Well first off I ought to begin by saying a slightly belated Happy New Year to you all – Happy New Year TO YOU ALL!!! There, that’s out of the way now. Actually, in all seriousness, I do hope it’s a good one for all of us.

Last year saw me publish my 6^th and 7^th full-length comedy novels which ain’t too shabby for a shabby old thing like me. And believe me those books were produced under great duress. 2023 wasn’t a particularly spectacular year for Ange and I in so many ways but we came through it together and we’re looking forward to 2024 with hopeful eyes.

I haven’t made any resolutions as such. I have done in the past; every single 1^st of January. I was going to lose weight or write 3 books in one year or exercise more or drink less or try and do something about all the flatulence etc etc etc…

The list is a long one.

And in all honesty I’ve never achieved a single one of them because I’ve always set the bar too high for what I can actually achieve. You see, deep down, I do know my limitations.

So this year I just want to improve myself in whatever small way I can.

I’m starting with dry January and before any of you scoff, let me tell you that this will be the third year I’ve done it. And I have to say that I recommend it whole-heartedly. I’ve always felt marvellous by February.

Unfortunately, I’ve then gone on to undo all the good I’ve done the rest of the year. I do enjoy a drop of vino but sometimes it’s a bit more than a drop as my waistline will testify.

So from now on I’m going to be an occasional drinker. That’s not a resolution as I know I won’t keep it but I’m going to try and limit myself to just having booze when we’re at an occasion. Weddings, birthdays, parties, bar mitzvahs etc.

To tell the truth, I’ve never been to a bar mitzvah but I’m always up for one if there’s an invite going.

As for the age-old resolution of trying to lose weight – HAH! Never happens. So this time I’m just going to try and eat less and exercise more. I find both of those activities difficult at the best of times but the fact that I’m currently using the very first notch on my belt tells me that something seriously needs to change. I looked in the mirror on New Year’s Day wearing just my underwear and I didn’t like what I saw. I didn’t like it all. It was the stuff of nightmares.

Ergo, change must happen. And it can’t just be another resolution that comes and goes but instead has to be a complete lifestyle change. I know it won’t happen overnight and that’s where I’ve gone wrong in the past – believing it will and then getting despondent when it doesn’t. Small consistent steps are what I need to take.

Then there’s my career – being an independent author.

In a nutshell, I need to change how I work. I’ve got to try and be more constant in my approach. Last year I made the massive mistake of launching myself into Medicine Show when the ink was still drying on Vole. I wrote like a maniac for about a week and then hit the proverbial wall and didn’t touch the thing for another two months. By which time I’d completely forgotten where I was going with it and had to back-pedal to try and pick up the threads.

No, that can’t and won’t happen again. I think my books, and more importantly my readers, deserve better than that.

I have been working on my time management an awful lot but it’s those days when my body lets me down that are the problem. I still need to find a way to work when fibromyalgia is kicking the living tripe out of me. Otherwise I lose continuity with the story I’m working on you see.

On those days, when the fibro is at it’s worst, I find it hard to sit on my office chair for long periods of time. The solution to the problem is literally staring me in the face. My office space is in the bedroom therefore why not use the bed when it hits me hard. I can plump up all the pillows (6 in total between us) and fashion a make-shift couch for myself.

I’ve tried it once so far and it works. Even if I get brain fog and drift off for half an hour or so then I’m in the right place where I don’t have to try and fight it. I can close my eyes for 30 minutes and when I come round again there’s my laptop with the document open for me to resume what I was doing. I’ve even invested in a mouse jiggler, which isn’t a sex aid for small rodents but a plug-in device to keep my laptop screen awake whilst I snooze.

I know, I know, I’m making it sound easy when in reality it’s far from it but like I said earlier, small consistent steps and not beating myself about the head and neck with a blunt instrument if it all goes tits up occasionally. Which it no doubt will as that’s the nature of the beast.

So no resolutions but plenty of good intentions. I’m not going to start spouting blasé things such as, “New year, new me!” but I do want to do things differently whilst still being the same old me.

I hope that makes sense.

So indeed, happy new year to you all my friends and here’s to slow and steady self-improvement.