Amber’s Year(s) In Review

Hello! My name is Amber Mullin and this is my 2023 (and December 2022) year in review. I will also be discussing my goals for 2024.

Firstly, I graduated with my B.A. in English with a concentration of creative writing in December 2022 at USF (pictured left). I was excited to step into publishing in 2023 as an editing intern, so I refreshed my LinkedIn and sent out applications with the hopeful aspirations of a fresh grad. I had a few close calls, but none of them hit for a Spring internship and I was left floating. Then I rocketed into an unexpected tumultuous year.

My family cat of 11 years, a sweet, oversized tabby named Bella, crossed the rainbow bridge at the end of January. My parents and I were racked with grief, and the intern/job search continued unsuccessfully for months. As a sort of healing process, my mom and I would visit pet stores to check the catteries which are associated with the shelters in the area within this time.

That’s where we met Felix (formerly known as Tito at the shelter) in March. We knew at first sight that he was meant to be ours. We like to think he did, too, as he jumped between the cubicles to see us, pressing energetically against the bars for us to pet him. We filled out an application online and within a few days he was home, just a couple days after his first birthday! This long-whiskered tuxedo is a lovebug who will crawl all over you, bounce off the walls during his morning and nighttime zoomies, and has helped us with our grief significantly.

Soon after, our landlord attempted to raise our rent on us. He would not listen to negotiations, so we frantically planned to move out by June. Luckily, we had a location in Cooper City, FL available to us (just about 15 minutes away from where we were in Davie) and so job searching was again put on pause as I helped to pack and organize everything while my parents went to work.

I felt uncomfortable to explore job opportunities at such a fragile time, where we also only had one car and a stress-related health concern arose that lasted until September 2023. However, through all the commotion I thought about a few things. Do I like the idea of an office job? Do I truly want to pursue a career in such a competitive field? Do I feel comfortable with the issues that have resurfaced in publishing lately? I want to be surrounded around books in my work, but do I truly want to be involved in the process of making them? And then I thought about libraries. What an obvious choice. A brief search and I discovered all the separate branches, and so I applied for an MSI at FSU and got accepted.

This is my first semester pursuing my MSI and I intend to utilize it to become a school media specialist. I’d love to introduce stories to children, to help them in whatever endeavors they access the library for. In November I started a part-time position as a tutor at Huntington Learning Center and it’s been a fulfilling experience. I’m excited to see the ways this course will help me develop skills at my current job and for my future career (and a plus for having fun with creativity!).

When I’m not obsessing over what the future looks like, I absorb myself in the multiple modes of storytelling. Books are clearly my favorite, but I also adore playing video games and watching movies and shows. I’m about to finish season two of my favorite show, a Korean Netflix show called Sweet Home. And if you want to follow my reading journey, I just created a Bookstagram account just about a week ago!

Tags: intros