#40 - Pay Something Off

I paid off my Care Credit credit card, which I only really use for vet expenses. It wasn't a huge sum, but I'm excited to have one less payment to make every month!

59 - See a Friend I Haven't Seen in at Least 3 Years

We didn't take a picture, so I have no evidence this happened, but Karlo popped over to Bourdain Day this year! So much fun to see my buddy after very many years! Hopefully it won't be another 3 years before we see each other again.

#6 - Publish a Book

 Y'all:

I'M A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

I'm so so so stoked about this.

In my years of being an academic editor, I found myself repeating the same ideas and recommendations over and over to students working on their doctoral dissertations.

So...

I took those ideas and recommendations and made them into a book!

Navigating the Dissertation Writing Process: Finding Your Path From First Drafts to Submission

Then, I took a class on developmental editing, and in that class, we learned a lot about book proposals and identifying possible publishers. I even learned that I should have done that before writing the book itself. (Oops.)

After that, I used Writer's Market to identify publishers.

I received two "maybe later"s and nineteen rejections.

But then, Bloomsbury reached out to let me know they were interested. Since then, it's been a pretty smooth couple months prepping my book for publication, and it's finally up on the website and available for purchase!

It's really cool, and I'm SO thankful to all of my friends and colleagues who helped me with reviews, endorsements, and support.

Yay!

#1 - Watch 3 Hitchcock Movies

I'm not quite sure why I didn't finish this one, but I didn't.

1 - Psycho

I took a class in horror writing and learned about a pattern in the horror genre that has kinda blown my mind. Usually, in stories, there are three acts. Horror is generally a little different though, in that it has a major twist about a third of the way through the narrative. The first third creates the world, and then bam, something happens and then things rocket from there. When I think about all of my most beloved horror films, that pattern checks out: 

• Midsommar: The visitors witness the cliff ritual.
• Get Out: Chris discovers photos of missing Black men with Rose.
• Ready or Not: Grace realizes they're not playing a silly game.
• Scream: Ghostface calls Sidney, taunts her about her mother, then attacks her, leaving Billy Loomis as a major suspect but with no clear motive.
• The Lost Boys: Vampire reveal.
• Jurassic Park (horror adjacent): Nedry turns the power off, and the dinos are now loose.

The most iconic example of this pattern is Psycho, which did something unique: A third of the way into the film, the main character dies. It also gave us a handsome, likeable new main character, someone the viewer immediately wants to trust because he seems so wholesome and kind. 

While aspects of the film are dated, and I've long known the ultimate twist, I enjoyed it. I bet it was so wild going into that movie not knowing who the real villain is. 

I definitely understand why it's #5 on Rotten Tomato's list of the 200 best horror films.

#6 - Swim 10 Miles

Again, I didn't quite get there due to injury, but I'm hopeful I will this year!

January (2 swims, average: 410 yards, total: 0.46 mile)

1 - 1/9/25: 410 yards (0.23 miles total)

2 - 1/16/25: 410 yards (0.46 miles total)

April (4 swims, average: 244 yards, total: 0.55 mile)

3 - 4/1/25 - 150 yards (0.53 miles total)

4 - 4/8/25 - 275 yards (0.69 miles total)

5 - 4/15/25 - 225 yards (0.82 miles total)

6 - 4/17/25 - 325 yards (1.00 mile total)

July (1 swim, average: 250 yards, total: 0.14 mile)

7 - 7/10/25 - about 250 yards (1.14 mile total)

August (1 swim, average: 350 yards, total: 0.20 mile)

8 - 8/8/25: about 350 yards (1.34 mile total)

September (5 swims, average: 381.6 yards, total: 1.08 mile)

9 - 9/5/25: about 350 yards (1.54 mile total)

10 - 9/8/25: about 400 yards (1.77 mile total)

11 - 9/15/25: 601 yards (2.11 miles total)

12 - 9/22/25: 550 yards (2.42 miles total)

13 - 9/29/25: 437 yards (2.67 miles total)

