2009: a year in review

It is the last day of the year, and of the decade . . . Wow. How did that happen?

It has been an interesting year for me, and by and large, a very good one. As I am writing this post, it is hard to believe that this is the same year I was sitting at my desk at work reading about all the layoffs in publishing. I remember all the doom and gloom, of people saying no new writers would be published and only the already established bestsellers had a shot in this market. Not that there isn't a lot of darkness hanging over publishing right now, but I have always chosen to be cautiously optimistic, and well, this year, it certainly paid off.

Career-wise, here are my 2009 highlights:
    I signed a deal for five more books in the Haven series.
    Lucienne sent the first book in a new Urban Fantasy series to New York, and within two weeks we had an offer. After the book went to auction, I ended up with a three book deal from ACE/Roc.
    Not exactly career, but . . . I wrote and revised two and a half books in 2009, almost all of that while working full time. It gives me hope for what I can do in 2010.

Here are some non-career highlights from 2009:
    I learned to hoop dance and am now one of the founding members of the Columbia Hoop troop (which made it in a front page article on hooping.org following World Hoop Day) and of the performing/teaching group Lunatrixs.
    I ended up on stage with the members of Cruxshadows during their Dragon*Con concert.
    I spoke on a panel with Charlaine Harris.

There are probably more things I should list, but I can't think of them at the moment, so I think those are both pretty healthy lists. It was a good year, and I'm hoping 2010 will be even better. What are your top highlights from 2009? Are you looking back on the previous year favorably, or hoping the new year brings new luck?

For anyone interested, I've been invited to join The Magic District Blog. I posted for the first time today. You can check it out here.

Have a happy and safe New Year!

Comments

Tyhitia Green said…
In 2009, I made some awesome friends (wink, wink), writers and non-writers, alike. :-D I had my very first flash fiction piece published in a print magazine and received professional pay for it. :-D

In 2010, I look forward to obtaining representation from a wonderful agent and getting a huge book deal. :-D Well, any book deal, but I can dram, can't I? ;-)
January 1, 2010 at 3:37 PM
Kirsten said…
Found your book on the Amazon Kindle bookstore (for my iPhone) for free (why?) Anyway, I LOVED the book and was highly disappointed when I came to the end and realized.... THE NEXT BOOKS NOT OUT YET?!?!?!? Anyway, I wait (not so patiently) for the remainder of the series and plan to buy the book (for real) when it becomes available. Best of luck in 2010
January 1, 2010 at 5:31 PM
Kalayna Price said…
Yes Tyhitia, 2009 was a year for making wonderful new writer friends. ^_^ And congrats again on making it to print for the first time! That was the horror flash fiction piece, right?
Good luck in 2010. I look forward to hearing about your success!


Thanks Kirsten! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. The next book will be out soon. Just two more months.
January 1, 2010 at 9:34 PM
Tyhitia Green said…
Yes, that was the horror flash piece. :-D
January 2, 2010 at 11:56 PM
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