A good year. Saw younger daughter a couple of times and had a great holiday with her. Saw my sister and had a great camping holiday with her. Saw elder daughter, son-in-law and grandson (now aged 4) for an extended time and went camping with them. Caught up with other family members in Oz whom I love dearly.
Everyone healthy and doing well.

A good year for me, truly. I saw so many of my overseas friends…
The best of the best had to be something that Karen Miller did for me, completely out of the blue. That lady rocks. Never in all my life did I ever expect that anyone would dedicate a book to me. Yet there it was, the dedication for The Riven Kingdom:

It blew me away. Still does. Got to be one of the highlights of the year.
Great to share a room with Donna at Denvention. Donna is another one of those people I wish I lived just down the street from…
I had a friend here in Malaysia who has emerged on the other side of breast cancer in sound health. If ever I have the rotten luck to be in that position, I will try to emulate the strength and pragmatism and good sense of this woman. I have rarely admired someone so much as her during this time.
Hrugaar visited me from his rock and we went to Taman Negara, I met up with an old friend in Lake Como and had some more good times…
My wonderful sister-in-law still smiles even though life deals her a tough hand.
Another couple of friends here had a fiftieth wedding anniversary.
And then there’s all of you: the people who read this blog.
So many good friends in so many different countries – I am blessed.

I was the National Guest of Honour at Swancon. I shall not forget that in a long time – I revelled in the honour of being asked when the National Convention was in my home state, hope I did all that was expected of me, had a ball, made new friends and saw a lot of old ones. Davina, Satima, Dave (both of them), Karen, Trudi & Paul, Theresa, Helen, Simon, Stephanie, Zara, Ju, Juliet, Joel, Bevan, Sean, Jonathan, Ian, Marianne, Dianne, Cat, Annaliese…the list goes on and on.
Thanks, everyone on the Swancon Committee. Thanks a million, really.

And then there was Denvention, my second Worldcon. Another great convention. Wonderful to meet people like Kate Elliott and David Coe and Cheryl Morgan and Willandra for the first time. To meet up with Orbit US publishers. To talk books and fantasy and sf and…to enjoy the feast when I am more used to a famine.

And possibly, best of all, to vote for the 2010 Convention, AussiCon4, to be in Melbourne. I am now officially a participant. I was incredibly impressed by the people who worked to make this happen. And today’s the last day to pay up at the old price – quick, get over to the webpage and buy a membership!!!

Virtual Conflux. Where I was on a one-person “panel” with lots of virtual observers/questioners. Great fun. Love these, and kudos to the organizers.

This has been a bad year financially. I haven’t had any “real” work since the beginning of March and my husband has not been paid (although he works fulltime) since end of July*. So that leaves his pension and my writing to live on.

And yet…I travelled. A lot. The fare to Australia was courtesy of Swancon. The children chipped in for the far to USA. The Lake Como trip was my big expense of the year (husband on duty, so his fare/hotel got paid). But worth every bit – great friends old and new, gorgeous scenery, perfect weather, delicious food. Wish I could do that more often.

And what a lot of wonderful places I went to: Yosemite, the Goldfields and the southern coast of Western Australia, San Francisco, Charlottesville, Virginia Beach, Como Italy, Pulau Kapas In Malaysia….

Travel doesn’t come without sacrifice. We don’t have a TV. We share a not-fancy car. I don’t buy much in the line of clothes. The roof leaks. We don’t go out much. When I travel, I often do it cheap. Red-eye flights. Overnight in airports. Camping, smelly motel rooms, etc. But oh, what a store of good times and memories!