Selenay's Ramblings

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2023!

I have a bit of a tradition of trying to start out the new year well by doing a bit of all the good things that I want to do through the year. Make 1 January a representation of what I'm bringing to the year.

(I'm not superstitious, but last year I spent 1 January being very ill with flu, so make of that what you will.)

Therefore today I have:

- Had a bit of a lie in
- Eaten a good, yummy breakfast
- Gone for a nice walk
- Made the good coffee and taken the time to enjoy it
- Read a couple of chapters of a good book while listening to music
- Read a chapter of a good fic
- Written words
- Played board games
- Posted fic

I'm currently cooking some tasty food for supper. I plan to get a bit of stitching in and watch some good telly this evening. I think that covers everything!

I don't do new year resolutions, because I don't like setting myself up for self-loathing when I inevitably fail to keep them up. However, celli has been doing a daily writing challenge through 2022 and it's inspired me. The biggest frustration I had last year was not having the spoons to write. I always feel like I should write at least X amount when I sit down to write, when really the important part is the habit and the way that writing regularly--even if it's just a very few words--has always been the best way to keep my creative process flowing.

So this year, I intend to attempt to write something every day. Minimum is 5 words. I thought about 50 words, but realised that if I set the bar really incredibly very low then even if all I did was open a WIP and add a a tiny number of words, it would count and I'd feel good about adding a line to my spreadsheet.

(Yes, there's a spreadsheet. I'm a data nerd. You think there wouldn't be a spreadsheet?)

I'm going to try to keep myself accountable on twitter/fediverse. If I forget to post the daily then I'll try to remember to post the monthly tally of days/words.

Any new words count. If I deleted 500 words and wrote 20 new words? That's 20 words in the spreadsheet, not -480. The important part is getting some words out and keeping my brain nibbling at the ideas and producing new ones. Regular writing leads to creative thoughts.

In the spirit of that, today's tally was 304 words. Woo hoo!

I don't do resolutions, because I'm crap at keeping them, but I do try to do vague intentions at the beginning of the year. If you've read my last post, you'll know there's a lot coming at me in 2018 so I'm not going to get ambitious or set goals. In fact, a lot of my intentions this year are focused around maintaining my sanity during the process of moving to a different country and setting up my new life!

So this year, I intended to:

- Read some books. Maybe 75, may be 100, maybe only 25.
- Watch the TV and movies that make me happy, ditch the media that doesn't make me happy.
- Write as the mood takes me. No planning, no goals. If I only write two short fics this year, that's fine. If I nosedive into writing a silly epic novel or a Sara/Lena bodyguard AU fic, that's great.
- Take part in femslashex and Yuletide if I'm in the right mental space for it, but not feel guilty if I can't.
- Sleep in and take breaks when I need them, rather than pushing myself to breaking point.
- Learn new programming skills.
- Take the chance to meet new people and go to new places whenever it arises.
- Do the things that make me happier.

I think those feel achievable.

Well, not quite. I'll save you from the enourmous review list of books. I will give you The List for 2011 behind a cut-tag:

( Books in 2011 )

Yup, 84 books this year and that is five more than last year. None of them have been complete duds, although there have been a couple of 'meh' reads.

I've discovered the joy of Connie Willis (definitely my favourite author of the year) and been thrilled by Mistborn. I've loved the C J Sansom books (who wouldn't love mysteries set in Henry VIII's reign) and my iPad has given me access to some amazing comis. I got so caught up in The Magicians and Mrs. Quent that I had to order pizza instead of cooking one night so that I could finish it. Diana Wynne Jones kept me reading late into the night and a group read finally got me through Northanger Abbey.

I'm a bit divided about my favourite books of 2011, but here are the main candidates:

Daughter of Time - Joshephine Tey
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson
Soulless - Gail Carriger
Doomsday Book - Connie Willis (and her other books, except that would be half the list)
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
Unnatural Issue - Mercedes Lackey
Dissolution - C J Sansom
Mastiff - Tamora Pierce
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Persuasion - Jane Austen
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
Astonishing X-Men Vol 3. Issues 1-6 - Joss Whedon and John Cassady

The worst books of 2011 is easier, although they weren't dreadful, just not that brilliant:

Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
Septimus Heap Book One: Magyk - Angie Sage
Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (September 2011)
Virals - Kathy Reichs

My thread for the 75 books for 2012 on LibraryThing is here so follow along for next years books if you're interested!