Happy New Year!

It is no longer New Year’s Day in many parts of the world, but I wanted to post a quick check-in.

Christmas was . . . insane. In a good way, but insane. New Year’s has been in contrast amazingly low-key and productive.

This day last year, I had some goals of habits I wanted to develop. Now, I procrastinate a little less on (some) things that need doing. Procrastination is still a crutch, but I’ve gotten better at taking care of things as I see them, though there’s still lots of room for improvement. In 2013, I did write more letters than 2012, but improving on next to nothing isn’t difficult. I probably used the library three times this year, up from twice last year. Obviously, I still have a lot of room for improvement.

But 2013 brought a lot of opportunities to challenge things that scare me. Each time I did just contributes to making me more awesome.

And I definitely made art. Whether it’s good or not? That’s another matter entirely.

2013 also brought new places and experiences (Ecuador! ReaderCon!), my first paycheck for a story,  and a new day job that offers me mental challenges and story-fodder (though conversely it makes finding time to write significantly more of a challenge).

For 2014, I want to write every day, and not feel guilty or beat myself up when I miss a day here and there, or if all I can manage is a single paragraph. I would dearly love to sell more stories, but as something I have no real control over, I’ll settle for writing the best stories I can and sending them out for submission. And I desperately want to get better at this whole social media thing.

I want to continue improving on the habits of 2013’s goals.

2014 will be a busy year. I’ll be visiting Istanbul, attending ReaderCon this summer and World Fantasy Con in DC this fall. There are so many projects ahead! Can’t wait to share them and see them out in the world. The first of the year is always so exciting . . .