2024

Well. That was a year. We made it.

2024 wasn't my most productive year in terms of publication. There was a lot of head-down, door-closed writing that is yet to see the light of day, more on that in 2025. But there are a few things that stood out to me writing-wise:

• my essay "No car, no kids" was included in the Otherhood anthology from Massey University Press.
• I also had a short story included in an anthology of crime fiction - a first!
• I finally got to an overseas writing event - Continuum in Melbourne - after a long five years
• and I curated and participated in the "I'm disabled... of course I'm a villain" event at LitCrawl / Verb.

I got my nice new covers for the Windflower series, and sold books at Ages of Pages and Palmageddon. I had fun with writing friends and other friends.

I also finished up some reading challenges - reading all the Clarke Award winners, the Read Harder challenge, and another 30 books added to my Round the World List (a book from every country). This year I added books from Armenia, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Capo Verde, Nigeria, South Korea, Angola, Mauritania, Libya, Poland, Switzerland, Brazil, Egypt, Guatemala, Colombia, Portugal, Sudan, Turkey, Nepal, Romania, Czechia, Morocco, Antigua, Mauritius, Rwanda, Comoros, Bhutan, and Greece. Yes, I did have to check a map for some of those!

It was a difficult year politically, which impacted on my day job and people I care about. I'm personally reasonably well insulated right now, but I still felt it. I think I attended more protests than in any year since I was a full time student. The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti should not have been necessary, but as it was, it was a high point.

I made some new friends. I did some travelling. I got to go to the most Australian of places: the Harold Holt memorial swimming pool and met some lemurs at the zoo. I saw friends I hadn't seen since pre-pandemic. I saw some great art.

My luck also ran out when it came to COVID, but as it was mild, with minimal to no lingering effects, it could have been a lot worse. Thank you vaccines, and thank you travel insurance.

Some other health stuff was messier - put it this way, I now have a back pocket prescription for antibiotics so I can get them as soon as I need them. Let's hope I don't need them again too soon. I'm doing a lot better now.

My cat got much noisier. MUCH noisier. Apparently they do this as they age. I wonder if she's recounting tales of the good old days.

I ended the year with a small promotion at my day job. I'm doing a lot of what I used to, but some new stuff too. I'm enjoying the summer break right now, but looking forward to getting stuck in when I do go back.

I have heaps planned for 2025, including some of that writing I talked about seeing the light of day. No doubt it will have a few surprises of its own in store as well though.

I wish you all an enjoyable end to the year - whether you're partying, having a quiet drink, or sleeping through - and I wish you all a wonderful 2025.

See ya in the New Year.

Andi