The world spins madly on...

Ah, the perennial -- or whatever word indicates "every decade" -- debate about when the decade ends. Do you count 1-10, or 0-9?

Why not do both?

In Mesoamerican calendrical systems, there's an interesting tendency to lap the edges of things. The last day of a month is also the "seating" of the next; the five leftover days in the solar calendar are the seating of the following year. So it seems to me that we can resolve this entire problem by agreeing that any given 0 year is the end of one decade (going by the math) and the seating of the next (going by the social construct).

Happy 2010, people, the end of the aughts and the seating of the upcoming teens. May it be better than what came before.

It's officially the New Year. Which means we are only twenty days away from the new episode of Supernatural! Which got me thinking about the other shows/movies/books I'm looking forward to in 2010.

TV
-----------------------------------------
Supernatural---Will this be the last season? Will Sam become the Devil? Will the boys go down in a fight? And how will Jo's death affect Dean now? Will he miss her? Or did she die in the mid-season finale, only to drop off the face of the show?

Vampire Diaries---This is my new favorite show. I LOVE how it's written. I really enjoy the love/hate relationship between Damon and Stefan. And who, exactly, is this Alaric character? Is he also a vampire?

Tru Blood---Words cannot describe how much I love this show. Wait. Maybe they can. Two words: Eric Northman. If it weren't for Eric, I wouldn't watch the show so voraciously. I love the way he pretends to dislike Sookie, but clearly cares for her in ways that both surprise and annoy him.

Movies
----------------------------------------

Alice in Wonderland---Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, enough said.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows---Mr. Jen is the Harry Potter fanatic, but I do love watching the movies.

Twilight Saga: Eclipse---New Moon was a lot better than Twilight was, so I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll do with the third movie.

Books
---------------------------------------

Princess for Hire---I know just by reading Lindsey's posts that she's hilarious. I can't wait to read a whole book filled with her humor!

Silver Borne---Next installment in the Mercy Thompson series. I miss Adam. And I want to know more about that walking stick!

The Hunger Games: Book 3---I didn't expect to love these books as much as I did. The genre wasn't one I would normally read, and it just goes to show, that if the voice is dead-on, it won't matter what the subject matter is. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

What are you looking forward to in 2010? (If it's not more of Eric Northman, preferably scantily clad, then there's something wrong with you.)

                                     

This has been a WONDERFUL year for me (much better than 2008), and I'm anxious to see what 2010 brings.
By the way, I've decided on "twenty-ten," over the more cumbersome "two-thousand-ten." How about you?

I'm wondering a couple of things about my f-list. So tell me a couple of things:

One really great thing that happened to you this year and
Two great books you read in 2009!

As for me, the arrival of The Littlest Prince tops my list as the greatest thing that happened to/for me this year. There really isn't anything better than a warm baby snuggled into your neck, or listening to baby giggles. Life is good here at the Prince homestead.

As for the two greateset books I read in 2009:

I'm tempted to name the ones that I've read repeatedly from early inception, like Soul Enchilada and Scones and Sensibility, but that would probably be "cheating." So, I'm going to name a couple of others instead:

Also Known as Harper by Ann Haywood Leal, which is probably considered a "quiet" middle grade but has stuck with me all year long
and
Waiting for Winter by  Sebastian Meschenmoser, a picture book with such striking illustrations, they cannot be ignored.

Now, don't get me wrong, those are just two great books that were released in 2009. I also read a few books for the first time this year, which were released awhile back, but that I love, love, loved:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Alexie Sherman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

and

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Anyway, that wraps up this year for me. Tell me about you!

28 YA Authors give you advice on writing, publishing, and everything in-between.

(On a personal note: You have to watch this. Seriously. I called Apple Tech Support and scoured internet forums and said to authors I'd just met "HEY, I'm Jackson, can you be in my video?" securing my reputation as that-creepy-girl-with-the-camera. Don't make all my work be in vain. YOU have the power. The power to hit play. And to repost/link. And...other stuff.)

(On another personal note: My new year's resolution is going to be to follow all the advice in here. Or at least try my hardest.)




Remember-- if it skips on your computer, try taking it off "HD." HD hates some computers it seems.

