I’m slow to return to the blog and social media after the holidays, but here I am, alive and well! I hope the season of Christmas and the turning of the new year was a time of rest, reflection, and inspiration for you. It certainly was for me.

Now, the new calendar hangs on my wall, the new planner sits open on my desk, and I’m grateful to be at work again. I have lots planned for 2020, and I trust God has even bigger and better plans than I do, so that’s exciting!

One change that you may (or may not) notice this year is that I won’t be blogging quite as often as I have in the past. Rather than every week, my aim is to post about twice a month this year, at least for the first few months. I have a couple of projects I’ve been wanting and waiting to do for quite some time, and I decided this would be one way to make room for them in my schedule this year. But I’ll still be active and available here on the website, so no worries—I’ll never disappear into my writing cave for too a long a stretch at once. 🙂

But before I get too involved in the new year, I always like to survey the old year first and appreciate the progress it brought. Sometimes as we labor through the daily grind it feels like not much is accomplished—but when you look up and look back, you can suddenly see how very far you’ve come.

2019 held a lot of activity, a lot of writing and reading, and yes, a few milestones. Kittywham Productions was an exhibitor at homeschool conventions again last year in Missouri and Ohio, and for the first time I presented workshops at both conventions (and I will again this spring!). We published two new scripts: Narrow Escape, a short version of our drama by the same name, and Mr. Masters’ Absence, a contemporary retelling of four of Christ’s parables.

Between June and September I wrote two of my favorite dramas to date: League of Heroes and The Return of Ben Morgenstern, both of which you’ll hear more about as we get deeper into 2020. 🙂 League of Heroes premiered in early August, and I’ll have a full video recording available for you to watch if you visit our booth at conventions this year! The Return of Ben Morgenstern was produced this December, and you can watch the full, live-streamed performance on our Facebook page.

At the start of last year I described my goals for reading more in 2019, and in my “What I’ve Been Reading” blogposts I enjoyed reviewing the books I finished each month. I sadly failed to share what I read in November and December due to the busyness of the approaching holidays, so here’s a quick summary of the books I ended the year with:

The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick — I enjoyed aspects of it, but honestly it was my least favorite read of 2019. I struggled to feel invested in any of the characters. Mostly I found it interesting just from a writer’s perspective, especially the intriguing setting the author created with an alternate history, with America under Japanese and German occupation, having lost WWII.

The Pilgrim’s Regress, by C. S. Lewis — There aren’t many books by C. S. Lewis I haven’t read, but this was one of them! I heartily enjoyed reading this early Lewis novel for the first time and watching him explore philosophies and theology through an allegory based loosely on Pilgrim’s Progress.

Emma, by Jane Austen — In my opinion, not Jane Austen’s best novel, but still entertaining and insightful, as they all are. I enjoy rereading old favorites like this interspersed among the new books I’m continually adding.

Life Without Lack, by Dallas Willard — One of the best things I read in 2019. A few sections (especially on faith) confused me a little, and I’m still not sure I agree with every claim, but I think it was mostly Willard’s terminology that made me stumble over some of his points. Apart from that, I drew deep wisdom and inspiration from this book, and particularly Willard’s step-by-step exploration of how to “spend your days with Jesus” will stick with me for a very long time.

I look forward to reading more in 2020—already off to a lovely start with some Jen Wilkin, a C. S. Lewis reread, and an Agatha Christie for fun. 🙂 I’m also starting to prepare for convention season coming up in March/April, and I have so many plans for various projects I’m going to write and publish this year…. Excited to share more with you soon! Happy 2020!