[Tapas Insider] Reflections on 2020 (Chance to Win 5,000 Bonus Ink!)

[irene_addler]

What a year. And honestly, I kind of mean that in a good way. COVID has been a beast to deal with, yes, but...it's been a surprisingly good year for me. It started with me in an apartment I didn't like with roommates I was very distant from, working a job that didn't appreciate the work I put in, and paid very poorly. Then COVID hit. In order to keep my sanity, I moved back in with my parents so I'd at least have room to go outside and walk. I'd been looking for a new job since last October, and suddenly in June, I had an interview for a job I'd applied for in December. Shortly thereafter, I went on a socially-distanced vacation to the beach with my immediate family, and it was lovely. In fact, it was the best time I've had at the beach in a very long time! While on vacation, I got a call that I'd gotten the job! Just a little while after that, I hit my 2 year anniversary for my comic. I've stuck with it for 2 years, and it feel so amazing to me!! That's longer than I've lasted on almost any project ever! After I started my new job, I found an apartment that I like a lot more, in a much safer area, with a new roommate who I get along with much better than I ever did the others! To top it all off, at beginning of the COVID lockdowns, I found my way to a really great Discord server where I've made a lot of really great creator friends. They've helped me get through all this, and I can't thank them enough for their friendship and all their help with my comic! So despite COVID, it's been a good year for me. I know it's been horrible in a lot of aspects for a lot of people, but I have been so lucky and blessed.

[goodtreble]

2020 has allowed me to reflect on myself and focus on my physical health, which has always been a tad askew, and I have been seeing some improvements already. During the pandemic and BLM, I have grown to discover who my real friends are and know who makes me feel safe and respected as a person. This year has given me time to take risks and even win some awards in music and given me time to expand on more creative outlets like writing. This year has been one of reflecting and healing for sure.

[Prisim]

2020 has definitely been a rough year for me mentally. From lockdowns, to hours cut at work, to ultimately my job going completely bye bye due to both COVID and my bosses health, to being cooped up at home with nowhere to go and no money to go there with, there have admittedly been very few bright spots in this year and the few I've had have been hard to latch on to through all the murk. But I am definitely proud of the fact that as bleak as it's gotten, I've been able to find ways to keep going. That is a simple win in a dark world, but a win all the same. And I'm really happy I was able to be there for my now former boss during this. I kept things running at work to the best of my abilities, becoming essentially a manager with no actual training in some of the things I managed. It was stressful at times and lord knows job hunting in a COVID world isn't what I wanted, but being able to rise to the challenges and be able to make my boss feel like she could just focus on her health and leave the business behind means the world to me. In the end, she made the best decision for her by closing the business but I left knowing that I did everything I could to help her and as conceited as this might sound, I was the glue that kept things together for 9 months. But it was so very hard to watch her break down in tears while she notified all our clients. That broke my heart.

In terms of my writing, I haven't gotten much done. I'm working on posting the remaining chapters of my Draygon sequel and hoping to bring a few more books over from Wattpad. But I was so very happy to unlock the support feature in my books this year. For all my confidence issues when it comes to my writing, just knowing I have a chance to earn actual money has meant the world to me. I went in thinking I wouldn't get a single support, and I wound up getting 9. The warm fuzzies I got knowing people liked my books enough to do that has been incredible. I hope that once things settle in my life and I can resume writing new material again I can use that to empower me through anything. It's another one that in the grand scheme of things is a simple pleasure, but it's still a pleasure.

That being said...get out of here, 2020. And don't let the door hit you on the way out

[Penni]

2020 has been a WILD year and for me, a lot of it has been all about change.

• My spouse and I moved across the country
• I'm working on separating from the military and starting a new chapter in my life
• Devilish Cupcakes released!

I'm probably most proud of Devilish Cupcakes. I'm thrilled that Tapas wanted to work with me on another novel and I really feel like I've leveled up a bit as a writer, with that, I made the decision to change my major for my Master's degree to English/Creative writing and really start to put myself on the path of making writing my full-time job (eventually)

Lots of big things happened this year and I'm so grateful to my friends and family for their support. And I'm even more grateful to have this platform, which launched me back into writing.

[joannesim239]

2020 has been one heck of a year. A few bad things happened to me and other people but overall it's been great. I had to adjust a little bit because I had to do online school. At first, it was hard because I had never done online work before this but now I'm doing great, My grades are good and I'm a lot less stressed. I am sad that I haven't seen my friends in months and I can't do any school clubs. I discovered Tapas this year and it was honestly the best thing ever! I love all the stories here and I often lose track of time while I'm on the app! I never thought a year like 2020 would happen, but it did and I wouldn't change a thing!

