It was a year ago today that I started this blog. A lot has happened over this past year, quite a good deal of it bad. I’ve lost three of my seven cats; Feral-When-I-Wanna-Be, The Doubtful Guest and Mooch. I finally got my house in California on the market well after the real estate bubble there burst and it took nearly the entire year to sell. Lost a lot on that deal. Fired my dunce of an agent, something I probably should have done in 05, and haven’t yet found another. Had my car repossessed. And those are just the surface things, the things I’m willing to write about here.

There’s been some good sprinkled in there, to be sure. I’ve had a couple of short stories published. I finished my second novel, Meter Maids Eat Their Young. I made the decision to rewrite Stealing The Marbles and I did, finishing less than a week ago with plans to start subbing it tomorrow as soon as the post office opens.

The house did sell, but that was a mixed blessing as it sold for considerably less than the initial asking price, which has somewhat diminished my hope of buying a house here in Albuquerque. Still, it’s gone and that’s one less burden I have to carry.

Certainly the high point of the year was the way my friends at Backspace and beyond rallied together to help me get my car back, selflessly contributing stories to my 1500 Stories in 20 Days project and then buying most of those stories themselves and organizing auctions to fill in the gaps until the goal was not only reached but exceeded. I am still in awe of that and not a day goes by that I don’t think about it and give thanks for their heartfelt generosity. Backspace, and the folks who frequent its forums, are the best of the best. I can’t wait for the 07 conference in May to finally meet some of them in person.

And finally, toward the waning days of 06, the eternal hermit (that would be me) finally reached the point that this somewhat hokey poem, author unknown, illustrates better than I could.

And the day came
When the risk to remain
Closed in a bud
Became more painful
Than the risk it took
To blossom