. But in 2015 I saw more friends and family than I had seen in many busy years of working on the career. These moments taught me I could actually be more productive, energized to write and focused if I was willing to break my usual working style of isolation and extreme reclusiveness:

My July 20-year high school class reunion in my hometown of Kankakee, Illinois, spearheaded by our Class Vice-President while I, the former President, was amazed by how much love and care she put into picking up the ball to make sure we honored our tradition…

The sad homegoings of my great-grandmother “Big Mama” in early July and my father’s twin sister in mid-October, with the usual pain and disappointment but relief both are in a better place…

The return of my lost baby cat Sybil, who had run away in farmland territory many people were concerned about finding her within…

An extended holiday visit to family in my small-town Illinois native communities this past December, in precious time I was uplifted by…

So it was a year to remember, and I can’t wait to see what 2016 brings to try to top it. I’m certainly open to the possibility 2016 can do it! I just hope I am up to the challenge. I look forward to seeing how all our work and ideas continue to grow and expand in this new season.

Happy New Year,

Kalisha

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