Happy Birthday

Musings of an Aussie Writer has turned two!

I had a reminder pop up letting me know this auspicious occasion had arrived once more so I went back and looked at how I'd celebrated the first arrival of this milestone (which you can refresh your own memory of by going here).

Major points picked out include:

Amy Treadwell's birthday is in a few days time - and knowing the way my memory works, I'll forget - so here's an early happy birthday to you, Amy. I hope you have a great one.

4000 visitors in the first year and I was hoping to reach 8000 in year two. At over 13,000 on the counter now, I guess we can safely assume we managed that. Lets aim for 25,000 next year.


How's my year passed? I'm glad you asked.

It's been pretty good. Highlights include:

More acceptances have rolled in this year to the point where I'm no longer chasing them. If they happen, great, but I'm not counting them or using them as a goal any more. I'm not getting swamped with them, but I'm slowly growing my publication credits and that's okay with me for now.

Expanding my writing friends across cyberspace. I've met some amazing people and have had a chance to work with some extremely talented individuals. I'd count myself as very lucky. One day I'll make it a real convention and even meet a few of them in real life.

Writing 50-odd thousand words on A Kookaburra's Laugh. I still think this novel will fly and one day I will complete it. It needs a concentrated effort and I just didn't have that to give at the time, but I did learn a lot from the process and I think my writing moved forward from the participating in the experience - and that's all any of us can really ask for.

Finding a character, and possible series, I'm seriously enjoying writing about. Nathan Steele is a boy I'm getting to know really well. If it takes off, I'll have to rework my blog appearance a little, or maybe start a second one. I'll probably always write dark stuff for adults, but Nathan is neither (dark or for adults - regardless of what he says). I'm a third of the way through the first draft of the first book with plenty of ideas on future installations.

Inclusion in The Blackness Within Anthology, edited by Gill Ainsworth and to be published by Apex (2010). This is my biggest sale to date in regards to market. Apex usually only do antho's for invited authors so to get a gig in a rare open call antho was an honour. Working with Gill was amazing, eye-opening and totally rewarding. I've learned so much from her in the month we sent emails back and forward that it will take me two months of sitting down to catalogue it - but I intend to do just that as soon as I finish the first draft of the Nathan Steele book.

I passed my first year of the Advanced Diploma of Art in Professional Writing with one pass and three credits from the four subjects. I also passed the first half of the second year with another two credits. And then I pulled the pin. To gain the piece of paper at the end would be nice, but I'm learning more in other ways and not spreading myself so thin (don't laugh).

I've managed to read m0re than ever and have increased the number of reviews I've posted on HorrorScope. This led to an unexpected Ditmar nomination, which was nice.

The blog was named in the top 50 Australian Blogs about Writing which was totally unexpected and a nice ego boost. Since the original list was published and the methods used to qualify have been made public, many other blogs have come into contention or moved up the rankings. I'm happy to say I've just kept doing what I'm doing and I've managed to stay pretty steady on the chart. Yay, blog!

So (I really need to stop starting sentences like this), life has moved forward another step and I'd like to think my writing has advanced a pace or two as well. The road is long (I promise I won't break into song but it was a close thing), and there are plenty of winding turns ahead (sorry), but I'm still happy with the path I've chosen to tread and ecstatic that you have chosen to share it with me.

Here's to an even better year ahead!