Thursday 17 May 2012

12 for '12 - Progress Report

Okay, so back at the start of the year I set out my 12 New Year's resolutions for 2012. I thought it was timely to let you know how I'm getting on. (Timely? You'll see why in a moment.) So here are my 12 resolutions again, with a status update for each one attached.


1) Read more books
Too early to really comment on this one. It's taken me ages to read a couple of books and then I've whizzed through others the same length. (This may say more about the pressures I've been under than the quality of the writing, although it was Dan Abnett's The Silent Stars Go By and Terry Pratchett's Snuff that I whizzed through.)

2) Buy fewer books
I've managed that. Far fewer visits to bookshops and far fewer packages arriving through the post from Amazon. Now I just need to stick to my guns.

3) Complete 12 projects
Now this is the interesting one. I wanted to complete 12 writing projects this year, whether they be novels, magazine articles or whatever, and on Tuesday I handed in number 12. That's right, I'm not even half way through the year and I've already finished 12 projects (although I've not written any complete novels yet).

For those of you who are interested, those 12 jobs consist of, 5 short stories, 3 children's books (for an up and coming brand), 2 magazine articles, 1 novella, and 1 gamebook app.

The challenge is now going to be if I can complete another 12 jobs before year's end. Already on the slate are 3 short stories, 2 novellas, 3 gamebooks (some of them apps), and various synopses and proposals to be written for various other things.



4) Write another gamebook App
Done. More news on that soon (I hope).

5) Get another Hammer & Bolter commission
Kind of done... I just need to write it now.

6) Get a comics commission
I've made no progress with this one at all.

7) Work up a new YA project
Certain people have shown an interest in me doing this and others have suggested it's something I should try, but again it's not something I've done anymore about just at the moment.

8) Reach 100 followers on this blog
Tick. Done. I'm actually up to 103 now. And keep 'em coming.

9) Try to get an agent
I've not even attempted to do anything about this yet. (Which is kind of connected to number 7).

10, 11 & 12) Use social media less (Facebook, Blogger and Twitter)
Hmm... I'm certainly planning my blogs more in advance, but I still frequent Facebook far too much. (And what is it with Facebook and cats?)

Twitter's an interesting one though. Strangely, I Tweet most often when I'm working. As my friend Lavie Tidhar says, it's just enough of a distraction when you're in the zone, giving you something to dip in and out of when you're slogging away at a chapter. Interestingly, if Lavie's Tweeting you also know he's working.

Lavie Tidhar - clearly not Tweeting

So there you go. That's how things stand at the moment. Three resolutions definitely completed/achieved, and another couple well on the way. Maybe it's time to review the rest.

Until next time... Oh, and enjoy Steampunk Thursday later on today. ;-)

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