Looking back through 2022 was like slowly waking up. Since falling out of remission in 2020, treatment went really well but my recovery after has been laboriously slow. That whole brain fog thing you get from chemotherapy hung around for ages, and I suffered through a litany of complications one after the other – but it was the price I had to pay being in a pilot program. Essentially I was the guinea pig for some new drugs. It enabled me to be able to afford treatment, for which I am eternally greatful, but meant we ventured a little into the unknown.
So now that I’ve turned a corner and getting back to work in earnest, I’m bringing back the quarterly goals to get me motivated again!
Book worm:
My last catch up was in January 2021 with 413 on my TBR. To be honest I don’t know how accurate that figure is considering it included books still packed away in boxes (from moving to Queensland) that I have nowhere to unpack. I have restored 1 bookshelf and about to start another so I will have more shelf space soon to get a more accurate figure. But we’ll go with the last recorded number for now. I know I purchased 20 books in 2021-22 to finish off series that I had started reading; and completed 141 books in that same period (most likely more, but you know, dealing with chemo and brain fog I still am uncertain how accurate that is because I stopped writing things down.)
I was also gifted 22 books over Christmas, bringing the total of my TBR to around 314. Not a bad dent! And I’m hoping to half that figure by the end of this year. It will leave just one small bookshelf that will contain my TBR books: which has been my goal for the last few years.
I set my reading goal to 52 books for 2022, to keep any stress off my shoulders about reaching a goal – but I managed to surpass that by reading 85. I’m really proud of my effort.
Thinking back over the year though, I would have to highlight my top reads:
Project Hail Mary; Admiral (start of a new series); The Bane Chronicles; The Galaxy and the Ground Within; Half Bad Trilogy.
And a late entry – The Good Girl Stripped Bare.
I have been concentrating on finishing off series that I have started, and this past year (and a bit) I managed to complete reading 23 series! Some of those I was half way through and other franchises I started and completed in the last 12 months. There is still 8 series that I am carrying over and yet to complete (I have all the books purchased to finish reading these so it’s my goal to complete them by the end of 2023;) I’ve also started 21 new series in the last year and am waiting on the release of the rest of the franchise, or saving up enough money to be able to purchase the rest of the collection. So it looks like I’ve done well, but also have a busy year of reading ahead of me.
Scribe and scribble:
I only managed a small 20,000 words for the year. I did a little work on my WIP (a queer contemporary novel) but mainly focused on completing the first draft of a contemporary romance novella. Mainly to ease into writing again after nearly 2 years off for treatment and recovery. I have set up a cracking pace and lofty goals for 2023 however. I’m fired up and really want to start seeing some progress again. Get into the daily habit of writing. I don’t feel like I’ve been all that productive and excited about writing since my Mum passed away, I think this little brush with death I just experienced has woken me up, and has me wanting to live in the now and follow my happiness. The novels I have slated to work on this year are contemporary, science fiction, and paranormal; so a nice mix to keep things interesting.
Levelling Up:
One thing I have been very excited about is refreshing my knowledge around Marine Biology and all the sciences: Chemistry, Zoology, Marine Botany, Botany, Hydrothermal Vent Ecology, Biometrics, and Fresh Water Ecology. I’m doing this by reviewing all my textbooks, going through old notes and papers I’ve written, it’s helped in my recovery from abovementioned brain fog and re-igniting my passion and curiosity for the planet we live on. It’s also got me thinking about starting a nature blog… we’ll have to see how my workload pans out. I don’t want to get too ambitious and fall flat on my face. But for now, reinvigorating my love of science is the ongoing project in the background.
Social Butterfly:
Being immunocompromised meant I’ve pretty much stayed at home since 2020. I can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve left the house socially. Though with my health much better now I’m beginning to venture out more and have the strength to manage doing the grocery shopping on my own. It has been very isolating the last few years but my health had to come first. I’m not really making plans about a social future that much, I’m just going to take it easy and see how things go, we still have flare-ups of Covid here, and family and friends are spread out all over the place. I think anything will be an improvement on my social activity at this point. The only way is up!
