The Beginning Of The New

I cannot believe that it is already far into the first week of the New Year, and yet I have not written about my thoughts for the passing of the old and the beginning of the new.

I can only account for this by virtue of the fact that I am not yet quite myself, though I do see signs all about me of small ways in which a health is returning gradually to me.

It seems that to have aspirations and ambitions is critical to living as full a life as is possible, and in some respects this has what has been most distressingly stripped from me by this devastating illness that has robbed me of so much.

But life is returning, and my thoughts are beginning to turn to a reflection of the year that has passed, and therefore perhaps naturally also to look forward to the year to come.

And what a year it has been, and not just for me personally.

I cannot remember a year in which so much that has been so positive has happened, including everything concerned with the celebrations of our Queen's reign, plus the successful hosting of both the Olympics and Paralympics.

Surely all of these things will have a lasting impact upon the psychology of the nation, as I am sure they will have upon me.

But at a personal level, this has been an extraordinary year for me.

In February, a short film that I originally made in 2004 was selected for exhibition at the International Festival of disability film in Calgary, Canada.

At that Festival event it was seen by representatives from the Moscow film Festival, and they wished to be able to show the same film in Moscow in November.

However, after they contacted me it proved not to be admissible because it had been made prior to 2007, and I therefore suggested that the show a different film that had been commissioned by West Sussex county council.

With just a few days to spare before the festival commenced, received notification that this film was indeed accepted for exhibition, and thus suddenly I can look back on 2012 as the year in which two of my films have been shown at international festivals.

In addition to which, I have taken the plunge and published five of my books in the new Kindle format, with another title to come, my first novel now finally completed thanks to my desire to see it produced in this format.

Whatever next!

And so it perhaps simply remains for me to regain my health as fully as possible, so that I can at least begin to try to take advantage of these new publications. All proceeds from which will be donated to the Queen Alexandra Hospital across the road from where I live.

Added to this, my personal blog has received over 1300 page views from around the world, from an extraordinarily broad selection of countries.

This continues to be an important outlet for my writing of prose, and although I have written much less poetry recently, there has been talk of my writing a number of poems that may be of benefit locally in the context of a festival linked to the community centre for which Trish does much fundraising and project work with young people and people of all ages.

Thus, this year already presents possibilities.