Be still, my pen, for five minutes!

Yes, the writing bug is still strong and biting. Whether tweets, occasional Facebook notes (I like less than Twitter), pitches, comp entries, or novel, 2011 is going to be a year of achievement if I have anything to do with it.

My poem, Postie's Last Round Before Christmas, was well received at the family gathering in London, and Martha read a seasonal poem for us too. There wasn't much time for writing over the holiday, but I'm now back with my regular slot arrangement.  Since the previous post, I've entered the HowTo Books December competition - still awaiting approval so hope that doesn't mean it's trashed. Working on the children's novel, and have an agreement with flair4words that they will critique it for me when it's ready sometime in February. Once this was decided, it was a further incentive to edit until the pips squeak.

I've also applied to be considered for a (very) part time freelance job, and am pitching a new idea for a till-side book, probably to Hodder & Stoughton initially although they did not respond to a pitch about another idea. Need to swan around Waterstone's to see who's publishing my sort of little book for alternatives.

Went mad over the holiday and acquired a Wii, an iPad, and a SatNav. These varied in the time needed to sort them out ... Now using Wii sports and Wii just dance for half an hour a day's exercise besides walking - have to watch the light fitting when serving at tennis. The SatNav is OK.  The iPad has been more problematic; I always expect to plug-in-and-go. However, my MacBook system was one step below the minimum needed to synch, so I bought and installed Snow Leopard (once I'd located elusive passwords). Then better, but couldn't sort e-mails on the iPad. This is now resolved after lots of trial and error. Got so mad with it, John had to take cover.

Minnie (cat) is now almost 18. Scared us once again with a health issue but a trip to the vet's resulted in successful treatment. Min is now back to her cheerful, bright-eyed self. Our vet is called Mr Montgomery, and we call his work Montgomery Magic - he's brought her ladyship back from the brink a couple of times now.

We have been eating out, but not going down that path for this post!  Happy New Year, everyone, and thanks for reading this.  Thought for the day: What was the best thing before sliced bread?