Happy New Year!

Goodbye, 2011 and hello 2012!

I know that 2011 has been a fairly terrible year worldwide but from a purely personal point of view - it was great.

In January I gave up drinking for the month (with only partial success) and went on a first date someone known to this blog as A. In February, I had my first meeting with my future publishers at Headline. In March, I signed the contract with them. In April, I ran a half marathon in Edinburgh (and survived) and went to Paris for the weekend with A. to celebrate my birthday. In May I went to a friend's wedding near Barcelona where fellow guests entertained us with flamenco music: I saw the Sagrada Familia church and saw the 'indignados' marching in the street.

In June A. and I went to Mexico (yes, the third of four foreign trips) where we saw Mayan and Zapotec ruins and contemporary art, drank margaritas and ate mole and tacos and huevos rancheros (and got food poisoning and got caught in a tropical rainstorm) . In July A. continued his trip through South American and I moved into his place in Highbury where I could go and look at his socks whenever I missed him. In August I completed the Camino de Santiago (5 years after starting it.)

In September I went to another friend's wedding, this time in Galway, where people lit fires outside the houses and shops in the bride's village to celebrate. In October A. and I were reunited in LA and we drove up the coast to San Francisco, stopping en route to taste wine, look at seals and butterflies, and ride on ferris wheels, and I stayed on in San Francisco for another 2 weeks, writing. In November, I came back to London laden down with goodies from Sephora and Macys. And in December ... I got a bit too busy and exhausted and then fled home to Christmas in Dublin with the family, where I had fun hanging out with my nieces and nephews.

And on January 2 2011, I finished writing the first draft of my second book. I plan to spend the first 3 months of 2012 with my head very much down, writing away and coming up somehow with a better draft in time for my deadline which is (gulp) the end of March. Happy New Year!