In Which a New Year Dawns
Goooooood morning 2011! What does this lovely decade hold for us all?
Not a bad year, overall. Not a thrilling, shocking, or exciting year. But a decent one over all.
Health: Actually, okay on this number! I took pretty good care of myself. There was an assortment of random colds, allergies, and a few gallbladder attacks. But they were few and ultimately, I think I'm in decent health. The walking EVERYWHERE helps a lot with that count. Slightly worried for 2011 as work is moving somewhere that is a shorter walk and thus less exercise for me. But this is probably fine, I will deal with things if it proves that I really do need to walk four miles every day to stay healthy.
Wealth: Spent the whole month gainfully employed at one job! I am excited, TAXES WILL BE SO EASY THIS YEAR! I can fill out a 1040EZ. EZ!!! Words cannot actually express how pleased I am about this after last year where I had three W2s or the year before that when I had two W2s from different states. Anyway, moneywise, I'm doing fine. Less in debt, money is stable. Job... has sucked recently, in terms of stress levels. But that's recently, and I'm hoping things will let up for me after January. Overall, the job has people who are genuinely good people and not bad to work with. I work hard, I get paid what I should be paid and my work makes a difference for people. It's not what I want to be doing forever, but I'll take it so long as it keeps paying off my debts and leaves me with time to write.
Love: Yeah, this is always my weakest area. This year. Alright, family is doing well, though I dodged a fair amount of obligations. Woops. Moved out of living with my sister, lived on my own for a while, then moved back in with Hollie. Much happier to be living with Hollie again. Otherwise, social life is pretty fail. I have little real person social life and my internet social life has also suffered this year. Sucks, but there are only so many hours in a day and my priorities have been where they have to be. Still, note to self. Work on this.
Prosperity: Attempted a writing strategy that failed. One month on, one month off writing was not, it turns out, the best idea for me. It wasn't a bad idea, but ultimately, it failed. I feel bad about this, but I should not, because I told myself it was a strategy anyway. That said, while I have no idea how many words I did manage to spit out and if it was anywhere close to 200,000 or not, WRITING GOT SOMEWHERE. I wrote a book. This was a bit of a surprise, I thought two books were one, but hey, when I started the whole thing three years ago, I thought three to four books were one book! We learn! We figure out how many words 75-80k REALLY IS. And things like flow and show-not-tell and voice and how many characters are the right number for a story and fuck you pronouns, fuck you!
I have made some real progress on the writing front, at times in spite of myself. Maybe I didn't write 200k of words, but I completed something. And even if I didn't write 200k, I wrote a LOT outside of Yu's story too. It was rough, honestly, there were some really bloody rough months on the writing front. But I got somewhere, damnit.
It's difficult to look at the past decade and get a clear snapshot of it for me, considering at the start of it, I was fifteen and now I'm twenty-five. I'm not the same person I was ten years ago. I don't even have an LJ (and let me thank the internet stars, there's only so much embarrassing whining of myself I want immortalized where people can technically find it).
But let's see, highlights for the past ten years:
-I discovered the internet and made some great friends, some of whom I still talk to regularly, nearly ten years later. Some I've just drifted away from. A few, had falling outs.
-Graduated high school.
-Met my best friend.
-Figured out my sexuality... eventually.
-Graduated college.
-Stayed gainfully employed after college.
-Worked some shitty jobs and realized I hate 9-5 work. But the gainfully employed is still nice.
-Lived in four cities and two states and saw three countries.
-Wrote. Still not published. But I did write a novel. Terrible as it is, I wrote it.
I have hope for the next decade. I have a lot to do. But I can do it.
Man, I have a SHITLOAD to do this year. And it's going to be awesome.
Resolutions I have none, but I have a few things to keep in mind. On a personal, introverted level, I need to get my compassion back. I've spent too much time feeling angry and petty this last year. I'm working on letting these things go and moving forward.
This is always harder that it sounds. But I'm going to work on it.
Projects! Shit I have a lot of these:
-750words.com: Found this site last month and have been doing it since. Happily, have discovered that while 1600 words is definitely a bitch to get done on a night with work and even a thousand words can be a struggle, 750 words is about the amount I can crank out even when I'm tired and pissed and just want to craw off to bed. 750 words can still be done. And will be done. Doesn't matter what, so long as its writing, every night. Plan to do this for a year, even if it isn't all done on the site due to days of no internet access. Yes, they happen even in this day and age.
-Yu's Story: Finished typing up/finishing up the last scene to this yesterday. Okay, technically I think I need an epilogue on the whole thing, but I can't see what that is until I've seen the whole story, which means some editing first. I'm putting it in a drawer until February, unless the urge to edit bites. Step one is to sit down and re-read everything I've written and make notes on what I need to change. AFTER I've re-read everything, then I can start working on editing, cleaning up, and re-writing everything. It shall be a long, burning process, I fear.
-Trask or Nick's Story: One of the two, probably Trask's. I'd like to work on another novel while in the process of editing Yu's story. Like I said, will probably be Trask's at this point in time, because that one has been speaking to me a lot around the various random bits and side projects I've been chasing.
-Vapor Memoria: Collaborative work, but must get on top of this one soon. Perhaps try to get some of this done this weekend...?
Other things I'd like to do but may not:
-Make some masks.
-Polish up a steampunk costume.
-Make squibies.
-????
-PROFIT.
Yeah, my useful brain has gone FUTZ now, so I'm gonna go find some breakfast. May 2011 be a busy and wonderful year for us all.
