Retrospective

I am sad to see 2010 go.  In 2009, I could do no right.  Everything I worked for fell to pieces in my hands.  But in 2010 everything went right.  If the theme of 2009 was "no," then 2010 was "yes!"

The most important shift of this year for us was the transition between being people scrambling to invest in our careers for future payoff, to being people who are working in our careers and getting paid.  Drew made a livable wage this year.  His business supported us fully all year long without a problem.  I’m finally getting paid for a novel, which is a long time coming.  We’ve spent the last three years scrambling to hold on long enough for our businesses to really take hold (with another seven years of scrambling before that on my end) and I finally feel like we’ve arrived.  We’re there.  We’re doing it.

So this year was a year of transition.  We bought a house.  We moved.  We learned how to deal with a yard, and the various tasks that go with it. Drew went to a major convention and learned some invaluable things.  He completed five beautiful competition entries for that con–something we will not do again.  We turned out four more Schlock Mercenary minis, and Drew spent most of the year buried under a pile of commissions on top of it.  We built a new website.  I sold a novel.  I waited through epic contract negotiations.  We signed.  Most importantly, we spent the last four and a half months NOT transitioning, so that I’m starting to feel in control of my life again.  And I like it.

Next year has a lot of work in it–all of it work I’m looking forward to.  I’ve got my writing goals all lined up for the first segment of the year.  Drew’s already got commissions lined up for January.  I have the end-of-the-year accounting tasks all penciled in.  We took the week off between Christmas and New Years, and I’m starting to get itchy to get back to work.  

2010 was the year when things-hoped-for became reality.  Here are my hopes for 2011: a year of making this new reality a comfortable routine.  And settling into that reality in ways that are sustainable and in keeping with our long-term goals.

Happy New Year, everyone.  May your 2011 be everything you hope for, too.