This past Monday, my friend Val came over and shared my annual fire ritual with me.
It was good to share it with someone new. She added another energy, and we added a few more parts to suit our needs for 2012… I’d organized my papers and things ahead of time, she needed to get rid of a particular artifact.
After that, she interviewed me on faerie rules. 🙂
All in all, it was a lovely, magical night.
And I am tired. So here’s a cute picture of Val and Loki.
Yes, it’s that wonderful time of year again! Time to evaluate my 2011 goals and move forward with my 2012 plans.
I remember reading in one of the many articles I perused over 2011 that publicly setting goals actually hinders one’s ability to get them done. The psychology behind that is that the act of setting goals makes one feel “accomplished,” and therefore slows or stops progress; we need a certain amount of stress to push us to go beyond just setting goals.
I’m ambivalent about that because every year that I’ve done this exercise, I’ve improved my business life as a writer. On the other hand, I didn’t meet a lot of the goals I set last January.
On the other, other hand (because I write spec fic and I can have more than two hands, damnit), a whole lot of opportunities and major changes redirected me…
See, I had this nice line of goals and steps set up, and then wooooo, that path took a 45 degree angle or something–starting not long after I even made said goals!—and while some of those steps and goals still fit on that line, a lot did not.
It started with being invited to co-edit this wonderful anthology for which I’ve been carrying around bookmarks and the first contributor copy around like my firstborn child. Which it kinda is, being the first book with my name on the cover. That, and it’s made of teh awesomesauce of awesome. (Go pre-order it now!) It evolved into perusing the slush pile and adopting a manuscript or two to love and edit… which I need to ask Kate about the protocol for pre-publication gushing.
Big Change 2: Presidency!
Of Broad Universe. Because, y’know, just running events and stuff wasn’t enough. I WANT THE WORLD! FOR WOMEN! WHO WRITE ALL SORTS OF WONDERFUL SPECULATIVE FICTION! Ahem. Yes. I’m always very dignified about my responsibilities. You totes should join our quest for world domination!
Big Change 3: Calico Silver!
Ok, I claimed this last year, too, but I’VE NOW HAD A HORSE FOR OVER A FULL YEAR AND WE DID AWESOME STUFF TOGETHER!
Big Change 4: Concrete, Solidity on H-of-A’s Deployment
Which I can only talk about a little for various reasons. But it’s big for both of us.
The Accomplishments
In planning for these posts, because they are always more than posts for me, I read back over last year’s posts. (Mind you, I really am evaluating myself and planning as I write this. I’m a writer; I think best in writing.) I admitted last year that I wasn’t satisfied how I was tracking certain progress. As I’ve learned more, a lot of what I was tracking is really useless info.
There ya’ have it. A highlighted list of 2011. Feel free to compare it to my goal-setting post and weigh it yourself, but really, I’m proud of it, and that’s what matters. Next post will be the goal setting, itself.
Because Scott’s getting on a plane to the other side of the globe in less than 9 hours.
And that’s what he and our living room look like right now.
Though – one New Year’s Resolution will be my return to 3 blogs a week, so there will be one Wednesday sometime. Where I’ll share my New Year’s Planning.
