(Although seriously: send money).

I feel like in some ways I didn't achieve much in 2008. I did the following things writing-wise:

1. Finished the first draft of Wild.
2. Decided to rewrite it to make the plot more complicated, then decided I needed to move the whole story across continents and set it in Liverpool, then gave up, decided the whole thing was utter rubbish, and metaphorically threw the whole novel under my bed.
3. Worked myself into a complete hand-wringing, head-banging mental-case state over whether to continue writing with the aim of publication or not at all.
4. Failed to finish Death for the Born ... again.
5. Became the horoscope writer for the Cambridge Explorer.
5. Wrote Wolf Strap and had it accepted by Queered Fiction for the Queer Wolf anthology.

Of that list, I feel only the last two are actual achievements. But 2009 will be different! Oh yes it fucking will! I'm getting extreme! I'm fucking swearing more!

But seriously, aims for 2009:

1. Finish Death for the Born by the end of January and get it to Ricia for her thoughts.
2. Write a short story for Drops of Crimson that's been kicking around my head for the last few days.
3. Go to this summer's RNA conference.
4. Do more with this blog - book giveaways, etc.
5. And most importantly, have more fun writing. Last year I spent so much time angsting over it that I didn't enjoy it at all. No more of that.

Now, in the spirit of having more fun, allow me to introduce Angelita Roch. This is my not-very-serious-at-all side project for 2009, my generic vampire huntress novel. There'll be a new chapter every week and the occasional request for reader imput as I flesh out Lita's story, so if you're interested, be sure to check that out if you haven't already. Hopefully it'll be enough fun for all of us.

Right, I have to go and decorate thepavlova that I made yesterday. Rumour has it that it fell apart in the fridge and needs to be patched up with fruit and cream.

Next time I post, there will indeed be a book giveaway - my top five of 2008