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# 2024: A Year of Change
- URL: https://andilgregory.com/adventuring-through-life/a-year-of-change/
- Published: 2025-01-10T23:34:50.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-09T21:13:02.000Z
- Author: Andi Gregory
- Tags: Author Musings & Updates, Year in Review, Turning Point, 2024, 2024 Year in Review, 2024 Recap, Writing Recap, Editing Recap, #Migrated-1787683573322, #sqs, #Import 2026-08-25 14:46, Adventuring Through Life, blog

For many of my friends, 2024 was a bit of a crazy year, full of both wonderful news and hard decisions. I had plenty of that myself (and let’s face it, that’s just life). But this year . . . it definitely felt like a turning point for me.

I started the year as I’ve started the last few—in a decent, full-time job that was both taxing and rewarding. I enjoyed my job, and I loved the people I worked with, but over the last few years, it’s gotten harder to keep enjoying it due to increased workload and fewer coworkers. I also came into 2024 with a lot of residual stress and worry from a gamut of family health crises and deaths (spread over about 4 years since 2020, yet constant enough to feel like it was just part of my life). Still, I wanted to reach for my goals and achieve a lot with both my editing business and my writing.

Yet the year became something entirely different than I’d planned—but in the best way. After an amazingly wonderful trip to [Japan in March](https://andilgregory.com/adventuring-through-life?category=Japan%202024) with my friends Sydney and Alecia, I realized why I’d found it so difficult to write anything for a year (minimum). So I decided to step down to part-time at my job. Two days later, I found myself in the hospital to get my appendix removed, only to find out it was a very, very close call. Per my physician, I should have been in enough pain to warrant its removal *months* before I got in (and I will say, I’m so, so thankful I didn’t have an issue while in Japan).

![ Alecia (left), me (middle), and Sydney (right) wearing kimonos on a rainy day in Japan ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/50/05/5005b841-a6a9-4902-ad65-ff17b958f53d/content/images/2026/08/9db7646b-1396-4159-853e-943747e19ce9-jpg-format-original.jpg)

Alecia (left), me (middle), and Sydney (right) wearing kimonos on a rainy day in Japan

In many ways though, the long hospital stay and close call with an even bigger health issue put a lot of things into perspective for me. I knew I was stressed from everything the last few years and work, but I hadn’t realized I was stressed enough I couldn’t realize when I was ill. Being that out-of-touch with my body and its warnings cemented my decision to step down at my job—and also started me thinking about leaving altogether.

Fast forward a few months to July, when I attended the [Realm Makers Writing Conference](https://andilgregory.com/adventuring-through-life?tag=Realm%20Makers%20Writing%20Conference). It’s always such a wonderful and fun time seeing so many old friends and making new ones. But this year hit different—it was a hard year, and a lot of things for me to swallow. Carla Coch Hall’s keynote, where she shared much about her life and writing journey, left me in near tears, and it helped me realize that with all the family crises I’d been experiencing the last few years, **it was okay I hadn’t written or furthered my career.** Although our stories are vastly different, that’s the beauty of telling stories—*we can always find the threads that connect us as people, the parts of stories that speak into our own lives.*

But that wasn’t all [Realm Makers](https://www.realmmakers.com/?ref=andilgregory.com) had in store for me. Career-wise, it was a rough ride, as I was often asked by new attendees what I’d published (I haven’t), and I also got a response from pitching to an agent that cut me down even more. It poked at a thought, an idea, I’d been avoiding and brought it full front and center: was I cut out for publishing? Should I quit pursuing it?

![ Visiting the St. Louis Gateway Arch National Park with author friends. Left to Right: Michelle M. Bruhn, Kaitlyn Carter Brown, Liz Koetsier, and myself.  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/50/05/5005b841-a6a9-4902-ad65-ff17b958f53d/content/images/2026/08/arch-adventue-group-landscape-format-original.jpg)

Visiting the St. Louis Gateway Arch National Park with author friends. Left to Right: Michelle M. Bruhn, Kaitlyn Carter Brown, Liz Koetsier, and myself.

It’s a hard thing, deciding to give up a dream. I almost did, multiple times this year—but I have a wonderful circle of friends and support who’ve gathered around me and spoken so many truths. Just because I haven’t had luck with one agent (who admittedly wasn’t the right fit for my story anyway) or the few contests I’d entered didn’t mean I should quit pursuing publishing or give up on my dreams. With everything that had happened in my life lately, it was **okay to give myself the grace of time off from writing to find the spark again.** 

Immediately after such a difficult year at my absolute favorite conference, I took a family vacation to [Yellowstone National Park](https://andilgregory.com/adventuring-through-life?tag=Yellowstone2024). This vacation gave me a lot of time to disconnect, have fun, and reflect on a lot of things. But *the biggest thing I needed was the disconnect—from email, social media, and crazy life.* Getting outside in the sun and fresh air, exploring a brand new place I’ve dreamed of visiting for years, and spending a week with my family helped me reset and begin a new battle with the doubts I’d almost succumbed to.

August saw me say farewell to the job I’d spent 6 years at, where I learned so many things—from color identification to proper bedding terms to web-based information that’s been so helpful to maintaining my website and starting a newsletter. **It was bittersweet**—I felt blessed to have had the experiences and learned so much, but also relief to be out from under the stress of doing far too much creative work (and then trying to create my own things).