Not a bad year, overall. Not a thrilling, shocking, or exciting year. But a decent one over all.
Health: Actually, okay on this number! I took pretty good care of myself. There was an assortment of random colds, allergies, and a few gallbladder attacks. But they were few and ultimately, I think I'm in decent health. The walking EVERYWHERE helps a lot with that count. Slightly worried for 2011 as work is moving somewhere that is a shorter walk and thus less exercise for me. But this is probably fine, I will deal with things if it proves that I really do need to walk four miles every day to stay healthy.
Wealth: Spent the whole month gainfully employed at one job! I am excited, TAXES WILL BE SO EASY THIS YEAR! I can fill out a 1040EZ. EZ!!! Words cannot actually express how pleased I am about this after last year where I had three W2s or the year before that when I had two W2s from different states. Anyway, moneywise, I'm doing fine. Less in debt, money is stable. Job... has sucked recently, in terms of stress levels. But that's recently, and I'm hoping things will let up for me after January. Overall, the job has people who are genuinely good people and not bad to work with. I work hard, I get paid what I should be paid and my work makes a difference for people. It's not what I want to be doing forever, but I'll take it so long as it keeps paying off my debts and leaves me with time to write.
Love: Yeah, this is always my weakest area. This year. Alright, family is doing well, though I dodged a fair amount of obligations. Woops. Moved out of living with my sister, lived on my own for a while, then moved back in with Hollie. Much happier to be living with Hollie again. Otherwise, social life is pretty fail. I have little real person social life and my internet social life has also suffered this year. Sucks, but there are only so many hours in a day and my priorities have been where they have to be. Still, note to self. Work on this.
Prosperity: Attempted a writing strategy that failed. One month on, one month off writing was not, it turns out, the best idea for me. It wasn't a bad idea, but ultimately, it failed. I feel bad about this, but I should not, because I told myself it was a strategy anyway. That said, while I have no idea how many words I did manage to spit out and if it was anywhere close to 200,000 or not, WRITING GOT SOMEWHERE. I wrote a book. This was a bit of a surprise, I thought two books were one, but hey, when I started the whole thing three years ago, I thought three to four books were one book! We learn! We figure out how many words 75-80k REALLY IS. And things like flow and show-not-tell and voice and how many characters are the right number for a story and fuck you pronouns, fuck you!
I have made some real progress on the writing front, at times in spite of myself. Maybe I didn't write 200k of words, but I completed something. And even if I didn't write 200k, I wrote a LOT outside of Yu's story too. It was rough, honestly, there were some really bloody rough months on the writing front. But I got somewhere, damnit.
It's difficult to look at the past decade and get a clear snapshot of it for me, considering at the start of it, I was fifteen and now I'm twenty-five. I'm not the same person I was ten years ago. I don't even have an LJ (and let me thank the internet stars, there's only so much embarrassing whining of myself I want immortalized where people can technically find it).
But let's see, highlights for the past ten years:
-I discovered the internet and made some great friends, some of whom I still talk to regularly, nearly ten years later. Some I've just drifted away from. A few, had falling outs.
-Graduated high school.
-Met my best friend.
-Figured out my sexuality... eventually.
-Graduated college.
-Stayed gainfully employed after college.
-Worked some shitty jobs and realized I hate 9-5 work. But the gainfully employed is still nice.
-Lived in four cities and two states and saw three countries.
-Wrote. Still not published. But I did write a novel. Terrible as it is, I wrote it.
I have hope for the next decade. I have a lot to do. But I can do it.
Man, I have a SHITLOAD to do this year. And it's going to be awesome.
Resolutions I have none, but I have a few things to keep in mind. On a personal, introverted level, I need to get my compassion back. I've spent too much time feeling angry and petty this last year. I'm working on letting these things go and moving forward.
This is always harder that it sounds. But I'm going to work on it.
Projects! Shit I have a lot of these:
-750words.com: Found this site last month and have been doing it since. Happily, have discovered that while 1600 words is definitely a bitch to get done on a night with work and even a thousand words can be a struggle, 750 words is about the amount I can crank out even when I'm tired and pissed and just want to craw off to bed. 750 words can still be done. And will be done. Doesn't matter what, so long as its writing, every night. Plan to do this for a year, even if it isn't all done on the site due to days of no internet access. Yes, they happen even in this day and age.
-Yu's Story: Finished typing up/finishing up the last scene to this yesterday. Okay, technically I think I need an epilogue on the whole thing, but I can't see what that is until I've seen the whole story, which means some editing first. I'm putting it in a drawer until February, unless the urge to edit bites. Step one is to sit down and re-read everything I've written and make notes on what I need to change. AFTER I've re-read everything, then I can start working on editing, cleaning up, and re-writing everything. It shall be a long, burning process, I fear.
-Trask or Nick's Story: One of the two, probably Trask's. I'd like to work on another novel while in the process of editing Yu's story. Like I said, will probably be Trask's at this point in time, because that one has been speaking to me a lot around the various random bits and side projects I've been chasing.
-Vapor Memoria: Collaborative work, but must get on top of this one soon. Perhaps try to get some of this done this weekend...?
Other things I'd like to do but may not:
-Make some masks.
-Polish up a steampunk costume.
-Make squibies.
-????
-PROFIT.
Yeah, my useful brain has gone FUTZ now, so I'm gonna go find some breakfast. May 2011 be a busy and wonderful year for us all.