Happy New Year!

 It's the last day of 2020 and I know most of us will be glad to put the year behind us.  There probably won't be a lot of celebrating the incoming year for most people - at least not together - so perhaps it's time for some reflection on what we might want to achieve in 2021.

It's very tempting to make grand resolutions like "This year I'll get an agent" or "this is the year I will finally be published".  But these goals are largely out of your hands.  When making resolutions it's important to make sure they are achievable or you will give up within a month of making them.

Instead of saying "I'll get an agent," resolve to query widely.  Maybe even give yourself a number of queries to aim for: "I'll send 100 queries before I quit querying."  If you're lucky, you won't have to send 100 because someone will love your book enough before you reach that number.

Or resolve to write a certain number of words per week, or hours or days.  These are things that are within your control and you can achieve.

Whatever goals you set yourself, I wish you luck with them.  And all the best for the New Year.  It can only be better than the last.

Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the story I posted for Christmas.  It's so gratifying to discover people have read and responded to your work.  So here's another story for you, very different, but perfect for a night where people often see in the New Year with fireworks.

Happy New Year!