2011: the year that really was

Some years are tougher than others. I worked my butt off throughout this one, extruding more wordage and deeper thinkage than ever before in my life. Miraculously, I appear to have received enormous bounty in return! We all know the maths doesn’t always work like that, but this time round it did. Here’s my list:

• A successful run in the Cosmos fiction editor’s saddle, unleashing 9 awesome new stories on the world;
• Acceptance into a post-apocalypse fiction workshop tutored by Margaret Atwood. Packing my bags for Florida as we speak;
• Four new stories published;
• My Sprawl story reprinted in Hartwell and Kramer’s Years Best SF #16;
• Two separate novel drafts completed. Well, OK, so I’m still tweaking them both, but once you pass the 90K word count on a project, I think it’s OK to call it a successful draft;
• A $25k emerging writer’s grant from the Australia Council’s Literature Board;
• Acceptance by Curtin University to do a PhD WITH A FULL FUCKING SCHOLARSHIP! Still reeling about that one.

The hard yakka infront of computer screens I did myself. I’ve lost count of how many beautiful sunny days slipped by without me as I hammered those keys. But pretty much every achievement on this list was scored with the help of others. Friends and colleagues who donated their own time and talent to help me with my applications, corrections, references, technology and via recommendation of my work to others.

Writing is a lonely business but the writing community is not. Consequently I owe the universe a bucket of good karma and Kate Eltham, Jane Turner-Goldsmith, Helen Merrick, Sean Williams, Louise Katz, Rob Hood, Amanda Pillar, Damien Broderick, Selena Quintrell and Tansy Rayner Roberts something more tangible. Wine, probably. Nice wine. And some chocolates.

After Ms Atwood’s workshop, I’m off to Tallahassee to hang with the Vandermeers, then to London to stay with my sister and catch up with family and friends. Coming home by way of NYC where I shall be lunching with Cheryl, my agent, and dinnering with the fabulous Ellen Datlow, Nick Kaufmann & co. Fingers crossed I’ll be delivering a completed novel manuscript to Cheryl. Depends how much more yakka I can get done on the road. Or, more accurately, in the air.

Happy new year, everyone! Wishing you all great health and excellent fortune.