It's that time of year again, where everyone looks back and wonders where all the time went and maybe how they survived the year. I thought 2007 was a busy year, but it paled into comparison with 2008, at least according to my writing stats ;)

My word count this year was completely abysmal! What little writing I did was mostly revising old stories and keeping them in circulation. Even there I could've done much better. I'd like to say the poor showing this year was due to having a parent's shattered attention span or being so busy I simply didn't have the time, but I think it mostly boiled down to general work-related stress and ongoing concerns about the 2008 economic meltdown. Since neither of these things is likely to improve much next year, the challenge will be to continue writing in spite of them.

This year my story Heavy Rains appeared in audio format online at Pseudopod, and the long awaited A Field Guide to Surreal Botany was released, which includes my Avian Trumpetflower. I was particularly pleased with the field guide, considering the inventiveness of the various botanical entries, the awesome illustrations, and the production values of the book as a whole. I recently purchased the original artwork for my piece, so I'm looking forward to having that hanging up on the wall soon. A secret project I alluded to earlier in the year will have to remain so for the time being, although I'm hoping there's some forward movement in that project next year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, anyway.

I read the usual number of books this year. I probably would've read more if I hadn't gotten back into comics again after a break of many years. The stand-out novels I read this year were Richard Matheson's I Am Legend and Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box. I was also particularly impressed with the huge Captain America Omnibus. Comics have certainly grown as a medium since my younger days, and this year I got back into them in a big way. As for audio books, I pretty much exclusively get my fix from podcasts these days. For fiction I regularly listen to Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Podcastle, and I get my comic podcast fix from Just Bill's Comic DrawerBox. I heartily recommend them all.

A few months ago I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon and picked up a 16GB 3G model. While it still has a few rough edges (Safari crashes and no cut n' paste, anyone?), overall I'm gobsmacked by this little device and still can't believe what Apple has managed to pack into it. It's easier to use than any other phone I've tried before (several dozen, via work), and the touch interface and applications available bring it into a whole new league. This is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for in my last phone back in 2004, but the experience back then was woefully inadequate and I ended up cancelling my phone's data plan as a result. A tiny screen, painfully slow downloads, and WAP-formatted web pages don't exactly make for a fun browsing experience. As I said, the iPhone applications and App store are a big drawcard for me, so much so that I wanted to try my hand at developing some apps. Since the iPhone SDK is presently Mac only, I picked up a Mac Mini on Black Friday, downloaded the iPhone SDK, and signed up for the iPhone Developer program shortly afterward. It didn't take long to find my way around the Mac (my first Mac purchase ever!), but I'm still climbing the steep learning curve involved with iPhone app development. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can come up with next year!

This year's gory stats are included below:

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2008 Stats:

2008 Word count:	1,373
Stories written:	0
Total submissions:	11
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	10
Waiting for response:	1
Books read:	10
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	0
Comics read:	353
Audiobooks:	100+

I'm wondering whether not setting an official writing resolution last year was a mistake, so for 2009 I'm trying to follow Jeff Soesbe's lead and aim for A Thing A Week. In my case the "thing" will mostly be fiction, usually a short story or a flash fiction piece. I know I'm probably biting off way more than I can chew, what with the iPhone app development plans and keeping a 2 year old amused, but I'd like to aim high and avoid a repeat of 2008's writing performance.

My other major goal for next year is to finally go on a holiday to Australia and catch up with family. I haven't been back since immigrating to the US in October 2002, so this trip is long overdue. I know everyone is chomping at the bit to see the little bloke, too.

One more thing... Happy New Year!

What I'm Reading:
Heaven's Bones: A Novel of the Mists, Samantha Henderson
Just After Sunset, Stephen King