Happy. New Year.

Wake up and check weather outside - clear.
Get dressed and step out of door - snow.
Change running shoes for boots (thank you Santa) and try again.

I'd planned to get back out and run to burn some off the calories I'd taken in over Christmas and New Year, and then the roads were covered in yet more snow, then the demon slush- I'd considered chancing it, but the potential image of me watching the winter sun dry the roads while I tried to find a ruler to scratch my broken leg put me off.  Ice skating down the aisle of the bus as it came to a halt confirmed it.

It's been the same with the new novel, Coalface - I'd planned to get something like a first draft sorted through Nanowrimo, but circumstance slowed me down.  I ended up with about 20,000 words, which I'm pretty happy with from a standing start - my hat goes off to anyone who hit the 50,000 target.


So between the buffets and the Christmas specials, I've been jotting notes and sketching ideas, ready for the new year; and I've learned two things through the process:-The new novel is not as simple as I thought (I've spent this week building a timeline for the story, and some starting rules for the alternative Victorian world they live in).
-If you keep going on something, there's a point you reach where it gains an internal momentum- so even when you're not actively engaged in it, some part of you still is.

So if you've stumbled on your new year's resolutions, keep at it - even if it's in fits and starts- if you do, you'll reach a point where you know you want to keep going- which is why I've just checked the weather on the news, and why I'll be out on the de-slushed pavements tomorrow morning.