I'm still here

Honest, I am.

Despite promising to be better at the blogging, I have been just as lax. HF and I moved into our new house last weekend and I have been working late shifts all this week. That's my main excuse for not blogging and I have actually had lots of thoughts about things I would like to blog about - just no time. Also, we are currently working with pay per minute dial-up which is proving to be VERY slow and to be honest, I don't really have the patience.

However, I have now I think sorted out all the various things I wanted to and am quite snugly ensconced in our new home and t'internet seems to be working, roughly speaking, so here I am.

I could post about an amazing acoustic gig I went to in an ancient concert hall in Oxford (look up Danny George Wilson and The Epstein on myspace). Or more amusing trivia about starting a new job. Or about being reunited with my little moggie after a month apart when she was looked after by my sister (during which time she apparently pooed on the carpet twice, and bit and scratched the children). Or about how a couple of seemingly innocuous encounters have really put me off drinking to excess.

But instead, I'm going to blow my own trumpet.

Back in October, I posted about how a short story I had written was going to be published in a book. Well, it's out now! I went out bookshopping with my mum yesterday and there it was, proudly displayed alongside the other World Book Day books in WHSmiths and Waterstones (couldn't find it in Borders, the uncultured yobs). HF keeps telling me I am not allowed to call it "my book" as I only wrote one of 16 of the stories therein. But I don't care, it's there for all to see with my name on the contents page and everything! And my mum bought a copy so I know there's been at least one sale...

HF also keeps telling me that it's all very well getting one story published, I have to write lots more. So this is what I'm going to do. I know I've said this many times before, but seeing the book on the shelf (it's not really as big a deal as it sounds, the story is only about five or six pages long and I only made the princely sum of £50 from its publication) has given me a real buzz. You might think that as I seem completely incapable of blogging on a regular basis, it's unlikely it will happen. So I think my challenge for this year has to be to set myself specific writing targets. I also picked up a leaflet for a creative writing course at the Oxford University. It will probably be prohibitively expensive, but if it's not, I think this would be a really good way of pushing me to write on a regular basis. It can be difficult if you sit in front of a computer and write all day at work to go home and start writing more. But when I get down to it, I absolutely love it.

Right, now I'm going to try and catch up with everyone. This could take some time...

More on that story later.