'Doing' in all capital letters --DOING-- looks like it should be pronounced like a bouncy ball 'boing!'
But, 2019! It's nearly 9am on the first day of the New Year. By the time I post this it'll probably be lunch-time because I overthink every little word I write and somehow still manage to make spelling mistakes. :D
I'm not really big on the whole New Year thing. Want to know what I did last night?
I drank three whole whisky-and-cokes, went across to my neighbour's and had grownup talk of money and life, went back home and cooked dinner entirely negating the alcohol I had just drank by filling my stomach with food, played some Elder Scrolls Online, and went to bed at 10pm.
Exciting! I know. :) Here's my brand new sorcerer. My partner is offended because she's super electrical and zappy-zappy and can kill things in two lightning bolts whilst his two-handed sword takes four or five swings. Sorry.
Anyway. The last time I celebrated New Year's Eve "properly" was when I was 20 or so. It's just another day. People really only celebrate it because it's an excuse to get entirely fahschnickered and I'm just not into that anymore. Yep. Party pooper. Booze in Australia is offensively expensive and I like to keep mine for one or two relaxing drinks before bedtime to end those stressful days.
In saying that - like most people, I have a tendency to think, "Yay! It's Day 1 of a brand new year... what can I do to make this a good year?" .... and then never do those things. ;)
I would like it to be different this year though. Maybe stating my few very reasonable goals publicly will be the needed kick in the arse.
I have a couple of people reading my Half Past the Moonfall at the moment and am awaiting feedback. There was one plot-hole in it that I hurriedly fixed, but hopefully it wasn't too hurriedly and flows good enough. It's only supposed to be a casual/fun book anyway, but I still want it to be somewhat decent.
Finish Ascension and Vengeance. After years of umm'ing and ahh'ing, I have finally decided to write these how I bloody well want to. NOT in chronological order. IN ALL THE OVERDESCRIPTIVE GLORY I DESIRE. So Vengeance is on the back burner til Ascension is done and dusted. And it will need to be rewritten AGAIN to fix all the over-editing I did. I am an overly descriptive monster and you will like it!
After living in my mind for twenty odd years, they'll be out this year, I swear. Not going to go insane and promise the whole trilogy -- Darien still hasn't told me how he wants his story ended, but Lyria and Alexandria have known their stories for years. It is time.
Literary critics or fiction snobs won't like them, but I don't give a rat's butt. No-one is going to like my politically incorrect Australian humour in Half Past the Moonfall either. Probably not even other Australians since we're all slowly becoming Melbournians.
So, yes. BOOKS. It is time to stop thinking and start DOING!
Here's a typical one --DIET CHANGE! I was doing so well over the last five years or so, until 2018 hit. Suddenly, I had a year where all that mattered was sugar and whatever junk food I could possibly eat. I needed the comfort and nothing else helped, well, the St John's Wort did. A bit. Need to go back to my better eating days. Not much else to say about that!
Meat, fruit, vegetables, and lots of home-baked goodies involving spinach and bacon. (best savoury muffins ever)
This is pretty self-explanatory. Be less like the lonely guy sitting at his laptop, and be more one with the crowd. That entirely contradicts my WRITE ALL THE THINGS AND PUBLISH THEM goal, but work/life balance is something I desperately need.
I LIKE being lonely. I enjoy it. Silence and peace and only having to worry about myself... (selfish alert)... sometimes I feel like a fool for having started a family. Was that truly the right decision? Being a writer is a very neglectful profession and I'm a terrible person. But surely I can balance it better. When it comes to family and when it comes to community.
I want to be more involved in a couple of the communities here in Steemit that I've joined. Which I have slowly started doing a few months ago, but I need to be more interactive and less a silent observer.
And family... is family. I need to be a better person.
Anywho, that's basically it!
Happy New Year and all that :) may 2019 be the year of DOING and not of hopeless thinking, neglect, and a doughnut a day!!
(started writing at 8:50am, posting this at 11:25. Knew it'd take a couple of hours!)
All pictures used in this post are courtesy of Pixabay and I'm too lazy to format this in a nicer way than:
https://pixabay.com/en/texture-handwriting-s%C3%BCtterlin-1362877/
https://pixabay.com/en/asparagus-steak-veal-steak-veal-2169305/
https://pixabay.com/en/beard-business-business-people-cafe-2326422/
https://pixabay.com/en/cheers-joy-poor-community-204742/
https://pixabay.com/en/sparkling-wine-bubbles-glasses-two-1030754/
https://pixabay.com/en/happy-new-year-new-year-s-day-1063797/
I really enjoyed reading this, @kaelci! This word made me laugh out loud: fahschnickered. I knew instantly what it meant, but I assume it's a made-up word. You're a gifted essayist, at the very least. I've read short stories of yours, and I know you are a talented fiction writer as well, but haven't read any of your longer works yet. I wish you the very best as you get them ready for publication. Writing long works -- a series, in your case -- is quite the marathon!
I love your life balance goals. Your struggle to find the right mix of alone-working-on-creative-stuff time and being with the crowd, connecting on Discord, and being with family and focusing on health really resonated with me. I have the same challenge. It's not going away. But what we can do is schedule things a little more, connect a little more, set our own stuff aside at least a few times a week for family, and make sure we do stuff with them. I'll be writing up my own New Year's post today. You have inspired me!!
p.s. Your new character is amazing.
I wish you much success with your goals and a prolifically creative new year.
Love the word “fahschnickered!” I now have a goal to use that word completely naturally in a sentence this year.
Hehe, I shamelessly stole the word from Mel Brooks' rabbi in Robin Hood: Men in Tights ;) It is an amazing word!
Thank you for the wishes!