2012 In My Rear View Mirror

Ending a year on a positive note is, in my opinion, at least as important as starting a year on a positive note.

I took a little time recently to look in my rear view mirror and examine the positive things that have happened this year.  I decided to list many of those accomplishments that apply in some form to blogging or writing.

Having begun diligently working on my first book a little over a year ago and started blogging back in February, I've:

• Published over 200 posts
• Finished drafting--and revising--The Bonding, my first book in the Strands of Pattern series
• Welcomed more than 30 writers, bloggers and authors as guests on my blog
• Received more compliments, congratulations and well-wishes than I can count
• Watched my confidence as a writer (and even blogger) grow beyond my expectations
• Joined over four hundred blogs and frequent a hundred more
• Created a Facebook page, Google+ and Goodreads accounts, and started Tweeting
• Found some top-of-the-line critique partners
• Had dozens of my posts linked from inkPageant and other places 
• Attended my first writer's workshop (Thank you, Uncle Orson Scott Card!)
• Had a short story published
• Critiqued or reviewed a half-dozen full length novels in addition to scores of chapters and short stories
• Met a slew of awesome people and embarked upon some treasured friendships.

As such, I am forced to conclude that 2012 has been a most excellent year.  And I wanted you to know that if you're reading this post then chances are good that you helped make it so.

And to you I say, thanks!

May we endeavor to accomplish great things in 2013 and find the courage and determination to succeed.

Busy Busy Busy

That's me this week.  And last week.  And next week too!

I've fallen behind on my NaNoWriMo word count this week.  Significantly.  Obligations and responsibilities and happenstances, oh my!  At least I can refuse to take credit for the happenstances.

The old computer finally gave up the ghost.  I saw it coming and didn't even need to rely on my astute precognitive prowess to foretell it.  Poor thing had been making an awful racket for quite some time--somewhat akin to the sound a car with a manual transmission makes when the driver doesn't understand the purpose of a clutch.

So, I stripped the old girl of her goods.  I pulled out the three hard drives and plugged them into the new PC I had purchased a while back anticipating her untimely demise.  So I now have 2.7 terabytes of disk space spread out among four internal hard drives.  My USB external drive brings the count to five.  I hooked up the old VGA for a second monitor and am now pondering the next purchase.

Laptop or desktop, that's the decision I now must make.  I love the expandability of desktops, but appreciate the benefits that portable units provide.  And I do have the Orson Scott Card Writing Workshop coming up next month.  (T-Minus 37 days and counting.)

I'm hesitant to spend the bigger bucks on a laptop, however.  There just aren't that many times I need the portability.  My foresight sees only two days in June that warrant one.  And I do have my Android tablet if I were to suddenly be whisked away on a business trip.

But busy pursues me.  My son is getting married Saturday.  Mother's Day is Sunday.  A six-day workweek awaits me beginning Monday.  I have writing to critique.  I have short stories waiting to be finished.  And my NaNoWriMo project refuses to write itself.

And I can't shake that nagging suspicion that busy will be a little less persistent once my NaNo month has concluded.  Is that not the way of things?