I talk a lot to my kids about incremental progress, and that's what 2019 felt like. After taking a decently sized chunk of the last couple years off from submitting, and to a lesser extent writing, 2019 was my return to a more stable, typical pattern. A few really great things happened in 2019 that really helped make my desire to practice regularly again a reality:
--Dec/Jan 2018/2019: B. Morris Allen at Metaphorosis Magazine sent a nice, insistent followup on a potential rewrite-- something to the effect of "hey, I wasn't joking, if you edit this again we'd love to see it," six months or so after he sent the first one. I love that story--Somewhere to be Going, one of Ethan's birthday stories--and it was the reminder I needed that sometimes people do care about your work. The edits made it a stronger story, and it was published in 2019.
--April 2019: The Norwescon Writers Workshop happened. My cohort of amazing writers ended up becoming good friends and critique partners. We still meet every month on Discord and send each other bits of writing. It really helps to have someone who can pick up your self-esteem's slack when the chips are down and you're feeling discouraged, and providing that kind of help to fellow writers also helps remind you that we're all in it together.
--Summer 2019: I joined the Codex writers forum, for writers who are all operating at around the same level. This really helps cut through a lot of the basic questions you can get in other writing groups, and the information, cheerleading and sense of community I get from Codex is really helpful.
In general, 2019 was a year for refocusing, finding community, and engaging in the wider conversation--all steps forward.
I also published a few times in 2019--update post on that to come.

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