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dolorosa_122015 was a really good year for me. Matthias and I both had full-time jobs, I received my new residence permit, I got to spend Christmas back in Australia with my family for the first time in three years, I had no PhD to worry about, and there was lots of great stuff going on in Cambridge, with awesome people to hang out with. And, for the first time since about 2010, being online felt fun.
A lot of this was because I started the year with a lot of clear goals and ideas about what I wanted to do and experience in the various areas of my life, and thought a lot about what I could do (what was within my control to do) to achieve them. I was also lucky in that I have a lot of really wonderful people around me in pretty much every part of my life, who were always there to make stuff that much better.
So I guess my purpose in making this post is to set out a few more goals for this year, to see if that does the trick for the second time.
I will absolutely be continuing with 2015's goal of stop, collaborate and listen. Some of the best parts of 2015 involved working collaboratively with others — both at work and outside it, and I learnt so much simply by reading and listening to others' words, and not charging into a situation with my mind already made up. So, more of the same, as far as that goes.
I focused a lot on reading lots of new work in 2015, and while that was great (Station Eleven! Sorcerer to the Crown! Black Wolves! Silver on the Road!), I used to be an avid rereader, and I really missed spending any time hanging out with old favourites. The most soothing thing for me is to dip back into a much-loved book, reminding myself all over again why its characters' existence is such a consolation to me. For that reason, 2016 is going to be the year of rereads.
One of the things that was so great about a lot of the new people I met last year was that they introduced me to a huge amount of fantastic online short fiction and poetry, most of it freely available. I'd not been much of a short story reader before last year, and while it's still not a natural fit for me (I read for character, and I find that longer storytelling mediums such as novels or TV series work best for that), I'm glad I got such an introduction to the form, and really appreciate the recommendations. So I will certainly be continuing with short fiction in 2016.
One thing I didn't do a lot of, and the absence of which I felt, was long-form blogging, particularly essays and reviews. I used to write a lot of those, whereas last year I think I just wrote four reviews, two of them fairly short. I'm not going to pressure myself with writing goals or a target number of posts, but rather simply say that in 2016, I will write more.
That goes for fanfic as well. All I wrote last year was my one Yuletide assignment, but I have a lot more stories in me. There's the Five Wives-centric Mad Max fic that takes place after the movie, and the alternative ending epic Galax Arena Presh/Allyman story I've been planning forever, for starters. So yes, I will write more fic.
One thing that did wonders for my mental health last year was to focus my energies on things that made me happy, celebrating the successes of friends, rather than constantly drawing attention to the actions of horrible, hurtful people. Long may this approach of mine continue! And with that in mind, I would love it if people could share things in the comments that make them happy. It can be stories (both fic and pro), it could be a beautiful piece of art, it could be a piece of meta you're proud of, a song that makes you dance, a particularly hilarious Twitter or Tumblr exchange, or something else that hasn't occurred to me.
I hope this year is good to all of you.
A lot of this was because I started the year with a lot of clear goals and ideas about what I wanted to do and experience in the various areas of my life, and thought a lot about what I could do (what was within my control to do) to achieve them. I was also lucky in that I have a lot of really wonderful people around me in pretty much every part of my life, who were always there to make stuff that much better.
So I guess my purpose in making this post is to set out a few more goals for this year, to see if that does the trick for the second time.
I will absolutely be continuing with 2015's goal of stop, collaborate and listen. Some of the best parts of 2015 involved working collaboratively with others — both at work and outside it, and I learnt so much simply by reading and listening to others' words, and not charging into a situation with my mind already made up. So, more of the same, as far as that goes.
I focused a lot on reading lots of new work in 2015, and while that was great (Station Eleven! Sorcerer to the Crown! Black Wolves! Silver on the Road!), I used to be an avid rereader, and I really missed spending any time hanging out with old favourites. The most soothing thing for me is to dip back into a much-loved book, reminding myself all over again why its characters' existence is such a consolation to me. For that reason, 2016 is going to be the year of rereads.
One of the things that was so great about a lot of the new people I met last year was that they introduced me to a huge amount of fantastic online short fiction and poetry, most of it freely available. I'd not been much of a short story reader before last year, and while it's still not a natural fit for me (I read for character, and I find that longer storytelling mediums such as novels or TV series work best for that), I'm glad I got such an introduction to the form, and really appreciate the recommendations. So I will certainly be continuing with short fiction in 2016.
One thing I didn't do a lot of, and the absence of which I felt, was long-form blogging, particularly essays and reviews. I used to write a lot of those, whereas last year I think I just wrote four reviews, two of them fairly short. I'm not going to pressure myself with writing goals or a target number of posts, but rather simply say that in 2016, I will write more.
That goes for fanfic as well. All I wrote last year was my one Yuletide assignment, but I have a lot more stories in me. There's the Five Wives-centric Mad Max fic that takes place after the movie, and the alternative ending epic Galax Arena Presh/Allyman story I've been planning forever, for starters. So yes, I will write more fic.
One thing that did wonders for my mental health last year was to focus my energies on things that made me happy, celebrating the successes of friends, rather than constantly drawing attention to the actions of horrible, hurtful people. Long may this approach of mine continue! And with that in mind, I would love it if people could share things in the comments that make them happy. It can be stories (both fic and pro), it could be a beautiful piece of art, it could be a piece of meta you're proud of, a song that makes you dance, a particularly hilarious Twitter or Tumblr exchange, or something else that hasn't occurred to me.
I hope this year is good to all of you.