Hello, new year!

I kept meaning to post something during December, but I never got around to it! For my family and I, the last part of 2015 really wasn't too great - we had too many funerals to attend between us, and lost too many family members / friends. We are all glad to see the back of 2015, and hope that 2016 will be a lot brighter!

In the meantime, I didn't really achieve many of my goals last year, but I did manage to achieve my GoodReads goal for the year! Here is my widget:

2015 Reading Challenge

Trisha has read 0 books toward her goal of 42 books.

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0 of 42 (0%)

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So I was glad to at least achieve one thing, even if it was tough at times. In 2016 I will also be setting myself a reading goal, but it's going to be much smaller than last year's. I will be undertaking some study during this year, and will need to use much of my spare time for that. I'm going to miss reading voraciously, but I at least hope to read a few books this year. I've also moved to the 'dark side' (or rather, the only side there really should be when it comes to reading!) and from now on I intend to not pursue any book I'm reading that I can't stand, or that is hard work to get through. So I have created a new shelf on GoodReads, "did not finish", and will just put any books I am not very into on that shelf. As people have said to me many times, "Life is too short!"

I did achieve some other things last year, but not as much as I would have liked. However, things will be changing around here - I need to strike a balance in my life, between work, volunteering with my rescue group, and having time for me / my creative pursuits.

I'm hoping 2016 will be the year I start to get more of a balance.

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year! (+ GOALS update)

Happy New Year everyone! I had a relatively quiet night with two friends - we even finished off the night with a cup of tea. ;)
Though we didn't party hard, I was with two of the best people in the world, and I daresay we are all feeling pretty good today, unlike many.

Now that it's 2015, I guess I should be deciding what I'm going to do with this year in terms of goals. But right now I am just going to focus on non-creative goals I want to achieve before I go back to work on Jan 12th.

These are my current goals:

1. Sort out what's in my garage ... other than 2 foster cats who are in there. ;) Don't need to sort them out just yet!
2. Buy a new pair of sneakers ... so I can start up my beach walks again.
3. Get emotionally prepared to sell my car.

Those will do for now. :)

Happy New Year everyone!

It's nearing the end of my first day of 2014, and what have I got to show for it? Well, so far today I have:

• eaten a big and delicious breakfast at a friend's place following NYE celebrations last night;
• finished re-watching all the Harry Potter movies, and become suitably depressed as a result;
• taken my cats for a walk - or rather, been taken for a walk by my cats; it's a thing with them (yes, my cats are weirdos);
• eaten really bad take-out for dinner;
• thought about the fact that after this week I'm back at work!

I'm sure I did other things, but I'm in a bit of a holiday haze right now so those other things are escaping my thoughts.

I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve. Probably the highlight for me was when the Bon Jovi DVD reached a live version of "Always" and we all started dancing around my friend's kitchen and singing to each other about how we will love each other, aaaaalways.

It's been an uncharacteristically cool Christmas and New Year's around here, even if our friends in the Eastern States are sweltering. I have to say it's a really special treat when temps only reach, say, 25 celsius at this time of year.

I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to put up a simple post without any pictures (because I have none at the ready to put up), just to say Happy New Year to all of you - and let's make 2014 a great one!

I think I'm going to go and set my yearly GoodReads goal, at least if the widget is available yet.

Waving goodbye to '12 and hello to '13

Hi everyone! It's 11:37am on December 31st, and I'm hiding out in my air-conditioned living room wishing fervently for winter's return to Western Australia. Even typing on this laptop is a bit much 'cause it's radiating heat onto me. So I'll try and be quick about today's post! First off I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I hope you all have a great night tonight. I will raise a glass of red wine or two to all of you, my blogging friends, and also to my friend Ally who passed away back in September - it's her 28th birthday today. Happy birthday Ally.

