Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Year in Review

On a personal level, this year, like every other year, had its ups and downs, but the ups far outweighed the downs. Rebecca and I got engaged, which was a huge up...we moved in together, and I suddenly found myself the father of two great girls...all ups.

The biggest downs for the year would be that my friend Joe lost his battle with cancer early in the year, and my three year old niece was diagnosed with leukemia just before Christmas.

The "real" job news was also both up and down. I finally got away from the job that I've been hating for years, but then it took me months to find a new gig, and then that place went into liquidation one month after I started. So, even though I'm still working, I might not have a job much longer.

In writing news, I've mostly been focusing on longer works, so I haven't written much short fiction. I did finish the drafts on two novellas, and did quite a bit of writing for the Ephemeris RPG, but no major victories on any of these. I've already sold (or permanently retired) much of the short fiction I've written, so I only had two publications in 2008. One with Tales of the Talisman and one with Allegory. Overall, I didn't write as much as I'd like, but I imagine that is because of adjusting to the new family and spending so much time trying to find "real" work.

In 2009, the biggest thing I'm working on will be the wedding. Planning for that is going to take up a lot of time, and obviously I have to find a new job. I'm hoping to write more, with the emphasis still on longer fiction, and I'm really hoping we will finally finish Ephemeris and get it out on the market...

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

J -

I'm sorry to post this here, but the email address I have for you appears to be outdated and keeps bouncing back.

Ty Drago here. I'm setting up a new feature on Allegory to allow readers to download archived issues as PDF files. Since this new policy would involve two of your stories over the course of Allegory's 8 issues, I would like to ask for your formal permission.

Here's how it would work:

1) Allegory would make no claim whatsoever on the story's rights. You keep all of them.

2) Readers would be able to download an entire archived issue, including all of the stories therein. If you opt not to participate, I'll simply substitute your story page with a generic page "author chose not to participate" page.

3) I plan to ask for $2 US for each downloaded issue. This is to help offset the rising costs of running the e-zine.

4) If, at ANY time and for ANY reason, you would like to pull the story from the archive, just let me know and I'll have it done inside of 48 hours.

That's it! Please bear in mind that I'm not doing anything that most other ezines haven't been doing for years, and that print magazines do by their very nature. The LAST thing I want to do is offend one of my contributing authors.

So, please let me know whether or not to consent. A simple "YES" in the body of an email sent to archives@allegoryezine.com will suffice. Or a "NO", as the case may be.

Thanks, and have a great New Year!

- Ty Drago
- Editor
- Allegory