Settling Down for the Holidays

There's less than two weeks left of the year, and it's time to look at wrapping things up. Jim and I are heading to Reno where my mom lives tomorrow evening, and I don't expect to get a lot of work done for the next few days.

That's okay. Christmas is coming -- I still have to run out tomorrow and ransack the shopping center looking for stocking stuffers -- and then New Year, and I think it's time to wind down and kick back, and look forward to setting new goals for 2019.

I didn't make all my 2018 goals, but I've done pretty well. I completed thirteen short stories and one novel this year, and while a few of them were stories I began some time ago and just wrapped up this year, most of them were completely written in the last eleven-and-a-half months. That's pretty good; I'll take it.

I've had a bunch of shorts in the pipeline for a while, just because of the vagaries of the publishing business. One came out earlier this month, two will be released in January and one in March, and it'll be great to see things appearing again.

I came this close to actually getting a book indie published, until I took another look at the cover and realized there's a word missing from the title. [headdesk] It was purchased for me from a cover artist I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I can fix it. I just have to dig out my notes from a class I took five and a half years ago and figure out how to get the .JPEG back into InDesign, and then do a patch job. It should work, and I thought I could get it done before the end of the year. I still might, but I've decided that stressing out about it at this point -- especially since that kind of stressing out makes it more likely that I'll get run-to-the-ER-level sick -- isn't worth it. If I trip over the how-to in the next week or so, then great. If not, January is a thing.

And I have a second book in the pipeline; I have art chosen and licensed for the cover (which I want to do myself, from scratch) and a slot booked with an editor I trust.

I wrote over 150K words this year, most of which came since early September, when I started using Habitica. The gamification strategy is working great for me, and I'm confident that I'll get a lot more done next year. If you've ever had a great time running around a dungeon or a forest or a derelict spaceship killing monsters, scooping up treasure and levelling your character, give Habitica a shot. :)

I joined Facebook this year, and have managed not to lose too much productive time to it. [crossed fingers] I've hooked up with a bunch of people I haven't been in contact with in a long time, and that's always cool. And there's some funny stuff going around Facebook; I've always loved good cartoons and fun videos. :)

I also have about a week and a half left of my diet hiatus. So little time to bake more cookies, eat more mac-and-cheese! And I still have to bake bread! Not till we get home, now, but definitely after that. On 1 January, I'll go back to eating ridiculously healthy, lose whatever I'll have gained by New Year, and hopefully lose a bit more; I usually do at that point. I'm still feeling great.

Usually, though, I'd be getting a bit frantic at this point in the year. So much to do, so many goals I'm still struggling toward, so little time to wrap things up. This year, I'm not worrying about it. I got a lot done, and I'm happy with that. Life goes on after 31 December, and my to-do list will still be there.

I hope you're all having a great holiday season, and are happy with your accomplishments for the year. Best wishes to everyone!

[wave/hugz]

Angie