Like a snail on opium

But first, a finger update. One thing I’ve realised is how much your fingers depend on all your other fingers when you touch-type. So, having my left index finger out of commission has been having an annoying ripple effect, yea even unto my right hand. Bollocks. After four days, I finally went to the doctor yesterday. He essentially asked me what the hell I was thinking, taking so long to see a medic (“It’s infected, lah!”), drained all the various multi-hued fluids, cut off about a third of my fingernail and bandaged the rest. He also injected so much painkiller into my finger that I felt it was orbiting the Moon by the time he was done. I liked that doctor!

(And, may I say, the one thing I also like about visiting doctors in Singapore/Malaysia is that the dispensaries are attached to the clinic. So you get treatment then slip to the next window once you’re back in the waiting room to get your “loot”. In my case, it was the ubiquitous course of antibiotics, painkillers, tablets to control the swelling, ointment, a small bottle of antiseptic wash (twice a day) and a stack of dressings. You pay for everything at the final counter (as a foreigner, I paid an escalated total fee of RM196 / SG80 / AUD64 / EUR40 / US57) and you’re out. No indecipherable prescriptions to misplace. No frantic scouting for an open after-hours pharmacy if it’s night-time. Although I know it can (and has) been prone to abuse, I like the one-stop-shop approach they take here to medical treatment.) So I’m back, I’m slow, but at least I’m not cringing in pain. Huzzah! But, onto the actual topic for this last week — and post! — of 2009!

Things move relatively slowly in a writer’s world. It takes months to write a book, followed by months to properly edit, followed by months to submit, maybe re-submit, and get accepted (or rejected) by a publisher, etc. etc. Or maybe it’s more correct to liken the process to the experience of a combat pilot; i.e. hours of tedium broken by seconds of sheer terror.

So, in looking back at 2009 — which was a darned sight more externally productive than 2008 — here’s what happened, in a slightly particular order:

+ My space pirate novella, “A Pirate’s Passion” was released electronically by Total-E-Bound.

– — – – Various short stories got rejected by Interzone, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons and GUD, not necessarily in that order.

+ My very first action contemporary novel, “Guarding His Body” was released electronically by Total-E-Bound.

+ I joined the varied and very talented group blog crew at Novel Spaces.

– – Neither of my hint fiction submissions made the cut for an upcoming anthology.

– I managed to interest a publisher in a novel but decided to pull out before signing because I was not completely happy with the (non-negotiable) contract terms.

– – Two more literary romance short stories did manage to make the cut for an upcoming anthology, but then the publisher ran into financial woes, so the project has been shelved indefinitely.

+ My very first published novel, “Guarding His Body” was released in print by Total-E-Bound.

– Got a request for a full from a publisher, then the publisher folded.

? Got a request for a full from a different publisher; waiting on decision.

many –s I failed to find an agent (general summary of positive feedback: like your writing, can’t sell the book if my life depended on it, what else you got? Admittedly, the last one was a minority-within-a-minority view).

+ Tangentially to writing, but not to books, I began a sideline in narrating ebooks. This looks to continue in 2010. Whew!

+ + – Updated website and blog designs, but put podcast on hiatus because it takes such a damn long time to process each interview.

Now, you may have noticed that there are more negatives than positives in the list. (I know people say you should always turn the negatives into positives but sometimes, people, when a rejection throws you into the pits of depression, you just have to take some time out to Wallow, know what I mean?) If any of you are thinking of becoming writers, please bear that in mind (the rejection bit, not so much the wallowing). Every year is probably going to have more negatives than positives. You have to ask yourself if you’re happy with that, because writing is a hard game and, in addition to talent, the willingness to learn, and many many mental and physical props (okay, much alcohol), you have to have a thick skin, a productive muse, and a sometimes ridiculous belief in your own self-worth.

So now that I’ve covered this year, let’s see what 2010 brings. Are you with me? Did anything happen in 2009 you’d like to mention? This blog doesn’t get much traffic, so your secret’s safe with me! Besides, this will be a miserable New Year’s — because, since I’m on antibiotics, I won’t be drinking any alcohol until well into 2010 (well, at least the 6th or so of January, if I counted the tablets right)! The horror!!! — so I need all the vicarious living I can get. Spill the beans, have a great time and I’ll catch you on Monday.