October (5 swims, average: 707.8 yards, total: 2.01 mile)

14 - 10/1/25: 164 yards (2.76 miles total)

15 - 10/7/15: 750 yards (3.19 miles total)

16 - 10/13/25: 984 yards (3.75 miles total)

17 - 10/23/25: 625 meters (4.14 miles total)

18 - 10/27/25: 875 meters (4.68 miles total)

November (3 swims, average: 6,00 meters, total: 3.13 mile)

19 - 11/3/25: 625 meters (5.07 miles total)

20 - 11/4/25: 450 meters (5.35 miles total)

21 - 11/12/25: 725 meters (5.80 miles total)

December (1 swim, average: 325 meters, total: 3.33 mile)

22- 12/29/25

I also did more than this during my lifeguarding class, but my watch didn't log it because I had it set to 30 minutes minimum, and we swam on and off for hours for a few days.

#1 - Run 150 miles

Well, 6.52 is much fewer than 150 miles, but obviously tearing my ACL and then getting plantar fasciitis on the other foot put a pretty big damper on this goal. Manifesting an injury-free 2026!

(jk, I already sprained my ankle, and the plantar fasciitis persists.)

January (2 runs; average 0.22 miles; 0.44 total)

1 - 1/6/24: 0.17 miles - treadmill @ The Ray (0.17 total)

2 - 1/27/25: 0.27 miles in Uptown (0.44 total)

February (1 run; average 0.68 miles; 1.12 total)

3 - 2/2/25: 0.68 miles in Uptown (1.12 total)

June (1 run; average 0.45 miles; 1.57 total)

4 - 6/24/25: 0.45 miles in Uptown (1.57 total)

July (4 runs; average 0.48 miles; 1.92 total)

5 - 7/8/25: 0.46 miles in Uptown (2.03 total)

6 - 7/22/25: 0.50 miles in Edgewater (2.53 total)

7 - 7/24/25: 0.37 miles - treadmill @ The Ray (2.90 total)

8 - 7/28/24: 0.59 miles - treadmill @ The Ray (3.49 total)

August (4 rules; average: 1.05 miles; 4.18 total)

9 - 8/4/25: 0.84 miles - treadmill @ The Ray (4.33 total)

10 - 8/6/26: 0.69 miles - Edgewater (5.02 total)

11 - 8/16/25: 1.10 miles - treadmill @ hotel in Carlsbad (6.12 total) 

12 - 8/26/25: 1.55 miles in Uptown (7.67 total)

September (1 run; average: 1.94 miles; 6.12 total)

13 - 9/3/25: 1.94 miles in Uptown (9.61 total)

November (1 run; average: 0.40 miles; 6.52 total)

14 - 11/18/25: 0.40 miles in Uptown (10.01 total)

#4 - Read All of Stephen King's Novels

This one is going to take me a very long time to finish, if I can ever finish it, but here's my ongoing log!

