Em and I should have more going on in our lives, but the Christmas Doctor Who seems to be a big deal. We swapped notes after watching it and were just about able to award it an ‘OK’. There were lots of reasons to like it and probably slightly more reasons to feel disappointed. Unlike last year, we weren’t asked to root for someone whose every utterance and gesture grated. But rather like other years, almost all the elements of the story seem to be… well, like other years. [contains spoilers]
Anyone who’s flown somewhere in the last year or two, and has taken off their shoes to do it, will probably enjoy this New York Times blog post by a commercial airline pilot. My favourite part: unpicking the logic of confiscating liquids from travellers. Why is it done? Because they could contain explosives. So what do they do with the potential explosives they confiscate? Dump ‘em in a big old bin right next to the queue of people because we all know there are no explosives in there.
I love new year resolutions. I know it’s an artificial point in time, no different from any other time of the year, but like most people I like the idea of seasons, cycles, renewal and whatnot. I usually have at least ten, but I’m happy if I achieve just one of them. So here is my list, so far: no doubt it will grow over the next few days as I think about it more.
- Lose ten pounds (of course. No NYR list is complete without this old chestnut)
- Only use keyboard shortcuts, not the mouse, in InDesign, Photoshop and Word. And Excel. And everything.
- Become ambidextrous
- Sell more books
- Drink more water
- Never drink instant coffee
- Get better at saying ‘no thanks’ to things I don’t want to do
- Don’t work on Sundays (not for religious reasons, just to have a day off)
- Keep inbox at zero (easy, actually, now I use RememberTheMilk. Everything goes on a list. Those lists are quite long, of course.)
- Make the company more profitable. (Good one, that)
- Do more housework
- Go for a walk every day
Actually, in writing that list, I’m pretty happy with how everything is at the moment. There are no huge ‘must do this because am bad person’ ones. Yey.
What are yours?
I’ve touched on this before, but in my mind* there’s a definite link between Le Parkour, modern crafts and the impulse that makes someone take the back off their Xbox and fiddle with it until they can use it to check their e-mail as well as play video games. Parkour, by the way, is that thing you’ve seen on TV, but may or may not know the name of, where scruffy athletic types bounce like ninja rabbits ‘cross-country’ through a city. Have a look here if you want your mind well and truly boggled.
The common element I see in all those things is a refusal to behave like a good consumer. With Parkour, you’re given a city with paths and pavements and ‘Keep Off The Grass’ signs all laid out for you, and you decide instead you’ll zip across rooftops, bop over walls and traverse urban precipices in much the same manner as flying squirrels.
And so this is Christmas, and what have we done? I am too enthusiastic about the future to do a retrospective on 2007, to be honest, so if you want to remember what we’ve done then browse the archives on the sidebar!
2008 is full of promise: some outstanding books that have already had some excellent feedback, a fantastically exciting Cycling range in development, our new alliance with Susie and team, the launch of SnowAngels, a gorgeous new website in the new year that I’ve been working on for the last few days and the chance of making our star shine even brighter. So much opportunity!
So have a very lovely festive break, and see you in the New Year where Rob, Anna and I will look forward to bringing you the finest in independent publishing for another year. Thanks for your support in 2007 and here’s to the new one!
So click on the photo to the left. Nothing too notable about it, you might think. An unspectacular sunset. Except I took that photo this morning before dawn. That’s the moon. Really. (Sorry it’s blurred. It was a long exposure and I’ve lost the bit that clips my camera to its tripod. Grrrr.)
Didn’t I use the phrase being ‘tagged’ for a ‘meme’ a while back, to general and confused harrumphing? (Or at least silent indifference.) Well, Heather, from the distant land of Minnesota, just tagged me for a book review meme. To anyone not ‘hip’ to the ‘lingo’ I’m talking about ‘tagging’ as in “you’re it!” and meme as in “dude, read some Dawkins, why don’t you!’. And if that still doesn’t make it clear, memes in this sense are little activities, usually self-administered quizzes, that you pass on like chain-letters (only less annoying).
So, first a fun (or possibly boring) story. And then a prize! (oooh!). Remember I was saying how much I enjoyed the strangely compelling TV series Industrial Revelations? Well, I ordered it and waited and waited and couldn’t get updates on when it was coming so after two months I e-mailed to cancel my order. I then ordered it elsewhere, got it a week later, and began recommending it to people. Then I got an e-mail from the first company telling me they’d shipped my order. So I wrote to them to remind them about the cancelling and to ask them not to bill me. I haven’t heard back and the order arrived yesterday. Now I’ve thought about sending it back and trying to get a refund out of DVDi, but if they don’t respond to e-mails and they won’t let you cancel an order, I reckon that isn’t going to be much fun. So this is my solution: firstly, to let my little corner of the world know that they are useless and everyone should stay away from them. And secondly to offer my spare DVD as a prize in the following quiz.
So, first a fun (or possibly boring) story. And then a prize! (oooh!). Remember I was saying how much I enjoyed the strangely compelling TV series Industrial Revelations? Well, I ordered it and waited and waited and couldn’t get updates on when it was coming so after two months I e-mailed to cancel my order. I then ordered it elsewhere, got it a week later, and began recommending it to people. Then I got an e-mail from the first company telling me they’d shipped my order. So I wrote to them to remind them about the cancelling and to ask them not to bill me. I haven’t heard back and the order arrived yesterday. Now I’ve thought about sending it back and trying to get a refund out of DVDi, but if they don’t respond to e-mails and they won’t let you cancel an order, I reckon that isn’t going to be much fun. So this is my solution: firstly, to let my little corner of the world know that they are useless and everyone should stay away from them. And secondly to offer my spare DVD as a prize in the following quiz.
As a very special seasonal treat I am going to make fifty copies of Mothernight available to five lucky groups. That’s right - the first five groups - that’s book groups, libraries, schools, organisations, Guides, the staffroom, the smoking room, whatever - to email me will get ten copies of Mothernight to read, review and enjoy. And hopefully discuss with their friends who can buy it when it comes out in March!
I will post them out for free, but to one address only. If your group happens to have a few more than ten members, then still email in and I’ll accommodate you if I can.
