One of the bigger things I did this year for the writing was attend the Surrey International Writers’ Conference. It was an intense three days of workshops with talks ranging from the practical (traditional vs. indie publishing) to the useful (there actually is a formula for creating good endings), to the just plain fun (fashion in science fiction). The highlight, and where I subsequently actually got some work and inspiration from, was in Ian Williams’ poetry workshop. This was just before he blew up all famous by winning the Scotiabank Giller Prize a few weeks later. So cool.