Here Comes 2010! Shiny and New!
Hi everyone!
It’s the end of the year! In fact, it’s the end of the DECADE! How did THAT sneak up on us? It didn’t even occur to me until I started finding "Best of the Decade" lists on all my favorite websites. My goodness! We’re starting a shiny new decade…that’s pretty exciting, don’t you think?
Ten years ago I was living in Brooklyn with many (rotating) roommates in a house that rattled and shook ominously every time the wind blew in off the river. I was working as an editorial assistant with many (rotating) bosses and dreaming about getting published one day. And I was kind of-sort of-maybe dating my best friend in a complicated long-distance extremely confusing sort of way.
Now I’m married to him (yay!), expecting a baby (REALLY FREAKING SOON!), and living in a lovely solid house with a yard and my own office. I’ve got published books, I’m the boss of my own sleep schedule, and I have the best dog in the universe. 🙂
So I’d have to say I’m a fan of this past decade in my life, which seems to me like the luckiest one so far, and I hope the universe knows how much I appreciate it!
When I was a kid, I always thought growing up sounded awful, what with all the "responsibility" and "decisions" and "bills" involved. But actually, here’s a secret for all my young readers out there…it’s kind of awesome. Going through all my old papers has reminded me of how nice it is to be in charge of myself — not to be worrying about what to wear to school or who likes whom and who’s mad at me this week, or studying for science tests, or riding the bus at horrible hours of the morning with horrible people (who I’m sure turned out perfectly nice) (well…some of them). 😉
I mean, I enjoyed those first two decades at the time, but this last one? Much much better. I hope that keeps being true! I’m excited about the next one, which is going to be kid-riffic! Yeep!
And hopefully will involve as much excellent TV as the last decade. :-) My own list of the "Best TV Shows of the Decade" would be:
The Wire
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Mad Men
Firefly
Veronica Mars
Battlestar Galactica
Friday Night Lights
The Amazing Race
The Daily Show
How I Met Your Mother
Honorable Mentions: Chuck, Doctor Who, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The West Wing, Angel (especially the last season), and Dexter
I wish I could make a list like that for books, too, but there are way too many I loved, plus way too many I haven’t read. Oh! But I am reading a GREAT book for my 102nd (and last) book of 2009:
I love Orson Scott Card anyway, and so far his writing advice is AWESOME, even though the book was written ages ago (and isn’t long enough!). I have at least three speculative fiction ideas I’m grappling with right now, so I thought this would be helpful and it IS! I love it…I think I’m going to have to read it at least three times so I can focus on each story separately as I’m reading. Highly recommended for any other speculative fiction writers out there! 🙂
So have you made any resolutions for 2010 yet? Long-time blog readers know that my resolutions are more like wish lists and goals, since I’m not the kind of person who likes setting up rules for myself. (Although I do like lists, and re-organizing, and clean slates, and making plans — all very useful for the self-employed! — so I love January for all those things.)
For instance, my "resolutions" last year included: 1. Read more books (back up to 100/year if possible) (done!); 2. Build a new website for Pet Trouble (done!); 3. Get pregnant (ack! done!); and 4. Get a new puppy. Which we did not do, although my parents and my sister both did! We were working on it, but then Sunshine had her knee surgeries (poor muffin! and yet very suspicious, as if she heard us talking about new puppies and planned it this way…) and then #3 happened (ack!) and then we figured, well, maybe we’ll deal with a baby first. But at least Sunshine has Maui and Oliver to play with now…and best of all, those two eventually go home so she can be boss of the house again! 🙂
It’s hard to make plans for 2010, though, because I have no idea what the baby is going to be like. How will he feel about traveling? Will he let me read 100 books while we’re hanging out together? (Am I going to have to count Toot and Puddle as one of my 100? Can I count it separately for each time I read it to him?) ;-) I’d like to make "be good about blogging" one of my resolutions, but how is that going to work with the impending sleep deprivation I hear so much about? IT’S ALL SO MYSTERIOUS.
So I think for now I’ll start off the year with just three resolutions: (1) Try to finish and sell at least two of the seven book ideas I desperately want to be writing right now, (2) make sure Sunshine still gets lots of snuggling after the baby arrives, and (3) love the heck out of this baby. 🙂
Not so much resolutions as hopes: I will also try to be good about blogging and emails, I will sleep whenever I can, and I will try to do exciting new things on the website, like book giveaways and online chats (whee! so keep coming back looking for those! surely I’ll make them happen eventually!). :-) Fingers crossed!
I hope you all have exciting plans for 2010 — adventures and travels and stories and dreams and puppies and all of those wonderful things. I wish you all a splendiferous new year (and new decade!)! :-) :o) 🙂
Quote of the Day:
Xander: Am I right, Giles?
Giles: I’m almost certain you’re not, but to be fair, I wasn’t listening.
— Buffy the Vampire Slayer