Blog On The Motorway

At the beginning of January, in this year of our fictional deity 2009, I set out a few goals that I had for the year. Seeing as it’s now the end of the year, perhaps it’s a good chance for me to look back and see just how I did.

• I will learn to drive.  Not only do I intend to do this, but I intend to pass my test and buy a car: I have started to learn to drive, but only in the last few months, so this one is going to have to roll over into 2010.
• I will start a degree.  I have enrolled on an Open University course in Computing and such related things, and by the end of the year should be onto my second module, and one out of five years closer to increasing my earning potential dramatically: Done!
• I will move house.  Ellen and Rosie and I need somewhere bigger and better to live, with a garden for the little pickle to fall over in without grazing her knees.  And we need to think about school districts and other such boring fare: Not moved house yet, but we’re looking at the next few months. I have to say that the last year in this house has not been too bad though, Ellen got the concrete looking quite nice in the end.
• I will start a band.  This is already in the process of getting underway, but then I’ve been at this stage of assembling a band (all members agreed, about to start rehearsing and it falls apart before we even get a jam) so many times now that I’m going to get this done this year: I really think now is the time for me to realize that this is NEVER going to happen. I think I have finally come to terms with the fact that I will never to an international rock superstar.
• I will work very hard on this site.  I have lots of ideas in mind for what to do with this place, but at the very least I want a redesign and a shift to new hosting done by the end of the year: Job’s a good ‘un, I think.
• I will diversify my sources of income.  This job just ain’t cutting the cheques any more, and I don’t really fancy entering this most overcrowded job market right now, so I will be trying to earn some extra cash.  I haven’t exactly worked out all the details on this yet, but my first thoughts are to get back into writing freelance, and getting into affiliate marketing: While I don’t think they will bring in huge amounts of money, I’m hopeful that the new websites launching in the next few months will go some way to addressing this issue. It’s still something I am interested in
• I will finish my Nano novel.  And not just the first draft, but a full working manuscript that I can start shopping around.  Ideally this should be done by November, as I will be writing book 2 as a Nano novel: I never did get around to it, mainly because I realised it was a bit shit, but work has begun in earnest on Blood On The Motorway, which should be launching this year.

So all in all, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag, but I think that overall I can be pretty pleased with the way that the year has gone . There have been hiccups and setbacks, certainly, but all in all a good year for me and mine. Next year is going to be much more ambitious (more about that in the next few days) in terms of what I will be aiming to do, but having achieved a lot this year I feel much more able to do so.

I shall be doing another one of these ‘state of the union’ type things at the beginning of January, but until then, I hope everyone had lovely holidays, and a very Happy New Year to you all.