Creative Projects:
I managed to complete restoring a glass-doored bookshelf and I have another (twice as large) left to finish to complete my library. Although since purchasing the shelves, my book collection has grown, so I may need to look into finding some more bookshelves to restore. I prefer hunting down more solid built shelving with glass doors because they are much more hardy, look fantastic painted and with Victorian appliques added, and the glass doors help protect from dust. It increases the longevity of the books and decreases the amount of cleaning I have to do. But now my issue is that I don’t quite have the room to fit my ever expanding library into. I’ve actually been toying with the idea of renovating the house or converting the double garage into a new study and library. So there are plenty of hands-on jobs to do. But also there are some sewing projects I’m keen to get to. I’ve been getting things completed here and there, and by the end of the next quarter I’d like another big project tucked away.
Additional Income:
I wasn’t able to do anything considered as work for additional income over the last two years – I was flat out just doing regular stuff. I don’t have any immediate plans for this area; but I have a few ideas I want to get off the ground, but it probably won’t happen until the second half of the year. So let’s just put this category on hiatus for now.
Work that body:
Getting back to some sort of shape has been stop-and-start with my recovery. Treatment really took its toll and I was bed-ridden for extended periods. Then I’d start feeling better, get some physical activity in, and crash a few weeks later. Rinse and repeat. As I said before, I’ve definitely turned a corner and now am doing full gym workouts at home and starting to feel like I’m getting back on track. Now it’s about sticking to a post-treatment menu plan and toning my body up to increase stamina. Before I was depressed that I couldn’t do the most basic things without feeling like I was going to pass out; but now I can get a decent session in – I’ve got my starting point and can only get more active and fit from here on out.
Digital Platform:
I was all go-go-go about this just before my diagnosis, but with a shift in priorities, it has altered my trajectory for the future slightly, so it will mean a bit of a re-design for when I go down this road… again probably something I’ll look at in the second half of the year. At the moment I’m concentrating on getting through a regular work day. Completing a tonne of writing before I start to add to my daily tasks. It also gives me a chance to update everything and make it feel fresh and relevant for when it does launch.
As much as 2021-22 has been a non-event for me, it’s given me the opportunity to re-set and I’m excited to see where my life will go from here!! These quarterly goals are more about establishing a routine again and getting back to basics. I don’t want to get too ambitious and crash and burn – it’s about staying positive and not setting myself up for failure.
Up and at ‘em!
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Genre: Y/A, Horror, Paranormal
Hendrick’s is a fun protagonist, moving to a new small town, enrolling in high school and dealing with some weird hallucinations that may or may not be connected to a troubled past. The town of Drearfield offers Hendricks a clean slate, one that she is determined to take advantage of. Straight off the bat she is a got-getter. Proactive. Despite past events, she is not wallowing in grief or self-pity. I instantly liked her. Hendricks was a battler right to the end.
Genre: Non Fiction, GLBT
The biggest win for ‘Becoming Nicole’ was the overwhelming show of support for transgender rights and issues, how society and culture are evolving… and for the undying determination and positive fighting spirit of the Maines family. I’m extremely jealous of their relationship. I wish I had parents still by my side who had the insight and intelligence to see the real me. Nicole had an amazing, safe and secure homelife to give her a place of strength to draw from.
Genre: YA, Dystopia
Mother was too hard and cold for me to truly appreciate as a person, maybe she was suffering a mental illness? But her Eagle Scout ways were invaluable in the girls’ survival against man and nature. But was it all that necessary?
Genre: Y/A, Paranormal, Comedy, Romance
I have to say that this novel feels a bit messy – only because it’s basically a standalone, but reads as the start to a new series. Not all plot points are tied up. Rachel Hawkins has stated that she is not writing any more on this collection, but it felt like she had a different intention when penning ‘School Spirits.’
Genre: Y/A, Paranormal, Comedy, Romance
Our protagonist Sophie was her usual sarcastic self, and I LOL’d many times at her witty one liners, though you get a sense of her beginning to put the humour-masking-fear reaction aside by the end of the novel, showing some of the growth her character is moving through. I did feel that some aspects of her story were rushed, and it felt like we jumped around a bit – location wise and narrative wise. Yes, the story was broken into three parts, but ‘Spell bound’ didn’t have the cohesion its predecessors had.
Casey Carlisle 