Happy New Year!
Published by Deanna Hoak December 31st, 2007 in blogYou know, I’ve never been the type to make New Year’s resolutions. In years past, I’ve just never had all that much I wanted to change–or if I did want to change something, I did it right away. Those of you who know me fairly well, though, know that 2007 has been really rough for me, with a lot of the worst issues revolving around problems I don’t have the power to change, and I’ll honestly be glad to push this year off to its funeral pyre. (If you don’t know me all that well, I’ve had reasons for not blogging. You really wouldn’t want to hear all the whining I’d have been doing. :-)) As a result, I’ve been afflicted with a stronger ennui, spilling over into almost every area of my life, than I remember feeling in a long while. I want 2008 to be different, but I’m not completely sure how to get there. It seems trite to say to myself “Do more (or less) of X” in the hope that it will solve anything.
But I have you guys–any of you who’ve stuck around through all the dry blogging periods. Offer me your suggestions. What do you think I should do this coming year? Serious or silly, I’m listening. :-)
I hope for all of us, too, that 2008 is wildly better than 2007. Happy New Year, all of you. :-)
8 Responses to “Happy New Year!”
Leave a Reply
Search
About
I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award for my copyediting.
RSS FeedCategories
- blog (436)
- conventions (14)
- copyediting (54)
- food (12)
- grammar (2)
- kids (20)
- praise (14)
- SFnal (10)
- writing (23)
Title of Novel by Deanna Hoak
I feel ya. I just got out of six months of the same ennui.
What pulled me out? The realisation that I wasn’t going anywhere with my goals, my career, my life.
I like having things to look back on, to point to and to say, “Look what I did!” and have someone other than myself be impressed.
Nobody is impressed by cruising by life, watching TV and surfing the net. I realised that deep down I wanted to impress a few people (nobody in particular), and that means getting my act together.
“But one shouldn’t be concerned with impressing other people,” the practical voice in my head says. “You’re the only person you need to impress.”
Well, no. Impressing people is a worthy goal for me. I need the feedback.
Hmm making suggestions about what another person should do is extremely dangerous. But lets see …
Hug your kids more and tell them that you love them every chance you get - They listen even when they don’t say anything. They will be grown before you know it and love is the most important gift you can give them.
Pick something you’ve always wanted to do and do it - no excuses. 20 years ago when I got sold off (yes really) I made a list of things I’ve wanted to do before I died. It covered quite a broad spectrum. The only one I haven’t completed was to travel around the world (not as a tourest). I’ve covered half the world and almost got the opportunity to do the rest this year. It provides a great deal of satisfaction and avoids ever having to say ” If only …” Just make sure you don’t sacrifice anything important like family to achieve your goals.
Walk on the beach and enjoy some quiet time with the universe and god.
Ignore peoples (grin) advice a little and listen to your own heart. No one’s figured out the right way to live their lives yet. That’s why there’s so much advice about it. Somethimes it helps to list to how other people have struggled with things though. Maybe in some ways we are all alone but we all ultimately struggle with the same types of problems. We are all travelers on the same path and we can sing together as we hike along. I think that is the main purpose of literature. Don’t you?
Give up something important for just a little while to prove to yourself that you are in control of yourself and that your love of things doesn’t control you. I think this is what lent and other forms of fasting are about. I used to treat lent more as a joke like new years resolutions but several years ago I decided to give up playing video games for lent (oh no !! ). It was incredibly hard to do. Knowing it was only for a little while helped. The benefits were surprising in many ways.
Write us another story. That’s a scary one. A good honest original story reveals much more about ourselves than almost anything else. I was impressed by what you’ve written. Make sure to offer to share it with your family (even scarier). When my mother died a found a bundle of letters she had written to my father as she traveled from New York city to Utah to join him at his army base towards the end of WWII. It was a fastinating journal and provided me with a greater insite into the lives of my parents than all the time I lived with them as I grew up. It was written with no expectation that anyone other than my father would ever read it but she kept it and put it in a place where we were sure to read it after she died. What a wonderful gift to leave.
Now I’ve rambled on too much but you did ask for it
Finally do have a good new year.
John
I really hope your next year is better, Deanna. Sometimes I feel bad that I just let everything I’m thinking/feeling/hating fly out of my mouth (or onto my blog even) and I sometimes don’t give friends as much time as they deserve.
May your new year be a massive improvement on the last, and hopefully we will be able to hang out and chat about more cheerful things this year. :) Hopefully I’ll run into you somewhere!
Acquire additional gowns (such as you modeled for the awards) and then make a calendar.
Go for that dream you told me about over dinner.
This really goes with the previous blog entry but … what are you doing now that the temperature is below freezing??
I know where you’re coming from. The trials of late 2007 also pushed me away from my blog for a while. I’ll put your feed on my reader for when you return.
Good luck in 2008, from a sister in ennui.