I hope everybody had wonderful holidays so far --- I definitely have. But I wanted to make sure to give you guys a treat for New Year's, and here it is: the prologue and first chapter of HOURGLASS! Read and enjoy (I hope).

After a long trek through the cold to find what were, apparently, the last remaining party hats in the city of Chicago, I am settling in to edit a bit before heading out to tonight's bash (at the home of the fabulous Adam Seltzer, author of many many books, including the upcoming I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT.) Have a great New Year's Eve, and we'll be starting some contests and promos for the HOURGLASS launch soon!

Just a quick note to wish you all a happy & safe start to the New Year.

Traditionally, I'm not much for resolutions & introspection at this point in the year (I tend to reserve such things for my birthday, as that's my "start date" & therefore the date from which counting fwds & bkwards makes the most sense to me). There is, however, appeal in a group date for such things too.

Top Moments of the Year (never in order):
1. Being w Daughter when she fell in love w a Dali painting at the Met.  She's loved art in general, but rarely has she been so utterly smitten.
2. Son & Daughter & Spouse video-skyping to have dinner with me when  I was on tour.
3. Stretched out on the beach (off season when it's deserted w Spouse AND during summer w Spouse & son).
4. Niece curling into my lap & announcing that she needed purple boots "just like yours, Aunt Miss"
5. Floating in the pool with son & spouse.
6. Late night conversations in the dark listening to frogs & insects.
7. Owl perched on a branch outside my window
8. Outside w kids & Spouse w telescope & seeing one of Jupiter's moons pass in front of the planet (THIS might be the top moment for me)
9. Building bird feeders w my beasties (& then watching birds).
10. All of those random moments that are so fleeting, yet one pauses & realizes that I Wish This Instant Would Last Forever.

. . . and at the end of it all, that's what it's all about: the moments.  It's why I like photography, why I write, why I enjoy meeting new ppl whom I'll never talk to a 2hnd time.  There are these things we do, these attempts to pause the world & fit all of the living we need into a space less than a second.  At the end--whether that's this instant or many years away--I want to have a collection of moments to think on.  I suspect  that the desire to fill moments to bursting, to freeze them when they happen, is what causes us to think of afterlives and of folkloric immortality. 

I hope your year has been filled with many moments & that your next year will be overflowing with them.

If you are so inclined, I love hearing of moments, so pls feel invited to share some of yours.

 Okay. It's not officially the end of the decade, but 2010 is such a cool number. So, I thought about what I was like back in 2000 and I realized that I was:

1. Much cuter.
2. 10 years younger.
3. Had more brain cells.

But that doesn't matter because in the last 10 years (or 9) - I don't know it's math and confusing - I've:

1. Gone from being a freelance reporter to a newspaper editor to a book author who gets royalty checks with actual money in them
2. Gone from having a toddler to having a teenager
3. Gotten a super cool dog and cat


How about you? Has your life changed since 2000? Have you achieved any of your goals? Do you have goals for the next 10 years. I do. 

Here they are:

1. Hike the AT - this can be done in parts, I'm not fussy any more.
2. Go somewhere warm that is not in this country and not bring my computer.
3. Get my agent to wear a flannel shirt.
4. Do the MDI Marathon somehow, even if I have to walk it.
5. Not be poor and live in a condemned shack hoarding cats and newspapers and scrunchies

No, there aren't like big spiritual/personal life/family goals there because well - I am too shy to post those. 

The most important goal, however?

FINDING GROVER!!!!

Yes, Grover is missing. I think he may have run away. I haven't been paying much attention to him. And he has been drinking a lot of schnapps lately and I fear he may have wandered outside into the snow.

*sobs*

My life is so empty without him.

SPECIAL PLEA TO GROVER: Please come back, baby. I won't make you wear the cape anymore. I will try not to be neurotic. Please, baby...please... Don't make me write a country song about you.

First things first:

The Witch's Alphabet

226 / 450 pages. 50% done!

YEAH.

And with that, here is the decade that was:

2000: I turned 16, did not get a driver's license, and was really upset I was too young to not vote for W.Bush. I spent part of this year living with my step-parents (yes, plural, my family tree is complicated) in rural Florida. This worked out exactly as well as you'd think.

2001: I graduated from high school, got a driver's license and proceeded not to use it, and took temporary leave of my senses, moving in with my awful ex. I somehow talked my mother into this--I must have been way more convincing than I am now.

