Christmas vacation is nearing its end, and it was a week which combined lots of social activities (5 nights of parties), lots of eating (which was certainly pleasant, but if I ate that much year-round I would soon be waddling down the hallways of dear ol’ PHS), and catching up on schoolwork (I wrote my 80th college recommendation this week; I wonder how many of those will actually result in acceptance letters for the student?).

I did some reading as well, finishing John Varley’s Mammoth, which is probably the last novel I will have time to read until Spring Break. Don’t worry: I’ll manage to read a decent amount of short fiction the next three months. I have 3 new unread fiction magazines and 9 unread fiction collections on my shelves, although I can only dream about having enough time to read all of them!

Jean and I spent last night chatting with two good friends of ours. She is still teaching while her husband retired last year. Like me, he is a writer, and he discussed his current project which made me so envious. Have you any idea how many projects are awaiting my full-time attention? Not to mention my magazine which I recently cut back from quarterly to semi-annually because of my workload, and which I would love to return to quarterly publication.

But don’t worry: I still love my students, and I am not ready to abandon them yet (well, at least not until this June when two particular favorites graduate ☺), probably not for another 4 years. And I will continue to try to eat healthy, and exercise as much as possible, so that when I do retire I will still have a couple of decades to pursue my second career of writing.

So my New Year’s resolution is simple: to enjoy what I have, while continuing to do the best I possibly can in all aspects of life. Happy New Year, everybody!