Ah, December 2023 – the final lingering touch of one of my least favourite years. More appointments… Only this time following up on the surgery, though as a bonus, visits to the Cookie Shop. (Which didn’t inspire the story, but did remind me to publish it).

November 2023 was taken up with a lot of medical appointments. Which quite frankly, are exhausting.

It feels like a lot happened during September October 2023, but that’s mainly because it’s a relatively long time (8 weeks). During that time, I prepared to go into hospital, stayed for a week, and now I’m, out and still recuperating now.

Here in August 2023, I’m back to cartoon head spinning as the month whips past me, leaving me wondering where it went.

July 2023 was a much better month than June. A happier, more productive, and mostly more settled month.

May 2023 was a weird month ranging from laid out after my Covid vaccination to up and about, posing for a photshoot for new headshots. (Which went swimmingly, and you can look forward to seeing the new images soon).

April 2023 was a very social month, dominated by friends stopping over during their whirlwind visit to Australia.

March 2023 was a weekly mess of quiet preperation followed by a frenetic activity followed by prep followed by activity. I left the month almost as exhauted as when I entered it.

February 2023 was a month mostly devoted to rebranding and redeveloping my websites. Not that there’s been a great deal to see on this site. Some of it was even on my Kanban boards. Highlights from February 2023 I admit having to give up on the novella challenge was hard, and I moped for a…

January 2023 has been difficult for me without a plan to be going on with. I know I posted something towards planning 2023, but there weren’t any goals – not SMART, not HARD, not even getting better.

So. December 2022. Last month of the year. Supposedly the time you close out the year, ready to start afresh the very next day. I’m fairly certain I didn’t get to that…

What can I say about November 2022? I finally got my sauna! And while getting it unpacked and put up almost killed me, along with the fencing, I’m really happy it’s here.

October 2022 is over already! A day seems to take forever, but the month seems to have flown by. As usual.

September 2022 was notable for a deluge of stationery shop emails inviting me to pre-order my 2023 diary. Which was also handy for remembering to start my Christmas shopping list!

This is a combined July-August 2022 report, because quite frankly I’ve no idea why I didn’t do one in July. And I’m not going to bother this late.

June 2022, was pretty much missing in action – I went out to visit a doctor and came home with a lurgy or two. It seems I need to build up my immunity after being confined to the house for the better part of two years.

What can I say about May 2022, except that it came and went way too quickly. And I discovered there’s a world day for bees!

So, April 2022 marked the start of the second quarter, and my second 12 Week Year, the first using the 12 Week Year For Writers. And started with a sense of excitement.

The end of March 2022 marks the end of the quarter, and I can’t help feeling the year is over. Though I suppose my first 12 Week Year is. It’s left me feeling tired and a bit irritable.

Now that it’s February 2022, thanks to the 12 Week Year, I have the uncomfortable feeling the year is half over. And it kind of is.

January 2022, the first four weeks of my first attempt at a 12 Week Year. With mixed results.

Ah, December 2021, when the year that was FINALLY ran out of steam and ground down to the end. I thought we’d never make it.

November 2021 was like when someone (e.g., your recorded meditation) tells you to set your mind free and let it go anywhere it wants to go, but you don’t know where that is. And the options are endless so you don’t do much.

October 2021 marked the lifting of restrictions and the end of COVID lock downs. We were watching the vaccination rate increase, and I felt like a kid again, counting down the last couple of weeks before school broke out for the holidays!

September 2021 is best summed up by Dickens. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Well, it’s August 2021, and I’m still here. Nothing much has changed since last month… Remember the good old days when something was always happening?

Is it July 2021 already? It’s almost not worth ticking the days off the calendar – my life feels like one long hump day. Groundhog Wednesday…

June 2021. I’ve no idea how to describe June. Or where it went. Though I know I wrote a new short story a collection…

May 2021 turns out to be the month I broke, and then got my shit back together again. Struggling with bronchitis, but making progress. It feels bloody good to get back to living again.

April 2021 pretty much followed on from where March left off, and I ended the month still tired and needing some rest.

Spent most of March 2021 feeling exhausted and napping. I am one of those people tend to sleep when times get tough, so I’m starting to feel the pandemic is finally getting to me.

February 2021 was mostly devoted to settling the new addition to our family in. There was a lot of dog proofing, though we found out fairly quickly it was mostly inadequate, so we now have boxes stacked above puppy height with all the portable things.

January 2021 is off to a good start. And hopefully, I’ll continue to be a little kinder to myself, and remember not to think too far ahead, and to stay focused on each day.

I about reached the end of my rope in August 2020. For the most part nothing much has changed for me since January. I stay home, I write, I develop my Photoshop skills, I get through the day. But even I am having difficulties. I’d probably still choose to stay home, but having the choice…

July 2020 was a mixed blessing. One the one hand, the planet, and Melbourne in particular is a disaster.

