Happy New Year!

Well, I'm afraid I've not been as good at posting this year as last, and I'm way behind with book reviews. But new year, new start, right? So, what I'm going to do is this. On the basis that I have read a lot that I haven't reviewed, and it's starting to get a bit difficult to write reviews of stuff I read over a month ago, as of tomorrow I'm going to be starting again with book reviews. I'm not going to review anything that I've read this year, with perhaps one or two exceptions, though I doubt it (I've done a lot of re-reading in the past week or so, rather than reading new stuff, and I think I've reviewed some of it already). Anyway, I thought I'd let you know that.

So, New Year's Resolutions?

Keep up to date with this blog. I'm also going to integrate in my other blog, I think, to this one (http://pointofcontact317.blogspot.com), but failing that I'll try and keep that one up to date with at least one post a week too.

Write. I'll be doing this anyway, I don't know how I'd survive if I didn't write stories. As for specific goals: I'm pretty fed up of looking for a publisher for Nutmeg Angel. I'm going to try and contact the organisation that runs the musicianaries project, and see if they'll take a novelist too. And if they won't, well, I'll just have to finish editing Winged Fire and try and get that published instead. I'd like to fill up the hole in the Nutmeg Angel series too--it's only one book big now, so that should be okay. And the story that will go in it seems to be going well (watch this, writer's block will now strike). I'd like to do some more historical/semi-historical fiction, and maybe even finish off my monster novel which is over 100000 words already and maybe two thirds through what I expect it to take. I have an ending, I just have to get it there.

Read. Again, I'll be doing this anyway. I want to read the books I've bought and not actually read, that would probably be a good idea :). New books to look out for, that I'll definitely be buying: Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly. After the cliffhanger ending of Six Sacred Stones (and boy was it a huge one!), I can't wait for this book. It's already out in Australia, but I can't seem to get hold of the Australian edition in England :(. I did wonder whether to ask my cousin who now lives in Australia to send me a copy, but there's only a few more weeks to wait for it. This is a fantastic series, and I'd highly recommend it. Matthew Reilly's thrillers are incredibly fast paced, as in, think of a crazy OTT action film and then stick it into novel format that you can carry about with you and enjoy. Dramatic, gripping, he's probably the best escapist, fast paced thriller writer I've come across. The Sable Quean by Brian Jacques, and yes, Quean is spelt like that. I've been reading the Redwall series for something like eight or nine years now, and my only disappointment was when I couldn't get hold of Eulalia last time a new book came out for ages and ages. I finally managed to borrow a copy from the library and bought the paper back edition. A number of them have been re-read by me 15 + times. Don't be put off by the fact they're about talking animals, Brian Jacques writes the sort of timeless classic that you can enjoy again and again. Good versus evil, it's your stereotypical children's story, with the 'good' creatures (mice, squirrels, moles, badgers, and we mustn't forget the hares), facing off against the vermin (rats, ferrets, weasles, pine martins and the like). Fantastic feasts, great descriptions, and some fantastic sword-fighting, I suspect Brian Jacques is the reason the angels in my stories tend to use swords rather than guns. Also, the final Cherub book, Shadow Wave (provisional title). Again, I've been following this series for a long time, and I love it. Think Alex Rider, only it could actually happen, and the characters are a lot more realistic. I can't wait, although I'm sad that the series will be finishing. There is, of course, still the Henderson's Boys series by the same author, and I suspect I'll be getting the new one of those too. They're reckoned to be great books to get teenage boys into reading; as a teenage girl who already loves reading, I can certainly recommend them.

Models: I don't know whether this counts as getting a goal. Again, I'll be doing it anyway, it's something I love. I would like to do a few more tanks, but they're harder to store and display than aircraft. Having said that, my ceiling is getting rather full. I probably won't get the 1:24 scale Mosquito--it's a lot of money, even if it is a lot of model, and I don't have anything else in that scale. So, probably another couple of bombers. The Short Sunderland I got the other week is nearly finished; it's the biggest in size I've ever done. I've still got a couple of models that I've bought and not built. Actually, maybe more than a few... Two jets (Tornado and Saab Gripen), three more WWI ones, and two of the three club models I got this year.

I think that's about it. College, of course, and my distance learning thing, but again, I'll be doing that anyway. Scary thought: this time next year, I'll be preparing for my second term at university! I wonder where I'll be. Hopefully Cambridge :), but could be anywhere I guess. Well, I'll be off now. Not staying up till midnight--I've done it once but it's not exactly gonna be fun on my own. I think I might go and read--I bought a couple of books yesterday, and they're going to be an exception to the not reviewing anything that I've read this year rule. Cheerio.