I really can't stand the best-of-year posts blogs and magazines tend to do around now, where they list the 17 best whatevers of the year which is coming to a close in lieu of producing new content, in the unlikely event you weren't paying attention the first time they talked about whatever it was. (Video game review magazines, I'm looking at you.)
This is not one of those posts.
I have, with this post, made forty-six blog posts this year, hardly enough for a best-of when ten at least are Asimov's reviews, so you can peruse them uncurated at your leisure if you are in dire need of a review. (I was shooting for one a week as part of Iron Blogger, which event appears to be winding down in the manner of a toy whose spring tension is about exhausted. It nevertheless appears to have had the intended effect of getting some of us into the blogging habit! So don't worry, I'm not going to stop posting here, and I will probably continue my erratic mostly-once-a-week schedule.)
If you find yourself in dire need of a year-end summary post of some kind, you might read my friend Richard Tibbetts's 2010 The Year In Bookmarks, which is a collection of interesting links from the past year. I considered doing a similar post, but my bookmarks aren't really intended for public consumption — the bulk of my links from the past year seem to be vim tips and Firefox plugins, for some reason — and I got bored separating the wheat from the chaff before I had anything resembling a coherent post. Perhaps if I get really bored this upcoming week, but only perhaps. (Edit: Apparently I got bored.)
If you find yourself in dire need of my predictions for the upcoming year, well, I have only one prediction, about science fiction writing, but that is forthcoming in another post because it was threatening to overtake this one, so you will have to wait. Rest assured that it is not an obvious prediction like "the flood of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, Classic Literature WITH ZOMBIES, and steampunk books will continue unabated". Because that one is obvious. And there's nothing particular to my prediction which necessitates it being made at this time of year, this is just when I happened to get around to writing it up.
If you find yourself in dire need of resolutions for the year, I think it's stupid to promise things to yourself and to the world at the nadir of the year, in its darkest days, when you feel crappiest about yourself and your place in the world. You should wait until April or May and then figure out what you don't like about your life and want to change. (Helpful hint: If your resolution doesn't include a process change, you will fail. Attempting to solve a longstanding problem by "trying harder" is bullshit and has never worked for any real person in the history of the world. It's only a recipe for heartbreak and self-loathing. Try differently instead. Not that I speak from personal experience here or anything.)
In short, 2010 is almost over and 2011 is coming. Look out!