From of the awesome folks at Ninth Moon, I have 3 sets of B.I.C.H.O.K. magnets for today’s prize. If you’re not familiar, that stands for “Butt In Chair, Hands on Keyboard.” This was my mantra earlier this year while writing The Book, and I love these magnets. They crack me up.
So, want a set? Leave a comment and tell us what task you are most proud of accomplishing this year.
Mine is no secret: writing the Bitch Book, when I’d never written a book before and didn’t honestly know if I could, is something I’m ineffably proud of, and I still get all giddy when I think about it.
So what are you most proud of this year that you did? Big, small, I’m curious – I’ll pick three winners in 24 hours.
I stayed employed despite having a nasty moron as a boss.
Being invited by Karen Scott to blog with her.
I lost 18 pounds and can fit into my size 12’s again. Ok, in the last couple of months I’ve gained back a couple, but it’s the holidays, man. And I’ve been carrying that weight since I had my 3rd child in 04.
And I got a paying job with an employer I’ve never had before!! Yea!
And Jennifer, not to belittle your prowess, but I found out my uterus (I can’t spell but the part that holds the baby) is prolapsed and is falling out…thanks to my 3 babys…pretty soon I’ll be a *she-male* if I don’t get it fixed ~sigh~ is that an accomplishment?
I learned to and successfully did make several batches of cheese. It makes me sufficiently happy that I got a cheese press for Christmas and will be exploring new cheese-making techniques in ‘09.
I’ve sold to Harlequin/Silhouette for the Nocturne Bites ebook line this year, which is a huge accomplishment, since I’ve been writing seriously for 15 years and been “this close” to being published so many times I’ve lost count, including revision requests, and a contract with a small publisher that went bankrupt three weeks before my book was supposed to come out. Oh, and I’ve survived the snowstorm from hell that’s had me housebound with the kids and hubby for more than a week! *looks out window* GAW it’s snowing again!!!
I finished my first manuscript and entered the Golden Heart.
I finally decided to take time for myself…as a full-time working mom I was too busy with all the other stuff. Finally realized that in order to be a good parent, etc. I needed to do some things I like to do (not just things that need or have to be done!)
Hey, sounds selfish but I’m definitely in a better place!
So cool to read all the writing accomplishments—especially the I-WILL-persevere ones. Forcibly expelling a tiny human from your uterus is also the bomb 🙂 and Stephani’s daughter learning to read (and wanting to write!) is beauoootiful.
I sold my first book this year to Signet Eclipse. I’m most proud of that because I’m ones of those writers who KNEW from my single-digit years what I would be when I grew up. Well, a writer or a farmer, it was gonna be one of those. And I finally did it—after close to a million misfired words. (See ‘I WILL persevere’ above.)
I’m most proud of getting through graduate school. Hooray!
I re-opened my library after an 18 month renovation!
I learned how to knit and knit a couple of baby sweaters for a friend of mine who is having a little girl. I also decided that I may not use the grad school degree that I am going to school for and may just be poor for awhile with massive debt because it isn’t what I want to do, and I’ll be happier doing something else.
I survived—and grew stronger—after my agent closed her doors and kicked all of her clients to the curb. (Omitting several ugly details here, including outright lies.) I finished writing a paranormal romance, and am heading balls-out into the New Year to get a ESTABLISHED agent with a verifiable TRACK RECORD. Never give up! Never surrender!
Okay, I don’t want to get too specific, but I finally worked up the courage to kick a very abusive person out of my and my children’s lives and started therapy to deal with the aftermath. It’s no fun and I’ve pretty much lost my whole family over it, but we’re all emotionally safer for it, and I have no regrets. We’re also moving (please God please) next week and not passing on that address, all for the same reason. Maybe it’s not the kind of accomplishment you’re looking for, but it’s definitely the one for which I’m most grateful.
I also started writing again after a nearly two year hiatus… which helps me keep the fragment of my sanity I have left!
I finished my first manuscript and sent off for my PRO pin. Also entered the Golden Heart contest, truly biting the bullet of bravery for me. On to the next novel and short stories galore.
The dog who just came running in here with his “Ho-Ho-Ho” bear reminded me what I should be most proud of: taking his unwanted, muttly ass into our home and hearts, patiently getting him integrated, and making him feel secure, happy, and comfortable.
Anytime I can do that with an abused and/or unwanted animal, it far supersedes my piddly writing “accomplishments.”
(Uh . . . unless that Ho-Ho-Ho on the bear’s little t-shirt was meant to convey a different message.)
I lost 45 pounds in six months by cleaning up my diet and popping in those Slim in 6 DVDs I bought years ago. I also took up long distance running and ran a 5K! I plan to get the rest of the weight off in 2009 and work my way up to a 10K! Maybe a half marathon in 2010…
Designed a quick-change witch’s costume for an 8-string marionette (tricksy things, these wooden actors.)
I’m most proud of the fact that I could semi-retired and work my dream job at an used bookstore.
I interviewed before a panel and qualified for one of two slots (hehe slots) on one of the longest continuously running cardiovascular training grants in the USA.
I was damn proud, and so was my honey.
