Today is the day after my birthday and September 1st feels like the start of a new year for me, so following up on last year’s post, I thought I’d go through what I accomplished this year, because it often feels to me (especially around my birthday) that I “don’t do enough”. So this is mostly a list for me to reflect back on what I actually did do in a year.

• sewed and pieced and handquilted two quilts
• rebranded a friend’s company and created and designed an entire brand identity and manual
• designed and laid out the e-book Becoming Beast for Grace&Victory
• researched and planned a three month trip to Taiwan and Japan, including arranging a subletter/catsitter
• studied Japanese on my own
• attempted NaNo2016 (eventually gave up mid-second week, but still did the prep work)
• visited Taiwan for a week over New Years
• moved to Japan for 3 months
• studied Japanese in an immersion class for 2 months
• planned and travelled with cutie and my dad for 2 weeks across the country
• wrote Still Life (a short story, but the first thing I’ve finished since 2016’s Northern Portents, so it feels momentous)
• designed a friend’s Fringe show posters + postcards, my last graphic design commitment!
• started the blog Tootles in TO, for the Michaela Mowbray site (launching soon)
• did a big, house-wide decluttering
• finished Embers/Ignition!
• did the final round of editing on Creampuffs and started the query letter
• re-edited Northern Portents
• started the final round of editing on Ashes

It’s weird, that list feels too short (maybe I am forgetting something) but then most of those single-bullet points were projects that spanned many months; also, I moved to Japan for three whole months. I suppose it doesn’t feel very impressive because a lot of the later projects are still on the go. I have to keep reminding myself I am still in the ‘digging the foundation’ stage of a new career. But I officially stopped being a graphic designer, and that’s pretty momentous for me (I am actually planning a tattoo around that). And I’ll repeat that I was living in Japan for three months. 35 was in many ways a stressful year; but it was memorable. Here is to 36, my 37th trip around the sun!