2011 Review and Resolutions

First things first, happy new year to everyone. I hope 2012 is a happy and prosperous one. Thanks to everyone who stopped by in 2011 and for the comments and chat.

Review

On the home front, 2011 was a good one, with the exception of my Nan's death.

On the work front, 2011 was a real stinker. I took over a second head of department role and inherited a deputy director role and spent most of the year in crisis management mode trying to fire fight issues and raise the funds for everyone's salary. I imagine that 2012 will be much the same. I can't say I'm looking forward to the work year ahead; one job is bad enough, three roles has me run ragged.

On the fiction writing front, I wrote two novels and a few short stories. I'm halfway through drafting a novella. I now have four completed novels in the bottom drawer, one of which I hope might see the light of day in 2012 if things fall in to place. On the academic writing front, I managed to write a handful of articles and book chapters, some blog posts, and made some headway on the dictionary I'm writing. I was an editor for nine issues of two academic journals and shepherded two book series. Two of my books were published, The Map Reader (Blackwell Wiley) and Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life (MIT Press).

On the reading front, I managed to read 103 books during the year and a whole bunch of short stories. A pretty good year for reading, though I faired a lot better with fiction than non-fiction.

On the blogging front, I wrote 311 posts on this blog, and another 50+ on Ireland After NAMA.

Resolutions

On the home front: try and lose a bit of weight and get a little fitter. Nothing drastic, but it would be nice to fit into 2010's clothes again.

On the work front: Don't take on any more roles or responsibilities and try to get rid of some of the ones I have. Cut back on commitments - I gave 23 talks in 2011, plus dozens of media interviews; interesting to do, but they took up a lot of time. Keep the two institutes ticking over and source a decent chunk of money.

On the writing front: Finish off the novella, then concentrate on short stories. This will be the year of short story writing and I aim to do at least one a month, along with a weekly drabble. With respect to academic writing, finish off the dictionary entries by the end of summer deadline and get to work on some decent articles and a new monograph. Try to stay on top of the editing work. 2012 is the year for getting my academic writing back on track.

On the reading front: Last year my resolution was to cut back on reading to concentrate on writing. In the end I read more books in 2011 than 2010. This year I'm just to see how it unfolds. I might well read more non-fiction if I manage to make a start on a new monograph. We'll see. This is probably the year I invest in an e-reader, simply because there are things I want to read that are being released in e-format only (specifically short story collections). I'm going to have a think about what brand to buy. Suggestions welcome.

On the blogging front, I aim to just carry on as normal, and see how I get on.

I hope that you'll succeed with whatever resolutions you've set for yourself.