Since I've got the rest of the year off, I might as well take a look back at 2006 and see how well I did with this year's resolutions. I'd better be quick--Jack is telling me to hurry up ;)

1. Write more - rather than set a specific wordcount or stories-completed goal, I thought I couldn't lose by just aiming to write more. Unfortunately I didn't write nearly as much as I'd planned. I could use the excuse that this year was both busy and stressful, but I'm still disappointed I didn't get more writing done. Oh well. I did, however, get my first story published, along with two other acceptances for stories to appear next year! Now that the dream of getting my fiction published has been realized, I need to keep at it. Here's hoping 2007 is a more productive year :)

2. Read more - I did read a little more than last year, which is nice. This might have had something to do with this year's stressful and exciting times. There's nothing like burying your head in a book for several hours to settle one's nerves....

3. Enjoy oil painting - so much for that! I partially completed one painting and haven't picked up the brushes since. This is partly due to not having enough time to devote to it, and partly due to not having a decent work area. The latter made it a chore to set everything up, and the cats have already proved it's not a good idea to leave art supplies (or anything for that matter) out where they can get at it! I still like the idea of art classes, but it could be a few years before I can afford the time or money for those. This year at least, painting was relegated to the same fate as playing the electric guitar. Maybe I'll have better luck next year?

This year's stats are included below for the numerically inclined:

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2006 Stats:

2006 Word count:	17,922
Stories written:	4
Total submissions:	44
Total acceptances:	3
Total rejections:	42
Waiting for response:	5
Books read:	15
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	4
Audiobooks:	20

I'm still pondering whether I should bother setting any official resolutions for next year. So far the only thing I'm sure of is that I want to do a lot more writing. I guess I'll just have to see if I get swept up in the year-end resolution-setting euphoria again this year :)

What I'm Reading:
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny (still at it!)
Fantastic Tales of Ray Bradbury, Ray Bradbury (audiobook)