Past and Present

I've been sorting through the 1K card project I did ten years ago (has it been that long already?) I tried to give most of it away during that Megacon where I made my very last personal appearance as an author, but I still have hundreds of the artist trading cards I made that year. I'm sorting them into different collections; this one in the basket are all the quilted fabric cards and bundles. I've added in some of the stitch practice pieces from this year, too.

I don't think of time as passing, but it does. What I remember most about 2012 was when Monica Jackson and Ray Bradbury died; both of them were terrible blows for different reasons. I think too often I mark time with losses. But that year I also took an online painting class, won NaNoWriMo, revived one bylined series, sold another and moved to a new publisher. I didn't know it at the time but my career with traditional publishing was coming to an end, too.

I wouldn't go back and warn myself of the dismal things just around the corner for me (diabetes, deafness), maybe because there were just as many good things (breaking free of NY, finding my dream job as a writer.) Although I dwell a little too much on the negative things usually balance out for me.

Anyway. 2012 was also the year I began art quilting in earnest, I think, as part of that thousand cards project. So maybe that was the most remarkable thing about that year. I rediscovered myself as an artist in the past, and still practice my art in the present. Now I wonder what the future holds. :)