2010 is coming to a close. I’m feeling vaguely sentimental this morning, so here’s my favourite posts from LGWABP from 2010. In chronological order, by no means the order of importance. This list is of posts that I had fun writing or researching. I hope you enjoy reading:

1. Listmaker, 2010 – I like a good list, don’t you? I think this one’s a bit fun.
2. Farewell to Another Great – JD Salinger’s death in January was sad. We’ve lost so many great writers this year.
3. Madonna Melbourne, Parma Sunday, Finished With Cider – this weekend was typical. Madonna have been the band of the year, without a doubt, and I look forward to more from them in 2011. (Eg, 6th of Jan at Yah Yahs, ya’ll. Be there!). I enjoyed writing about them. If you get to see them, they’ll make you want to write too. Such immense creative energy rubs off.
4. Edgy Gritty Realism From Normal Happy People: Irvine Welsh at the Wheeler Centre – one of the best gigs at the Wheeler Centre that I went to this year. Wasn’t Irvine Welsh just unashamedly dysfunctional? Great! I also had a lot of fun writing this review.
5. Reading Anxiety – Reading anxiety has been a major thing for me this year, as I’m surrounding myself with more and more readers and writers. There’s so much out there and so little time! The 100+ Books Challenge (though nowhere near completed) has kept me motivated and honest, and it’s been great tracking what I’ve read.
6. Slamming Into Wordsmith-ry – my discovery of slam. What’s followed has been amazing. Great gigs, great people, great fun. I’ve discovered our local champions, and goodness there are many! Thanks for existing, slam!
7. Chuck Ragan Revival Tour, 30th April 2010 – I managed to get a music review on here, and write about it coherently despite my lack of musical knowledge! Yeah! Go team!
8. Library Greed – similar to reading anxiety. I’ve really enjoyed engaging with questions like this in my posts and writing about reading habits.
9. Thinking About Process – again, writing about solitary-type habits. I enjoy thinking about it. This post never really got much feedback, which I was interested in getting. How do you write? Engage, yo!
10. Breakable Bags, Zelda, and Reframing Rejection – one of the best things to happen in 2010, the EWF with the unstoppable Lisa Dempster at the helm. Wonderful! Had so much fun attending events, and I think writing this post helped me tease out for myself what was helpful about the panels and discussions I’d been to, and what I’d really retained.
11. Why Write? – possibly the most ridiculous “introduce-yourself” question I received all year, “why write” prompted this piece, which is still in the process of being expanded into a longer personal essay, exploring why other authors have written and how I relate to that. So I’m still having fun toying with that question. Thanks for the dumb question, random crappy tutor!
12. You Are Being Judged – I really enjoyed getting in touch with my mean side for this, a high-quality rant.
13. Mistakes You’re Allowed To Make Post-Nobel Prize – also a bit ranty. I really didn’t enjoy this book though… This post was written for a school assignment, and I know that to make it a really good review I’d need a decent knowledge of JM Coetzee’s back-catalogue. However, time didn’t permit. I think I engaged well given my limited knowledge.
14. Overload Day 9 – Poetry Slam Grand Final – one of the best slams I saw all year. The room was FREAKING ELECTRIC! It was educational, and I really enjoyed writing about the reading in a writerly way, if that makes any sense at all. It was fun to attend, it was fun to write about. Also, this post features some wonderful photos by my love Danny Presser. He’s talented – check out the Steve Smart photo. It’s totally Steve all over! And the photo of Luka captures him. Danny and I have done a few events together this year, it’s been fun, and effective, and wonderful.
15. The Spinning Room’s Last Night At ET’s – The night was great, writing about the night was great. I think I’ve found a way to write about poetry readings that stands alone as writing, not just as a review. And I’m very happy about that.

These are the posts I’ve had the most fun writing and researching and thinking about. Being the end of the year, more lists are on their way. Soon, very soon, I’ll be writing a “year in review” piece.