Or thereabouts.<\/p>\n
My 2009 started off very badly but got steadily better. I have no complaints, aside from whingeing about the depressed state of my little corner of the publishing industry. I’m still making a living as a freelance writer, though, and 2010 is shaping up.<\/p>\n
Nonfiction: By dint of desperate effort I finished all my pending books before the end of 2009 and am officially Caught Up. For 2010 I now have 6 books under contract, including cool new science titles for kids and a YA critical bio of Philip Pullman. I’m also nursing a couple of ideas that I’ll soon develop into proposals for new work.<\/p>\n
Fiction: In 2009 I started a novel that I hope to finish soon. At the end of the year, to my surprise, I wrote a short story.<\/p>\n
Many good things happened in 2009:<\/p>\n
Zachary and I went to Carlsbad Caverns and Joshua Tree and Iceland. Ah, Iceland. I love you. I could live in you, if your food were more to my liking (and less expensive).<\/p>\n
We had fine times with our friends Mark and Peter in Tucson, Skip and Judy in Arlington, and Jorg and Gabi in Newport. I also got to see my publisher and good friend Michelle, and her partner Mark, when they were in Seattle.<\/p>\n
Here in Portland I enjoyed visits with Bonnie and Kelly and met\u00a0<\/strong>Alyx <\/span>. And I saw Cat and met Wayne. All very good.<\/p>\n I made a couple of new friends and reconnected, courtesy of the Interweb, with a couple of long-ago ones.<\/p>\n Zachary built a beautiful stone terrace behind our house. Xerxes and I will spend a lot of time there next summer, Xx prowling about on his long leash or dozing on the sun-warmed stone, me lolling in the lovely patio lounge given to us by our friends Fred and Ron.<\/p>\n This past year I enjoyed my little 9’6″ kayak so much that I’m going to buy another like it for friends and potential paddling partners. I can’t quite bring myself to sell the 15′ fiberglass touring kayaks, even though I didn’t use them this year. I still have fantasies of teaming with Zachary or a friend for a multiday paddling trip in them one of these years.<\/p>\n During 2009 I read a lot of books, many of them good, a happy few of them great. Movies, ditto.<\/p>\n