Happy new year, boys and girls. I didn't celebrate or anything, but here's to 2010 not sucking as much as 2009 did. Cheers. :P

Resolutions:
Now that I know my limits, NOT TO EXCEED THEM EVER AGAIN.
Stick up for myself more often. Firm, but polite. Tired of getting walked on.
More independence.
Less sad. Also less internet. More sun. :P

Tags: holiday, new years resolutions
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Kicking and Screaming - The Presets

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put my new video card in last night, and HOLY SHIT!  i'm running my game with every bell and whistle up full blast, and it's freaking awesome! love it love it love it

not much into new year's eve partying, so I'm going to bed, lol

such a party girl. 

went shopping today, but didn't get to do much else.  my oil change and tire rotation took forever :(

i hope 2010 will go smoothly.  2009 stressed me out.

As I'm being forced to go out and party...

Happy new year!!!

:P now enjoy y'all

Current Mood: cheerful

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

Yep, there is no other way to sum up 2009. Incomprehensible, exhilarating, grim, schizophrenic, joyous, and lunatic all combine to equal something simply strange.

The good adjectives are derived from the writing side of my life. I achieved one major goal in 2009, and that was to demonstrate to the world that I can write fiction longer than 5,000 words. Both the novella The Lucid Dreaming (thanks again to Roy and Liz and Cesar and Zach!) and the novelette "Diana and the Goong-si" (the latter from the Midnight Walk anthology) scored rave reviews and wonderful feedback. And I made my first novel sale by placing The Castle of Los Angeles with a press I'm really happy to be associated with, Gray Friar (where I'm in the company of fine writers like Conrad Williams and Nicholas Royle). I'm also thrilled that Gray Friar agreed to move Castle's release to 2010, so it didn't get lost in the year-end shuffle.

My four-year-long agent hunt came to an end in September, and signing with Bob Fleck for representation was certainly one of the year's triumphs.

I also kept up the short fiction end with my second appearance in Cemetery Dance, with a story ("The Devil Came to Mamie's on Hallowe'en") that I feel is one of my best. It was nice to see a review over at Dark Scribe echoing that sentiment. I'm also quite satisfied with "Joe and Abel in the Field of Rest" from the Steve Jones zombie book The Dead That Walk. Another story I wrote at Steve's request this year (for a hush-hush project - hopefully more details soon) proved to be the hardest piece of fiction I've ever written, but in the end I think it was worth it.

Non-fiction-wise, my fourth book with McFarland, Savage Detours: The Life and Work of Ann Savage, debuted rather quietly in December, suffering slightly from that end-of-year rush that Castle managed to avoid. I was also happy, though, to win my second Bram Stoker Award, this time in non-fiction, for A Hallowe'en Anthology.

And speaking of Stoker Awards...organizing the June event in Burbank ate my life for half the year. In the end, I was very pleased with how well it turned out, but I'm not sure I could do it again. The other wonderful thing to come out of the Stoker Weekend was the bond it created between my co-organizer John Little and I; being able to call John a close friend is one of the best non-writing things to emerge from 2009.

But otherwise...the year was frequently a nightmare for me personally.

My mother's health deteriorated a great deal, and has generated a lot of stress. I've always been very close to her, and always accepted that I would care for her one day...but her health has spiraled off in directions I never could have anticipated, and that have often left me feeling sucker-punched. Battling her retinue of doctors has been fun, and I've dealt with everything from ineffectual diagnoses to apathy to prescriptions that I thought veered perilously close to malpractice and even fraud. There's a chance for improvement in 2010, but at this point I am resigned to spending much of my future checking prescriptions and doctors and diet, and worrying about her. John Little isn't my only close new friend from 2009 - anxiety and I have become well acquainted on several levels.

And I seem to be surrounded by friends going through even worse crises. My God, no one should have to endure arguing with an insurance company about the surgery their 3-year-old son needs to live, and yet my good friends the Palisanos spent much of December doing just that (and have become models of patience and perseverance to me in the process). At least three friends have begun very messy divorces this year. And my day job has exploded into a run-as-fast-as-you-can gig, which frequently leaves me so exhausted at the end of eight hours that I can only stagger home and collapse. I see no end in sight; so much for all those reports about the death of the printed book.