• 'Salem's Lot
• 11/22/63
• 1922 (ss)
• A Death (ss)
• A Face in the Crowd (ss)
• A Good Marriage (ss)
• A Very Tight Place
• Afterlife (ss)
• The Answer Man (ss)
• Ayana (ss)
• The Bachman Books
• Bad Little Kid (ss)
• Bag of Bones
• The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet (ss)
• Batman and Robin Have an Altercation (ss)
• Battleground (ss)
• The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
• Beachworld (ss)
• Before the Play (ss)
• The Best Book You Can't Read (essay)
• Big Driver (ss)
• Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2) (ss)
• Billy Summers
• Black House
• Blaze
• Blind Willie
• Blockade Billy
• The Blue Air Compressor (ss)
• The Bone Church (poem)
• The Boogeyman (ss)
• The Book-Banners: Adventure in Censorship Is Stranger Than Fiction (essay)
• The Breathing Method
• Brooklyn August (poem)
• Cain Rose up (ss)
• Carrie
• The Cat From Hell (ss)
• Cell
• Chattery Teeth (ss)
• Children of the Corn (ss)
• Christine
• The Colorado Kid
• Cookie Jar (ss)
• The Crate (ss)
• Crouch End (ss)
• Cujo
• Cycle of the Werewolf
• Danny Couchlin's Bad Dream (ss)
• Danse Macabre
• The Dark Half
• The Dark Man (poem)
• The Dark Tower
• The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah
• The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
• The Dark Tower: The Waste Lands
• The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
• The Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass (I)
• The Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass (II)
• The Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla
• The Dead Zone
• Dedication (ss)
• Desperation
• Different Seasons
• Apt Pupil
• The Body
• Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
• Doctor Sleep
• The Doctor's Case (ss)
• Dolan's Cadillac (ss)
• Dolores Claiborne
• Donovan's Brain (poem)
• Dreamcatcher
• The Dreamers (ss)
• Drunken Fireworks (ss)
• Duma Key
• 10/20/25 **
• The Dune (ss)
• Elevation
• End of Watch
• The End of the Whole Mess (ss)
• Ever et Raw Meat? and Other Weird Questions (essay)
• Everything's Eventual (collection)
• 1408
• All That You Love Will Be Carried Away 
• Autopsy Room Four
• The Death of Jack Hamilton 
• Everything's Eventual 
• In the Deathroom
• The Little Sisters of Eluria
• L.T.'s Theory of Pets
• Luckey Quarter
• Lunch at the Gotham Cafe
• The Man in the Black Suit (ss)
• Riding the Bullet
• The Road Virus Heads North
• That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
• The Extra Hour (ss)
• The Eyes of the Dragon
• Fair Extension (ss)
• Fairy Tale
• Faithful
• Father's Day (ss)
• Fenway and the Great White Whale (essay)
• The Fifth Quarter (ss)
• The Fifth Step (ss)
• Finders Keepers
• Finn (ss)
• Firestarter
• Five to One, One in Five (essay)
• For Owen (poem)
• Forward to Night Shift (essay)
• Four Past Midnight (collection)
• From A Buick 8
• Full Dark, No Stars (collection)
• GUNS 
• The Genius of "The Tell-Tale Heart" (essay)
• Gerald's Game
• The Gingerbread Girl (ss)
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
• The Glass Floor (ss)
• Graduation Afternoon (ss)
• Gramma (ss)
• Graveyard Shift (ss)
• Great Hookers I Have Known (essay)
• The Green Mile
• The Green Mile: Coffey on the Mile
• The Green Mile: Coffey's Hands
• The Green Mile: Night Journey
• The Green Mile: The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix
• The Green Mile: The Mouse on the Mile
• the Green Mile: The Two Dead Girls
• Grey Matter (ss)
• Gwendy's Button Box
• Gwendy's Final Task
• The Hardcase Speaks (poem)
• Harrison State Park '68 (poem)
• Harvey's Dream (ss)
• Head Down (essay)
• Hearts in Atlantis (collection)
• Hearts in Atlantis
• Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling
• Here There Be Tygers (ss)
• Herman Wouk Is Still Alive (ss)
• Holly
• Home Delivery (ss)
• Horror Fiction: From Danse Macabre (essay)
• The Horror Market Writer and the Ten Bears: A True Story (essay)
• The House on Maple Street (ss)