2002: I went to college, turned 18, moved to Olympia, and lived on my own for the first time. I took a sociology program that nearly killed me, but it was worth it. Had to read a lot of Faulkner. I like Faulkner, but there's a limit.

2003: I took a night job and a morning class that ended with me in a frantic, Tyler-Durden-like altered state. Took my first (and last) theater program and decided that English majors may be crazy, but at least they were my kind of crazy. Got a stalker. Got my first apartment. I think my ex moved in some time this year--I've successfully blocked it from my memory.

2004: In February 2004 I got a new job. This job saved me. No more nights, no more sleep deprivation. I didn't realize it at the time, but I had slid pretty far down the rabbit hole of depression and this job and my wonderful boss truly enabled me to keep on keeping on. I also was able to take time off and go to Japan for a four-week language program, which remains one of the best things I've ever done.

2005: Graduated from college, got on antidepressants, got more jobs, some awesome and some not. Adopted Victor the cat, also one of the best things I've ever done. The ex and I broke up for the first of many times. I bought the Batcave! Moved into my first place that I owned. I started writing Night Life in November or December of 05.

2006: Finished Night Life. Got a new job in game design that actually paid my bills. Broke up with the ex for the final time, causing him to go insane and stalk me (what is it with men I meet and stalking?) Got repped by my lovely agent (!!) for my book (!!!) who sold it (!!!!) to St. Martin's Press (!!!!!!!). I adopted Faust the cat, making my status as a Crazy Cat Person inch up another peg.

2007: Wrote two more Nocturne City novels, wrote an early draft of Street Magic, had a lot of fun at my job and remodeling my house, got my mental health back on track, went to England for the first time. Met many, many awesome write folks who became my social circle and a few who became true friends. I quit my day job in December to write full time, the most terrifying/best thing I've ever done.

2008: Sold the Black London series in January. Wrote three more novels, two for publication and one trunked. In October, my lovely agent sold my Lovecraftian-steampunk-fantasy-adventure YA novel, The Witch's Alphabet, in a major deal to Random House. This literally changed my life, and I was able to scale back a lot. Went to England again, stayed with Stacia and her family, finished remodeling the Batcave, weathered the worst blizzard I've ever been through, largely due to Washington State becoming paralyzed at the first hint of snow. But I digress.

Which brings us to 2009. It's been A Year. Real highs and real lows, very little calmness in the middle. I had a full-on nervous breakdown in April over my ability to write/produce in a timely fashion, which threw a wrench into the works of a lot of projects. I moved into a tiny apartment in Seattle in a fit of Itchy Feet Syndrome. I had four (!!!) book releases, including Street Magic and Demon Bound, which I've been waiting to see in print for literally years. That was fantastic. I went to San Diego Comic Con for the first time, expecting to hate it and having the best con experience of my life instead. I also did an author tour for the first time, the Paranormal Bender Tour, and took a road trip through California and Nevada by myself during the summer. I turned 25, saying goodbye to my early twenties and the ability to be an idiot just because. Which is probably a good thing. I went to Amsterdam and Belgium and yes, England again in the fall, finally figured out how to write again in November and made the decision to move home to Massachusetts. I bought my second house, which doesn't have a name yet. I read a lot of good books, saw virtually no good movies, took a burlesque class and did my routine in front of actual people, and basically spent a long chunk of the year learning what makes me happy and passionate, independent of deadlines, editors, reviewers or peers. It was a hell of a year. 2010 will have to work hard to top it, good or bad.

---

Some usual year-end stats:

Completed novels in 2009: 2
Major rewrites: 4 (all on the same book.)
Novels in progress: None.
Orphaned novels: 0
Fiction proposals: 0
Completed novellas: 0
Novellas in progress: 1
Completed short stories: 2
Completed other-media proposals: 2

Demon Bound 87,137 added (draft/rewrites.)
Shades of Gray 40,000 approx.
The Witch's Alphabet 100,335 added (draft/rewrites.)

