What's On Your Year-End Inventory?

With 2012 garden catalogs starting to arrive, it won't be long before well-meaning people start talking about New Year's resolutions and creative goal-setting. Bless their hearts. That's way down my list of things to do right now. But I think I am going to take a little time to inventory some of what I've learned this year. That should make me feel better about how much is still on my to-do list. Could the same be true for you?

December Daily Doodle for 12-7-11 done on tablet

For me, the past six months have been one big roller coaster ride on the Great Technology Learning Curve, which included the purchase of a new laptop with a new operating system and all new open-source software. At that time, I also bought an inexpensive Wacom pen tablet for digital drawing.

Last night, I finally loaded the software and started practicing with with the tablet. I figured my December Daily Doodle project on Facebook would be good incentive to work with this new tool. I forgot that my December Daily Doodle project was intended to be a few minutes of creative relaxation in the midst of the hectic holiday season.  I'm sure doodling on the tablet will be relaxing. Eventually.

Willow-dyed scarves by Donna Kallner on Etsy.com

I've learned other things this year, too. Like tagging and SEO. Until recently, my New Age Looping book was the only item in my Etsy shop, and most people found it because they had the link from my web site or blog. When I decided to get serious about selling other things on Etsy, I knew there would be a learning curve. Understatement. It feels like learning a whole new language. Choosing tags that help search engines help shoppers find you is as important as learning to ask "Where's the bathroom" in a foreign country. There may also be a secret handshake. I haven't learned that yet.

And then there's the stuff that's so easy once I learn it that I can't fathom why it took me so long. Like today: I saw on another Etsy seller's web site a Page that goes directly to her Etsy shop, and thought I'd add a similar Page on my blog. I figured it wouldn't take more than a half-hour. What a pleasant surprise to find it was as simple as clicking one box I never noticed before. In fact, it was so easy I made a Page link to my Spoonflower fabric shop, and one to my web site, too. Those are on the bar at the top of the page. OK, this is not earth-shattering stuff, but I can see what I got done today.

And a lot of days, you can't see what you got done. I'm lucky to have Bill to remind me that I didn't do X because I did Y and Z and I had to learn A through W to get those done.

Next time you consult your December To-Do list, think about all that you could put on a To-Done list. What's on your year-end inventory?