• How IT Happened (essay)
• I Am the Doorway (ss)
• I Know What You Need (ss)
• IT
• If It Bleeds (collection)
• If It Bleeds 
• In the Key-Chords of Dawn (poem)
• In the Tall Grass (ss)
• Insomnia
• The Institute
• Introduction to Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door
• It Grows on You (ss)
• The Jaunt (ss)
• Jerusalem's Lot (ss)
• Joyland 
• Jumper (ss)
• Just a Little Talent (essay)
• Just After Sunset (collection)
• Later
• Laurie (ss)
• The Lawnmower Man (ss)
• The Ledge (ss)
• Letters from Hell
• The Library Policeman
• The Life of Chuck
• Lisey's Story
• Little Green God of Agony (ss)
• The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill (ss)
• The Long Walk
• Low Men in Yellow Coats
• The Man Who Loved Flowers (ss)
• The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands (ss)
• Man With a Belly (ss)
• The Mangler (ss)
• Memory (ss)
• Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords and an Attitude
• Mile 81 (ss)
• Misery
• The Mist
• Mister Yummy (ss)
• The Monkey (ss)
• Morality (ss)
• Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1) (ss)
• Most Overrated Rock Band (ss)
• Mostly Old Men (poem)
• The Moving Finger (ss)
• Mr. Harrigan's Phone
• Mr. Mercedes
• Mrs. Todd's Shortcut (ss)
• The Music Room (ss)
• Mute (ss)
• My Pretty Pony (ss)
• N. (ss)
• Needful Things
• Never Flinch
• The New Lieutenant's Rap
• The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates (ss)
• The Night Flier (ss)
• Night Shift (collection)
• Night Surf (ss)
• The Night of the Tiger (ss)
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes (collection)
• Nightmares in the Sky
• Nona (ss)
• N
• Obits (ss)
• The Old Dude's Ticker (ss)
• On Becoming a Brand Name (essay)
• On Slide Inn Road (ss)
• On The Shining and Other Perpetrations (essay)
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
• One for the Road (ss)
• The Outsider
• Paranoid: A Chant (poem)
• Pet Sematary
• Peter Straub: An Informal Appreciation (essay)
• The Plant: Installment One
• The Plant: Installment Two
• The Plant: Installment Three
• Popsy (ss)
• Premium Harmony (ss)
• Quitters, Inc. (ss)
• The Raft (ss)
• Rage
• Rainy Season (ss)
• Rattlesnakes (ss)
• Rat
• The Reach (ss)
• The Reaper's Image (ss)
• Red Screen (ss)
• The Regulators
• The Reploids (ss)
• Rest Stop (ss)
• The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson (ss)
• Revival
• The Ring (essay)
• Roadwork
• Rose Madder
• The Running Man
• Rush Call (ss)
• Secret Window, Secret Garden
• Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing
• The Secretary of Dreams, Vol 1
• The Secretary of Dreams, Vol 2
• The Shining 
• Shivers VI
• Shivers VII
• Silence (poem)
• Six Stories
• Skeleton Crew (collection)
• Sleeping Beauties
• Sneakers (ss)
• Something to Tide You Over (ss)
• Sometimes They Come Back (ss)
• Sorry, Right Number
• Special Makeup Effects and the Writer (essay)
• The Stand
• Stationary Bike (ss)
• Stephen King Goes to the Movies (collection)
• Storm of the Century
• Strawberry Spring (ss)
• Suffer the Little Children (ss)
• Summer Thunder (ss)
• The Sun Dog
• Survivor Type (ss)
• The Tale of Gray Dick (ss)
• The Talisman
• The Ten O'Clock People (ss)
• That Bus Is Another World (ss)
• They're Creeping up on You (ss)
• Thin Scenery (ss)
• The Things They Left Behind (ss)
• Thinner
• Throttle (ss)
• The Tommyknockers
• Tommy (poem)
• Trucks (ss)
• The Turbulence Expert (ss)
• Turning the Thumbscrews on the Reader (essay)
• Two Past Midnight: A Note on Secret Window, Secret Garden (essay)
• Two Talented Bastids (ss)
• UR
• Umney's Last Case (ss)
• Uncle Otto's Truck (ss)
• Under the Dome
• Under the Weather (ss)
• The Weapon (essay)
• The Wedding Gig (ss)
• Weeds (ss)
• What Stephen King Does for Love (essay)
• What's Scary (essay)
• Why We're in Vietnam
• Willa (ss)
• Willie the Weirdo (ss)
• The Woman in the Room (ss)
• Word Processor of the Gods (ss)
• You Know They Got a Hell of a Band (ss)
• You Like It Darker (collection)