Top 3 in 2009

via ColourCubic

As I start to review the year which has passed and prepare for the one following (if you are wondering what the hell I am talking about given it is now January 4th, see my column last week New Ways of Thinking New) I thought I’d look at what I really enjoyed in 2009 in books, movies, literary experiences and what not.

The method in the madness (or the extravagance of indulgence) of this is looking for common threads, and in doing so, how I might incorporate these highlighted elements  into my own work.

Without further ado, here are my eclectic top threes from 2009, in no particular order.

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Movies

• Seven Pounds
• Gran Torino
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Books

• Jasper Jones Craig Silvey
• The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy
• The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold

Albums

• Twilight Sound Track Various Artists
• Up All Night The Waifs
• The Best of the ’80s Various Artists

Highlights

• My by-line appearing for the first time in the Sydney Morning Herald (and syndicated through Fairfax Media across Australia and New Zealand) with Kate Benson on the article Too Many Babies, Cries Qantas.
• Meeting one of my favourite author, Nick Earls, on the same day the SMH article was published.
• Working with the authors involved in the Chinese Whisperings Project, seeing The Red Book make it into print and bringing eMergent Publishing one step closer to being realised.

Short Stories

• Leather Against Willow, Poorly James Ashelford at The Ecelectic Chair.
• Half Mown Lawn Dan Powell at Dan Powell Fiction
• One in the Chamber Paul Anderson at Chinese Whisperings

Favourite Pieces of My Writing

• Bondi published at Jim Wisneski’s The Twelve Days of Christmas Project
• Taping Lydia submitted to Jon Strother’s Friday Flash, Best of 2009 Anthology
• Summer Girl published at Writing With Passionate Abandon (slated for submission to Affirm Press‘s Long Story Shorts  in 2010)

Biggest Surprises

• Constantine Markides Fourth Fiction finale.
• The success of Jon Strother’s #FridayFlash.
• All the new friends, writing colleagues and contacts made (too many to list you all here!) – mostly through #FridayFlash and Fourth Fiction!

Realisations About Writing

• The role of editor and writer can co-exist – it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
• Writing first drafts is exciting but the process of revision, editing, critiquing and rewriting to bring a piece to a final draft cannot be beaten.
• Crazy ideas can become amazing projects – never discount anything.

What would your top three be in these categories? Leave them in the comments section or post them to your blog and leave the link below.

Jodi Cleghorn is currently in the process of gutting her writing space, cleaning it and redecorating it as well as reorganising her home and trying to finish off writing projects. She is over the moon to see Chinese Whisperings:The Red Book on sale in digital format after two years of hard work.