June 2020 feels like a five-minute disaster movie sandwiched in between a bunch of other disaster movies in a century long disaster movie marathon.

Sitting here, preparing to review May 2020, it just feels like a sucky month. And this is, of course, the point of a monthly review – there was always more that happened than you can remember.

April 2020 just happened in between all the spaces. And there were a lot of spaces as (unsurprisingly) my appointments and meetings were cancelled or rescheduled one by one.

March 2020 was a horror month. There was/is all the Covid-19 shit going on, but more importantly for us, we had to say goodbye to Pretty Girl. She leaves an enormous hole, but also the opportunity to consciously reshape our lives with better habits. Virtue Feb Mar Notes Pleasure: AdventurePlan and take an international vacation…

Made some progress in February 2020, but I feel the year has already run away without me and I’ll not be able to catch up.

January 2020 marked the start of the transition to Quarterly planning. It’s been both harder and easier than I expected. Virtue Dec Jan Notes Pleasure: AdventurePlan and take an international vacation late Q3/early Q4. – 😐 In the main, I’ve just looked at the dog and felt guilty about planning a trip to take place…

I’ve been so busy planning 2020, that December 2019 has become a distant memory. I’ve had to go back through my journal to see what happened.

November 2019 was difficult as Pretty Girl has been very ill, and we thought we were going to lose her. Not that we’ll have her for much longer, but at least we have time to prepare.

Is it my imagination, or did we skip right over October 2019? I mean I know there was stuff that happened, but I feel a bit like Speedy Gonzales whipped by and I’m left clinging to the ceiling by my fingernails.

And that’s September 2019 been and gone. Is it just me, or are the days flying by faster and faster? Or is it that Christmas is in the stores already? The weather’s been good enough for working outdoors (with the laptop), but September 2019 has also had a lot of very cold and wet days.…

During August 2019, I took a few weeks off for some navel-gazing. And now I’ve started developing a new kind of normal. It’s been hard work.

July 2019 featured the transplant rejection scare, the month when the Earth spun upside down on its axis and inside out.

Due to a recent transplant rejection scare, I’ve lost track of June 2019. It took up a lot of brain power and time, but thankfully was just a scare.

May 2019 marks a small but significant change in direction for little writing business. It seems that April’s clearing out had freed some time and space for other concerns.

April 2019 turns out to have been a big month for getting rid of junk, working on my business, and indirectly on personal goals.

As March 2019 disappears into long-term memory, I find myself gasping and trying to figure out where the year went. Already.

And already February 2019 has passed. I mentioned last month that it would be interesting to see how the record heat/climate change would affect election campaigns, and the major parties are already off and running.

That’s January 2019 been and gone. I feel like we’re off to a good start, but I’m exhausted thinking about all the stuff I hope to get done should I survive the Summer.

Ah, December 2018 – gone almost before it existed. And pretty much good riddance too!

Admittedly November 2018 is almost a month ago, but it feels as though it never happened at all. I feel there’s no evidence it existed at all!

Well, October 2018 was easier than September, and that’s about all I can say for it. I imagine November will be easier too as we get better at living without Jack.

I did not have a very good September 2018. My poor Jack fell ill, got worse, and had to be euthanised.

August 2018 was a strange month. On the one hand, it was full steam ahead, and on the other full stop! It was one of those months where everything costs twice as much and takes three times as long as you expect. Virtue Jul Aug Notes Wisdom I learn and grow every day.  🙂 🙂…

I spent a good proportion of July 2018 business planning and reviewing, and I feel like it’s almost Christmas because my head is so far in the future. Mind you, right now the future looks bright, so that’s a good thing.

Ah, June 2018.  All the drama worthy of a Hollywood epic. Something like the 1956 Charlton Heston epic The Ten Commandments. Yeah, okay, that’s probably a wee bit of an exaggeration, but it had its ups and downs.

I’m not sure what happened to May 2018 – it’s all a blur. Still tired, and still under investigation so we’ll all have to wait longer to see what’s going on health-wise.

And that’s April 2018 done and dusted. Just like last month. I’m still tired, feeling stupid, and scratching my head over where the month went.

March 2018 has been and gone, though I’m not entirely sure where it went. Still very tired and sleeping a lot. Toseland helpfully pointed out that people who are stressed out are usually tired and sleep a lot.

I feel a bit like I blinked and missed February 2018, but I was unwell for a good deal of it. Talk about sleeping your life away.

The thing we all do is expect January to be better than December simply because it’s a new year. Which goes part way to explaining why January 2018 doesn’t feel “better” than December 2017.

