I was looking back to see if you were looking back at me to see me looking back at you

[venta]

OK, this whole new year resolution monthly write-up thing didn't quite go to plan. I haven't managed to do one since September. So, instead we have the fourth quarter report, combined with end-of-year round-up.

Sleeping

The last few times I wrote, I waffled vaguely around the idea that (a) I seemed to be getting up a bit better but (b) it didn't seem to be at all related to the idea of getting enough sleep, going to bed early, being a sensible grown-up, etc.

So, what's changed in the last few months? Well, for one I got a new job. And, although it doesn't exactly have a fixed start-time, it's in an office where people don't float in at all hours of the day and thus I've been trying to get to my desk at something that at least resembles 9am. Maybe it'll wear off long-term, but at present the idea that I have to be out on time is doing a reasonable job of getting me out of bed.

Except today, because I forgot to set my alarm. But we'll gloss over that.

For next year? I don't think there's much point carrying this resolution over. I should probably carry on making sure I get to bed at a decent time, but I can't really justify that as a massive insight for the future ;)


Reading

It looks like I've not made my way through my list of 26 books this year - though I have now read 17 of them, and jolly good fun it's been too. There'll be reviews of the most recent four along shortly.

I think the list of books has done what it was intended to, and prompted me to read things I might no otherwise have picked up (or might not otherwise have heard of). Thanks to everyone who suggested books for the list. I'll carry on with it into 2014, and read the rest of the books :)


Writing

My stated aim this year was to submit some sort of written thing to somewhere at least once a month. Consulting my notes, it looks like I sent ten stories out into the world - which isn't quite once a month, but I'll take it as a moderate success.

None of them got accepted, by the way. Many of them didn't even get a response :( On the plus side, the most recent one did get the nicest rejction letter I've had to date :)

Probably the biggest spur to actual writing this year was the fortnightly Writers' Triangle that lathany, chrestomancy and I formed ourselves into. This means I have to have produced a Written Thing at least once a fortnight, and I have to carry on and finish it even when it doesn't look very promising. I've always said I'd hate the idea of writing fiction on a deadline, but it turns out doing so is better than not writing it at all.

Anyway, the other vertices of the Triangle turn out to be an endless source of useful criticism, picking holes in grammar, spelling, plot, tone... even logistics. Which explains why, one evening, I muttered the rather unexpected phrase "I apologise for giving insufficient thought to how to beat a toddler to death in a cupboard". Note to self: try writing about more pleasant subjects occasionally.

I sincerely hope the Triangle will carry on, which should ensure I keep writing. I hope to continue sending stories off to seek their fortunes, but don't regard that as essential.

The biggest problem for 2014, as I see it, is working out how my life fits together. I used to have things nicely planned out. My train journeys to and from work were largely where I did writing, of fiction and of LJ posts. My commute is now half an hour on the Tube, and getting either a laptop or a notebook out on a crammed Central Line train ain't happening. I used to cycle across Reading and go running during my lunch hour - and while I still could trot round the streets of central London, I suppose, my new office lacks showers. So I'm not quite sure where exercise is going to fit in, either.

I could make a grand plan. But I'm not sure it's a very good idea; grand plans have a habit of coming unstuck when they hit unexpected obstacles. Grandiose resolutions are all very well, but I tend to make them, not do a terribly good job of following them, and then drift along same as ever.

I've just been watching a TED talk on how to make your family agile[*]. It's an interesting idea, but it's more about a model for a family-with-children than it is about one person trying to get themselves organised. But, for me, I think the most useful thing in it is the idea of setting small goals, evaluating progress often, failing fast on the stuff that isn't working and taking the good bits. Put much more simply: I should think about stuff, instead of wafting along through life.

At the same time, I shouldn't think too much. One of the exercise solutions I've been eyeing up was a pre-work yoga class. But... er... I don't think it's likely that I can get out of bed early enough to actually make that a reality. Probably the simplest way to resolve that is to stop worrying and try it out. If it doesn't work, move on, try something else.

I'm also aware that I've taken on a new job that, at present, I don't really know how to do. I've got a lot of stuff to learn: new programming languages, a new industry, a whole bunch of new technologies. I'm sure that I'll slowly absorb them as I go along, but it'd be nice to actually apply myself properly to learning new stuff in a way I have rarely done since leaving university. I noticed a while ago that the professional body I belong to offers a webwidget for tracking "continuous personal development". I don't know that I really need a widget, but I'm aware that if I look at my life over the last few years I'd have very little to write up in it (see also: preparing a CV). By the end of the year I'd like to feel that I could add a decent new section to my CV.

So, for 2014: evaluate life. Work out how to fit things in to it. Learn new stuff.

I think monthly posts on the topic of resolutions this year prevented me from forgetting about them - though I'm aware that they got increasingly tedious. Possibly the writing of them is the important bit, you're excused reading ;)

[*] In the computer programming sense, not the leaping through hoops sense.

Comments

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I used to cycle across Reading and go running during my lunch hour

I didn't know that you ran. I can see that a lack of showers is an issue.

Probably the biggest spur to actual writing this year was the fortnightly Writers' Triangle that lathany, chrestomancy and I formed ourselves into.

Likewise. I'll soon run out of previously-written chapters and have to pick up some pace!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't really describe myself as a runner. I sort of bumble along and end up more tired than I would walking, so call it running. I am a pioneer of the fourteen minute mile :)

[davefish.livejournal.com]

[*] In the computer programming sense, not the leaping through hoops sense.

A shame - getting C around a dog agility track as fast as you can would be brilliant.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, now that you mention it...