Now Wait For Next Year*

At this time of year, it's not only traditional to make New Year's resolutions, but also to take stock of things, and assess how much progress (if any) one's made in certain areas. David, Lucy, and Lianne have all posted on their goals and achievements with regard to writing in 2007, and so, perhaps slightly belatedly, I thought I'd do the same.

If I'm honest, I didn't really set myself many specific writing goals for 2007 (though there were a couple, of which more in a mo). I do feel, though, that I did pretty well in 'getting things out there', by which I mean I'm pleased that 2007 saw the following:
- Being selected as one of 100 bloggers whose work was included in a Comic Relief book
- Recording an audio version of the same blog entry for inclusion in the podcast version of the Comic relief book
- Book review work for the Fortean Times
- My 'flash fiction' urban myth being a finalist in, and thus performed at, the Urban Myths event at the Manchester Literature Festival

...I'm also quite pleased with the way this blog has evolved; I'm updating pretty much in line with the number of working days in the week (and sometimes more often than that), I think there's a good mix of topical, personal and silly items, and people who I've never met have been kind enough to link to me and to post comments, which makes it feel less like a displacement activity and more like a genuine form of communication with the world at large.

Mind you, it's not all sunshine - none of the above earned me any money, which is fine in the case of the charity stuff, but it's slightly disappointing to realise I earned more from eBaying unwanted stuff than I did from writing in 2007. Hmm.

And, as mentioned above, I had a couple of specific writing goals - to finish my novel 'Coming Back To Haunt You' and start the novel 'The Body Orchard' - which didn't really happen; sure, I started 'TBO' (as no-one's calling it except me) in November as part of National Novel Writing Month, but that was meant to be written after I'd finished 'CB2HU' (again, as nobody calls it apart from me), which remains only half done. And that isn't really good enough - especially as I know how the tale finishes.

So this year, as well as making some proper (read: not half-arsed) progress with the novels, I intend to finish off the radio play that's sitting on my hard drive unfinished, to expand and polish the screenplay I submitted for the Red Planet prize in 2007, and to get my horrendously out-dated website revamped, as I've been promising to do for … well, too damn long.

Am I making a public proclamation here, then? You know, I rather think I am. Okay , for the sake of argument let's say I am.
So : in 2008, I aim to finish my radio play, screenplay, 'CB2HU', and to make good progress with 'TBO'.
We'll meet back here in a year and see how far I get in relation to these, shall we?

*Apologies to Horselover Fat.