I am a traditionalist in a few ways; Solstice/Christmas decorations should wait until after Thanksgiving, and end-of-year posts should wait until the actual end of the year. Or later. Tonight I got this one drafted, for once, before the New Year's started. Whoo.
This has been a crappy year for a lot of people, a crappy decade in fact. It wasn't a great year for me. So this is not a boastful post, merely an accounting-for-myself. Because otherwise I'll assume I did nothing and got nothing done. I have one of THOSE brains.
Didn't meet a single December goal. Can't say as I met many of my annual goals this year, but to be fair my annual goals this year were pretty fuzzy, and my stupid hip injury was stupid and interfered. Greatly. I neglected to track one month entirely (February 2022, where did you go?) But this year could have been much, much worse; I contracted Covid in December, and had such a mild case I only caught it because I tested due to a potential exposure.
But. This is what I *did* do.
WRITING
--Finally hit my stride with a revision process that worked.
--I took an insane manuscript that involved multiple events happening over several days and crammed that sucker into one afternoon. Still proud of that.
-- Got a manuscript to an editor (who bounced it back with a "where's the middle," but I GOT A DRAFT TO HER I WAS PROUD OF, dammit.)
-- LOTS of world building and beating my head on the ground around filling in the middle; not finished.
-- 1 short story sale, which should be SFWA qualifying once it's published in 2023
-- Around 13 short stories drafted, a number during the Clarion fundraiser
-- three (this will be four) blog posts.
-- entered NYC midnight scriptwriter's competition on a lark, and ended up making it to the second round.
-- Encountered several epiphanies, including the simplicity-of-introduction-of-complicated-worlds rule.
-- Took at least one class, on short story titles
BUSINESS OF WRITING
-Started the process of self-publishing:
contracted with an editor, sensitivity readers and hired an artist.
Checked into resources with SFWA and IPBA.
-- created a publishing plan (we won't discuss where I am on it)
READING
--Read 17 books (one graphic novel in french, 13 novels, two nonfiction)
-- Started and didn't finish at least four additional novels
LANGUAGE STUDY
--365 days of french (at 1014-day streak)
-- About a dozen lessons shy of finishing Intermediate French 1
VOCAL
--Learned/practiced 10 songs for me, 24 for choir (some were reviews)
-- four masked concerts, two missed
-- monthly outdoor sings I organized
-- regular vocal practice
--excellent progress on chest/throat full voice, increased range in both directions
EVENTS/SERVICE/ETC
--Tried to be a supportive friend as folks needed one
-- helped lead weekly critique group over zoom
-- regular (usually phone) meetings of a second crit group, with occasional in-person confabs
--create weekly newsletter for choir for two seasons
--one supportive flash mob
--Three masked, in-person cons, one online
--helped at several political postcard events
-- lovely birthday at the coast
HOUSE/LIFE
--Tried bullet journaling with mixed success.
--Started PT for hip injury that ... changed some priorities
--Did some philanthropy
--Started sewing a dress
--Played with watercolors a few times this year. Appear to be very afraid of making mistakes.
-- Got my will, end-of-life planning and advanced directive sorted. (I'm fine, it's just been on my to-do list forever and Covid losses kind of drove home the need to get things updated).
-- Finally got some solid medical treatment for one chronically ill cat, who slowly bounced back to full strength; did not lose the elderly cat I expected to die this year.
--Lightened possessions: went through office, closet, kitchen, living room, office (three times)
-- Added some useful furniture, including some grown-up chairs, and got help moving things around the house so rooms are more useful.
Probably missing some important things, might edit to add them in later, but this feels pretty solid at 11:30 p.m. Dec. 31.
May 2023 be a better year for all of us.
