2023 had some plot twists I didn’t see coming

As usual, I’m devoting the last day of the year to a review of my year’s performance. As I wrote at the start of 2023, I didn’t set as many goals for the year as usual and some of the goals were vaguer than best practices recommend, such as “promote my writing” and “cook challenging things.” Then I let myself set specifics for each month. I think it worked fairly well but I didn’t get specific enough in some of my monthly goals. I shall do better this year.

Happily I met most of my goals. I wrote more than 240,000 words of fiction; finished six short stories; submitted well over the 24 stories I’d set as my goal; published 19-Infinity (which was going to be Magic in History a year ago); and signed up for Medicare. I’ve been on regular dates with TYG and I’m enjoying our marriage even more. I signed up for Medicare and improved mys social life — regular visits to a local tea-and-coffee place with friends, visits home, visits to Mensa events (and this one too!)

The first half of the year, it looked like I was really going to surge past most of my goals. Then Wisp injured her leg.

Her disgruntlement at being in a cast meant I got next to no sleep in July (she kept beating it on the bed to see if it would come off) and even after the vet removed the cast, adjusting to her as an inside cat was a lot of work. My productivity never quite recovered. It was hard exercising because she’d come and investigate what I was doing(she seems to have gotten over that) and lack of exercise affected my health and my weight (nothing I can’t recover from). Just having her an inside cat (which is better for her, better for local birds and wildlife) means another distraction on top of Plushie and Trixie.Plus while I really enjoy being back in journalism, writing articles for The Local Reporter often took more time than planned. I’m a lot more efficient than when I freelanced for the Raleigh Public Record a decade ago but not efficient enough. This year, I have to do better.

There were several goals I didn’t come close to making. I’d planned to make at least one in-person writing group meeting a month; even before the Wisp Cast I’d blown that one. I enjoy meeting in the flesh but having the zoom meetings scratches a lot of my itch to hang out with my writing friends. Plus with the added demands of pet care (as they grow older the dogs need a lot more treatment, for instance) I don’t have the flex time in my schedule — if I get up two hours late, I’m not going to get those two hours back. If I go out after the group I’m going to end up getting home so late that I’ll be useless the next day. Next year I’m going to shoot for six meetings. We’ll see if I make it.

Also, I didn’t finish The Impossible Takes a Little Longer, which I’d planned on. The group’s reaction to Let No Man Put Asunder was favorable enough I prioritized that one. Which is cool — goals aren’t a straitjacket if something better comes along — but post-Wisp’s cast, that one suffered too and my progress bogged down. Next year I’m going to finish the Asunder draft and write a second one. At least that’s the plan.

Still, overall it was a good year. The dating thing has been very good for our marriage; while I have a couple of health problems that I need to work on several others have disappeared over time so I must be doing something right. Plushie’s current health regimen means he’s livelier than he’s been in a long time. I ended the year with more money than when I started — not a lot more, but “a lot” wasn’t the goal (I know better).

Onward into 2024, which will be the topic of tomorrow’s post.

#SFWApro. Top cover by Gil Kane, 19-Infinity cover by Kemp Ward. All rights to images remain with current holders.