I Did It! 2013

Writer and blogger extraordinaire, Lisa Romeo, recommends that writers make an "I Did It" list to remind ourselves of all we accomplished, with regard to writing, over the past year, rather than beating ourselves up for those things we didn't get to.

The last two years have been tremendous on the writing front for me, thanks to being in an MFA program (here's my 2012 I Did It list). In 2013, as part of that program, I wrote a 95-page paper on women who incorporate the themes of motherhood and nature in their fiction, nonfiction and poetry for my Third Semester Project, and I completed my 150-odd page thesis, which includes nine short stories revised from earlier semesters and now "publication-ready" (one hopes!).

Aside from my required graduate work, I submitted ten pieces of (creative nonfiction) writing, for which I've received three rejections and five acceptances, four of which were published during 2013: Catch 22 in the Water issue of About Place Journal, The Place Where You Live on Orion online (and this month in print!), "This Good Field" in the Fall 2013 issue of Kindred, and the book review Father Nature on Literary Mama. I also published the 13th issue of my zine, GEMINI, and created a website.

But writing requires a full life, and I Did It with a few non-writing related things, too. After much trial and error I finally figured out how to crochet my little rocks (above). I also knitted two pairs of mittens, made a new rocking chair cushion, sewed a travel journal pouch, recovered my kitchen chairs, and experimented with beeswax to make waterproof placemats.

In the travel department, I went camping somewhere new and somewhere old, stayed on an island off New Hampshire, took a trip to Colorado, and went to Ireland.

And, under the heading "various and sundry," I walked a 5K with my kids, raised two little checkerspot butterflies from caterpillars (but, sadly, no monarchs), finished three photo albums (though now another year has gone by, putting me behind again), reread (almost) the entire Harry Potter series to the boys (we're about 1/4 of the way through #7), and took the 30-Day Vegan Challenge.

Do you make an I Did It list at the end of a year? How do you celebrate your accomplishments?

I leave for my graduate residency tomorrow...when I return to this space, I will have a Masters degree! Something for next year's list!