All's been rather quiet on the journaling front this month. Apologies for that. I've just been so vastly busy I haven't been able to find enough time to sit down and just write an entry. It's a mixture of too much to do at work, the grey winter days making me tireder than usual, and looking after my family who've not had a great week or two. Steph has been down with a nasty condition called post-viral labyrinthitis, which sounds cool but is vastly unpleasant. Just moving around makes her feel dizzy and nauseous. Nika had a messed up stomach, probably from the anti-inflammatory tablets we had her on. That meant we couldn't feed her for a day and it drove her completely mad.

Anyway, I've been forcing myself to find time to write reviews over the last couple of days and an entry today.

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The nice news from recently is that I've sold my short story Next to Abyss & Apex. I wrote this story quite a few years ago now. I've always liked it, but it's a tough one. It's told from the point of view of someone who has quite severe learning difficulties and who is delusional. It was inspired by a month I spent working in a clinic for people with learning difficulties. Of course, it wasn't based on any particular patient, but it was a compilation of real symptoms. Anyway, I'm really glad Abyss & Apex have taken it. It should be out in April or thereabouts.

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The current novel has been going reasonably well, too. I'm now at just over 23,000 words, with a first draft target of 40,000. I'm confident I'll hit that, at least.

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Out of time. Nika needs a walk before the nice weather out there disappears.