[KimGio]

This year has been... Something different. I can't say that for me has been terrible or amazing, I had to get through a lot of emocional issues but at the same time I have get rid of some bad things in mi life. This year has brought me the opportunity to discover new things, rediscover things that I forgot I loved and has helped me to discover myself. I'm proud of the good changes that I have done to my own self and the opportunity to keep improving myself. I may not be proud of the person I am right now, but of the person that I can become.
Also, this year I got to spend more time with my younger siblings, and that has been really amazing for me. I may not tell them much that I love them, but I do, they are a support for me. And! I got to bought for myself a drawing tablet and a drawing app. So yeah, last but not least, I'm glad for using tapas, it's really a wonderful platform, everything it's just so beautiful in here, thank you tapas, for being a happy part of the happy part of my life.

[pitufinapotter]

This year has definitely been rough, when we weren't isolated from the rest of our loved ones we lost them. I hope everything about this year has taught us how to appreciate what we have, love our family and friends while we can, be polite and kind and be the better you you can be. This year we were blessed with new lifes as well as getting ghe chance of moving forward for those that left us early and proceed with our wedding plans, while we have a couple of months left for the actual day, I'm thankful for another day in which I can spend next to my loved ones and look forward to spend the rest of my life with my soon to be husband God bless everyone!

[nia77]

For me 2020 has been very important because I finally got a long term contract at my work, which is something I had wanted for a long time. This also gives me the chance to start considering buying a house, a dream of mine. It makes me very happy that all my hard work and myparents' support has finally paid of. It also helps that I love my job and the place where I am currently working.

[mlocik97]

I did finished 2 projects (programming) and get already time to start to write my own novel.

[sagesaurus]

2020 has been quite an eventful year. I have been lucky enough not to be quarantined or separated from a family member so far. I first started reading on Tapastic this year, and I have discovered some fabulous stories that have helped to cope with the overwhelming stress of COVID-19. I aspire to publish my own at some point, and touch someone’s heart like some tales have touched mine. I hope that this current wave will calm down, but it’s always darkest before the dawn. Despite the troubles of the pandemic, we can always remember that it will end, and it will make quite a story when it’s over. Good luck to you all!

[AkaneHayashi]

2020 was rough in many ways, but I'm glad that I was able to start drawing again after almost a year of hiatus. I also met lots of amazing online friends that helped me feel less isolated during quarantine, and inspired me to keep practicing my art. Now, I'm working on a comic to be released very soon, after years of putting it aside because I wasn't "good enough". I decided to just go with it and improve along the way (since comics are also a great way of getting better at art).

I hope that when things come back to normal (hopefully, soon!), I can still keep the good things that came with this year :3

[Aykay]

I joined Tapas this year and finally got to see what it feels like to start to have a audience for my stories which is such an incredible feeling. I've met some truly amazing people here and read so awesome works, looking at you @ratique

Joining Tapas felt like a really good step forward. Being a creator is the thing that I want to do. And Tapas feelings like a great place for me to start making waves. I have a lot planned.

One of those things is a webcomic. I'm working on the scripts and getting the characters designed. So if everything goes as planned it will release this time next year. So far I've got a few characters designed courteous of the amazing whatahero.

I'll share one of my favorites with you guys.

Summary

This text will be hidden

This happy little guy is Milo.

[thedude3445]

2020 has been quite tough for the obvious reasons, though my life has been minimally impacted on a personal level due to living in a very rural area where work was only hectic for about two months. Despite the struggles, it's also been a great year for my writing. I started and completely finished my first romance web novel Hands Held in the Snow, as well as wrote an entire novel that will be self-published extremely soon. My first LitRPG story has seen hundreds of thousands of views in ten months and my friends have done really well with their own stories. I've also met a ton of awesome fellow creators thanks to this website and others, and hopefully I've found some friendships that will stand the test of time.

So while it's been a very bad year overall, it's also had some really nice stuff too. A year of contradictions.

[leymariehuayamave]

2020 has been a year to remember but a year to be grateful for. Neither me or my family got sick during this pandemic thankfully. It was also a year of firsts, I became a mother in December of 2019 before the outbreak of covid happened. I got to experience every single first thing my daughter did and every milestone she accomplished. Normally if your a working mother you miss some or your not there all the time when you want to be but because of covid and there being no jobs I had the chance to spend every second with my baby girl and watch her learn to turn over, crawl, talk, walk, etc. I was there for her first easter, first Thanksgiving, her first Birthday recentlt happened and im so happy that I got this chance to spend her entire first year with her knowing not many parents get to do the same. She's grown up to be so smart already and yet I still see her as my little baby. Couldn't have been more grateful for this year soent with my baby girl and with my family all together at home.

