Happy New Year! Wow, 2020 feels like it went by very quickly. Somehow it still feels like it’s March 12.
I ended up doing a lot last year. It turns out that the thing I find most onerous about my job is simply the commute. Getting rid of it only gives me an extra 1.5 hours to my day, but somehow gives me 4 more hours of energy. I no longer feel like my day is over when I walk in the door at 5pm and I have to collapse in a stupor in front of YouTube until it’s time for bed.
I had two short stories published: “And She Rose in the Sky on a Pillar of Flame,” which was published in Fusion Fragment Issue #1 in March, and “A Bridge from Sea to Sky,” published in F&SF in the July/August issue.
I did a LOT of projects around the house. I tore up my old wooden deck and laid a brick patio; extended my gardens and did some landscaping; painted every room in my house; built some patio furniture; refinished some other furniture; set up a 5 gallon and then a 20 gallon aquarium with a betta fish, four snails and three shrimp; carved a headboard; learned how to smock a pillow; learned how to crotchet (I did that one literally a few hours before midnight on Dec 31, coming in just under the wire). I finished the Turkish course on Duolingo and started learning Arabic.
These were last year’s resolutions:
- Read 50 books – I read 51. I really got into audiobooks this year, because I can listen to them while I do other things around the house. I used to find them difficult to focus on, but I did a lot more physical projects like painting rooms and making art this year, which is perfect for audiobooks.
- Finish 12 short stories – I did do 12, although I didn’t finish all of them. I did finish a first draft of 10 of them, though, which is quite good.
- One story on submission at all times – I did manage this again, though partly that was helped by submitting to a couple markets early in the year that then took the rest of the year to respond. One of my submissions is now on day 300, as of today.
- Finish novel revisions and start querying agents – I did this.
- Start one regular physical activity – When quarantine started, I started talking walks every day that it wasn’t raining. I even did the Run Across America 50k challenge, where you walk or run 50 kilometers between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. I have cold-induced asthma that makes it very hard to spend much time outside when it’s below 45 degrees, but it turns out that masks help with that a lot. Who knew!
- Blog about my various projects – I did not do this, but I thought about it. Does that count?
- TWO PULL UPS – Well… no. I can do one and a half.
Overall, that’s a pretty good showing. Now for this year’s resolutions:
- Read 50 books – I think this should be pretty simple if I keep up with the audiobook thing.
- Finish 20 short stories – My actual goal is to attempt writing a short story a week, but from past experience I know I won’t end up with 52 short stories. So I’m lowballing it and hoping to finish 20.
- Finish 2 novellas – These are already in progress. I just need to finish them.
- Send out 50 short story submissions – Last year was my least productive year in this regard, with 19 total story submissions. In the four years before that, I averaged about 30 per year. But I want to dramatically increase that this year.
- Walk 750 miles – This one is kind of extreme, but it’s only about 2 miles a day. I know I won’t manage that every day, but I also can do more than 2 miles a day pretty easily, so that should work out. I’ll be happy if I reach 500, but I’m going to try to push myself to get 750.
- Blog about my various projects – I went so far as to write a bunch of posts last year, but never published them because I felt no one would be interested. But I’d like to actually document them this year. (If you’re interested in my projects, I tend to post them on Instagram.)
Let’s hope that 2021 is a good year for a change.
Bennett North 