Birthday Egotism, 2012 Edition
Sep. 1st, 2012 10:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swan_towerI have a tradition, dating back to 2003, of . . . well, rampant egotism on my birthday.
It's an antidote to feelings of blah-ness (which were plaguing me on that day in 2003, and have been known to do so since). I make a post where I am only allowed to brag about the cool things I've done lately: no qualifications, no disclaimers, no undercutting myself. The last two years, for various reasons, I haven't done the post in the usual manner (I've done other kinds of egotism-related things instead), so this time around, we're gonna rack up three years' worth of achievements.
I'm thirty-two today. What do I have to show for it?
I have completed three novels (A Star Shall Fall, With Fate Conspire, and A Natural History of Dragons), six short stories, three novelettes, and one novella. I've sold three novels (A Natural History of Dragons and two sequels), eleven short stories, two novelettes, and a novella, and the audio rights for seven stories -- not to mention a chapter for a Legend of the Five Rings RPG book!
Speaking of gaming, I ran my second tabletop game ("Once Upon a Time in the West," a nineteenth-century Scion game) and carried it all the way through to completion, making me two for two on that front. With![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kniedzw, I ran a one-shot Changeling game at a local convention, for about thirty-five people. I started playing in an ongoing LARP and two tabletop games, plus a one-shot LARP along the way. I've made soundtracks (including covers) for the Scion game, my LARP character, and the novels. I've made costumes of various kinds.
I attended . . . you know, I'm not going to be able to count all the conventions. A dozen or so? Including my first stint as a Guest of Honor, at Sirens. I've traveled to India, Japan, and Hawaii. I improved my photography skills, learning how to control aperture and depth of field, with some very satisfying results to show for it.
I got Honorable Mentions in two Year's Best anthologies, and saw one of my novels listed among the best fiction of the year, by Kirkus Reviews. I got my publisher to not only contract Todd Lockwood for my cover art, but to do interior art for the book! I added even more to the metric crap-ton I know about English history, expanded my knowledge of Japanese folklore, and started remedying my ignorance of African history and cultures. I kept studying karate, advancing seven belts (from orange with a black stripe to the second stage of brown), and started studying kobudo, aka weapons, advancing six belts (from white to blue with a black stripe). I bought a piano and started playing again.
I started writing fanfiction for fun, and have written seventeen stories -- one of which became a breakaway hits of Yuletide last year. I joined the Book View Cafe, and you'll see the results of that soon.
I did something related to my career that I can't talk about publicly. It wasn't fun, but it was important, and getting through it counts as an achievement.
It's a list worth being proud of.
So, to borrowmrissa's phrase again, happy my birthday to you. I'm going to a cool museum exhibit today with friends, and then dinner, and then hanging out. Please, in honor of this momentous day, take at least a few moments to do something that makes you happy. :-)
It's an antidote to feelings of blah-ness (which were plaguing me on that day in 2003, and have been known to do so since). I make a post where I am only allowed to brag about the cool things I've done lately: no qualifications, no disclaimers, no undercutting myself. The last two years, for various reasons, I haven't done the post in the usual manner (I've done other kinds of egotism-related things instead), so this time around, we're gonna rack up three years' worth of achievements.
I'm thirty-two today. What do I have to show for it?
I have completed three novels (A Star Shall Fall, With Fate Conspire, and A Natural History of Dragons), six short stories, three novelettes, and one novella. I've sold three novels (A Natural History of Dragons and two sequels), eleven short stories, two novelettes, and a novella, and the audio rights for seven stories -- not to mention a chapter for a Legend of the Five Rings RPG book!
Speaking of gaming, I ran my second tabletop game ("Once Upon a Time in the West," a nineteenth-century Scion game) and carried it all the way through to completion, making me two for two on that front. With
kniedzw, I ran a one-shot Changeling game at a local convention, for about thirty-five people. I started playing in an ongoing LARP and two tabletop games, plus a one-shot LARP along the way. I've made soundtracks (including covers) for the Scion game, my LARP character, and the novels. I've made costumes of various kinds.I attended . . . you know, I'm not going to be able to count all the conventions. A dozen or so? Including my first stint as a Guest of Honor, at Sirens. I've traveled to India, Japan, and Hawaii. I improved my photography skills, learning how to control aperture and depth of field, with some very satisfying results to show for it.
I got Honorable Mentions in two Year's Best anthologies, and saw one of my novels listed among the best fiction of the year, by Kirkus Reviews. I got my publisher to not only contract Todd Lockwood for my cover art, but to do interior art for the book! I added even more to the metric crap-ton I know about English history, expanded my knowledge of Japanese folklore, and started remedying my ignorance of African history and cultures. I kept studying karate, advancing seven belts (from orange with a black stripe to the second stage of brown), and started studying kobudo, aka weapons, advancing six belts (from white to blue with a black stripe). I bought a piano and started playing again.
I started writing fanfiction for fun, and have written seventeen stories -- one of which became a breakaway hits of Yuletide last year. I joined the Book View Cafe, and you'll see the results of that soon.
I did something related to my career that I can't talk about publicly. It wasn't fun, but it was important, and getting through it counts as an achievement.
It's a list worth being proud of.
So, to borrow
mrissa's phrase again, happy my birthday to you. I'm going to a cool museum exhibit today with friends, and then dinner, and then hanging out. Please, in honor of this momentous day, take at least a few moments to do something that makes you happy. :-)
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Date: 2012-09-01 05:22 pm (UTC)I take some measure of credit for the fanfic. ;)
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Date: 2012-09-11 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 06:55 pm (UTC)Shakatany
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Date: 2012-09-01 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 07:14 pm (UTC)P.
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Date: 2012-09-01 07:32 pm (UTC)(And on a tangentially related note . . . check your e-mail.)
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Date: 2012-09-01 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-01 07:26 pm (UTC)And happy birthday!
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Date: 2012-09-01 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-09-02 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-11 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-09-02 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 03:36 pm (UTC)Congrats on accomplishing so much (you make me cringe, as my thirty-second birthday will arrive in November and I'm still flinging myself at agents, much less selling books and stories and making appearances:) and here's to accomplishing much MUCH more in the future! As hard as you work, you definitely deserve to air the achievements unabashedly at least once a year!
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Date: 2012-09-11 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 03:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-11 08:22 pm (UTC)