"Perdition" 8,900
"Under the Hill and Far Away" 5,529
The Curse of Four (in progress) 13,772

False starts, snippets, clip files and miscellany 10,308

Total words of fiction written in 2009: 265,981

---

I read 32 books in 2009, a vast improvement over 2008, and here in no particular order are my top five (limited to 2009 or late 2008 releases, to keep it fair):

1. Boneshaker, Cherie Priest


2. Dark Places, Gillian Flynn


3. Sandman Slim, Richard Kadrey


4. Criminal vols. 1-4, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips


5. The Red Tree, Caitlin R. Kiernan

Honorable mention goes to The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting, which I read in ARC form as part of my YA lit. community. I didn't read very much extraordinary YA this year, and that saddens me. 2010 looks to be a much better year.

Best old-new-read book was undoubtedly Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.

I saw a lot of theater movies in 2009 but I honestly can't remember any of them off the top of my head besides Watchmen, which was very good and Angels and Demons, which was so stupidly bad it left me with physical brain-pain. Star Trek didn't live up to its hype. (500) Days of Summer made me want to slit my wrists, both because of the crushing despair and all the hipster references. The Hangover was the only comedy of note and it's certainly no Tropic Thunder. My Bloody Valentine was probably the least-horrifying horror film ever committed to screen. All the horror I saw this year was very bland. After 2008, which had Iron Man and The Dark Knight and a host of other stuff that just blew 2009 out of the water, I wasn't really wowed by anything else released this year.

Oh, I remember one other: Pirate Radio (aka The Boat that Rocked in the UK) was fantastic. That, I would see again.

---

Traditionally, as a wrap-up, I post my goals from 2009 and see how I did, before moving on to new ones for the coming year. As the Joker's fond of saying, here we go:

2009

Writing

Scale back my novel-writing volume and take on only projects that excite me
Finish the Iron Codex trilogy (big fat failure on that score. Better luck next time)
Sell the second half of the Black London quadrilogy (And two more unnamed novels besides. V. happy with this one.)
See one or more of my novels adapted to a secondary medium (Nope, but I am working on a TV pilot.)
Pick up a writing job in a new media (No, but I have sent out two proposals for comics that have nothing to do with my current projects, so I'm working on it.)

Non-writing goals

Finish what I start more often (I call this one done because I've realized that a lot of what I was prioritizing last year is basically bullshit, and not important to me at all. I've re-ordered the importance of finishing tasks.)
Keep dieting, training and improving on the base I've built, physically (I'm down to my goal size in pants and in TONS better shape than I was this time last year.)
Complete the remodel of the Batcave
Go one place I have never been (Three places, ackshually--Baltimore, Amsterdam and Bruges.)
Do one thing I have never done (Getting naked in front of a bunch of burlesque fans counts, I think)
Allow confidence in my creative skill and personal capability (Not so much. See aforementioned nervous breakdown.)
Have more fun with life (Yes, I have lightened up a ton. Believe it or not.)
Be a better person than the one I was in 2008 (I don't know. Evidence is mixed.)

2010 Goals

Writing

Finish all of my 2010 contracted work (preferably on deadline)
Finish and shop my TV pilot
Start writing my YA option book proposal
Research at least one of the uncontracted adult UF novels and prep for writing
Sell a comic proposal/get hired at one of the Big Two/start a creator-owned project (any of the three will suffice.)

Non-writing goals

Lose the last of the weight--get down to my goal size
Move to Massachusetts without losing my mind
Stop giving energy to toxic relationships
Don't take everything so goddamn personally
Keep up with and get better at my photography projects
Go to one new foreign city and one new US city
Be a better me than the one I was in 2009

Merry New Year!

Originally published at Caitlin Kittredge.

As I mentioned before, I'm trying to take some more freelance work. The Car of Hate must go.

Trolling the projects at Guru is sometimes laughable. Lots of the jobs are perfectly fine, but some...damn. I just read one where this employer wanted a 50 page ebook written, the freelancer to do all the research, all the writing, all the formatting, everything. He wanted to pay like $200 for this. Are you serious? And there are always tons of people who want freelancers to write hundreds of 400 word articles with SEO and they want to pay like $2 per article. I mean, 400 words isn't long, but I still wouldn't do it for two measly bucks.

I just got a callback on a big job. The project description said they had a nonfiction memoir biographical thing, about 75,000 words (like 200 Word pages). It's been through editing with a publisher, they have a document with tracked comments from the editors. They wanted proofreading. They budgeted $500. Okay, that's not so bad. So I bid.

