My 2010 Ups & Downs

So that was 2010. The year we made contact, according to Arthur C. Clarke. Things didn't exactly turn out the way he envisioned. Or me, for that matter.

Let's look at the positive, shall we? My wife and I survived another year of recession. I was more or less steadily employed for the whole year. I found a drug that is really helping. The French and German rights for Evil? sold, and I got a contract for my next novel, The Cupid War. Plus, I finished the first draft of A Walk-In To Remember, and wrote a number of short stories. And of course, this is the year Violet and I adopted Ron, our second cat. Good times.

On the not-so-positive side, otherwise known as the negative, I suffered a great deal from my mood disorder before I started getting the help I've been needing in the last couple of months. My job, though steady, has brought me to new heights of humiliation on an ongoing basis (the latest insult? One of my teenage supervisors dismissed a complaint of mine with a wave of his hand). And, Evil? has been bombing. Less than five hundred copies sold between January and June, while over a thousand were returned to the publisher for a refund. Career-wise, this is a disaster.

Every year has its ups and downs, and 2010 was no different. I can only hope that 2011 brings a little less struggle and a lot more fun.