A New Year

In case you hadn't noticed, it is now 2008. A new year. What does that mean? Not much really, the breakdown of years is quite arbitrary. After all the Chinese New Year is in February, the Jewish New Year in the early fall, and I have always truly believed the the year turned over at the start of the new term at school.

But for all intents and purposes, we are facing a new year. And as I posted around this time last year, I think there is something really lovely in the idea that we can start afresh, really try to make some lasting resolutions. In that way, a new year is vital. It helps us keep the hope going. I really really like that.

This new year though I would like to reflect on the one that has just passed. I mean, I am looking forward as well, I have set several goals for myself and I have high hopes for the months ahead. But this year has been quite an important one to me, so I think I should take a second and think about it.

Things have happened this year. Things tend to happen during years, but this may be one of the first that I've taken stock of them.

Acting wise, the biggest thing was getting an agent. And not just an agent, but someone who is incredibly supportive and loves Shakespeare as much as I do. I also produced and directed a show for a theatre festival. When I think of how much work that was, I am shocked I managed it actually. I went on several auditions, to the point where I can't keep track of how many they were (which may not sound like much, but trust me just getting an audition is special), and of course I had a total blast reviving the Third Witch in the fall in Macbeth.

And all of this would be considered rather impressive on its own. But I am neglecting that other part of my life, the path that I was surprisingly and pleasantly thrown down around three years ago.

That would be the writing part of course.

And this year . . . well this year . . .

I became a published author.

I started it entrenched in edits and feeling slightly lost, and ended it by being accustomed to seeing my book on a shelf in a bookstore. I saw my cover for the first time, I learned what an ARC was, I saw the fonts my book would be published in and I saw it in a completely different language. I flew to cities I'd never seen before, learned how to order room service like a pro, and discovered that, despite my fears, I can be reliably funny in front of a large crowd.

I have made some wonderful friends in the writing world, in person and in the blogosphere. People without whose support would have made this journey far less pleasant.

I have also written a second book.

Now, I will always feel slightly in awe that my life ever considered going down this path. I know I have talked about it before, so I won't go on about it now, but my life has changed so drastically from what I ever expected it would be. I can't imagine where I would be, what I would be doing, how my social circle would be different, had I not decided, just for fun, to start writing a children's novel while spending a weekend in Bath. The smallest of choices. I guess that's why we have movies like that one with Gwyneth Paltrow, "Sliding Doors", about how one small decision can make all the difference. It's really crazy to speculate.

Anyway, it's been a good year. And I am very grateful for that. I hope that 2008 proves just as exciting. Well whatever it turns out to be like, I will always feel pretty darn lucky to have had a 2007 like I did.


So what about the rest of you? I hope you all had a lovely year, what were the highlights do you think? And what do you hope for next year?