I worked my last day at the corporation on August 1, 2016. My one year anniversary looms, and I look back at what I’ve accomplished. It is not as much as I’d hoped.

The garden is overgrown. Squirrels eat the tomatoes before they ripen, the asparagus bed is choked with grass, and I planted the radishes too close together.

My house is dusty. I mop quarterly and clean up spills as we go, usually.

My novel’s very rough first draft has recently been completed. It needs to sit and be re-read, timeline adjusted, some gaps filled. It is approximately 240 pages when formatted (Times New Roman, 12 point font, page break for every chapter). Not sure if I should workshop it or send it out to agents/publishing houses or send it to friends for review.

I published one piece, a non-fiction essay that I had written an initial version of years ago, in The Bitter Southerner and it was widely shared because comedian Trae Crowder re-posted it. His comedy, along with his partners Corey Ryan Forrester and Drew Morgan, is worth taking note of.

I have been rejected by some respected magazines. One rejection was personal and encouraging.

I have read 27 books, mostly novels, but also narrative cookbooks, non-fiction, craft books on writing, and poetry.

I have overindulged in food and drink too frequently.

I ran a 5K. I ran/walked two other 5Ks. Slow going on all of them, but I finished.

I have gained and lost and gained weight.

I have taken a few trips. Charleston, NYC, a lake near Atlanta, Nashville. Will go to Vermont in the fall with my mother as Vermont is the only U.S. state she has yet to visit.

We have significantly depleted our cash reserves from corporate bonuses and the sale of my husband’s business.

I have nursed my mother through foot surgery where she couldn’t drive or put pressure on her foot for six full weeks.

I am chairing a committee for Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute on Leadership Studies.

I have hosted dinner parties, including one for my son’s prom for 11 teenagers.

I am, usually, happier than I have ever been and I jealously guard my hours alone.

I still dream of owning land dotted with eco-homes (geodomes, yurts, tiny houses, treehouses) to be used as a retreat and refuge.

I don’t think I will ever return to a corporate life.