Whew. 2018, am I right? Can any of us remember the last year that was just normal sauce? Like 2012, maybe? But 2019 is going to be our year, right?
Ahem.
Despite a full six weeks dealing with Laryngitis From Planet X, I did manage to get ahead of the curve. In fact, at the time of this writing, this is the last non-appointment obligation* I have for 2018.
I’ve written and edited all of the flash fiction stories for this year. It was an interesting experiment, and at this point I’m pot committed, so I’ll definitely do it for another year. There’s a book there. Indeed, even without publishing a book this year, I managed to write (by my best estimates) 85,701 words, and even published most of them in one form or another. Not a bad haul for a year that quite frankly often asked why I was doing this all to begin with.
I’ve also completed the final mix on The Fourth Wall’s holiday special. I’d offer some more insight into its creation, but at this point I’m a little Christmas-ed out, and this year I actually think I’ve earned it. By the time you’re reading this, you can listen to the show your self, in case you missed it:
I have also finished my reading goal. 62 books, and we’ll aim for 64 next year. I’m relatively proud of the mix of trash and “real” books. Only a few books based on TV shows with the word “Star” in the title. All in all, part of this complete breakfast. Here’s the list. “(a)” denotes an audiobook (unabridged, naturally, I’m not some kind of animal).
1. George Lucas: A Life (a)
2. Along the way (a)
3. Easy Rider
4. All New Letters From A Nut
5. Fire and Fury
6. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (a)
7. Dennis Hopper: The Wild Ride of a Hollywood Rebel (a)
8. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
9. The Hunt for Red October (a)
10. Thanks For The Money (a)
11. Copper and Gold
12. Star Trek: Prey: Book One (a)
13. On Writing (a)
14. Nightmare of Ecstasy
15. The Day of the Doctor
16. Discovery: Drastic Measures (a)
17. The Soul of a new machine (a)
18. The Paradise Snare
19. The Seven Percent Solution (a)
20. Wonder Boys (a)
21. Dies Infaustus
22. Into the Void
23. Rogue Saucer
24. The West End Horror (a)
25. North by Northwest
26. The Canary Trainer (a)
27. Discovery: Fear Itself (a)
28. How to American (a)
29. The Great Gatsby (a)
30. The Two-Front War
31. The Hound of the Baskervilles (a)
32. A Brief History of Time (a)
33. Go Set a Watchman(a)
34. Console Wars
35. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (a)
36. The Accidental President (a)
37. I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie
38. Invisible Man (a)
39. From A Certain Point of View (a)
40. The Man With the Golden Typewriter
41. The Shining (a)
42. Alligator
43. End Game
44. Minority Report and other stories (a)
45. Mindhunter (a)
46. The Buried Age
47. Space Odyssey (a)
48. A Study in Scarlett (a)
49. Agent to the Stars (a)
50. English History Made Brief, irreverent, and pleasurable (a)
51. The Everything Store (a)
52. Once Burned
53. The Sign of Four (a)
54. Halloween
55. The Firm (a)
56. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (a)
57. What If (a)
58. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (a)
59. Spider-man: Hostile Takeover
60. A Confederacy of Dunces (a)
61. Halloween '18
62. Life Itself
So, let’s make 2019 ours. I think there are some opportunities there. We may just have to learn to let go of the past a little bit. Yes, past, I’m looking in your direction. You know who you are. You know what you did.
* My therapist, my wife and I (at different points in time, mind you) are quick to point out that a full 90% of my “obligations” are self-inflicted. I’d say I’m working on it, but then I’d have to come up with a due date out of the ether, so let’s just skip that part.