Do you still think that way about me now?

Toying with the idea of doing some regular features in LJ next year, just trying to be on more frequently. My work life is off-limits due to issues of confidentiality and the fiddly, bitsy nature of the job; trying to explain what I do to people who aren't part of the same working environment would take too long and is, frankly, boring. My social life is - well, moribund. Soooo... I have to think of some other way to use this blog.

Was thinking of an "I Like...Mondays" feature - just talking about things I like, whether that's an object, an activity, or something more nebulous. I'll admit, this one is more about cheering myself up than about sharing stuff with you guys. Work has been so demoralising that I think I need to focus deliberately on the positive.

The only other one that's solid in my head is "Sketchy Sundays". I bought myself one of those Week-to-View diaries a while back, the kind where each day has a blank, unlined space, and I'm planning to use it as a daily sketch/doodle book. I figure that since the diary ends each week on a Sunday, I could scan and post each week's efforts on that day.

I'm considering talking more about books, TV or music, although that wouldn't be a weekly thing.

...Anyway, that's what's in my head.

52 054 out of 100 000.

I suppose I should be happy that I'm writing at all. Sorry, folks, I'm fed up with being down and tired and "not in the mood".

I've decided that, as February is a short month, I'll run on into the first two days of March.

I've spent most of today looking for a list I made of books I would like to read. I thought I had left it somewhere safe - but it's not there, and I can't find it. It's pissing me off because there's no way I would remember all those titles and authors on my own.

Since this is my own personal NaNo, I'm just going by the word count tool on the laptop here. I started with a count of 50 546, and I now have...

50 806 out of 100 000.

Poot. I'm tired and distracted by television and still feeling unmotivated. I've been feeling that way most of January :/ I'll have to give myself a kick up the ass.

I've got soooooo much stuff that I wanted to talk about - photos to post, damn, I have never even mentioned Oliver, our three-legged cat, and he's been around since August!

I consider New Year a non-holiday. First, it comes too quickly after Christmas and, let's face it, Christmas gets the better publicity. New Year is like an after-thought: "HAPPY CHRISTMAS!! (Oh, yeah, and New Year too.)" Secondly, there is nothing to do on New Year - except to sit about until midnight and then wish everybody a happy New Year. Maybe if you were somewhere like Edinburgh, with the Hogmanay first-footers, ceilidhs and pipers playing Auld Lang Sine at midnight, it would be enjoyable, but my one and only experience of a New Year's party (the millennium, remember that?) was... kinda dull. Thirdly, New Year's resolutions are stupid. I can't think of anything more demotivating than reviewing all the things you didn't achieve in the year past and then saying, "Well, I'll just have to do it this year."

I have never made New Year resolutions (despite writing a poem about them at primary school - not my choice of subject; it was given as homework). But this year, I do have some... if not resolutions, then at least vague aims.

First, February is going to be my own personal NaNo month, to finish off the manuscript for Kalynder Girls 1. I'm gonna aim for another 50 000 words; if I come to the end of the story before that, all well and good.

Secondly, I will keep a record of the books I have read. I'll review the ones I feel strongly enough about, but otherwise, it'll be a straightforward list of titles and authors.

Thirdly, I will listen to ALL of my albums. I wouldn't say I have an exhaustive CD collection - but it's big enough. There are albums I have never listened to, others that I used to listen to all the time but haven't heard in ages, and a few that I played only once. And I want to listen listen - actually pay attention to the music and not just have it as background noise.

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you can look back on 2010 with fondness and that 2011 will be a happy time for you :)