Jacey Bedford's Journal

Looking back on 2014

Overall 2014 was a pretty benign year for me and mine, for which I an heartily grateful since I know some of my friends have had less than stellar years. Though my uncle died recently, he made it into his 90s and had a good innings and is remembered fondly. Three friends with serious and somewhat scary illnesses are all well on the way to recovery, which is excellent news.

Financially it could have been better. We spent a serious chunk of our nest-egg on a complete makeover for the bedroom in the early part of the year (which we don't regret in the slightest because we love the result), but an unpredictable financial setback in the last three months of 2014 caused a bit of a blip which will likely last until February/March. It's been difficult but not disastrous. You expect ups and downs when you're self-employed and luckily this down is one we've been able to ride so far.

2014 is the year I achieved my ambition and officially became a novelist with the publication of Empire of Dust in November. I'm still slightly surprised - even though I've known since mid 2013 that it was going to happen. It's so gratifying when you open the box from the publisher and find 20 perfect copies of your own book staring up at you. As a result I made a special effort to attend more conventions than usual, so I not only went to Eastercon (which I usually attend) but also to the World Science Fiction Convention, which was in London this year, Fantasycon in York, Bristolcon and Novacon in Nottingham, where I had an unofficial book launch. Since my book is published in the USA (and not officially in the UK) there won't be an official launch, but it's gathered some decent reviews already.

Looking forward to 2015

It's my mum's 90^th birthday on 6^th January. She continues fit, well and bright for which we can only be thankful. She takes care of herself well, still runs the Monday Friends group in the village and is a member of the art group, occasionally selling paintings.

Artisan will be doing a reunion tour in 2015. Rather than do a short concentrated tour we're spreading it out to a leisurely few gigs a month. There are already about 25 gigs in the pipeline including ten festivals. We're sticking to the UK for this tour because though Mum is fit and well it wouldn't be fair to leave her alone to look after the dog for the four or five weeks it would take to make a tour of North America viable. We're doing most gigs as a one-off to reduce overnight stays as much as possible. We're just about to start rehearsals and we're looking forward to singing again and seeing lots of old friends. (Though looking forward to the travelling slightly less.)

On the writing front my second book, Crossways, comes out in August. I've finished the first draft and have until the end of March to complete all necessary revisions and polish it.  I've seen the cover illustration - another image by the amazing Stephan Martiniere - and I love it. I'm planning to attend Eastercon and Fantasycon and probably Novacon this year, but the Wortld Fantasy and the World Science Fiction Convention are both back in the USA, so way out of my price range.

Milford (SF Writers' Conference) is happening in September and I expect to be there as usual. Spending a week kettled up with a bunch of like-minded writers always gives me a great writing-energy boost.