Post by Robin Leigh Anderson on Dec 31, 2008 15:25:38 GMT -8
Most of you who know me realize that I am actually a bit of a Bah Humbug at Christmas , eschewing the commercialism and instead preferring to focus on the Reason for the Season, but even then in my own way and my own time. I have never made a secret that I am a deeply believing Christian, something that has been in my life since I was born, to one degree or another. My faith has seen me through some pretty wild times and hairy moments in my life, and for that I am thankful. ;D
This has been an interesting year. I finally found a medical program where I could get continuing care late in 2007, so this was the first full year of having the medication and attention I needed, even if some of it wasn't always as effective as I would've liked. Some of the struggles continue, but at least I have assistance in the struggles now! And it doesn't hurt a bit that my nice young doc could be Orlando Bloom's brother, can you say EYE CANDY?? Yeah, baby.*snicker* More medical adventures await in this coming year, to be sure, there always seems to be something.
2008 has been a very frustrating year for writing. I have been writing like mad, as usual, especially on a new thriller with serious political and religious overtones, a fiction novel with which I plan to piss off half the world , but zero zip nada for sales of any shorter material. I've gotten the most interesting rejection letters this past year, to the tune of 'we WISH we could buy your blah blah piece but are staying with in-house writers until the economy eases'. Well, isn't that just the self-perpetuating downward spiral; not using outside material makes a magazine less diverse and therefore less interesting, therefore readership declines. I have even had some rejection letters that asked me not to sell a certain piece, because they wanted to buy it that elusive 'someday'. Um, good for the ego, but for my checking account.not so much. *sigh*
Toward that end I fired my agent of four years, since she had never done a thing for me in four years, which basically meant I didn't HAVE an agent for the past four years, huh. Nice run-on sentence there, Robin. In any event I am on the hunt for that new agent who will see me for the amazing writer that I am and submit my work to great publishers who will likewise love me. Well, I can dream, can't I? One day I just know the Vietnam book will see print. If I won awards on stand-alone chapters before I had even done the second draft, and I could regularly make grown men cry and then even beg for more, I just think there's something there.
This past fall has seen the collapse of our economy.the elders in my family say, this is NOT a recession, since they have lived through several, this is a Depression, having lived through that one (1930's) as well.and the historic election in November. Most of you are aware that I am a lifelong Democrat, and while I was nervous about the inexperience of basically ALL party the frontrunners, I still have more faith in the incoming team on a bad day than I ever did the outgoing regime on a good day. Oh.did they HAVE any GOOD days??? If Twit and Twitter had been elected, I had threatened to leave the country for Brazil (one young friend currently there on an exchange program planned to have to marry a rich Brazilian boy and I told her to find one with a rich uncle.we're both safe now.) or Norway (too cold in winter!) or Australia (but Oz would not want someone chronically under-employed AND in poor health). Good to know I can stay in the Land of My Birth, for at least another four years.
Santa Barbara has even had its own particular kind of a cold winter this year, and my froze toes have been suffering mightily. One could break off a couple and keep a glass of lemonade chilled.*eeewwwww*. but who's drinking COLD lemonade at this time. It was mild enough the past few winters that I have lost track of where my down-filled booties are, and I have TWO pair! I need to find at least one pair soonest; even piles of blankies do not seem to help much. Blankets can only hold in heat that the body generates, and if the appendage is that cold from the start.you see the Catch-22 of that. I need to walk about in hot socks for a bit to generate enough heat to retain when I sit down! No, heating pads won't work, I can't use electrical things over my joints; it jangles them as though I were shaken really hard. *eep*
I sit here on a chilly evening in late December, reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the new one, watching a favorite dragon movie (what would life BE without scifi/fantasy??) and plowing through a large bar of Toblerone like a fullback on a line drive, God bless the Europeans and their chocolate-making skills. ;D After supper later I will be watching the third LOTR movie, fulfilling the last such three-movie marathons that I undertook in this year. I do lurve my blue-eyed men. *teeheeheehee*
I have been blessed with generous friends and funny friends and loving friends and supportive friends and some surprising new friends. I contemplate the loss of some old friends. In just a couple weeks I will turn The Big Six Oh, a landmark birfday that more than once recently I thought I would never reach. This has given me some pause to consider many things, especially the people who make up the rich tapestry of my life. If you are reading this, you are threads in that tapestry, some of you whole blocks, without which my life would be soooooo stale and drab.
