2011: A Sappy Review

It was with no small amount of trepidation that I searched back through my blog entries to see what resolutions I had made for 2011. But then I found this:

This year, I want to revel in the journey, to savor every happy moment, and to share as much love as possible with my friends and family. If I can do those things, everything else will fall into place. And if it doesn’t, I won’t mind.

And you know what? I did a pretty good job. 2010 was full of stress and worry, but in 2011 (which was also full of stress and worry), I laughed a lot. Sure, there were dark moments. There always are. But I don’t remember those very well, and I do remember all the time I spent with friends, all the hours I spent laughing and loving our new kitten, all the grinning and dancing and crying of happy tears when I saw my manuscript slowly morph into an a book. Consciously noting the good things and taking the time to revel in them paid off. It paid off big.

Stuff I reveled int this year:

– I fell in love with a new kitten, brought him home, and made him part of the family. He has brought a ridiculous amount of chaos and joy to every day of my life.

– I wrote more new words than ever before, probably around 120K. That included a new book (Above World 2) and several massive revisions, as well as some chapters of new projects.

– I started working part-time for the Lambda Literary Foundation and absolutely love it. I’ve met so many wonderful people and I go to work every day believing in what I’m doing. It’s truly a gift.

– The Adventures of Young Doctor Dolittle was released, marking my movie debut as a voice actor. (Heh.)

– I saw “The Alphabet Quartet” (written with Tim Pratt, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout) published on Daily Science Fiction and made into an awesome audiobook by Escape Artists. I published an essay in the book Whedonistas and got to sit on my very first convention panel… alongside Jane Espenson! (Okay, she was, like, three people away from me. But still.)

– I read 43 books, a record for me in recent years, and many of them were excellent.

– Not a lot of traveling this year, but it was all wonderful: FOGcon, Blue Heaven, the BGL retreat, and World Fantasy. I also loved going to Disneyland with the Pratt-Shaw family and enjoyed visits from Ling (and her hubby), my wonderful friend Bill, and Chris’ parents.

– I got to meet my editor, who is smart, funny, and kind. Working with her and my incredible agent were definitely among the highlights of my year. Actually, I adore all my agency-mates. They’ve become a family to me.

– I started Tiger Bright Studios, my cover design business, and have been gratified by the response.

– I saw my entire family together for the first time in over 10 years, and am thrilled that my little brother is living in the US again.

– Above World, in glorious hardcover, is sitting next to me as I type this, and its release date is just around the corner.

Are there things I wish I’d done and done differently in 2011? Were there things that broke my heart and battered my spirit? Sure. But I’m not going to give them any more power by typing them here. Let them drift back into the earth.

2011 was a wonderful year.