In the mid-1970s, in the dead of winter, despite advice to the contrary, my mother went see a night show of Rosemary’s Baby. I’ve never got around to asking her if she did manage to watch the whole thing—I tend to get distracted by that part of the story where, being nine months pregnant, she went into labour, and some 16 hours later, out I popped.
It was probably a fitting movie, for I’m willing to bet that recalcitrant little me felt like the devil incarnate to my 20-year-old mother. Forty-four years later, and somewhat larger in size, I guess I still do. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
Anyhow, to skip to the spoiler, I don’t think I have any satanic tendencies. Unless you count having a decent year despite the impending climate catastrophe and fascism taking over our world.
Let’s see how I did with my goals for 2019:
- Finish writing one book and submit to a publisher: DONE. Although I’ve got stuck in another round of revisions, so a full submission is yet to happen. On the bright side, a publisher has shown some interest.
- Stay fit and in good health: DONE. Hope to continue with more of the same.
- Pitch more freelance stories; get into a dream publication: DONE. I pitched more than 150 stories in 2019; met my $1+/word assignment target; and got a commission from a dream pub.
- Blog more regularly: DONE. Not as much as I’d have liked, but it’s in improvement.
- Visit Japan: Does Thailand count?
- Find time for gaming: MAYBE. I’m going to give myself half a point for this one.
That makes a total of 4.5/6, one of my best in recent years. I’ll take that as a good sign for the decade to come.
So, rolling ahead with the optimism, here’s what I want to achieve in 2020:
- Finish another book, preferably fantasy, but I’ll take anything
- Draw more
- Do more crochet
- Travel (Bangalore doesn’t count)
- Stay more politically engaged (in whatever way)
How does that sound?
Hmm. #HumDekhenge in 2021.
(Image by markgregson from Pixabay)
