Year in Review

I've reached the point in the screenplay that's like the middle of a novel, where all the detailed scenes I had in mind for the set-up have been written, but there's a gap before the detailed scenes I have in mind for the resolution. It's the "and then stuff happens" part of the synopsis. So now I have to figure out detailed scenes for the middle.

Meanwhile, I've updated the Plan for World Domination for the coming year. I tried to make all my goals reachable so that I don't burst out of the gate with great enthusiasm, only to be discouraged when I can't sustain it. I can always increase my goals if the ones I set become too easy. The main thing is that I've set both a daily and weekly quota for writing time. If I go over the daily goals early in the week and reach the weekly quota early, then I get a free day. But if I go over my goal to a certain degree, I think I'm going to come up with some kind of other reward rather than time off.

Achievements for the past year: Sold a book. Published a book. Submitted a book to publishers. And after the final accounting, I think I might have matched my best day job year in income (though the expenses are an estimate, so the final total will come when I do taxes). In non-work things, I've done more hiking this year than I've done in any previous year, so that means I did accomplish at least one thing on my goals for the year list, to make more time to do the things I enjoy and move things off the "I've always wanted to" list to the "things I do" list. I learned to knit in a big way, going in one year from only being able to knit scarves in straight lines to doing fancy lace and complicated cables. I got a start on organizing my office, and having a better filing system has already made life easier. I just need to get back into the project and finish it.

I didn't see enough movies to do a "best of" list. I'm still tabulating the reading for the year, so I haven't yet found the patterns or decided what my best books for the year would be.

As for next year, aside from my writing time plan, professionally I want to do better at networking. I will also have to up my social media game, since I have a young adult book coming out. I may even have delve into (gulp) Twitter. Personally, I want to get back into sewing now that I have a machine. I used to do it as a kid, and I've even done a few things totally by hand as an adult. I'll probably start with easy wear-around-the-house clothes before I start tackling steampunk costumes. I would like to get my house organized so that I can start doing some remodeling and improvements. I should probably devote a little more time to music, since it's something I love, and I may as well try to do it well.

Now, happy new year!