Once More Around the Sun

Three hundred and sixty five days. God knows how many hours. How are you going to spend them?

Like many of the previous thirty-one years of my existence I'm probably going to waste an inordinate number of those hours (a) hungover, (b) aimlessly wandering around my flat or the interweb, and (c) watching lots of mediocre football. However, aside from those pursuits I am resolving to do the following:

1. Write at least three hundred words every day. They can be for any purpose -- writing essays for the MSc, blogging, character and plot sketches, flirtatious emails (off to a good start in 2008 on that front as I've already made plans to elope to Tokyo with a beautiful blue-eyed girl from Leeds), stories -- but not shopping lists.

2. Read a piece of short fiction every day. As well as my subscriptions to Interzone, Cosmos, Black Static, and Zoetrope All Story magazines, I want to get stuck into several anthogies including work by Jeffery Ford, Ellen Klages, David Maursek, and Alistair Reynolds amongst others.

3. Keep searching for a soulmate. Yeah, I know that sounds terribly Mills and Boon, but I don't subscribe to the philosophy that if you're destined to be with someone then fate will see you right. I believe your chances of meeting someone you can spend your life with are vastly improved by doing things like: being socialble, taking a chance on random encounters, being active.

4. Do at least thirty minutes of vigorous excercise three times a week. During the football season this is easy. We train twice a week and play a match in between. Outside of this time, my fitness regime tends to plummet. This year I want to fill the void with squash, running, cycling, and those home fitness programs that give you six-packs in six weeks . . . and maybe rock-climbing.

5. Sell my house and buy a place in Budapest. This is the biggie. Family members have been advising me against completely pulling out of England on the basis that it'll be hard to get back on the property ladder here if I ever come back. That's probably true unless previously mentioned soulmate has oodles of cash. However, life's about choices, and if I ever want to be a decent writer who does things like gets book rights sold to Hollywood, has forums dedicated to symbolism in his work, and gets to commentate on the year's defining cultural events, then I've got to be dedicated which means working full-time on the scribbling. To be honest, it's not a hard choice.

Wishing everyone luck and love in their lives. Bring it on 2008!