[SilverLugia456]

2020 has been a great year when it comes to my writing. I think that I have expanded so much and now towards the end of the year I have been presented with opportunities to help me push forward as a writer. I started the year trying to figure out where to go with my novel on Tapas and now towards the end of the year I have it planned out with an idea of where to go. Developing my novel on Tapas has also helped me with other projects that I hope I will be able to begin expand on in the future. I have connected with other artists and writers on this site and it has helped me with my ideas too.

To be able to reflect on all the experiences that I had showed me that the time and effort that I have put into my novel has given me a lot of goals to work towards and I'm very happy with what I have accomplished so far. I can't wait to publish more chapters for my novel.

Thank you Tapas and all the staff for the awesome year and the opportunities to share my writing with others!

[tama3]

As a reader, I have found joy in the comics on tapas. I could never create such beautiful stories and artwork so I support the authors who can! The comics provide me with a welcome escape from the stress of the world and I'm so glad I found tapas!

[ninjashira]

Well I just started posting my comic Hollow here on Tapas this year (after migrating here post-Smack Jeeves' breakdown), and the reception has been amazing. I have over 1,100 subscribers and I've been featured on the front page several times, and people genuinely seem to be loving my silly little comic. The love from my readers has really helped keep me going, and through drawing my comic I've really become such a better artist, and I keep pushing myself a little harder and into slightly more unknown territory with every chapter I complete.

I also got a cat this year during the shutdown. His name is Rizzo, and he's an asshole, but I love him.

[illucomics]

2020 was a really strange year. I’ve been struggling with episodes of depression and lack of motivation for many years now. The beginning of this year saw me so low that for the first time I was willing to invest in a self-help program in order to get some balance and clarity of mind. Fortunately it had good results and gave me the push to make it through the year. I’m an artist but my path in art was put on hold 10 years ago with only sporadic working and group exhibiting, and never once given the chance to exhibit in the foreign country that’s been my home for the past years. However at the beginning at this year I was invited by a small local art gallery to have a solo show there for an entire month. Mind you, I never had a solo show before, and in this country on top of it. It was crazy having to juggle the lockdown, creating new works, bringing older works from my home country with the always changing border quarantine rules, kids at home, building up a website and countless other predicaments. We didn’t even know until the last moment if an opening night was even possible. But somehow things fell into place and the severe restrictions were lifted when I had to bring the works across de border. Then they were lifted again when I had the opening of my art show so lots of people could come. Even the television was there and the gallery said it was the first time for them. So really, it was out of this world how everything fell into place. But that is not all. Later in the year the artists managing that art gallery invited me to exhibit with them at an extraordinary location, a gorgeous baroque castle, were my works could be seen by a wide audience. So another working marathon followed and I worked my butt off right until the moment I had to deliver the works. But again I pulled through and it was a great exhibition. And at the end of the year I even managed to sell one of my sculptures to someone that had seen them in the exhibition. The hectic working time, pushing myself to the limit, all the difficulties of this year, family getting sick, the incredible stress and so so many other related stuff, have really taken a toll on me and I can’t say that I am in a very stable place right now, with plenty of insecurities and anxiety lurking around. But looking back just how weird was this year?!? No activity for 10 years and then so much work and exhibitions and accomplishments in one of the hardest years the humanity has seen for a while. Crazy. But yah, my 2020 in a nutshell. Thank you @michaelson and the entire team for making Tapas a place where I could always return and enjoy some quiet time. ️

[shannahare2010]

What makes me happy is after all the fighting and argueing i findlay have all 3 of my kids back.

[rbelarga]

2020 is a year full of self- development! I discovered a lot of things, slipped out of my bad habits, found my way back to old hobbies and made room for change (A GOOD CHANGE!). Seriously, despite this year being terrible, I found myself being happy. Part of my discoveries are mostly educational. I also give anime series a try. Yup! I, all of a sudden, became a full-time anime watcher. Discovering anime makes me take down my bad habits (about self!!) as my attention was all about watching. Also, as I watch different series, I also discovered different ships that made me want to write a fanfiction about them thus I found my self writing (AGAIN!!). I'm overflowing with ideas and it makes me reminisce of the good old days when I was really passionate about writing, its like those feelings are coming back, it feels like home!. Aside from writing, I found my way back to reading (also with the help of this app). A lot also changed in me, I am more confident!!, I improved in arts, I dyed my hair to green, gray and violet (its all mixed up!) and My vocabulary, expanded like a lot! TRULY, I AM SATISFIED WITH MYSELF, IT FEELS SO GOOD. ANXIETY DO STILL VISIT ME AT TIMES BUT I REALLY AM HAPPY!