A Summary of My Year

The end of the year is fast approaching and I feel like I should say something to that effect. Something about what I've learned this year, what I've accomplished, what I plan to do next year. It's what all the other kids seem to be doing—that, or predictions for the future. I'm not even going there.

Thing is, I don't feel like I've accomplished much in the past year. I finished a draft of my WIP. I sent it to betas. It came back with red ink all over it, setting my querying plans back I don't know how long. It's frustrating, because I'd had hopes of emailing agents at the start of the new year, and now I don't know when this will happen. And because of the way my brain works, I can't really work on anything else while I'm revising my WIP, so in the writing department, I'm pretty much racking up a negative achievement.* I've got another year of non-publication ahead of me, I suspect.

On the Earth life front, I'm barely ahead of where I was at the start of the year. I'm in the same job and the same accommodations. In the last three months, I've met five more people I can go out and do things with, except that three of them are more friends-of-friends and I'd never contact them on my own. I haven't managed to get together with the other two yet. Maybe soon? Also there's more money in the bank and I continue to accumulate books faster than I can read them, so like I said, slight win, reality-wise.

I'm doing well in the cyber world. My blog's getting more hits. I've made good friends on Twitter. My Science in My Fiction articles keep ending up on io9. I've learned more about the publishing biz, about where my WIP fits into the subgenre puzzle, about what to do and what not to do. I've also learned that if I follow multiple agent blogs and multiple agent/editor Twitter feeds, that I'll get depressed and anxious and paralyzed because I Am Doing It Wrong By Existing And Dreaming. So I've stopped doing that, and things are better now. I've definitely come out ahead in this realm, though what does it say about me that my biggest achievements of the year have been on the internet?

At the end of each year, I always want to have big achievements to revel in. I've had some in the past: graduated from university, started writing, got an awesome job, moved away from The Roommate. But this year? Nope, not really. I want next year to have multiple big achievements (finished MS, dream agent, MS going to auction, fame, glory, etc.) but … yeah. I suspect I'll be posting this same thing next year, too.

And now that I've completely killed your mood (and mine), I'm going to go away now and hope the rest of my day cheers me up again. I wanted achievements, darn it… Where has the year gone?

* Yes, I know I'm actually one step closer to publication now, but try telling that to my brain and getting it to believe you.