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I'll try to put together my usual year-end "What Hath She Wrote" post. It feels like I did so little this year and fell down on so many details. But there are a few things to mention.

I'm finishing up three months of vacation, one week of which was actual "sitting around doing nothing" (mostly courtesy of being in NYC at a time when Lauri and I decided that going to shows and museums was Not A Good Idea, thanks to Omicron). So, of course, most of what I did that week was write things for the Lesbian Historic Motif Project blog and podcast. I'm so torn about the LHMP. On the one hand, I love doing it. On the other hand, it tends to eat up all my creative time. And on the third hand, creating online content for a very narrow niche market means constantly feeling like I'm singing into the void.

And yet... Just this week, someone stumbled across my blog about Mary Diana Dodds and thought I'd be the right person to ask if I knew whether there were any in-process creative projects based on her life, because he was starting to sketch out ideas for one. And earlier in the year, I got asked for brainstorming ideas by a comedian putting together a skit about f/f dating in the middle ages. And every once in a while when I review my keyword searches on twitter, I see people I don't even know telling other people about how interesting and valuable the Project is. I do my best to bundle those things up and tuck them in boxes and tie them up with a bright ribbon.

I've written essentially no fiction this year, although I've done background research for several pieces. But I did finally sell my novella "The Language of Roses", which will be coming out in April from Queen of Swords Press. I've been toying with the idea of setting myself an "irresolution" to go through my files of in-process short stories and commit to finishing a first draft of a story every month. That feels like it has the right combination of "can do this" and "will provide completion-satisfaction. For the novels, I'm just hoping that the world will chalk it up to pandemic blahs (which it is, for the most part) and still love me when the next book comes out.

One big thing I accomplished this year was a massive landscaping/refurbishment project in the yard. And though someone else was doing the labor, it still ate up a bunch of my time. Getting the yard to a lovely "reset" point, also gave me the incentive to spend more time keeping things up. I'm hoping for a really great year for "the produce of my estates." The rainfall we're getting this winter should mean big fruit crops next year (as long as we don't get weird storms during pollination time).

Oh, and the other big thing I accomplished this year was to complete the decluttering/organization projects I'd started at the beginning of the pandemic. The kitchen has completed it's once-over and it feels like everything finally fits in its place. I finally tackled the remaining bankers' boxes of paperwork from the move 10 years ago and cleaned out the accumulated detritus of my entire adult life. The next decluttering projects are my sewing/craft supplies (giving away supplies for projects I'll never start) and then thinning out the books in the non-fiction library. I also have plans to do another thinning of the fiction. I think I'm ready to embrace the idea that even very beloved authors and series don't need to be kept in physical form if I have no anticipation of ever re-reading them or referring to them. I'm made some beginning inroads on that to supply the Little Free Library I set up, but that's just a trickle. Decluttering/organization of the garage has also made great strides. I haven't quite gotten to the point of having nothing that isn't on shelves or in cabinets, but the remaining unshelved and uncabineted items are in the "get rid of this" category, and I can actually *access* all the shelves and cabinets.

Let's see, what else. The Alpennia/LHMP Discord that I set up has accumulated enough members to feel like a viable community. It's still small, but there are regular conversations. I particularly like that it's evolving into a writers'-mutual-support thing and is developing its own cultural quirks.

How about some random items? I'm proud of my record of bicycling 5 days a week (modulo weather), usually including a 20 mile ride on the weekend. When I packed for Worldcon it was the first time in a long time (maybe a decade) where I didn't find myself thinking "I hate my wardrobe". Not sure if I've shifted my expectations or picked up enough items that I like better. I certainly haven't been doing any sewing in the last two years, since there's nothing to sew *for*. I am still very much enjoying working from home and all the side-benefits like sit-down home-cooked breakfasts and the ability to use small household tasks as good ergonomic stretch breaks. I love that I've created some new daily rituals, like an afternoon tea break when I use the family heirloom silver tea service because what else is it for? Early in the pandemic, someone on twitter (I believe it was Ursula Vernon) announced (paraphrased), "This is it folks: it's time to Use the Good Stuff." And I took that to heart.

I want the pandemic to be over. I want to move forward to the New Normal. And I want that New Normal to include all the lessons we've learned in the last two years about shaking up the status quo, realizing that the world *can* be different if only we have the will to make it so, and using our amazing talents, creativity, and knowledge to make a better world for *all* people. (Even the anti-intellectual cranks who are doing their best to destroy civilization as we know it.)

In a hortative, desiderative, and optative mood: Have a Happy New Year!