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2008 in review
Jan. 1st, 2009 09:27 amAccording to the BBC website, studies have shown that making New Year's resolutions can be bad for your mental health, so that seems a good enough reason to me to put them off. However I can't resist the urge to join the rest of the lemmings in attempting to sum up 2008. Not so much for nostalgia, as in writing up an AAR or "Put a stake in it, it's done."
Reading
The Bad: By conservative estimate, I added at least 100 books to my to-be-read pile. While doing my small part to keep booksellers and publishers afloat, the sheer size of the TBR stack is discouraging, and I'm halfway tempted to just bury all the books in a hole in the backyard and start again. If the ground wasn't frozen, I'd be more than halfway tempted.
The Good: I discovered several new authors that I enjoyed. Plus, with the help of friends on LJ I helped my sister find new mystery authors to devour, much to her delight.
Writing
The Bad: A project that I really like was rejected, sent out, rejected again. Also, for various reasons including lack of deadline pressure, my writing productivity dropped.
The Good: THE FINAL SACRIFICE was released in July, and received nice reviews. And the project has been resubmitted elsewhere, so I'm optimistic.
The Bad Part Two: My longtime critique partner![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jennifer_dunne fell in love, got engaged, moved out of state and is no longer available for rapid critiques. Come to think of it, I'm still waiting for her to critique the chapter I sent her in November....
The Good Part Two:fireun has now joined jpsorrow in critiquing and motivating-via-fish sessions. fireun not only appreciates fine prose, she's also a beer-friend, something that was sorely lacking.
Life
The Bad: Failed to achieve the mythical Work/Life balance that my employer claims to believe in, including a specactular failure in August when my scheduled vacation days for Worldcon somehow morphed into me carrying my laptop around Denver and having to work several hours each day. And owing to the state of the market, early retirement to become a full-time writer appears dependent upon lottery winnings or bestseller status, rather than 401K savings.
The Good: I still have a day job, which means health insurance and regular paychecks.
In conclusion, 2008 wasn't the best of years, but it wasn't the worst either. Here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year for us all.
Reading
The Bad: By conservative estimate, I added at least 100 books to my to-be-read pile. While doing my small part to keep booksellers and publishers afloat, the sheer size of the TBR stack is discouraging, and I'm halfway tempted to just bury all the books in a hole in the backyard and start again. If the ground wasn't frozen, I'd be more than halfway tempted.
The Good: I discovered several new authors that I enjoyed. Plus, with the help of friends on LJ I helped my sister find new mystery authors to devour, much to her delight.
Writing
The Bad: A project that I really like was rejected, sent out, rejected again. Also, for various reasons including lack of deadline pressure, my writing productivity dropped.
The Good: THE FINAL SACRIFICE was released in July, and received nice reviews. And the project has been resubmitted elsewhere, so I'm optimistic.
The Bad Part Two: My longtime critique partner
jennifer_dunne fell in love, got engaged, moved out of state and is no longer available for rapid critiques. Come to think of it, I'm still waiting for her to critique the chapter I sent her in November....The Good Part Two:
fireun has now joined jpsorrow in critiquing and motivating-via-fish sessions. fireun not only appreciates fine prose, she's also a beer-friend, something that was sorely lacking.Life
The Bad: Failed to achieve the mythical Work/Life balance that my employer claims to believe in, including a specactular failure in August when my scheduled vacation days for Worldcon somehow morphed into me carrying my laptop around Denver and having to work several hours each day. And owing to the state of the market, early retirement to become a full-time writer appears dependent upon lottery winnings or bestseller status, rather than 401K savings.
The Good: I still have a day job, which means health insurance and regular paychecks.
In conclusion, 2008 wasn't the best of years, but it wasn't the worst either. Here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year for us all.