*September began a season of renewal*—a chance to reconnect with a self I hadn’t realized I’d lost. This month, I sat and read an entire novel without realizing time was passing, or worrying about anything else. I didn’t have to read in 15-20-minute snippets—I was able to fully immerse myself in the world and story until I looked up and realized I’d been sitting and reading for hours. (Of course, I finished the book. Huge thank you to [C.J. Redwine](https://www.cjredwine.com/?ref=andilgregory.com) for writing such an epic conclusion to [*The Rise of the Vicious Princess*](https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Vicious-Princess-C-Redwine/dp/0062908936/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?crid=1DZZJKNRVOQ2F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pPELNVaXOtP-DsoAhBE9fxa-aHdAFGxuBKtiv3SWqnGlwvW8uhI12PO3qLdueqHOXDsWyrLiFne3CK4qwaeNH4m4-ad6EezuPEPkk92LKtMsCJJiwS8rc2y9WOru%5FW7QfzdVLa-sDTg82QERBYL%5FyVeRywPMRAVkRzm%5FIo5oPClW67JK5aI3WgLV1qrG5kE5UJjN6bVqK31X9lwlh1T0kZTNTEqVvQK9W40qo3zRJCE.c93os1u%5Fie-xhwofP6NJ6MM7EL0nSo6BmAen0pgn2Ro&dib%5Ftag=se&keywords=rise+of+the+vicious+princess&qid=1736551941&sprefix=rise+of+the+vicious+princes%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-1&ref=andilgregory.com)*.*)

Mid-September, I attended [The Writer’s Sanctuary’s](https://www.the-writers-sanctuary.com/?ref=andilgregory.com) Gilded Writing Retreat in Los Angeles, CA. This was such a huge step in a renewal journey for me—partly because I went in with no expectations other than rest and nurturing my creativity. It worked, too. I made some amazing new friends, found another writer who loves both ballet, writing, and storytelling (and who also has a Nutcracker retelling in the works that I definitely need to read!), and gained some wonderful new book ideas and insights. I extended my stay as well, and spent a few days with my aunt and uncle who live in the area, which was a disconnect and vacation I didn’t know I needed. As a bonus, I got to attend my first professional ballet—*Swan Lake.* (Yes, now I need to see more ballets. It’s something I’m working into my schedule as we speak.)

October through the end of the year became quite a bit of a blur, and I spent quite a lot of that time on a train. As a volunteer for my local train excursions, I spent most weekends in September and October on the train or volunteering in some capacity. I also ended up auditioning for a nearby holiday train excursion—the [*Polar Express*](https://frenchlickscenicrailway.org/polarexpress/?ref=andilgregory.com)—and had many practices to attend to prepare for the excursions. 

Since spending time on the train and chatting with guests and other volunteers is such a fun time for me, I thought working with *The Polar Express* would be just as fun. I *did* have a lot of fun, but the two train trips are quite different. For my volunteering, we serve a meal, answer questions, and chat with the guests (mostly adults). For *The Polar Express*, it was a lot more dancing, singing, and interacting with a lot of small children. It was a ton of fun, but also exhausting (as there were some late nights involved because of technical issues). Still, it was a part of the reset and renewal I needed in the latter half of the year. It gave me a chance to meet a lot of new people and make some new friends.

The other very exciting thing I did during this months was help launch the [Red Herring’s Society](https://www.redherringssociety.com/?ref=andilgregory.com) anthology, *All the Promises We Cannot Keep*. Even more exciting? Publishing a story I worked hard on from a world I absolutely love (and will likely be revisiting soon). *Kinship in Shambles* is a story set in a world I’ve been playing in for 10+ years inspired by Pokemon and adapted from a very old fan fiction I wrote. It takes place hundreds of years before the main story, and follows the tale of a brother and sister who’ve grown apart over the years—and the sacrifices they’ve made. (If you’d like to give it a read, the ebook is [free](https://www.amazon.com/All-Promises-We-Cannot-Keep-ebook/dp/B0DLPCDLLR/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?crid=IFZD1XYAXGZ9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.bckZnAaj%5Fhc9u4rVM9igSio3q0y421-hHKkpz6uvk9t6-%5FeULoEX3cUWGL97uA-JooB-JG0q9sf7lmtZhF1U0KcOl9wCto3l66zkiVpKQr8xRUOWevNDOzN57LmFhzU452OFC5iKw1y6fiT22RCgHWA6OhulFaeP%5Flh2nm%5FAw4uftlB%5FcT7nqj7Mpyk%5FuxymFqNu319M4IlQ1gGCNyjp0cg5RRKWo1Dd7tDgfnhV5D4.LVFUW3AACJvs-mRq5eIojFetmmDLJkziwB6kj-AGxUc&dib%5Ftag=se&keywords=all+the+promises+we+cannot+keep&qid=1736552053&sprefix=all+the+promises+we+cannot+keep%2Caps%2C124&sr=8-1&ref=andilgregory.com).)

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/50/05/5005b841-a6a9-4902-ad65-ff17b958f53d/content/images/2026/09/ATPWCK-Book-Cover.png)](https://www.amazon.com/All-Promises-We-Cannot-Keep-ebook/dp/B0DLPCDLLR?ref=andilgregory.com)

Something I’ve heard a lot from The Writer’s Sanctuary and the Red Herrings Society this year is that *publishing takes* *perseverance*. I’m starting to understand what exactly this means when it comes to doubts and fears, and I’m picking myself up to go another round with those doubts and fears. Because I’m willing to take the punches, get up, and keep moving forward toward my dreams and goals.

It’s been a crazy sort of year here, and yet I feel more like myself than ever—and I’m greatly looking forward to what 2025 will bring. I’m ready to begin writing again, and I’m bursting with ideas. Keep an eye on my Instagram for updates on what I decide to work on!

Happy New Year, everyone, and I wish you all have an enlightening and wonderful 2025.