Farewell then, 2011...

Thirty year old government papers published this week reveal that Thatcher's Tory Government were considering drastic measures to cope with civil unrest in 1981.  Just goes to show nothing changes.


And this being the end of a year,  it's only natural to take stock and look forward.  Given that nothing much changes, here are Mystic Sandra's predictions for 2012:


There may be some very cold weather, either in the early months of the year, or towards December.


Books, films and tv programmes about the Mayans will be very popular.


We're all going to get sick to death of hearing about the Mayans.  


We're all going to get sick to death of hearing about the Olympics.


Given it's a leap year, there will be an extra day, probably in February.


More publishers will go under, despite claims from industry insiders that the Kindle is just a fad.


There will be hot weather during the Summer months.


Apple will announce the development of a new computer which is so small it cannot be seen.


 The BBC will commission another fifty series of Doctor Who, including one in which B list celebrities ballroom dance.


Prince Harry will announce his engagement to Lady Gaga.


It will rain a lot in April.


Professor Richard Dawkins will publish another book about how God doesn't exist.


God will retaliate by making a ten part documentary about how Professor Richard Dawkins doesn't exist.


Amazon will invade China and replace all bicycles with Kindles. 


There will be a prevalence of hangovers on the first day of the year.


Whatever 2012 brings, a Very Happy New Year to you all!

New Year Resolutions

I don't usually do resolutions, but come to think of it maybe that's what's been missing in my life all these years. So here's my list for 2011:

1. I will henceforth make New Year Resolutions.
2. I will spend less time online and blog about it regularly.
3. I will stop hanging up on cold callers, but instead quiz them about their odd choice of career and urge them to take a new direction in life.
4. I will attempt to follow everyone in the civilised world on Twitter.
5. I will start a forum for people like me who hate forums.
6. I will start watching Doctor Who in an attempt to be more normal.
7. I will stop singing Bavarian drinking songs in the bath and frightening the dog.
8. I will stop pretending Facebook is a research tool.

Hogmanay - Old Year Thoughts

Funny how this day brings out the nostalgia. It's been an eventful year for me, and not always on the good side. I started the year full of hope that my revised novel would snag a certain agent who'd shown some interest. By the end of January my optimism had evaporated. Disheartened, I fought through the miserable winter weather uncertain about the future. Did I really want to keep going with this business which had brought nothing but disappointment?

Then in March my sister died. She was only 3 years older than me and although not in the best of health was hardly at death's door. The event was sudden and shocking, leaving all her family in a turmoil of grief and self-recrimination. I too felt a weight of guilt. I'd spoken on the phone to her a fortnight previously and she'd told me her symptoms. Concerned, I'd urged her to get to the doctor. "Maybe I will," she'd said breezily, before hanging up. It was the last conversation we had. I wish I'd pestered her about it now. How wise we are after the event. But one thing her death did was show me in technicolor clarity how short our time is and if there's something you want to do you better get on and do it now, while you can.

A few weeks after the funeral I fell down some stairs and sprained my ankle. Sitting in out-patients that evening - a first for me - I saw a big slice of life up close, many poor souls a lot worse off than me. Again, life's fragility on display.

An internet friend contacted me around this time to ask how things were going submission-wise. She urged me to keep sending the novel out and not give up. Talking to her made me realise I couldn't give up, I'd come this far and I had to see it through. So I jumped back on the submissions wagon again.

I had a perfectly nice week at Loch Ness in June. Time to get away from writing and take stock. By this point I'd more or less decided to forget about the novel and concentrate on other projects I'd had ideas for. When I got home I got right back to work and started writing Redemption, another ghost story. By October I was well into it and took the plunge to participate in Nanowrimo to get it finished.

The first week of Nano I was stricken with a nasty bout of what I suspect was swine flu. Dragging myself to the computer with blankets and hot water bottles to keep warm, coughing up my lungs and snuffling into boxes of tissues, was hardly propitious for a creative pursuit. But somehow I managed to do it. And at the end of the first week I received the email from my agent offering representation.

It's funny how life gives and takes simultaneously. Just when you think you can't feel any worse something marvellous happens. It's happened to me time and again throughout my life, but it still never fails to amaze me.

So that's where I am now. I've no idea what 2011 will bring, but I hope it brings success and happiness for all of us in whatever way we desire. Here's to a bumper writing year!

New Year Detox

Never mind Carol Vorderman and five gallon bottles of Evian, I'm talking about flushing out the clutter from my writer's brain with a few timely resolutions:

1. Spend less time trolling the Net
OK, this one seems to come up every year and all that happens is I end up signing onto yet another writers' forum and wasting too much valuable time on things like avatars, signatures and bickering about adverbs. We tell ourselves it's good to stay connected, but really how much use are these sites when you come down to it? Yes, you can make a few friends and pick up a few tips, but you can also accumulate trolls and convince the wider world what an asshole you are. There's a lot of bitterness and bitchiness around too - a pretty toxic environment for the delicate ego and hardly conducive to creativity.
So I'm trying to limit myself. I'm not optimistic I'll be able to do it, but I'm going to try.

2. Spend more time reading and writing.
Last year I got into quite a nice routine, writing in the morning, reading in the afternoon. That is when I could resist the lure of Sky. This year things should be better as the Sky box breathed its last the week before Christmas and we've switched to an incomprehensible combination of Freesat and Free View. So there's no chance I'll be wasting time watching TV since I can't figure out which remote does what.

3. Be better organised.
When I can do it, sitting down to write first thing in the morning works best for me. I'm going to try and be more disciplined about this. Facebook and Twitter will just have to wait.

4. Get more exercise.
Another perennial. I know it makes sense to get the blood flowing to the brain but each year that passes sees me more firmly glued to my chair. However I will try and jump around to my Davina DVDs at least twice a week.

As the minutes tick away...

I always get a bit gooey at this time on New Year's Eve. After tonight I'll never write 2009 on a letterhead again. This year will be consigned to history, along with all the rest of the so-called Noughties. And on this night I traditionally take stock; look back over the months, wonder what I achieved. Some years I've been glad to see the back of, but not this one. It's been a year of change but mostly for the good. My son finished Uni - after the previous worrisome years that was like achieving the peak of Everest. I revamped the WIP and got to grips with a new one - it's been a busy year on the writing front but I've learned a huge amount. I passed the 25 year mark on co-habiting with my better half (the official Silver Anniversary to follow in April). We even managed to ditch a bit of the mortgage - cause for much celebration.
On the downside, my old cat Sooty finally gave up the ghost at the grand age of 19. But he had a good innings and nobody lasts forever.

So when the bells ring at midnight I'll be thinking about 2010 and what it has in store. Who knows what we'll be looking back on this time next year, but whatever it is I hope you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous year - with lots of things to write about.
Cheers!