December 2017; the last vestige of my annus horribilus (horrible year). And it wasn’t too bad. Though not terribly productive (in common with most Decembers).

With November 2017 gone, we’re on the downhill run to the end of the year, and if you’re not ready, that’s falling into the “that’s too bad” department.

That’s October 2017 done and dusted. There’s loads of Christmas stuff in the stores, so it’s starting to feel as though the rest of the year only matters in so far as it gives you time to get ready for the holiday season.

I can’t believe September 2017 is gone already – I have no idea where the month went. Lucky I keep a journal to check back on!

Before I even start thinking about it, I know August 2017 was a great month. That’s quite a novelty after the last few difficult months. In the main, that’s because DB and I took a trip to Japan!

Following the 2017 Mid Year review I made some goal changes, so let’s check in and see how July 2017 is going.

So. June 2017. I watched The Lost City of Z the other day, and there’s a scene where the main character becomes caught in a fishing net and almost drowns. That’s kind of how June 2017 feels.

Well, May 2017. What can I say? I think May 2017 may be the month my ball of string unravelled. I woke up heavier, wider, messier and a whole bunch of other -ers with no idea how I got here.

April 2017 turns out to be my “mense horribilis”. I mentioned in March that my mother was ill, and in April she passed away, which overtook everything else. You might want to give up, avoid this litany of misery/melodrama and pick up again in May when things have improved.

March 2017 turns out to have been a big family month for me. My mother was ill, and I flew cross-country as you do when it seems like the end is near.

February 2017 feels like a momentous month, though I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s the HUGE number of ticks on the to-do list. And it has been a short month.

Is it just me, or did January 2017 disappear without a trace before it had even really begun? I was a little preoccupied with planning and website maintenance but it does seem rather unfair to have lived a month with so little to show for it.

Looking back, December 2016 seems like a chaotic and ultimately futile scramble to get things done.

November 2016 was all about the flu. Which was a shame as I had planned to be all about NaNoWriMo, but spent most of the month coughing, and sneezing, and sleeping, and blowing my nose instead.

October 2016 was a big month for getting my tax affairs in order and developing business administration systems to get my sh*t together for next year. It was more fun than it sounds.

September 2016 feels like a missing month. There was managing August fallout, physically as well as mentally. And that’s about it.

August 2016 has not been my favourite month of all time. Things could have been a lot worse, and I have no right to complain about my first world problems, but I fervently hope that September is better.

July 2016 was another backwards and forwards month with nothing to show for it. It feels like yesterday I was reviewing June and nothing has changed.

June 2016 has been a difficult month. I’m not sure what the problem was, but it was a one step forward two steps back kind of month.

Looking back, I think May 2016 was an excellent month. I went away, lost a bit of weight, and took some professional development. But tax time is coming to Australia, and it’s time for me to start sorting out my business affairs.

I’m not exactly sure where April 2016 went. I’m feeling really tired, a little unmotivated, and very unproductive. I don’t even have any decent pictures from April – must lift my game!

With the refugee and terrorist crises in Europe, and the ongoing war in Syria, my March progress report feels a little too indulgent. But as for everyone else, my life moves on, and if I don’t keep on top of these goals, they won’t happen.

I’ve been delaying February 2016’s progress report because it was one of those months where everything went wrong, fell over, or took 57 times longer than expected to complete.

January 2016 marks the first progress report for the new year, it’s kind of exciting. I haven’t bothered to close out last year, mainly because I was busy bragging about how well the year went in my “birthday post”.

I’ve mostly mooched around for November 2015, but now I’ve washed my clothes and cleaned my house, and it’s time to get moving again.

October 2015 is over already – is it my imagination or is time speeding up? Or is it just that I have spent so much time in introspection this month.

September 2015 Virtue August September Notes beauty: bodyweigh ≤61kg by 14 December 🙁 66.3kg 🙂65.5kg My hospital review went well aside from the predicted lecture about weight control. My doctor helpfully suggested that I should eat no more than half of any food given me. He made me want to eat half of a serve of…

I’m sorry, you’re probably tired of progress reports by now (what with all the six monthly reviews) so I’ll keep August 2015 short.

That’s July 2015 down; it’s been a quiet one as you would expect with the first cold of the season. I’ve been wrestling with my tax return, started some half-hearted Christmas shopping for overseas friends and family (I prefer to use the slowest cheapest dispatch method).

Here’s a look at how June 2015 went for me.

And now we’ve passed May 2015 and are into June, it’s time to review the month of May. Is it just me, or does time seem to be racing ahead? I’m starting to get panicky I’m running out of time to write my book. I’ve already had to give myself an extension…

That’s April 2015 done and dusted. My key highlight for this month has been a couple of bouts of Gastroenteritis, so all in all, it’s been an unhappy and generally unpleasant month…