2013 – A Year In Review

So, that was 2013.  Well now…

As I sit down and write this post in the waning days of December, I’m not entirely sure what to make of this past trip around the Sun.  I find myself in one of those scenarios where it’s going to take some time and some looking back to put this past year into a proper context.   Some of the drama from 2012 spilled over into the early days of 2013, and some of it still continues to this day, 2013 felt drama free… at least in comparison to 2012.  That is not to say it was stress free ohhhh no.  There was plenty of that. So, lets look the past year in the context of three words I prescribed to myself back in my January 2013 and render a verdict on the year.

Organize

I think this one played out about as well as I had expected it would.  “Organize” was intended with multiple meanings.  I managed to get a daily routine organized that included writing on a consistent basis for a while.  I organized Off The Deep End Studios into Off The Deep End Multimedia LLC.  I organized my schedule to make room for the time requirements needed to properly study for and take the first three parts of the CPA exam.

Produce

Like “organize”, “produce” took on multiple angles.  The first, and most obvious being the idea of producing a new podcast novel followed very closely by producing another novel.  It also included producing results on the CPA exam.  The podcast production in 2013 did not happen per se.  The foundation was laid in place with the organization of OTDEM during the spring/summer and then built upon as I began contracting primary and secondary voice actors.  Some narration has been recorded on the first few chapters, a lot of audio has been turned in, but I have not yet produced even a single chapter.

Production on a writing front has proven interesting to say the least.  100 days after discovering the Magic Spreadsheet back in late January, I completed work on Virtuality; A Codename CIRIS conspiracy.  Almost immediately thereafter, I began work on my collaboration with the ever talented Veronica Giguere, as well as a third attempt to draft Hunter.  It had been my intention to finish Hunter’s draft before the end of the year, but it was not meant to be and I find myself once again looking at the world building and outline with the eye to overhaul.    The Collaboration with Veronica has met a similar fate for now and due to my other priorities as well as constraints on V’s time, our project is on hold.  Once we resume it (hopefully in the spring if not sooner), we will need to re-visit the world building and make some tweaks to the outline.

So, of the four ‘production’ projects undertaken, only one of them has actually been completed.  I don’t know if I’d call that a success from a results oriented standpoint.  But I’m trying to cut myself some slack because of the 500 pound gorilla grabbing me close to it as it pets my hair and calls me “ooogh”

Yes, the CPA….

For various reasons, the CPA has proven to be highly time consuming and highly stressful since I began the process.  This is not a shock to me, nor should it be to anyone who has ever taken it, or knows someone who has taken it.  But as the process took it’s hold and the days turned into weeks turned into months of study and preparation for the first 3 parts of the 4 part exam, the emotional and mental energy required felt like it was sucking the life out of me, leaving with no sense of creativity whatsoever.  However, the work on the exam did produce some tremendous results.  I found myself very well prepared for two of the three parts and concerned about the third.  Those concerns have proven unfounded, as I’ve officially passed all three parts taken so far.  The final part still looms on the calendar in 2014,  but given my production so far, I’m feeling… more or less… good about where I am.

 

Live

CPA exams and life do not equate and in hindsight I almost want to say it was a mistake to include ‘Live’ as one of my three words in 2013.  You’ll remember that the CPA sucked the life out of me, and left me exhausted more often than not, so not much ‘living’ got done in 2013.  Again, in hindsight, this is no surprise.

But all was not lost in the word of “live”.  While my social life may have not kick started in the way I wanted it to, my core group of friends and I have grown much closer in the past year.  Additionally, as I continue to sort out the remnants of the 2012 drama and push forward I find myself in better touch with my own emotions.  This latter part alone makes me feel like an almost completely different person than I was just a year ago.

 

The Wildcard

Waitaminute… there’s no ‘wildcard’ in the three words exercise!  No.  No there isn’t.  But it had a dramatic impact on the second half of 2013 and set the stage for several things that I believe cement (pun not intended) the idea that 2013 was a ‘foundation’ year for me.

The Job Change.

I will not go into excessive details about my stint in the ranks of the unemployed.  By all objective measures, my unemployment was short and painless.  But damn it did not feel like that at the time.  Perhaps it would have been easier had I chosen to become unemployed.  But, in my case, someone else chose to make me unemployed and while I both respect and disagree with that decision, it was very good in killing what little creativity I had left in me after the CPA studies each day.

But I’m not unemployed any more.  I’m in a new position at a company that is a part of a conglomeration that has global reach.  In the 10 weeks I have been here, I’ve been made to feel more welcomed, and valued than I had in 6 years at my previous position.  Had things not happened at the previous job in the way they did… or had the timing been even a week different, I would have missed this opportunity entirely.  Yes, there would have been others but those uncertainties can’t be predicted.

 

The Verdict

As I said earlier, I think it’s going to take some time to get a full context on what this year was all about.  But as I write this and look ahead to 2014, the early verdict is that 2013 was a good, if not stressful, year.  It very much felt like a foundational year, upon which the next year will be built, which I suppose would make sense.  A few things did happen out of order, a few things are taking longer than I expected, and a few things that I wanted to happen did not happen in the way I had hoped for them.

Oh well.

I don’t consider myself a fatalist, nor do I believe in pre-destination.  However I do believe that things happen for a reason and that in the long run, things turn out for the best.   I’m very happy with where things are now and had things not happened in the way they did, I would not be where I am now.  I like where I am now.  There’s no saying where I might have ended up if things had been different and there is, of course, no saying that things would be any better or worse as a result.  But things happened, in the only way they could, I suppose and I am, where I am.  And I love it.

So here’s to 2013 and here’s to what’s to come in 2014.

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