I spent an hour or two yesterday looking back over the blog, refreshing my memory before I tackled any of the year in review tasks that await.  On a day when I had a lot of fun – the girls and I had a swim at Bayswater Waves, the family played golf and bowling on the Wii, we had dim sum and went shopping at Planet and JB Hi Fi – I found myself reading a lot about stress, ill-health and projects in various states of chassis.  Not fun.

It got me to thinking – I should talk more about what’s going on in my life that’s good and talk a lot less about projects as they’re in progress.   With that in mind, first, something positive about 2008.  It was easily my most successful year at pretty much any kind of stuff. I got my first promotion at my day job in far too many years (in truth, the only one I’ve applied for in a decade or more so that’s my fault, but still…), I won (or books I worked on won) a Ditmar, a Tin Duck, a Locus Award (!), and was nominated for the Hugo Award (!!!!).  I traveled to Denver for WorldCon and Calgary for World Fantasy.  I had an almost idyllic time at Lancelin for my mother’s 70th birthday, and then spent a lovely week in Dunsborough with the my brother-in-law and his family.  To be crass about it, I’m earning more money than ever before and am still fortunate enough to have a good day job and be reasonably successful at my editing.

On the downside: in 2008 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and then spent five months putting weight on, I hurt my right shoulder (which still isn’t quite right), I cracked a rib which continues to bother me four months later, I got ridiculously overstressed about things like cover debates and so on, and generally handled stress and strain poorly. There were also health scares for both kids, which was pretty terrifying, but they’re both okay at the moment, which is good.

And yet…I’m optimistic about 2009.  Why? Well, firstly because my editing continues to work out.  While details have to be finalised, I’ve just sold a new book that I’m very happy about.  I have a wonderful family, who contribute to the craziness but are still the best part of everything I experience.  And I feel like I’ve had something of an epiphany when it comes to managing me and my stress etc.  If that proves true, if I can work on that, then 2009 will be much more enjoyable which is what I need.

With that in mind, I might make New Year’s resolutions, but if I don’t, I do feel like I know what I need to do to make 2009 a good year.

I’m taking Christmas off.  I have a handful of editing-type things I should be doing, but with Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and now Boxing Day, I’m focussing on the family and taking it easy, so copyedits and lists and all sorts of other things will have to wait till Saturday or Sunday.

Woke up this morning more than somewhat worn around the edges from a very pleasant and relaxed Christmas Day.  The girls came in and we had a snuggle (something that will surely stop soon as they’re both getting to that sort of age), then I was up for breakfast and a nice hot shower (with the stupid water volume limiter removed!!).  And now, I’m listening to the true sound of summer for me: Australia are batting in Melbourne and there’s the constant roar of the crowd in the background while Tony Greig and Richie Benaud talk the day away.  It’s kinda perfect.

Well, the first copies of Eclipse Two are now in the wild.  I was down at Planet Books, my favouritest bookstore in the whole world right now and  a guaranteed place where I always spend money, and saw they had a stack of Eclipse Two on their new releases table.  If you’re in Perth and want a copy for Christmas, or are in Australia and don’t want to wait, Planet is the place.

Oh, and if you’re not in Perth (poor unlucky souls), email me when you spot the book in store and I’ll post links etc.

My early morning epiphanies are typically inaccurate and unreliable, but this morning I was pondering why I’ve been struggling to come up with a candidate for ‘best new album for 2008’ when I had an epiphany of sorts.  The selection of an album of the year isn’t in itself important, but I think it speaks to how I’m feeling about things.  In times of happiness I consume a lot of new music, and bond with it strongly. When things are more stressful I turn to old favorites, preferring music that has comforted me in the past.

When I look back at what I have been listening to during 2008 it’s mostly been old favorites and soothing sounds: albums like Joe Lovano’s All for You, Sufjan Stevens’ Greetings from Illinois, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash’s Greatest Hits.  Most recently I’ve been playing Van Morrison’s Moondance over and over – it would probably be my album of the year if I had to choose one.