I got a message from them this morning with more details. Noooo they don't just want proofreading. They want incorporation of all the editorial comments. They want rewriting for flow and clarity. They want chapter reorganization. They want grammar/punctuation check. They want a top to bottom substantive edit, in other words. And did I mention they want it in two weeks? For 200 pages? For $500. Yeah, right. I told them I was still very interested. The book seems interesting and more or less decently written but it needs serious massaging of the kind that isn't so quick. I did a one-page sample edit for them. One page took me half an hour. That means we're talking about 100 hours labor here, probably a bit less. I told them I couldn't consider the job for less than $2000. And that's a discount. I normally charge $30 an hour for substantive editing.

If they want to disqualify me for money reasons, fine. If I got that job for $500 I would literally be spending every waking hour working on it for two weeks. It's not worth it. I could do several smaller jobs that would be much less time intensive and would add up to more than $500 in that time. I mean, I could use the $500, but there's a certain point where it's just not worth the time and effort.

Browsing LJ there are a lot of decade in review type posts. They are lovely and heartbreaking, just like the past ten years have been for me. I think mostly, other than the birth of my child, the biggest events are painful enough without having to revisit them here. And so, I'm happy to be ringing in a new year. A new decade.

On the other side of midnight, I see hope waiting for us. I see all the possibilities. I see the dreams we dare to dream. I can't wait to step over with all of you and work together to make them all come true.

xo

p.s. bgliterary has just informed me that I, along with many, am mistaken and this is not really the start of a new decade. However, I reserve the right to treat it as one. :-)

A couple of my favorite posts include this one,  Is it censorship?  and this one Daring to dream which seems like a wonderful way to end the year.

I hope you've enjoyed your visits to 31 blogs this month. The yellow icon will reside in the sidebar of my blog so you can dip back into them in the future.

This is the first time I've really felt like the new year might be great. The start of this year, I was consumed with all things baby, and that took a lot of energy and focus. I think I've spent the entire year in a fog---having the baby, caring for the baby, going to work, cleaning the house. There's this song by NIN that goes something like, "I believe I can see the future / because I repeat the same routine." I don't want to repeat the same routine this year!

I'm really looking forward to my baby girl getting bigger this summer, and running around, and turning one. And I'm hoping that this year I'll find a good balance between being a mother and a full-time worker AND a writer.

I decided this year I needed to post some goals. I realize it won't exactly be a titillating read. It's more for my benefit than anything else! I'd like to look back in a year and see how things have changed.

So here goes.

Goals for 2010 (Big and Small)

1.  Keep track of all the books I read
2.  Finish writing a new manuscript
3. Submit said manuscript
4. GET AN AGENT!
5. Be healthy
6. Quit drinking so much darn Mountain Dew
7. Save a little bit of money
8. Sell our house

#1 will be easy so long as I stick with it. Same goes for #5. The hardest one? Totally #6!!! I'm such an addict! I suppose #4 and #8 might be hard to accomplish as well, considering they're both some what out of my control.

I think it'll be fun to look back on this in 2011 and see if I accomplished anything. I'd love to cross everything off my list! 

 

Tina McEvoy, Assistant Director for Lawrence Library in Pepperell, MA sent this entry to our contest! She says:

I am reading THE GEEK GIRL'S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING (by Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance) because in 9th grade, way back in the 80s, I *was* a geek cheerleader (even wore my glasses while cheering!)

Are you a library professional? There's only ONE DAY LEFT to enter to win 46 brand new YA & MG novels for YOUR collection! See this entry for details.

Lesley McGill, Children's and Youth Services Coordinator for Orangeville Public Library in Orangeville, Ontario sent this photo of herself in their brand new teen section. She's posing with Sarah Rees Brennan's THE DEMON'S LEXICON, which will have a sequel in June 2010 in THE DEMON'S COVENANT!

Are you a library professional? There's only ONE DAY LEFT to enter to win 46 brand new YA & MG novels for YOUR collection! See this entry for details.

Kipapa Kahelahela, Branch Manager for Kealakekua Public Library in Kealakekua, HI sent this entry to our contest. She's riveted by Jackson Pearce's AS YOU WISH- and we bet she'll just as addicted to Jackson's next novel, SISTERS RED, coming in 2010!

