So we’ve finally reached the end of 2016 and are starting a whole new trip around the sun. I started writing a post about life and looking at things in retrospect, disseminating politics and personifying the year but honestly, who cares? There were some bad times (Like this and this) but there were also some amazing times (for instance there was this and this).
I traveled a bit this year, went to Belgium in January, London at the end of March and Lisbon just a few weeks ago. It was a slow year for writing, only 94K words (tracked, as always, thanks to Svenja Gosen‘s trackers – check out her art, it’s pretty wonderful and the spreadsheets really help) but even with that, I published fiction here and non-fiction here (including some pieces I’m pretty happy with, like this one and this one).
We should also do a bit of checking in. Last January, I posted about reading challenges so I should probably let you know how I did (and feel free to let me know how you did, too!). Of course, if you’re following me on Goodreads, you already know but just in case, here’s the challenge I filled in:
I hit about 75% (30/40) of the challenge books, which isn’t shabby. And since I did the PopSugar list last year, I thought I’d do it again this year. Please join me!
Coming up this year, we have some big birthdays (I’m going to be 50, Rasa will be 25 and Monki, well, she’ll be celebrating the first big single digit) on the horizon. I also have a couple more work trips planned with Aga-Boom, so that should be fun.
Aside from that, I’m not to keen on resolutions or the like (aside from the reading challenge – see above). I have some personal goals, but they’ll stay personal… except for one. And this one I want to share and implore everyone to do with me. It’s pretty easy, too. All you need to do is listen. I’m not talking about listening to other people, although that’s a good and noble endeavor. Instead, listen to yourself when you’re talking to other people. Stop and hear the words coming out of your mouth and try and think of the impact, good and bad, they might have on the people listening to you. It’s too easy, these days, to just open our mouths without caring what comes out or who it affects.
So let’s all listen to each other and listen to ourselves. And may 2017 bring you happiness and joy – enough to cover the sadness which will also surely be a part of it.
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 
2 thoughts on “2016 In the Rear View Mirror”