So how was 2011 from a Writing Perspective?

I guess most folks my age or older will agree that the events of a single year kind of run together these days. I remember events but I don’t remember exactly when they occurred. Was it 2011 or 2010, or maybe 2009. I can’t keep ‘em straight. That’s one of the major reasons why I start my new year with a retrospectus on the old one. I’ve always been a guy who likes ‘summing up.” I like making lists. I like seeing lists grow. And these days I need to do that sort of thing regularly to keep up.

Until I sat down this morning to look at my 2011 writing, I had a feeling it had been a slow year for me. Turns out not so much. More good things happened than I recalled. Borgo/Wildside published Midnight in Rosary, my collection of vampire and werewolf stories. Swords of Talera, Wings Over Talera and Witch of Talera were released as ebooks at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. A Rip Through Time came out, to which I was a contributor, and it made a bit of a splash. Strange Worlds also came out, one of the first illustrated anthologies of Sword & Planet fiction ever, and I had the lead story in that, called “God’s Dream.” The Dreams in the Fire Cross Plains charity anthology came out, which contains my story “A Gathering of Ravens,” and what might well have been the best short story I read in 2011: “I Am a Martian Galley Slave,” by David Hardy.

I finished a couple of nonfiction essays that paid pretty well, and had stories published in Rick Moore’s White Cat Magazine (“Ruins and Wraiths”) and in Trembles Magazine (“Lily White and Red.”). Gave a couple of nicely attended speaking engagements and got invited to three cons that I much enjoyed, The LA SF and Costuming Fest, The Undead Con, and CONtraflow. Did a couple of online interviews, most notably over at Elaine Ash’s wonderful blog. That was actually more of a feature than an interview, and one I cherished.

For brand new writing, I didn’t do that much. The school year was pretty rough, especially in the fall, and there were health issues for both Lana and I all year long. I did complete two new novella length projects, “Under the Ember Star,” a space opera piece which should be out next year from Borgo Press, and “Days of Beer,” a humorous memoir of my beer drinking days, which I self-published from Kindle and B&N at the very end of the year.

I also blogged a lot, facebooked a lot, read a lot, and in March I bought a new car, a Hyundai Elantra. All in all, not a bad year.
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