2016 better not suck

Quite simple really. October 2014 – December 2015 has on the most part sucked. This is because, for those of you that don’t know, I had trapped kidney stones, and then became a chronic pain sufferer.

There were some high points however. I managed to leave one team in the NHS and join another at the perfect moment for both. I’m on a team that I l … like working with, and there are some good prospects and interesting work ahead.

I also managed to publish Blaise Maximillian: Bitter Defeat which, although it hasn’t sold much at all, has received a lot of praise from most of those people who actually read it. The good thing is, none of those people would hold back in telling me it was a bit poo if they needed to.

My wife, who runs One Dotty Duck has done amazingly well, selling the world over (literally, this is no exaggeration) and even has repeat customers. My girls continue to thrive at school and in such things as Gymnastics and Dance, winning national and district competitions and generally being bloody cool.

But, and I know that this sounds whiney, the pain has been present every single bloody day of the year and a bit, which meant that things sucked on a varying level.

2016 however, I’m hoping that I can just tell the pain to “fuck right off”. I now have a desperate need to get fitter as a lot of my rather cool suits and waistcoats don’t fit any more and I’m missing training in the martial arts.

I’m also going to try to become an extra in at least one cool TV programme or film, so have signed up for a casting agency that was recommended to me by someone in the business.

I will make a concerted effort to finish two novels that I started for my kids, publish Blaise Maximillian: Emancipation (book two in the series, which is mostly written) and get my steampunk novel re-written and ready. The latter two I shall be submitting to Kindle Scout in the hope that I can secure a deal. If I can’t I’ll just self-publish them. At least they’ll be up and free to roam the world.

On top of that, I’ll be working closely with Stewart Hotston on a couple off projects as we seem to think remarkably alike (probably a bad thing) and have helped each other out a lot this year.

The wife and I have also agreed that we should attempt to get to as many local cafes and coffeeshops as we can this year. Which will be fun, but won’t necessarily be good for my ever-increasing waistline.

We will also be attending more cons as One Dotty Duck, as well as some more X-Wing Competitions that I might actually – but probably won’t – win.

Wednesdays are henceforth reserved for gaming nights. I’m hoping to get a party together to play Age Of Rebellion, Mouseguard, Shadowrun 2nd Edition etc, and it might even involve Skype.

As you can see, 2016 should be fun, interesting and actually achievable as I’ve set myself targets that I think are – to use a wanky management term – SMART.

And on that slightly sticky note, happy New Year and see you in 2016.