"13 for '13..." a 2013 Writing PREVIEW!

# "And if you're paralyzed by a voice in your head, it's the standing still that should be scaring you instead... Go on and... do it anyway... Do it anyway!" # - Ben Folds Five

The number 13 is a number that seems to send chills across the faces and down the spines of many of my friends, but for me it's always been something of a lucky number, a good omen and one to watch out for when I'm looking for signs to lead the way...  I used to live at Number 13 not so long ago and it was a lovely house to call my own first home, and this baker's dozen of a number regularly makes an appearance on our lottery numbers, adding to the list of hopeful "lucky" digits that might one day come our way...

It's because of this that I met the new year of 2013 with a hopeful smile and a feeling of "this could be the year"... (well, you never know, right?!) and it got me into the frame of mind of just what I'd like to achieve with my scribble obsessions over the next 12 months... 

It's often said that the number 3 is a magic number but for myself and my writing life this year, I've decided there's a charmed 13 things that I'd like to get off the ground and properly started...

1. FIND THE MISSING AGENTS... At the top of the list is to begin sending off the finished new draft of my first adventure novel to some carefully selected Literary agents...

2. REWRITE THE BIBLE... For a while now I've been wanting to collect all of my scattered notes together for my planned second adventure novel so that I can construct a sort of "My History Mystery" handbook that I can refer to and use as my 'master plan' when writing it - chronology and continuity are really important to me as a reader as well as a writer so this is a must as I head towards writing this new book set in old times...

3. PLOT & PLAN FURTHER INTO HISTORY... I've got other full-length novels that I'd like to one day start work on, so to that end, this year I'm going to make sure I get "treatments" done for both (working titles!) "7/11" & "Flipbook"...

4. AMAZE THEM IN 3D!!! - I'd like to continue to put up a second wave of my Short Stories in "Amazing 3D" onto my Official Writing Homepage (but first I need to find a non-Flash engine to get with the times and learn some HTML5-speak!)

5. SOUND ON, IMAGINATION ON! - for a few years now, I've been wanting to have a go at my very own podcast and this is the year to launch my "C-Cast" for real... There'll be stories galore, new as well as old as I time travel with my scribbles and add in some fun sound effects too...

6. FILL THE MISSING SPACES...  There's still a few desk top objects across on my Main Writing Website that I'd like to create brand new pages for, so that I can sort of finish off the site properly... So watch that space, cos coming soon will be "The Mystery of MBW..." as well as the new podcast base page mentioned above (to name but 2!)

7. NOT LONG AGO ON A CONTINENT FAR. FAR. AWAY...  This coming summer marks the 10-year anniversary of an epic journey I undertook backpacking around Europe for a few months and I intend to celebrate here on the blog in some suitable way...

8. ACT ONE. SCENE ONE... I'd like to explore my growing interest into screenwriting and make some first tentative steps in the area of scriptwriting for stage and screen... (I've still got other writing ambitions, so watch this space!)

9. A BRAND NEW SEASON UNDER THE BRIDGE... I've been scribbling ideas for new 'Kyle the Kittiwake' adventures for quite some time now and this year will be when I begin to join all the dots on this series and pull it all together!

10. OH, ME OF LITTLE VOICE! - I'm a notoriously quiet person - if nothing needs to be said, I'll gladly keep schtum, but that's not the greatest asset for a published author, really, and I know I've got to face my irrational "fear of public speaking" at some point, so there's no time like the present, right? 

11. SHARE THE JOY...  Writing on my own for my own entertainment and fun, has been a great pastime for this first decade or so of my scribble life, but I've often wondered what collaborative writing might be like, so I think I'm going to hunt out a local writing group soon to attempt to share ideas and get back some constructive criticism for my stories...

12. PASS IT ON...  Having delusions of grandeur is a hobby of mine and I've got an idea that I'd like to look into perhaps teaching writing and passing on my limited knowledge to others...

13. START TO THINK EPICALLY SMALL! - I'll be beginning and finishing the first draft of my "Gnome" novel...  (see the wee small man sitting reading a book on the blog title picture above?!) For the first 6 months of the year I'm going to plan the story out and then write the darned thing over the latter half of 2013...

So there you have it... It's important for writers to make themselves promises and set them down as a motivational tool, and I've found that my blog is a great asset to use to do that for myself, (it's even more important to follow through on those promises!) It probably seems like quite a lot to set myself in quite a short space of time but I love to juggle, even if I'm not really any good at it (I usually catch one or two balls as they fall...), so without much further ado or hesitation, I'll sign off to get started on the list above (even if there's a chance I'll fail, I've got to do it anyway....)