2009 has left me tired and gloomy, but ready to fight the good fight in 2010. I still have a wonderful partner, three four-legged companions, a circle of friends to count on, and my hometown of L.A. I'm looking forward to exploring a new direction or two writing-wise in 2010, and hope the year will bring a few unexpected (good) surprises. I think it might.

Tags: castle of los angeles, savage detours, short fiction, the lucid dreaming

Do I have to do this? I mean, do I really? I hate exposing myself... Ummm... You know what I mean.

Anyway, tomorrow marks a decade gone. Can you believe it? Ten years have passed. I can't believe 2009 is gone.

In 2009 I thought about quitting writing. Seriously thought about it. Editing I would stick with, and branch out into non-fictional editing (which I still want to do) but I would chuck writing and disappear off the inter webs. I thought about it. My husband argued with me about it. (He won't let me give up.)

I'm still here.

I'm still here because this year I came to realize people really do believe in me, think of me as a friend even. I'm still here because when I thought my book would tank into obscurity, a little know show on blog talk radio and a wonderfully crazy man named Doc Pus helped rescue said book.

I'm here because of whacky guys who run crazy presses who let you call them up when you need some advice. I'm here because of quirky poets who teach me about my poetic abilites and post modernism, and others who call me sister woman. I'm here because of writers who've entrusted me to edit their first novel, writers who are also friends.

I'm here because of a lady in Manitoba who started a press. A lady who approached me on an old forum one time to say she liked my story, and I felt I just had to talk to her. I've travelled with her over four years now. I'm here because of a kindly redhead woman with a heart of gold, who loves chocolates almost as much as she loves to write.

I'm here because of big men with beards and pagan hearts. I'm here because when I just about stop believing in humanity and community, our potential to change to grow, something happens to make me believe again.

I'm here because of friends and stories.

If it were all about me, I'd have quit this year. I can't do anything solely for myself. I feel that's far too selfish. I've always believed in helping people, sharing with people, learning from one another, but sometimes I get stuck in cynical ruts and forget about that. Sometimes people come along and pull me out. Sometimes people remind me just how important the stories are. While I'm not what you'd define as a people person, I need to write to share with others. I believe in that connect through story. I write for myself too, yes, but I write to share those stories, also. Socializing has never been easy for me, but I realize it's a must in this industry, in this world. Thanks to some good people in my life, this year socializing has become easier.

I'm here because someone approached me to do a short story collection, and she's pouring her whole effort, her heart, into it to make it great for me. That someone believes in my fiction enough to do that for me amazes me.


So, I didn't quit. I stayed. I think I'll stick around for a while, in fact. But for now, I'm crawling back under my rock. There's editing and writing to be done.

Happy New Year's Eve, folks! May 2010 treat you well.


Love,

Louise xox

Current Mood: cheerful

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Happy New Year, folks!

Hope you have a pleasant time tonight, whatever you do. Please drive carefully if you're going out, and don't drink and drive on those roads tonight. Snow or not, they'll be dangerous. May 2010 bring you much prosperity and everything you need.

My gift to you: some free fiction whipped up in a tiny PDF package. I even made you a pretty cover. Since it's a bit longish for a blog entry, and a bit adult in nature, I thought I'd put this one up for direct download off my site.

Check out Alecto & The Ghul here:
http://louisebohmer.com/Alecto_and_the_Ghul_free.pdf




Happy New Year!

Some things upcoming in 2010 on the EW blog:

January - Jodi Lee discusses anthologies
February - S.D. Hintz tells us how not to piss an editor off

And much more!


Louise xox

Current Mood: cheerful

I am *so* glad that I don't have any patients today. My voice started getting raw and scratchy last night around the time I was going to bed, and it is even worse this morning. Yay, laryngitis AGAIN. I think this is like the third time this year. :(

Jay thinks it's from staying up late reading or writing fanfic or maybe going around without a hat until very recently. I think it's more likely whatever this facial pressure is plus cold symptoms (sometimes there's actually something when I want to sniffle) plus Maddy coughing on me.

And it's snowing outside. And there will be snow flurries off an on for the next four days. Good thing I'm not on call this weekend either! :D

I'm going to do my notes from yesterday and bounce out of here. :)

Tags: fellowship tales, health
Current Location: work office
Current Music: Vienna Teng - Green Island Serenade (Hidden Track)