Q4 2021 for me was definitely a Big Fat Restart, coming as it did with the return of my inner dialogue.
For clarity, Dean Wesley Smith calls Q4 the The Time of Restart as you finally get your shit together following The Time of Great Regret. Though I suppose for writers of the Southern Hemisphere, this is our time for Forgetting (getting caught up in the affairs of Summer). Which does mess with the rest of the cycle. I can see I’m going to have to think more about that.
Q4 2021 Review
1. Husband
- Cooking his favourite meals.
- Sharing his concerns.
- Doing the chores that annoy him the most when they don’t get done.
Well… Haven’t done so well on this one. I’ve been caught up writing, and thinking about writing all hours of the day and night, and pretty much ignored him.
Massive fail.
2. Health
- Walk every morning before breakfast.
- Prepare healthy lunches at breakfast.
- Slowly give up meat and sugar.
We’re still walking most days, though the hotter weather makes it less pleasant to walk in the evening.
We’ve been using the delivery service for long enough to get picky about it. But the reasons for trialling it remain as valid, if not more when you bring my kidney transplant and the omicron variant into consideration.
I don’t eat much meat anymore, but eggs and dairy are harder. Definitely doing less salt and sugar, though not quite quit. The main problem is we don’t like the flavour of the alternatives, and ready made is easier than DIY. Especially icecreams in summer. I’m eating more fruit to compensate for biscuits and cakes (luckily the cherry and berry farms are still open).
3. Writing
- Write every day.
- Write first thing in the morning.
- Finish one thing, then write the next.
I wrote quite a lot – the stories that made up Christmas Travesties and Five Faces of Felicia Clarke.
But I’m knackered!
I’m already thinking next year I might try counting time instead of words next year.
Upshot
I’d hoped to chill out and relax a bit in Q4 2021, but it seems, not so much.
Dare I suggest it for Q1?
How did your Q4 2021 go?
For more, see the Project Life Worth Living page.
P.S. The Hanging Rock in the photo above, is the Hanging Rock featured in Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey, which was the inspiration for the Peter Weir directed movie Picnic at Hanging Rock. I read the book about 40 years ago when I lived somewhere else, and found the actual rock pretty creepy when I visited it about 20 years ago.