Are you a library professional? There's only ONE DAY LEFT to enter to win 46 brand new YA & MG novels for YOUR collection! See this entry for details.

Peggy Fink from Lanai Public & School Library in Lanai City, HI sent this AWESOMELY terrifying entry to our contest, interpreting Jennifer Jabaley's LIPSTICK APOLOGY. The photo, taken and edited by Primo- who is a member of their YA book club, features Kim, another student in the YA club, and Rose, a teacher at Lanai Public.

Are you a library professional? There's only ONE DAY LEFT to enter to win 46 brand new YA & MG novels for YOUR collection! See this entry for details.

I'm working on a short story that I'd like to have at least half finished by Monday (when copyedits for ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS land on my doorstep), so I'm crunched for time. Still, it didn't seem right to let 2009 slide into 2010 without one more wave from the ol' blog :). So aside from working on the short story, here's what I've been up to this past week, copied from my Twitter posts:



Saw AVATAR. Amazing visuals, good story. Yes, if you're looking for plot holes, you'll find them, but I wanted to be entertained & I was. 2 minutes ago from web.

Vote on your fav romance bk for 2009 http://bit.ly/4qFaVI, & we'll share with our publisher partners, about 3 hours ago from web.

Reading HEART OF STONE by C.E. Murphy and enjoying it. Had recent dry spell w/reading so I'm happy to have it broken. 9:37 AM Dec 29th 

Yawn. It's morning's like these that I regret not learning how to automatically program my coffee pot. 9:27 AM Dec 29th

Head's up, vampire lovers! This is a great book/series RT @AdrianPhoenix BENEATH THE SKIN is officially out today! http://bit.ly/8rBsAt 2:43 PM Dec 29th

Paranormal Haven giving away a copy of DESTINED FOR AN EARLY GRAVE. Details here: http://paranormalhaven.blogspot.com/search/label/Contests 2:42 PM Dec 29th

Me to hubby: We need to get carpet steam cleaned. Hubby: Eh, it's not bad. Dog, 5 minutes later, vomits on carpet. Hubby: Okay, I'll call. 2:03 PM Dec 28th

Lazy. That's what I've been. However, taking a few days off had a surprising result: lots of plot ideas. Maybe my brain needed a recharge. 6:04 PM Dec 27th

For something far lighter, see uber-cute baby squirrel learning to jump: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5017561/13347466 10:41 AM Dec 26th

Running out to get some final gifts (that's me, waiting until the verylastminute ;) and then cleaning b/c family's coming over. Merry Xmas! 11:39 AM Dec 24th


See? A whole week and still not enough stuff to make an entire blog post out of, lol. Hope everyone had a great holiday, whatever you celebrated, and wishing all of you a Happy New Year! Since I don't drink, be sure to have a glass of champage for me ;-). 

I really want to go to the tea salon.

Two weeks ago on Thursday I posted about having had an awesome evening which included Zen Cha Tea Salon in the Short North neighborhood, right next to the consignment store where I took some clothes. It looked like this.



This tea. I cannot describe how delicious this tea was. It was a German tea called Orange Grove. They don't do bags of tea there, they're custom blends done in a press, as you can see, and this one had herbs and rinds and flowers in it. It was lightly sweet and tart (I like tea to be tart) and I drank it with great relish.

I'd love to go there tonight. But I must stay here as long as physically possible to make up for the sick day I took yesterday so I don't have to put in a full day on the weekend or something. I've got two hours done already because I worked ten on Monday.

So I'm not going. Also I look like something the cat dragged in. I just got up and threw on jeans and a sweater. My beauty ritual this morning consisted of brushing my teeth and putting on deodorant. Yay.

The Witch's Alphabet

162 / 450 pages. 36% done!

The edits in this round are mostly at the very beginning and very end, so I'm able to power through the middle fairly easily. I'm also trimming where I can, and I've found that even though the book is long (to the tune of 133,000 words) it's not especially wordy. There's one big scene to chop out in about 100 pages and replace with something shorter, but otherwise I should have this back on my 1/2/10 deadline.

