My 2019 Review Post

The idea of writing a blog post reviewing the year was inspired by my friend, Elizabeth Buckley-Goddard, who publishes her own posts reviewing the year. Thanks for the idea, Lizzy! x

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January

• Published my first book, My Disability Doesn’t Define Me, on Amazon
• Had my first book signing ever at the Delmar Bistro in Delmar, NY. It went really well! I sold the most in-person in that one night than I did all year.
  • You can see photographs from the event here.
    • Special thanks to Juan Soler at Bigler Studio for the fantastic photos!

February

• Launched the Kindle version of My Disability Doesn’t Define Me on Amazon.

March

• Was invited to speak to classes at my local middle school and high school
• Had a book signing at Tattered Pages in Glenmont, NY.
• Put My Disability Doesn’t Define Me on consignment with Tattered Pages.

April

• Went to Myrtle Beach for a vacation with my family. It was a beautiful few days on the beach.

May

• Was invited to be the Guest Speaker at Hudson Valley Community College’s 31st Annual Special Awards Ceremony where I spoke about my time at Hudson Valley as a student with a disability and what I’ve been doing since graduating in May 2018.

• Was invited by one of my former Entrepreneurship professors to the Small Business Startup Showcase where I was able to talk about my book with the Hudson Valley Community College community.

• Was invited by one of my former professors to the Faculty and Staff Honors Convocation. He was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Another faculty member that I had been working with in my time at Hudson Valley was up for an award as well (which I didn’t realize until that night). The evening was beautiful.
• Went to Illinois to visit relatives on my mom’s side of the family.

June

• Started donating blood at the American Red Cross.

July

• Went to Saco, Maine, to celebrate the Fourth of July.
• Went to Tennessee with my family the last week of July to the first week of August. We have been going to Tennessee for more than a decade. For years, we only went for two weeks in the summer, but, recently, we started going down for Thanksgiving as well.

August

• Put My Disability Doesn’t Define Me on consignment with The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza (Albany, NY) and Market Block Books (Troy, NY).

September

• Went to my first business conference, Author Advantage Live, in Austin, Texas. You can read about my experiences here: Author Advantage Live: The Conference that Changed My Life.
• Came home from the conference with a new book idea. I set out to write the first draft.
• Started writing a monthly newsletter called “Lou’s News”
• Donated blood at the American Red Cross for the second time in 2019

October

• Went to Erie, Pennsylvania, over Columbus Day weekend for an end of the season camping trip.
• Had a book signing at Market Block Books. You can check out the photos on my Events Photos page.
• For Halloween this year, we were that house who handed out pretzels as opposed to candy. My sister was not impressed.

November

• Donated blood for the third, and last, time in 2019 at the American Red Cross
• Went to Tennessee over Thanksgiving. My family and I go to Tennessee every year. We actually found it accidentally a little over a decade ago when we were supposed to go to Las Vegas, but some family weren’t able to, so we had to find a place on rather short notice… and that was it.
  • While there, we did many things. Two were: my family and I went to the Sweet Fanny Adams’ Christmas Show, and my sister and I went to Country Tonite’s Christmas Show. (If you ever find yourself down in Tennessee, I recommend going to see both shows!)
  • Sweet Fanny Adams is a vaudeville-type theatre.

• Country Tonite is a theatre that has shows that pay tribute to some of the greats in Country music.
• We ate Thanksgiving dinner at The Old Mill Pottery House Café. I enjoyed the majority of the meal, except for the mashed potatoes. My parents ate those while I ate their cranberry sauce, so I thought it was a fair trade.
• Joined the American Red Cross Platelet Donors’s group because I’d thought of the possibility of donating platelets and wanted to learn more about the process, what to expect, and talk with other donors. While browsing one day, I came upon a comment from one of the members that struck a cord with me. Reading that comment helped me realize why I chose to start donating—and why I continue to.

December

• Over the last year, I noticed that the Live Chat on my website was not working as expected, so I set out to find a new one. After much deliberation, I implemented the chat system Chatra. Check it out at the bottom right of my website. If you’re just testing the chat system, please tell me your favorite holiday and what makes it your favorite.
• Signed up for Acuity Scheduling to help manage my appointments and help potential clients book easier.
• Started affiliate marketing in my business. I’m hoping to build that up to be a consistent income stream.
• Joined a six month coaching program to help me grow my business.
• Pushed back the publication dates of my books Your Disability Doesn’t Define You and Best of Both Worlds.
• Went to Williamsburg, Virginia, after Christmas to visit friends and welcome in the new year, but we ended up coming home early because of a pending storm (snow and ice—not nice!).

Final thoughts

• All in all, this year was very exciting. I learned a lot. I grew a lot. I made some mistakes, but they’re not anything to obsess over. I learned from them and will keep them in the back of my mind moving forward so I can do better within my business.
• Looking back at my year, it’s funny that December was my busiest month (in terms of what went on in my business that is).

Looking forward

• I want to expand my affiliate marketing so I can focus more on writing—and publishing—my books.

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What are your thoughts for 2020? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Do you also write posts reviewing the year? I’d love to know what you’ve been up to! Please leave those in the comments, too!