And that made me think: why?  Why old favorites and soothing sounds?  I think the answer is this: while 2008 has overwhelmingly been my most successful year in professional terms, full of some wonderful things happening (the stunning surprise of the Hugo nomination, winning the Locus Award, my first job promotion in years, some terrific books published etc etc), I’ve not been very happy.  2008 was supposed to be a year of rest and recuperation. I had more than four months off from the day job to relax. I had two trips to the United States to see people.  It was a year free of disasters.  And yet, looking back, I spent a heck of a lot of the year stressed and unhappy.  Or at least that’s how it seems, as I sit here with the Christmas coming and the end of the year weeks away. It’s made me think about what I need to change to make 2009 a better year.

Tis the season, and everyone is doing their end of the year wrap-ups. I’ve got to finish up the short fiction lists and write one for Locus, and I’m blogging a note or two here too.  However, I thought I’d do something a little different and discuss what I’m going to be working on in 2009. Some of this is tentative, because contracts are still being finalised, but it’ll give you an idea of what I’m spending my time on when I’m not firing up the hibachi to entertain the family or building up business plans at the day job.

Every year always starts with finishing up what you were working on last year.  I expect to spend part of January doing copyedits for Godlike Machines, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 3, and the just-delivered The New Space Opera 2. At the same time, I’ve got proposals to get together. I have three projects I’ve been meaning to get in train for some time, and January is the time they have to either get out into the world, or disappear.

Over the past few years I’ve also done some non-anthology editing, and I’ve got a couple projects lined up to work on in the first half of the year.  If all goes to plan, then I’ll be co-editing a Fritz Leiber retrospective with Charles Brown.   It’ll be a 175,000 wd (approx) overview of his career, and should be out in 2010 for the Leiber Centenary. I’m pretty excited about it.  I’m also working on a new Walter Jon Williams collection (a book that’s pretty much assembling itself) and doing another retrospective that I don’t want to talk about yet because it’s not signed up.

I’m very excited to be working on a special issue of Bill Shafer’s Subterranean Magazine. It’s due mid-year and I’ve got contributors lined up.  We’d originally discussed doing this one as a special hard SF issue, but it’s broadened in scope just recently. In fact, I just bought a terrific Maureen McHugh zombie novelette for it.  I’ve not done much editing for online publications, so this is fun, and something I’d like to do more of.

And then there are the books.  The main ones, simply because they’re signed up and due right now, are Conquering Swords and Dreamtime.  Conquering Swords is a big swords and sorcery anthology I’m co-editing with my pal Lou Anders.  We already have some great stories by Glen Cook, Steven Erikson, and James Enge, and are working away as others come in. This one’s due in August, so it’s going to take a lot of the first half of the year.  Then there’s Dreamtime. It’s a collection of fantasy novellas by bestselling Australian fantasy writers that I’m co-editing with my buddy Jack Dann for Australian publication in 2010.  Stories are coming in for it too, and it’s looking great.  Oh, I should I add, I expect both of these titles to change before publication.
Of course, there are the series as well. Although we’ve not formally signed up yet, I’m already reading for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 4.  Because of changes at Last Short Story I’ve actually read more 2009 short fiction already than I’d have expected to, and there’s some cool stuff coming.  I’m also working hard on Eclipse Three.  Solicitations went out last June or July and some great people said they’d like to write for it, so I’m excited to see what’ll come in. That’s due with the publisher in June for an October publication.  Then there’s Life on Mars, a new young adult SF anthology I’m doing for the wonderful Sharyn. Everything’s in place for it, and it’ll be a second-half-of-the-year book.  I also have another book that I’m negotiating ‘as we speak’, which I hope to be doing then too.

On top of all of that, there’s my beloved Locus. I continue as reviews editor there, and am very excited about our new reviewers Gardner, Adrienne, Paul and Stefan.  There are also some developments there which should take more of my time, but should be fun.

So, on top of day job and family, that should be my year. What about yours?