(no subject)

[zanzjan]

2007: In Review

Writing

Two sales: (which makes four years in a row where I've had exactly two sales)

The Neighborly Thing to Andromeda Spaceways, appeared in issue #31. This was the first short story I ever wrote, so although it wasn't as sophisticated as my more recent stuff it had a spot near and dear to my heart, so I was very glad to see it find a worthy home.

Concession Girl to Interzone. No idea yet when it is coming out, though.

Still waiting on the Field Guide To Surreal Botany "anthology", which was a 2006 sale that hasn't seen publication yet. Seeing as how they are doing watercolor illustrations for each botanial entry, it's entirely understandable that it could take this long -- I only hope that it does still come out, because when it does it should be exquisite. (-:

Three things still pending response:

Farewell To Io, the novel, 668 days out.

By The Time I Get To Phoenix, short story, 174 days out.

Two For The Starry Night, short story, 34 days out. (This'll probably be the story I read at Arisia in January.)

Lots of rejections too, some near-misses including three in a row hand-signed by Stan Schmidt at Analog -- either I'm getting closer or their copier was broken for a while. (-:

Not as much progress on writing new stuff as I'd like. It's been a distracting and mostly difficult year.

Miledrop, a novel, is about 42,000 words into its first draft.

The Fifth Sun, probably a novelette, is about 4,000 words in. It's research-intensive and that's really slowed me down.

Arcx, a novel, last at about 90,000 words, is still shelved, but it's been in my head a lot lately and I think I've figured out most of what was so broken with it that made me abandon it in the first place. So I may revisit this sooner rather than later.

I have some other short things I'm mulling around, but I've got traction on nothing at the moment.

My horoscope this week says:
Would you like to own a 60-inch flat-screen HDTV plasma television with surround-sound speakers? How about a $6,000 Daniel Hanson bathrobe made of silk-trimmed pashmina, a diamond-encrusted Cartier Luxury watch, and a heated toilet seat? All of these wonders and more could be within your grasp in 2008. In my astrological opinion, however, going after them would be a waste of your substantial acquisitive potential, which would be better used in pursuit of less decadent valuables. Such as? Such as tools and training that will help you upgrade your skills and refine the unique gifts you have to give the world.

...and really, I'm not all that keen on a big tv or a stupid watch anyway. Heated toilet seats are creepy. I would like to feel, by this time next year, that I have made steps forward in my writing and reached a new level of mastery than I am at now. Next year's going to be a busy one for me, though; certainly I will need to think out the use of my very limited time much more carefully, and find ways to challenge myself that push my writing in the ways it needs to be pushed more efficiently than the random thrashing that's propelled me forward off and on (and also occasionally backwards, in circles, and so forth) for the last several years.

So my writing goals for 2008 include finishing more stuff, trying to have more than two sales, and seeing an improvement in my craft.

Art

Sigh. Not much to say here, though I may have an update by midnight. I am only about forty-five minutes' worth of work from having completed painting the Bayeux Tapestry as a border on my bathroom wall, and I'm somewhat motived to try to get it done tonight. Been working on it off and on all day.

I am also painting a forest mural across one full wall of my bedroom. This is much further from completion, but maybe next year I can claim it as an accomplishment.

Other than that, goals for 2008 include finishing more of my neon tetra painting series.

Work

Still working at my same job, doing the same old IT thing. Nothing really new there. I did finally get my last users off coax about a month ago.

House and Home

The kitchen/living room remodel has not gone entirely according to plan. What's complete is complete and beautiful (the floor!) but the kitchen counters were backordered by the manufacturer and are hopefully coming in sometime either late this week or early next. I hope to confirm that with the contractor on Wednesday. Meanwhile it's been a bit of a challenge living in half my house, though I have slowly started to reinhabit the living room.

There are other home improvements I'd very much like to make next year, including finishing off the basement play area for the child and getting the back porch turned into a full-season room I can use as an office. Not sure I can afford to do the latter, but I'm planning on asking my current contractor for a rough estimate.

I didn't do much with the gardens this year, other than weed. And weed. And weed. 2008: plant more flowering stuff! I am also thinking I may build the child a fort in the woods in back next summer. Shouldn't be difficult to do (or at least not any more difficult than either a trellis or a doghouse), and she'd *love* it. I also want to move my grape plants, which are totally consuming my back deck.

Family

...should be larger this time next year. (At the moment, it is only I who is getting larger.)

Books

I read a lot less this year than usual, only about 60 books. (Hey, I had a lot going on.)

Of those I read, the ones I would most strongly recommend are:

Land of Mist and Snow, Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald

Spaceland, Rudy Rucker

Glasshouse, Charles Stross

Portable Childhoods, Ellen Klages (collection)

Bad Monkeys, Matt Ruff

Axis, Robert Charles Wilson (sequel to Spin)

Doorways in the Sand, Roger Zelazny

Blood and Iron, Elizabeth Bear (first of a series)

The Klages may very well have been my favorite.

As for my least favorite books of the year:

Blindsight, Peter Watt.

While exceptionally well-written in terms of craft (perhaps from that standpoint the best of the year), it had a few things that made it an unbearable book to read. First, it had one element that absolutely blew my suspension of disbelief out of the water and I never got it back. Second, the book was unrelentingly bleak and pessimistic, and I found none the characters at all likeable or sympathetic. Very much a personal-taste sort of disrecommendation, rather than any comment on the quality of the writing itself.

For 2008, I'd like to make a good dent in the to-read pile that's been stacking up (and up and up and up).

Fun:

Having had an amazing experience there as a student in 2005, I volunteered as staff at Viable Paradise. VP is a writer's workshop held every fall on Martha's Vineyard, and it was a huge amount of fun and work. I met a lot of amazing people and feel privileged to have been a part of their week. I hope to do it this year, but circumstances may or may not allow for that; regardless, I hope to at least be able to provide a lot of behind-the-scenes and pre-workshop help. For anyone aspiring towards writerdom, they open for applications in a few scant hours and I can't recommend it highly enough.

This spring llcoolvad, the child and I road-tripped from Massachusets to Madison, Wisconsin, for Wiscon, a feminist SF convention. We stopped at Niagara Falls on the way, and stopped and stuck our toes into two of the great lakes on the way back. It was a hell of a drive, but made worthwhile by the company!

The child and I travelled to the southwest again this summer to spend some time with my folks and do some sightseeing. We went to see the Grand Canyon (big), the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert, Monument Valley, and (the very best part of the trip): the Canyon de Chelly. If you go there, take the day-long tour inside the Canyon. Take sunscreen. (-:

Grand Canyon	Cliff Dwellings at Canyon de Chelly (for perspective, the tall tower is a three-story dwelling)	The Child in Canyon de Chelly

I went to my first Red Sox game with my friend Mike in August. We won. I ate a Fenway Frank; it made me queasy. Good times! (-:


I went to a total of three conventions in 2007: Arisia (which I'll be going to again in 2008), Boskone (which I love but almost definitely won't make next year), and the aforementioned Wiscon (which I *absolutely* won't make). I could not afford to go to Worldcon in Japan, woe is me. )-:

If there was other fun stuff I did, it was so fun I can't remember it. Fun stuff planned for 2008 is pretty non-existent at the moment, other than going to Arisia. I'm sure fun stuff will happen, whether I plan it or not, and the last minute fun is often the best kind.


So that's the recap. I hope your year was pleasant, and your next even more so.