Manifesting ... for the record

Andrew just came across an old list on his computer of things we wanted to manifest in 2006, written in February that year. Fun to look back nearly three and a half years later and see how well we did or didn't do. They didn't all happen that year, but most of them have happened now. Others have been discarded or deferred.

WHAT I WANT TO MANIFEST IN 2006 — Andrew

1: A digital camera. Didn't happen in 2006, but it's on lay-by now and we're well on the way to paying it off.

2: A scanner. Bought in 2007.

3: Copy ETCHINGS with 1 or 2.
Refers to A's father's artwork. We found a much better way to do that, employing a professional.

4: An agreement with Australian Booksellers' Association on JORELL, covering all details of ordering, retail price, ABA commission, promotion on my website. Refers to A's children's novel, originally published with help from ABA. ABA pretty much said, "It's all yours now". Promotion and commission n/a.

5: Additional memory for my laptop. Don't think that happened; no longer applicable.

6: Laptop upgraded or newer model acquired. Laptop died. He now owns an old but much more efficient iMac.

7: JORELL placed on website. Yes.

8: TOBY’S HOME RUN (formerly Magic Bat) rewritten, edited, published & placed on our website by March 15. Didn't happen; A made a decision to focus on other writing. Could still happen; depends on him.

9: Writing of autobiography to continue. It continues.

10: THE OLD MILL at first draft by mid-April. See 8.

WHAT WE WANT MANIFESTED THIS YEAR

1: The Life Magic website up and running. It is.

2: The stereo system either fixed or replaced. No. We got rid of the old one recently but haven't yet replaced it.

3: Video recorder fixed or replaced. Fixed.

4: A DVD player. Bought in 2007.

5: A Kirby vacuum cleaner. We thought better of this. Previous accommodation had disgusting carpet that landlords always promised to replace but never did. A Kirby demo convinced us that was the answer but it was way beyond our reach. Just as well – a week or so later the old stains were showing through again; the carpet was just too old and worn. Professional cleaning from time to time was actually cheaper. In our present home we have a lovely carpet, very easy to clean.


WHAT I WANT TO MANIFEST IN 2006— Rosemary

1: Enough money for the Texas visit to be easy, comfortable and hassle-free. We did; it was. In fact it was a lot more than that, see Texas Poetry Trip blog.

2: Sales of 200 copies of my book, SECRET LEOPARD, in Texas during April. I don't now have the exact figures handy, but judging by how many were printed, what I've got left of those shipped back here, and a rough estimate of how many have sold here ... yes, I think I must have got rid of something like 200 in America. Close anyway.

3: Enough money to ship home any books unsold. Yes, that happened – except for some I left with my friend Neil for future USA sales, a few of which have since gone.

4: Lovely, smart new clothes and underwear for the Texas visit. Oh yes!

5: To change my weight to under 12 stone by the end of March, and look good. To weigh 10 stone by end of year and look good. I don't remember exact weights, but I was slim enough to look good in Texas, and still looked good by the end of the year. Would certainly have been well under 12 stone for the Texas trip, but came home a little rounder.

6: Health and fitness. Very good in 2006. Mostly good since, right up to the cold I caught recently.

7: Successful local launches of SECRET LEOPARD, Melbourne and here, with good sales. Decided not to bother about Melbourne; wanted to stay home awhile then. Successful launch here with good sales.

8: Favourable reviews of SECRET LEOPARD in Australian media. Nah, didn't happen as far as I know. I was fairly unintelligent in the way I went about that, also had been out of "the scene" a long time and changed my name to boot. Thank goodness for nice 0/s reviews instead, reassuring me that the lack of Oz reviews was not the fault of the book.

9: Publication of book of love poems. Well, not in the conventional sense of publication. But I did post a series entitled "Secret Love Letters" on MySpace, and I gave my friend Maureen a one-off chapbook for xmas, entitled "Erotica Platonica" which obviously was full of love poems of both kinds.

10: Winning an important and lucrative international poetry competition. Well, no. "You have to be in it to win it...." I seldom do that. I entered a chapbook comp last year, have vague memories of something else a few years ago ... did no good. Have done well in some less important competitions, but no first prizes yet.

11: Writing lots more good poems. Have written lots and lots more! Many people, including some editors, have found them good.

12: Writing articles that get published internationally in reputable media. Ha ha, only blogs. Haven't actually attempted anything else.

13: Completing Correllian Wicca 3rd Degree or large part thereof. Changed my mind about this one for a number of reasons, the most important being a reluctance to be identified with only one tradition, so never actually began the course.

There's an obvious moral to be drawn here, I think, that perseverance brings results!