In other news, I'm eager to turn my attention to 2013, which I hope will have a lot of awesome times for all of us. Personally I'm looking forward to the A-to-Z challenge, numerous blogfests, BuNoWriMo, NaNoEdMo, and of course NaNoWriMo. I'm looking forward to stuff I haven't even imagined could happen, too. I'm also thinking about the following:

• I might change the URL of this blog - the farseas is relevant to one particular story of mine, but it's quite an obscure reference
• I'll be changing the look of the blog, though I haven't got a specific plan yet. It won't be a total overhaul
• I'll probably be releasing an actual CD of my music, with inlay and booklet and all, largely thanks to the very awesome collaboration I've been in with a guy called Billy from California
• I want to self-publish a story, and I'm thinking of starting with a novella I wrote for BuNoWriMo one year (I think it was 2011).

All my 2013 goals are summarised in the following two pages, though the Goals 2013 page is the main one I'll be holding myself to:

Goals 2013

52 weeks of tasks 2013

I thought my GoodReads friends would like to know that one of the items on my task chart is writing a mini-review of one Grimm Fairytale story per week. The reason for this is that I want to get this damn book read once and for all. ;) It's been on my "currently reading" list at GoodReads for years now!

Right. I think I've said all I want and need to say for 2012. I will say again though, thank you to everyone who has read my blog this year. You guys are awesome!

 Bring on 2013!!

New Year's Eve and writing goals!

Photo ©  Konstantin Chagin

I shall be drinking both those glasses of champagne this evening (or at least, glasses of champagne that look similar)! It's New Year's Eve and that's reason enough to celebrate! (not that I need much excuse for champagne...and yes, I did go through a phase when I hated the stuff, but I've done a 180 since then!) But I have another reason to celebrate.

I achieved all my writing/revising/etc. goals for 2011!!

I have put up a page for 2012's goals, so we'll see how I go with those. I will have a period of about four weeks in March/April when I'll be overseas, so I will be taking that into account. But for now I am basking in my achievements for this year. Instead of rehashing them, I will just point you to the 2011 goals page.

Have an awesome New Year's Eve, and I'll see you in 2012!!!

Happy New Year...'s Eve!

Here in Western Australia it's 10:15 am on New Year's Eve...day. So yeah, I get to say what's in my title!

I hope everyone has an excellently awesome New Year's Eve. I will be on the river watching the fireworks over the water, hopefully with a glass or two of champagne in hand. I will also be furiously thinking (when I'm not busy talking) about what I'm going to do next with my editing of SUNDOWN. Yep, lately I've got a one-track mind. But I will be thinking in general about the coming year, and all the exciting things I will have to show at the end of it.

Some things that will happen in 2011:

1. I will finish reading up to book 13 of the WHEEL OF TIME series, and depending on when the final book is released, may even finish the entire series. I'm too lazy to go and google that release date, so...yeah. I have the feeling there are going to be MANY tears when this is finally all over. Even now I'm emotional thinking it's coming to an end. It's sad that Robert Jordan isn't alive to see it end, but at least his vision is being realised.

2. We are probably going to be doing a weird HARRY POTTER read/watch combo, where we read the first book and watch the first movie and then discuss them. Should be...interesting. Hehe.

3. All my goals I've already listed here will be worked towards, and barring some unforeseen disaster, will be achieved!

4. I will see my brother married in the Canadian Rockies! Not right on a mountain, but in the town he's currently calling home. I will also be a bridesmaid. Yikes!!

5. I will turn...31. Gasp.

6. My cat will turn 3. Gasp. My other cat will turn...5? I don't know her age since she was a foster kit cat.

7. Summer will pass blessedly into the night, making way for autumn and then winter. But I guess that's nothing new, eh? Still, I can't wait! This heat is really getting old. Then again, for me heat is old before it's even begun.

8. Um...other stuff will happen. Yeah.

Okay, I'm ending this here. But happy New Year's Eve everyone! :)

P.S. Crap! I just remembered I have to finish the Reverb10 stuff. Maybe I'll do that on January 1st.