Everything

There have been one or two times over the past three decades where life has delivered me some pretty big kicks in the teeth. I make no secret of that and have blogged some of that here over the last ten years. The telling of the stories has, more than once led someone to say “my word, don’t you wish it had happened differently?” and my answer has, time and again, stumped them.

No.

No, I don’t wish a single thing had been different. There is not one single thing I look back on and go “that, I would change”. I am not saying I would want to live it again, and next time around I hope I remember enough not to make the same mistakes, but it happened. I lived. I learned. I moved through it. I am still here.

I firmly believe I am the person I am today in part because of the experiences I have had throughout my life. Change one thing, bad or good, and you have changed the total of my experiences. You have changed me. There are times I am not sure I am the biggest fan of “Me”, but I am a work in progress. A work that will keep going, constantly evolving, continually learning, until the day I take my last breath.

I looked in the mirror the other day I was surprised by what I saw. I saw a future. Once upon a time, within the life time of this blog even, I didn’t see a future. The sheer possibility of reaching 30, and contemplating with something akin to anticipation the next 30, escaped Younger Me. I couldn’t wrap my head around the enormity of it. I could see no pattern my life might fit. So I didn’t think about. I just moved from experience to experience, trying to stay true to my heart and…

You know what?

It has all worked out. The pattern is a little rough around the edges, but I look back and EVERY SINGLE STEP I have taken since the age of 16 has got me to where I am today. It didn’t always make sense at the time. Hell, it doesn’t always make sense when I look back on it now! But EVERYTHING I have done has somehow mixed together into what I am today.

I think I like who I am today.

And more importantly?

I think I am going to like who I am tomorrow even more.

P.S. Remind me I posted this next time I’m having a wibble, ‘kay? Love y’all. Cxxx

NaNoNovember

So it’s November, and we all know what THAT means, don’t we? No? Oh. Well, It’s NaNoWriMo. What is that, you may ask. NaNo is where crazy people like me attempt to write 50,000 words in a month.

I tried it properly last year and wrists about 15,000. Not a “win”, but it was about 14,950 more than I has written in the three years previously! Plus, it has become the start of the first thing I can seriously see becoming a finished book.

So this NaNo I am going to try to write flat out and finish it. Or at least break the 60,000 mark.

Follow me on twitter and I’ll (maybe) share my word count with you. Keep pestering me here and I (might) let you read some of it.

Wish me luck!

Project #365 Update

November 2012 is here, and with it the end of the Project #365. Over the next few days/weeks, I am going to be doing a retrospective, looking at my favourite photos and sharing any little stories that spring to mind. Watch this space!

So what of the future? I expect I am going to keep posting pictures on a pretty regular basis. I’ve got into the habit, if nothing else! I might even start a #yr2 (Year Two) #365, but not for a few weeks yet. I want to take a little break from the guilt that comes at 11pm when I haven’t posted anything that day!