For all of us I wish peace on Earth, prosperity, health, love, and whatever success brings meaning to our lives. May the Light of the World shine on you always, my dearest compatriots in this walk through life, with all my love and best wishes, and may we all use semi-colons properly , RLA
This has been an interesting year. I finally found a medical program where I could get continuing care late in 2007, so this was the first full year of having the medication and attention I needed, even if some of it wasn't always as effective as I would've liked. Some of the struggles continue, but at least I have assistance in the struggles now! And it doesn't hurt a bit that my nice young doc could be Orlando Bloom's brother, can you say EYE CANDY?? Yeah, baby.*snicker* More medical adventures await in this coming year, to be sure, there always seems to be something.
2008 has been a very frustrating year for writing. I have been writing like mad, as usual, especially on a new thriller with serious political and religious overtones, a fiction novel with which I plan to piss off half the world , but zero zip nada for sales of any shorter material. I've gotten the most interesting rejection letters this past year, to the tune of 'we WISH we could buy your blah blah piece but are staying with in-house writers until the economy eases'. Well, isn't that just the self-perpetuating downward spiral; not using outside material makes a magazine less diverse and therefore less interesting, therefore readership declines. I have even had some rejection letters that asked me not to sell a certain piece, because they wanted to buy it that elusive 'someday'. Um, good for the ego, but for my checking account.not so much. *sigh*
Toward that end I fired my agent of four years, since she had never done a thing for me in four years, which basically meant I didn't HAVE an agent for the past four years, huh. Nice run-on sentence there, Robin. In any event I am on the hunt for that new agent who will see me for the amazing writer that I am and submit my work to great publishers who will likewise love me. Well, I can dream, can't I? One day I just know the Vietnam book will see print. If I won awards on stand-alone chapters before I had even done the second draft, and I could regularly make grown men cry and then even beg for more, I just think there's something there.
This past fall has seen the collapse of our economy.the elders in my family say, this is NOT a recession, since they have lived through several, this is a Depression, having lived through that one (1930's) as well.and the historic election in November. Most of you are aware that I am a lifelong Democrat, and while I was nervous about the inexperience of basically ALL party the frontrunners, I still have more faith in the incoming team on a bad day than I ever did the outgoing regime on a good day. Oh.did they HAVE any GOOD days??? If Twit and Twitter had been elected, I had threatened to leave the country for Brazil (one young friend currently there on an exchange program planned to have to marry a rich Brazilian boy and I told her to find one with a rich uncle.we're both safe now.) or Norway (too cold in winter!) or Australia (but Oz would not want someone chronically under-employed AND in poor health). Good to know I can stay in the Land of My Birth, for at least another four years.
Santa Barbara has even had its own particular kind of a cold winter this year, and my froze toes have been suffering mightily. One could break off a couple and keep a glass of lemonade chilled.*eeewwwww*. but who's drinking COLD lemonade at this time. It was mild enough the past few winters that I have lost track of where my down-filled booties are, and I have TWO pair! I need to find at least one pair soonest; even piles of blankies do not seem to help much. Blankets can only hold in heat that the body generates, and if the appendage is that cold from the start.you see the Catch-22 of that. I need to walk about in hot socks for a bit to generate enough heat to retain when I sit down! No, heating pads won't work, I can't use electrical things over my joints; it jangles them as though I were shaken really hard. *eep*
I sit here on a chilly evening in late December, reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the new one, watching a favorite dragon movie (what would life BE without scifi/fantasy??) and plowing through a large bar of Toblerone like a fullback on a line drive, God bless the Europeans and their chocolate-making skills. ;D After supper later I will be watching the third LOTR movie, fulfilling the last such three-movie marathons that I undertook in this year. I do lurve my blue-eyed men. *teeheeheehee*
I have been blessed with generous friends and funny friends and loving friends and supportive friends and some surprising new friends. I contemplate the loss of some old friends. In just a couple weeks I will turn The Big Six Oh, a landmark birfday that more than once recently I thought I would never reach. This has given me some pause to consider many things, especially the people who make up the rich tapestry of my life. If you are reading this, you are threads in that tapestry, some of you whole blocks, without which my life would be soooooo stale and drab.
For all of us I wish peace on Earth, prosperity, health, love, and whatever success brings meaning to our lives. May the Light of the World shine on you always, my dearest compatriots in this walk through life, with all my love and best wishes, and may we all use semi-colons properly , RLA