Danielle D,
It is my dream to work at a bookstore! In fact, although I’m 25, I’m looking forward to retiring early so I can work full time, surrounded by books. Congratulations! And I’m a little jealous 😉
I’m most proud of keeping things together (the house, the marriage, and our stuff through two moves up and down the east coast) while my husband finished a year of intense schooling/work that had him gone for 70-80 hours a week and then exhausted and not wanting to do anything when home. It was hard but we made it through and now we are first time home buyers!
I’m happy I have started writing again. I thought I would never get over my writers block. Thanks
(Love the mantra)
Tab
That’s a FUCKING AWESOME accomplishment! You rock.
My biggest accomplishment is my SANITY and I’m writing a book too titled “Should’ve been a crack whore and can Prove It!” wish I were kiddin’
BICHOK accomplishment: I edited somebody else’s memoir—and got paid!
For me, the accomplishments were getting my first book published and also starting fertility treatments after being afraid of the doctor and pain, etc, for so long! Medical stuff and me just don’t get along so that was a big one too. Also, getting my belly dance troupe to November Noir in San Antonio and really getting our name out there in the local dance community!
I’ve lost 25 pounds since September.
I maintained the weight loss from last year, started biking everywhere, dared to go to a dance class, and signed up for a dance festival next year. And danced in a public parade.
And I kept my son alive, always a triumph.
I passed my college algebra class which included online math work. MATH SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON THE COMPOUTER!!
Yeah, I obviously can’t spell computer tonight. I blame it on all the oil from the eight lbs of latkas that I fried for dinner.
I got my Professional Engineering License.
After completing a 4 year biological systems engineering degree (in 5.5 years), passing the 8 hour Fundamentals of Engineering Exam (which happens only twice a year and has a 50% passing rate), apprenticing under a professional engineer for 5 years, getting my state’s Professional Engineering Board approval, and passing the 8 hour Professional Engineering Exam (which happens only twice year and has a 60% passing rate).
Hmmm……I didn’t have a nervous breakdown, though it has been warranted this year. LOL
Deidre
Much like you, SB Sarah, I am extraordinarily proud of myself for finishing my first book. It’s not all typed in yet (I’m at the Starbucks typing now actually) but it’s all written and waiting for me to attack it with an editing pen.
ok, i can’t read through that list without adding something of my own.
this year: i survived the semester from hell, in a triple-room with one girl who outright hated me to my face and another who i’m pretty certain now is mentally unstable and is very able to manipulate me and my feelings, without having a mental breakdown (though it was CLOSE).
i also got a summer job, and quit when i couldn’t take it anymore, which was big for me since i hate quitting anything.
then i survived a breakup with my boyfriend of 8 months, had a horrendous fling with a guy who stole my virginity and then dumped me, but managed to get over it and find true love once again 😀
oh, and i got accepted into my dream program, a semester at Hebrew U in Jerusalem, which i leave for in two and a half weeks 😀
this was an INSANE year for me, i’m so glad it’s over. and i can’t wait to see what 2009 holds!
Just like Jennifer, I, too, created life this year. But I had the pleasant experience of have a person with many sharp implements slice me open and remove the child while I remained alert but incapable of escape. 😀
I asked my husband for a divorce after 23 years of marriage. He’s an awesome guy, a good person, and I admire him for his intelligence, his athleticism, and many other things. But we’ve just been the equivalent of roommates for far too long with nothing in common forever and nearly zero interaction for a couple of years.
So I truly am proud of myself for saying hey, it’s time to move on and for both of us to be really happy like we deserve to be. It’s a tremendous life change and I’ll be on my own for the first time in my life. Scary, but exciting at the same time. He’s so cool and feels the same way and it’s totally amicable and I’m proud of how we are both handling it and dealing with our two teenage sons who are still at home.
I feel like I have a whole new chapter starting in my life in a positive way.
I (along with a small group of other college students) built a small, working satellite. A small satellite comes out of a bigger one, flies around, and comes back ‘home’. No one’s done it on such a small scale before (our satellites are small enough to fit in an economy seat on an airplane) It is quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
Now just to convince someone to buy us a rocket for it…
Finally earned my Master’s in Library Science that has been postponed for 16 years. Working full time after being a SAHM for over a decade.
Thanks for helping me focus on the awesome achievements of the year.
[quote=]I grew a tiny human in my uterus and then forcibly expelled it whilst screaming my head off.
That has got to be the most fantastic description of pregnancy and childbirth I’ve ever heard. LOL As well as one hell of an accomplishment! Congratulations!
I did a few great things this year. I completed therapy for my diagnosed-way—too-late postpartum depression (my daughter was 16 months when I realized something was really wrong), gained back the weight I lost due to the depression-induced low appetite, and my husband and I succeeded in conceiving another baby four and a half months ago. Yay!
Amongst all that, I improved my knitting skills by leaps, taught a few people how to knit (we’ll take over the world eventually), and made a lot of cool stuff, including a few pairs of socks and many things for my new nephew.
I got an internship for the agency I wanted to work for as a career over this past summer. And also applied for two scholarships, and probably got at least one of them…
On another completely different note, I figured out that I most likely need to go back to therapy, which sounds like I shouldn’t be proud, but I’m proud that I can at least see clearly enough to know that all is not right in my head.