In the last year, I quit my job as a public defender (which I had done for almost a decade and caused me to have a stroke 5 years ago that nearly paralyzed me for life). Instead of being a public defender, I published my first fantasy novel which did surprisingly well!

Since then, I've published two more books, and had all three of my books adapted into audiobooks. My wife and I were also able to move back to where she was born and had always wanted to return to, and because of the success of the books we were able to finally afford our first home.

You'd think working as a lawyer would have been enough to afford a home, but not these days. We were still living paycheck to paycheck even though I was literally killing myself working insane hours.

Oh, and now I finally have the mental bandwidth to start working out and eating healthier. After gaining 40 to 50 pounds as a public defender, I've finally begun to run 3-4 times a week, lift weights, and I'm doing intermittent fasting which feels wonderful and gives me lots of energy throughout the day.

So it's been a pretty crazy year for me!