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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!

Published in blog personal

vfeistner

Victoria Feistner is a novelist, a graphic designer, and an artisan in equal parts, although some of those parts are more equal than others. She resides in Toronto with her husband and two fur children, also known as cats.

4 Comments for "A Year in Review, 2017"

  • Lydia

    That list may seem short to you, but it felt really long (and super impressive) to me! It’s amazing how much you did in the past 12 months.

    Reply
  • Ean Bowman

    Cutest sun-traveller. I may be biased. <3

    Reply
  • vfeistner

    It probably only seems long because instead of a day-job I have a series of smaller projects. I’m sure if you were to break down your job/hobbies into projects it would seem equally as impressive!

    Reply

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