Today and tomorrow are the precipice between 2009 and 2010. 2009 is all but behind me, 2010  ahead. At this time I naturally see-saw back and forth, looking back and looking forward.

What I Did in 2009:

  1. Starting curating the Friday night movie at Domy.
  2. Moved into the house on Wharton.
  3. I got a job as a freelance writer.
  4. I wrote a novel.

This list seems so incredibly short, and it is. It’s not the length of the list which is significant. What is significant is knowing what went into accomplishing each.

Number 1: years spent hosting movie nights at my house, every week whether or not anyone showed. Now I have a movie night which won the Houston Press Best of 2009 Award for Movie Series.

Number 2: Ike fucked us proper, just like it’s namesake fucked Tina. Living with in-laws. Moving multiple times, but having to return, tail between my legs. Now I’m sitting in my studio, which is all but the way I want it (needs some better lighting).

Number 3: My whole life making up stories. Majoring in English in college. The years of watching movies and scribbling notes into reviews. Now I get to go to movies, before they come out proper, cutting straight to the front of the line. Alternatively I get sent a DVD to watch, which I can keep. I write what I think about it. I get paid. There’s a dollar bill waiting to be framed. It’s the first dollar I’ve made as a writer.

Number 4: November was spend under the gun, especially the last two weeks, writing 50,000 words. I started with a deliberate blank slate, no ideas, no pre-writing, nothing. On my bookshelf is my proof copy of Obsessed with Self: The Story of Gen(ERIC) X.

Looking at it like that, I had quite the busy year.

to be continued…