Happy New Year 37

Turning older in January means that it is easy to see the regular new year thing and the birthday thing as a big, all-encompassing Big New Year Thing in general. It also makes it possible to procrastinate doing my usual year-end audit.

Overall, 2012 and Year 36 was a mixed one. From a professional perspective, there were hiccups, but things ended on a generally good note. A long-time freelance opportunity shut down, making a serious dent in my finances, but having a job helped tide over that one. New writing opportunities opened up as well, so one has hope.

Writing-wise, I had a book out, so I mustn’t complain. But then, I’m dissatisfied with the progress of my writing generally. I feel I need to write more; I need to play around with more ideas and experiment more.

On the personal side, it was very mixed. There were satisfying highs and terrible lows, but one emerged unscathed for now. I had a great trip to Spain and felt more settled than I ever had. But the euphoria and feelings of doing okay were scarred by the loss of friends—one due to a breach of trust that I’m not losing sleep over, while the other is more complex and consuming.

Health-wise, I took steps in Year 36 to keep body and mind together.

In sum, one year older, and none the wiser. But still standing.

And how did I do with my Year 36 resolutions? Let’s find out:

1. Write a short story every month: Oops. Big fat ZERO!
2. Write a blog post every fortnight: Another resounding fail.
3. Do more book reviews: Grand total of one book review, but it was for the Deccan Herald. Does that make it better?
4. Take more photos: I wasn’t regular with my photography, but did quite a lot on my Taiwan trip and in Spain.
5. Start learning a language: Yep, pass. I’m learning Spanish.

Though each year I wonder why I bother with resolutions, it doesn’t stop me from making new ones. So here’s the to-do list for 2013 and Year 37:

1. Write more generally: finish at least one novel draft; write more shorties; and definitely do more blogging and book reviews.
2. Do more craft: try to give only handmade gifts;
3. Redesign Writeside.net
4. Get more freelance work—and return to full-time freelancing
5. Stay fit.

~PD