The CG Awards and Looking to 2016

So that was 2015. A year of ups and downs, but mainly ups. And on the writing front it was a year of, well, mixed fortunes really. But I’ll be kind to myself and say it was a step in the right direction.

Keeping line with previous years, here’s my wrap-up of 2015: The CG Awards.

MUSIC

Best Album Bought: Allas Sak, Dungen

Best Live Gig: Mogwai 20th Anniversary, Barrowland

Best Musical Discovery: Wolf Alice

FILM

Best Film (cinema): Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Film (TV/DVD):  Under the Skin

Best Documentary: The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson

LITERATURE

Best Fiction Book Read: The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins

Best Crime Fiction Book Read: Gone Again, Doug Johnstone

Best Non-Fiction Book Read: The Politics Book, Paul Kelly

Best Poetry Book Read: Human Chain, Seamus Heaney

Best Author Discovery: Willy Vlautin (The Motel Life)

OTHER

Best Meal: Martin Wishart Restaurant, The Shore, Leith, Sat 2nd May 2015

Best Bevy: The Diners Xmas Day Out (Dumbarton FC, Glasgow, Twilight Sad)

Single Most Embarrassing Moment: Too numerous to mention

Saddest Moment: The Deaths of William McIlvanney and John ‘Brad’ Bradbury

Single Most Memorable Moment: Getting engaged to my soulmate on the stage inside the Dublin Castle pub, Camden Town

With regards to writing, my output has been dreadful over the past few years (see previous post ‘Confessions of a Justified Sinner’), but this past year has seen things stir and get to a point I have been generating new ideas and writing again. More to the point, I’ve been enjoying it.

Writing highlights would be:

1- New chapbook written while on visit to Sri Lanka.

2- Final draft work on previous unfinished novel.

3- Entry into NaNoWriMo and a new novel being born (although I failed the November writing contest due to a bout of Norovirus).

So what of 2016?

It’s a year I must complete two unfinished projects (two novels and one chapbook) and it’s a year that, most importantly of all, I develop a new system of writing that works for me. Routine is the one thing I can rely on, and into this I must build a method for writing and for continuing to write all the way through to publication. I’ve got the desire again and I’ve got the support, it’s a case of working out a suitable rhythm and plan and sticking to it.