I used to be completely rigid about my process--outline, draft, edits, copyedits, proofs, done. I've evolved a lot this year, and I think that I've become one of those writers who works on a book-by-book basis rather than setting a straight routine for every project. Sometimes I outline, sometimes I just jot down a few framework notes and questions to be answered in the course of the story. For shorts, I don't usually start with anything more than a high concept and a ballpark wordcount.

I also spend a lot more headspace time before I start writing than I used to (for example, I finished the first draft of Witch in Feburary 2009 and I've been thinking about the sequel, The Nightmare Clock, ever since.) I've got a couple of novels knocking around in my head that I likely won't start until 2011. I need the prep time now, which I didn't before.

It's a crazy, backwards process but it works. I'm turning out much better stuff than I used to--I started writing seriously for publication in 2005 and in four years I like to think I've leveled up, at least a little.

---

I admit--I am totally sucked in by that Hoarders show on A&E. Even moreso than Intervention, it's a trainwreck I can't look away from. I'm massively untidy, but I have never, even in the darkest depths of my college dorm, approached that level of filth. It's oddly fascinating, to see how someone can be so overwhelmed with things. It also makes me want to clean my apartment in an almost compulsive fashion, and since it's on every week my living space has been a lot tidier.

Speaking of tidying, we've set a closing date for the new house in Massachusetts, and when I go home I've got to start sorting and packing. I normally loathe moving with every bone in my body but this time, I think it'll go fairly smooth. I purged a ton of stuff when I moved out of the Batcave, and aside from books, my vintage clothing/costuming collection, and some furniture, I really don't have a lot of worldly goods.

Back to editing. I would really like to enjoy New Year's without this deadline bugging me.

Originally published at Caitlin Kittredge.

It is, of course, that time of year when one reflects on the previous year and thinks ahead to the next. This year truly felt like the best of times, the worst of times. The year began with waiting: waiting for my advanced check, waiting for my edits, waiting for my life as a writer to truly begin.

Thinking back, I can't believe all that happened in one year. I finished Magic Under Glass edits, turned in the mermaid book, mostly completed a rewrite of Alfred and Olivia, and laid some groundwork on a few other projects. I saw my first book release and did my first signing. I also traveled to Savannah, Atlanta, New York City, Maryland, and Asheville and became a Disney passholder. It was wonderful to see so many places. And people! I think the Savannah trip with the other writers was the year's highlight. I only hope I can travel as much, if not more, this year.

On the other hand, this was the year of injury. I developed a repetitive stress injury which forced me to start writing with voice recognition software, and seriously hindered my ability to network or socialize online. This was pretty horrible. Especially since I wasn't sure what was wrong or what to do about it for most of the year. (I'm going to a new chiropractor now and, knock on wood, feeling okay.) Dade broke his elbow, which was also scary and resulted in my first sleepless night at a hospital. Yuck. Now we have a sick cat. Plus, I kissed a decent chunk of money goodbye for all this stuff. Again, I say, yuck!

But perhaps the most unexpected stress is the stress of achieving a dream. I thought, somehow, that everything would be perfect once I got to this point. It's deeply satisfying, no doubt. I feel like I'm doing exactly what I was born to do. Both writing and talking to other writers, aspiring writers, and readers is so fulfilling. So much of my shyness melts away! But I've also had my first bad reviews, the obsession over the Amazon ranking, the fear that it could all be taken away and the world will reject -- or ignore -- the stories that mean so much to me. For the first time in my life I've found myself interested in the spiritual, and I think it's because I know I need to focus on what really matters, more than ever. I can't let myself get caught up in the superficial stuff, like the reviews in Amazon rankings.

So here are my goals for the new year:
-- finish Olivia and Alfred revision and make it the most awesome thing ever
-- knock out a first draft for Magic Under Stone (tentative sequel) and from there, proceed as directed
-- write at least 30k of one of one of the other unfinished projects
-- pending financial ability, travel outside of Orlando at least three times for networking, signing, speaking, or something of that nature
-- improve competency at Japanese! I can't be specific here, but I know what I'm going for.
-- learn to play the ukulele well enough that it's halfway pleasant to listen to
--keeping borrowing new-age-y reading material from Mom
--read 156 books (can I do three a week?? I think I could...)
--do at LEAST 15 min. of yoga or other exercise a day

That's it! Totally doable, with a little focus.