Mid-January now, uncomfortably close to my birthday and I’m having an argument with the cat about where exactly I’m allowed to put my feet. It’s taken me about twenty days to figure out what I need to work on this year and as it turns out, there’s a fair bit to be getting on with.

I’m a sporadic writer. I’ve tried to be those angelic types who gets up at the crack of dawn and writes fluidly until lunch time, has a healthy snack and writes again until real life starts banging on the door asking...