“On the fifth day of Christmas, my true self gave to me…one healthy kick in the pants.”

Is that right? Are we already on the fifth day? I’m still languishing in a sugar cookie stupor. Still digging out from leftover potatoes au gratin. Still trying to convince my family of the legitimacy of stale crackers and cheese rinds as a basic food group.

Sure, I will disconnect the sugar IV, menu plan, and get back to the proper care and feeding of my brood. I might even exercise. I will resolve! But it’ll probably be next month–which is next year.

In the meandering meantime, I will look back on the 2017 fun we’ve had here at Rust Belt Girl, you and me, thanks to inspiration from my native Rust Belt and its storytellers keeping it real.

Sing along to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” if you like.

In my first month of blogging, my Rust Belt gave to me

a blog borne from necessity (I didn’t say the cadence would be right)

In my second month of blogging, my Rust Belt gave to me (no I’m not doing numbers)

Hillbillies Elegy-ing and

a blog borne from necessity

In my third month of blogging, my Rust Belt gave to me

Ruin porn aplenty

Hillbillies Elegy-ing and

a blog borne from necessity

In my fourth month of blogging, my Rust Belt gave to me

THE HARD WAY

Ruin porn aplenty

Hillbillies Elegy-ing and

a blog borne from necessity

In my fifth month of blogging, my Rust belt gave to me

Rust Belt food pie chart

THE HARD WAY

Ruin porn aplenty

Hillbillies Elegy-ing and

a blog borne from necessity

In my sixth month of blogging, my Rust Belt gave to me

A CINDERLAND review

Rust Belt food pie chart

THE HARD WAY

Ruin porn aplenty

Hillbillies Elegy-ing and

a blog borne from necessity

In my seventh month of blogging, my Rust Belt gave to me:

Awesome blogger collab.

CINDERLAND review

Rust Belt food pie chart

THE HARD WAY

Ruin porn aplenty

Hillbillies Elegy-ing and

a blog borne from necessity

In my eighth month of blogging, my Rust Belt gave to me:

“Sleeping Naked”

Awesome blogger collab.

CINDERLAND review

Rust Belt food pie chart

THE HARD WAY

Ruin porn aplenty

Hillbillies Elegy-ing and (with feeling!)

a blog borne from necessity

And that’s all, folks. (How’s that for closure?) Eight months of Rust Belt news, reviews, stories, interviews–and more than my share of pierogies.

Provided I don’t lapse into a sugar cookie coma before then, 2018 promises just as much Rust Belt fun. In interview news, I hope to chat next month with Akron, Ohio, author David Giffels about his second memoir. I plan to catch up with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native Paul Hertneky to see how life after Rust Belt Boy is treating him. Bonnie Jo Campbell: be expecting a really fawning email begging you to appear right here!

On my to-read list for early 2018, Jo Ann Beard’s The Boys of My Youth; Melissa Fraterrigo’s Glory Days, a rural-rusty creepy circus read; and Crooked River Burning (because it’s Cleveland, and, yes, it really did burn.)

And something new, too. As much as I love reading around the Rust Belt for this blog, I didn’t fulfill a 2017 writing resolution of mine, which was to begin the process of querying literary agents regarding my manuscript of a historical novel set in…wait for it…California! So, that resolution gets bumped to 2018, and I figured–since we’re all readers and writers here–maybe you’d like to journey with me into the frightening abyss that is the world of literary agencies. I’ll keep you posted.

Happy cookies! Happy reading and writing! Happy 2018!

~Rebecca