Things I Did In 2007 That I Have Never Done Before:

– bleached my hair (slipped that one in under the wire, on Dec 31!)
– signed a contract for my fifth book (there is only one number five, after all)
– played a gig on a real stage in a real bar (I am such a rock star)
– worked as a writer/editor on not one but two video games
– made a counter-offer on a contract instead of just accepting what was offered
– introduced my son to his great-gran in person
– bought a fretless electric bass
– submitted unsolicited fiction to a publisher

Things I Did in 2007 That I Am Proud Of:

All of the above, plus:
– stood up for myself in two very uncomfortable and potentially self-damaging situations
– said goodbye to one bad situation (although this ostensibly happened in January, it dragged for me through till mid-November when I privately took the final step, admitting to myself that it was over. Now I need to stick to this, and it’s going to be hard because it involves other people.)
– accomplished a specific wish I made for 2007: spending more time with two specific individuals. Interestingly enough, this was accomplished through two separate writing jam commitments.
– reviewing my writing records, I’m surprised at and proud of the amount of novel and short story writing I did in 2007
– sitting second chair in the celli at orchestra
– finding even more ways to ecologically streamline our lives, and reducing our impact on the environment
– less posting, more living

Good Things About 2007:

– discovering Dorothy L. Sayers’ detective novels
– acquiring a Nintendo DS and beginning to play video games
– making it out to see the Once Upon a Time Disney exhibit at the Beaux-Arts museum
– an awesome and excellent Vernal Equinox ritual, led by t!
– fabulous spiritual retreat at the Autumn Equinox
– cooking an entire meal over an open fire outdoors
– indirectly working with t!, lunching with the gang
– meeting Fearsclave and Carolyn
– HRH’s new job
– the existence of the credit line (thank all the gods)
– resolution of financial challenges (now, to pay off that credit line!)

There’s more, of course; a lot of this year was good. But these are what surface in my memory.

Not-So-Good Things About 2007:

– Knick-Knack going to the Summerlands
– contract negotiations
– the financial challenges (and that debt we incurred on the credit line)
– the ongoing tension with the downstairs neighbour

(I am very happy that I had to actually look for bad things to list here.)

How Did I Do With My 2007 Wishes?

– Less self-inflicted head trauma for Liam.

Yes! Yay!

-To regain some sort of interest in food.

This hasn’t been wholly successful, but in general I have become more interested in food again.

– The re-initialising of enjoying being with people.

Not bad. At least I didn’t hate being around others this year, which is an improvement.

– Spending more time with certain people.

A complete success.

– For the emotional burnout to stop.

I handled this a lot better this year than I have in the past. Quite simply, I cut down on the time spent with people who drain me.

– Rediscover the joy in music in general, and classical music in particular.

Hmm… not as much of a success as I wanted it to be. I wanted to rediscover my CD collection, and I haven’t. My music-purchasing has dropped to almost nil as well. This is a wish to carry over to 2008.

– Rediscovering the joy in playing the cello.

The better I get, the more fun it is. But I’m still not at a place where I can just play for the enjoyment of it (although the Resident Fan Club may argue with me). I am still lazy and don’t practice enough (you could almost leave the latter word off and have it be true).

Look at that; no wishes about writing and/or career. Things are pretty okay there. Sure, I wish my fiction would take off the way my non-fic has, but there’s time aplenty for all that.

Submitting the unsolicited young adult novel to a publisher has certainly been a huge, huge step towards this not-a-wish.

Wishes for 2008:

– Rediscover my CD collection
– Make time for practising my spirituality in a more aware fashion
– Make a stronger commitment to practising the cello
– Let up on the second-guessing of the decisions I make, and the self-doubt I feel about my work
– Remember frequently that I am a wonderful, kind, talented person
– Focus my time so that I don’t waste as much of it
– Take up formal study of another spiritual path to complement the ones I already practise
– Take care of my body so that the chronic pain thing doesn’t negatively impact my life, as it’s beginning to once again (I’m hoping it’s the damp and the cold that’s made it increasingly bad over the past month)

If I had to assign a value to 2007, I’d say that overall it was a good year, even though there were moments where it was not good at all. And the end of the year has seen us in a better place than we began it. That’s one of the best things to work out in a year-review, and something for which I am very, very thankful.

May 2008 be even better!