Well, here we are, the new year. A time at which I find myself looking back on the year just gone, while also thinking about what this next year might throw at me.

2010 was not a good year, all things considered. I seemed to spend a lot of the time struggling to find artistic motivation and creative energy. I did manage it here and there, but I still didn't manage to finish any comics for publication. I didn't manage to get done nearly as much last year as I would have liked.

The last bit of 2010 was particularly bad, for various reasons. Life didn't so much 'throw me a few curveballs' as 'beat me severely about the head with a baseball bat'.

There came the news at work that next year will likely see major reorganisation in this part of the country that will make overtime a rarity, which would be a blow to my finances. But that wasn't getting to me too much, its going to make things difficult, but I can probably handle it.

But then I was hit with a big development in my life. In late november, after 4 and a half years together, the relationship with my boyfriend came to an end. This was the primary reason I spent much of december depressed.

I'm not going to go into the reasons why it ended, because frankly, they are complicated and personal. CJ and I are still friends, still talk on the phone here and there, and will probably still see each other now and again. But as a couple, as boyfriends, we are no more.

It took me by surprise and hit me very hard at the time, as I did love him dearly, and it immediately threw me into deep depression. Also, on the same day it happened, I had to deal with a tricky financial situation that could have resulted in me losing my home (don't worry, its sorted out now), and it was really the worst time to have to deal with such things. And then, the very next week is when things started getting very busy and stressful at work in the run up to xmas. And we were hit by heavy snow that made life difficult. It was really a case of one bad thing after another getting thrown at me in quick succession.

All in all, I spent about a month feeling like crap, struggling through life. The end of things with CJ really hit me badly, and I went through a lot of anger, denial and quite a lot of depression. I daresay I went a little crazy for a while there. And all the other stressful crap just made me worse.

However, I seemed to turn a corner just before xmas. I started to come out of the depression and started to feel better, started accepting things and feeling ready to move on with my life.

After xmas spent with family, I've spent the past week taking a break from everything, resting and relaxing. Which is what I needed after such a difficult period. And now I am feeling a lot better, and looking to the future.

Which brings us to 2011, a year which promises to be one of change and difficulty for me. But in spite of everything, I do have an unusual (for me) degree of optimism.

I want to get back into the swing of my artwork (at this stage, I haven't put pencil to paper since late november, although I did a bit of colouring today, finishing off a commission).

I want to get back into producing comics for publication. In particular I want to get House of Lazarus #4 finally done, as it's been delayed far too long.

I want to get The Corps started up again at some point, as that is a story I want to continue telling.

And since I'm now single once again, at some point, I want to start looking for love. I'm not quite ready for that particularly daunting task just yet though. Although I might just start with making new friends, getting to know new people.

So that's how things have been and currently are with me. I hope everyone else has been doing better! :)