Three nice ways I'm closing out this working year:

Finishing a tough story. I took on an assignment where the subject matter was quite dense and pretty much over-my-head and nearly every step of it, from the research to the interviews to the writing to the revisions, has been onerous. It's been hard for me to work on it because the story makes me feel stupid, frankly, but I know this is a good experience. First of all, as my friend Jen Miller says, sometimes you're just "waitressing," IE doing a gig to make that money. Secondly, this has been a good reminder to me that I really can't fake my way through stories like these. If I don't undestand something I need to research, research, research.

Placing essays. I've always hoped I'd be able to publish more personal essays, humor, and opinion pieces in a wider variety of venues. I can't name any names yet since a couple of these have yet to be officially posted but it looks like I might have landed a few pieces in some publications that I'll be quite happy to be able to list on my CV. I hope that doing so might open a few doors to publishing more.

Being part of a great network. When I quit my dayjob to become a full time writer I was so touched by the people who offered congratulations and support (especially women writers, including those in some Facebook writing groups). So many people have not just given me help but offered it, which has been very humbling and makes my heart swell. It's a funny job to work with so many people and yet be by yourself and I have found that freelance writers do a great job of making a working community even if we do it virtually.