and time flies by

So quickly indeed.
This might have to be another new beginning I think!
This year is full on. I survived the christmas season, I passed all of my exams and I won NaNoWrimo, which led me to sign up at kiwiwriters.org It's a good site, with a lot of helpful people on it and I really hope that over time it will grow and grow.
Writing - as i have been told by many lecturers - is something that people do both alone and as part of a community, because if there was no one reading, commenting, encouraging or desiring to read then in some ways there is little point in writing in the first place.
I'm not entirely sure I agree with that, I'd like to think that I would still write even if no one had any desire to read my ramblings. In fact, a lot of my writing has never been read by anyone else and that never stopped me from writing it down so far.
I do however believe that being part of some kind of community can help you grow, exposure to different styles and ideas and techniques rarely hurts you, generally it seems to compel and often challenges you to grow as a writer - or whatever other endeavour your attempting.
So far its certainly been challenging me. When I think I can't be bothered to write anything a challenge will crop up and I'll say to myself 'Hey, now that could be fun, if nothing else lets do it for a laugh' and generally ideas just start to flow from there. It is a good thing indeed.

This year is the last of my degree - providing that I pass everything, and it will be the first year in a long time that I haven't taken any papers involving writing. In fact every paper I am taking this year is Psychology. I fear already that I won't get to read anything for pleasure - last year was bad enough and this year is more full on for sure. I got a couple books from a bookstore, promising myself that indeed, by the end of this university year they will have been read and I can only hope that I do manage to stick to my guns on that!
Reading helps my writing, and in some ways I feel almost like I am starving myself by not being able to find the time to read something for pleasure. Which would suggest I'd find the time to read more right? lol We'll see.
So, on top of the study I still have my dear little girl to look after. She's just turned two and is always happiest when she has my full attention - which makes doing anything else difficult at times. Shes happy to let me do my thing in ten minute brackets but anything longer than that and she starts to ask me all kinda of questions and tries to get me to play at any number of different games - very tempting at times.
This year hopefully I'll be able to find a better balance between study and non study time, and hopefully make more time for writing. NaNo really put the bug back in me and I have many ideas which are just waiting to pour forth.
The last big task of the year is to plan our wedding. The big things are out of the way but I think the smaller details are always the ones that seem most difficult to decide on and pin down with certainty. I'm so excited for the future. So many plans, so many hopes, and so many things on that good old to-do list.
Maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to phsyically write it down, it would mean I'm more accountable for successes and failures. While they are just notching up in my head it's not so big of a deal if something passes by without being achieved.