What I can and what I can’t do
I’ve been reading a lot of posts about other people’s 2020 plans and goals (it is that time of year). Since writing (fun stuff) more is one of my goals, I thought I should launch my own 2020 post into the fray.
2019 was the year of finally finishing my @#%%$ dissertation while holding down a full-time job. This document is far the most unfun piece of writing I’ve ever produced and it took way more time than I thought it would (here it is if anyone is interested or suffering from insomnia).
My original hope of defending in April slipped to August then slipped again to October. With each slippage my stress levels amped up, and I started fantasizing about walking away from the whole project. But… I didn’t walk away, and I successfully defended in October—which was followed by the surprise of having to spend November reworking the @#%%$ dissertation. I made it through the maze of university bureaucracy mid-December and now am officially done. The actual piece of paper confirming I have the degree won’t arrive until June.
From September until just recently, I was also working through career angst—because there was a very good opportunity for me that required having a PhD. My ego wanted me to use the degree that I spent so much time earning—but my current day job is pretty good and the people I spend my days with are fantastic. The list of pros and cons around chasing the new opportunity turned out almost balanced. Putting my ego aside, I went with the choice where I’m happy—which is keeping my day job the way it is.
Over my stress-ridden 2019, I managed to get the third book in my science fiction series out. However, I wrote the manuscript during NaNoWriMo in 2017. In fact, I created minimal new fiction in 2019 (only a couple of short stories as book 4 in the same series was originally drafted during NaNoWriMo 2018). To change this in 2020, I’m in discussion with a fellow author about doing our own novel writing month in April this year. Delving into new ideas and making up stories is fun for me and I miss doing it. This is true for both my fiction and non-fiction.
Even though I have the capability to accomplish a lot, I don’t like the stress of being that busy. With this in mind, my goals for this year are to de-stress and do less while making sure a good portion of what I do is fun. I’ll be writing, ramping my garden back up, working on a few other creative projects, getting out into nature and hanging out with family and friends. Nothing fancy but stuff I’ll enjoy.