My Decade in Review

It's practically a meme. :-)
Random highs and lows of 2000-2009, in no particular order:

• Married my beloved partner of fifteen years, Jana Pullman, in Iowa in September, 2009
• Saw the publication of 2 collections of my erotica, Crave and Night's Kiss.
• Edited my first anthology, Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories.
• Won 2 awards - a Goldie for Erotica and a Lesbian Fiction Reader's Choice Award, and finaled for a few more - the Gaylactic Spectrum Award twice and a Goldie for Speculative Fiction. 2 stories from HH also finaled for the Sir. Julius Vogel Awards in New Zealand.
• Saw the publication of 50 or so stories and numerous articles.
• Saw my work collected by the University of Northern Illinois Rare Books and Special Collections.
• Saw my work translated into Italian as well as being published in Canada and the U.K.
• Wrote a lot, including about half of my novel in prog, Silver Moon, and many, many odds and ends of other things.
• Traveled to Italy, Paris, Montreal, Seattle, New Orleans, Orlando, Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, Iowa City, Las Vegas and assorted other places I'll no doubt remember right after I post.
• Lost our two older cats to various ailments of old kitties (R.I.P. Sweets (1990-2005) and Inanna (1995-2009)) and adopted 2 new cats, Ma'at and Shu.
• Attended a lot of conventions and writing events where I did panels, readings, taught workshops, etc.; a selection: Saints and Sinners, Golden Crown Literary Conference, Atlanta Queer Literary Conference, WisCon, Marscon, CONvergence, Gaylaxicon, Diversicon, Arcana, Sexy Spring, World Fantasy Convention.
• Did a helluva lot of readings; a selection of these: The Loft Literary Center (MPLS), Patrick's Cabaret (MPLS), Drury Lane Books (Grand Marais), Outwrite Books and Cafe (Atlanta), The Happy Ending Lounge (NYC), DreamHaven Books and Comics (MPLS), Amazon Feminist Bookstore/True Colors Bookstore (MPLS), The Smitten Kitten (MPLS), Intermedia Arts (MPLS), Bluestockings Books (NYC), A Room of One's Own (Madison).
• Worked in a lot of exciting IT environments at various Fortune 500 companies.
• Taught writing workshops. So far: Writing-world.com, The Loft Literary Center, Golden Crown Literary Conference, Sexy Spring.
• Got into 2 bad car accidents, one of which totaled my car, one payment away from paying it off. This also ensured that my left leg will never be quite the same.
• Met lots of new people. :-)
• Lost very few of the people I knew before the decade started and reconnected with a number that I'd fallen out of touch with. Huzzah for Facebook and social media.
• Among those irreplaceably lost: friend, author John M. Ford (1957-2006); mentor, employer and friend, international activist and scholar Dr. Elsa Chaney (1936-2000); friend and fellow activist, human rights and disability activist Miya Rodolfo-Sioson (1968-2008); and friend and fellow activist, peace and human rights activist Jon Cohen (1963-2003).
• Experienced a bunch of other things, good and bad. I'm looking forward to the next decade, seeing that this one has been overflowing with personal growth moments, many of them quite useful.