Thanks for the song Van Morrison. Hadn’t heard that one in a while.
It’s a beautiful day here today. Don’t want to say that too loud in case the rain comes back, we are over it! Today is a proper summer day, the second consecutive one.
It’s a writing day for me.
But before I disappear into Ronnie and Crockett’s world there are few things I wanted to say about the year.
For all it mostly felt like an extension of 2020, it really wasn’t. Yes, COVID is still very much part of our lives globally so that hasn’t changed. It’s even ramped up recently with Omicron.

In 2020 I managed to get to Mahau to see Superman between lockdowns, but that was it. There was no other travel for me and My Knight couldn’t come home at all.
This year:
1. I went to Christchurch twice and stayed with my bf/sister.

2. I went to Mahau twice in two weeks to see Superman.

3. My Knight made it home for a month in the middle of the year – for that I am so grateful. 2020 kept us apart all year.

4. I taught my crime-writing course for the first time this year. In term one and then again in term four. I got to do it in person! 🙂

5. We had a final launch party for the Byte Series at the central Library – and people could travel up for it, and they did! (I think it was May, I’m not actually sure now.)

6. My bf/sister came up to visit twice this year. How fabulous is that?

7. Superman had a fall on his road in August during the lockdown, he was helicoptered to Wairau hospital and has recovered completely. He wasn’t allowed to drive for 4 weeks, and that didn’t impress him much. 🙂

8. Superman came up to visit twice this year and he got to spend some time just with Freda and Doris in early December, which was great.

9. [Lure the lie] launched (there was cake) at Writers Plot Bookshop with my writing group, while My Knight was here. That was most awesome.

10. I’m working on the third kiwi book, [Leave a message] – have been for a while.

11. A family harm incident right before the August lockdown was stressful as fuck. Police were wonderful. They also suggested we get a dog. The stars aligned and we became Diesel’s forever home. Police met him a couple of weeks ago and deemed him a very very good boy. He showed off his bark and got well rewarded with pats from police.

12. We’ve had a string of arsehole neighbours – having Diesel has made a HUGE difference to our well-being.

13. Two granddaughters were born into the family this year. One in Sydney and one here. 🙂 🙂

14. After lugging my massive A4 spiral bound notes into Wellington 12 times this year, and dropping it numerous times on the classroom floor … I collated the notes properly and produced a textbook for my use. There are plans for a shortened version for students. I’ll do it over Christmas. 🙂

15. This year we discovered a complete fuck up in Killerbyte, yeah that’s right. Chapter 28 started with the end of chapter 30 and it’d been like that for SEVEN years. From what I can tell, it happened when Rebel ePublishers reformatted the book and it was given a new cover. AND NO ONE NOTICED UNTIL NOW. FFS.
It’s fixed. Took a bit of effort to find the actual problem and where the text was moved from. Had to go back to the original paperback for that.

16. I produced my first ever hardback this year. It’s called Raidbyte and is a collection of long shorts that go with the Byte Series. It’s also got pictures at the beginning of each story. It’s very pretty. I love it. Due to cost though, there are only four copies in the country. A friend has one, I have one, and there are two more that will be available at the “Inside Quote Marks” event at the end of Feb 2022.

17. COVID continues to disrupt the world and makes it very hard to make plans, but, I think it also helps us appreciate what we can do and be grateful for the time we get to spend with loved ones.
Carpe diem.

18. In April, I sold the serial rights for The Byte Series to Crazy Maple Studios and now my books are on their Scream App and the KISS App. That’s some cool shit right there!

19. The entire Byte Series is on sale over at Smashwords until the New Year. That includes the Boxed Sets. A wee while ago I created the fourth and final Byte Series Boxed Set. 🙂

Right, that’s it for today. I’ve got a book to write. 😉