A Brand New Year

I, for one, am glad to see the back of last year. I have to admit it was the worst one ever but, as someone once said, it's no good looking back and time travel doesn't exist - yet.
I have three features in February's Martial Arts Illustrated (Matt Fiddes & Michael Jackson, Sammo Hung and an interview with Taekwondo Grand Master Sung Jae Park) plus another feature in their March Edition (Darren Shahlavi). But to top it all I've been asked to be MAI's Film Columnist, and I look forward to this greatly. One major bonus of this is not only to you get to interview the stars and cast members but you also get to see some wonderful films, as they are released onto DVD.
The MA Project and Contextual Essay have to be sent off by the end of this month, and then it's just a case of sitting back and gnawing your nails, fingers, wrists and elbows until the results come in. So here's hoping, and also the very best of wishes to my fellow students for their success.
The novel is going great guns and was actually completed. Then I read an agent's guidelines, who's wordage requirement is 70,000 - 120,000; and yup, mine was 60,000 - so it needs to grow another 10k. So, here I am beavering away again until the early hours.
The new app project has taken huge steps forward too. In fact, not only has it been funded but it's also being filmed by Bristol Film Studio's this month and should be published, and down-loadable, in March. No further details at this moment in time, as I don't want to let the cat out of the bag. But hopefully I might be able to get an income as a writer in about six months time, all being well. There are also other apps in the pipeline, so I'm going to be busy - which I like.
Now that's what you can call a good New Year.

Matt Fiddes & Michael Jackson

The Editor of Combat magazine told me yesterday that they are publishing my exclusive interview with Matt Fiddes in their July issue. Matt has a flourishing martial arts business with over 40,000 students and teaches martial arts to many celebrities. He met Michael through their joint friendship with Uri Geller and Matt was both bodyguard and martial arts instructor to Michael during his visits to the UK.

This is a rare glimpse into a side of Michael that little is known about, and I for one can't wait to see it on the shelf at the end of the month. Combat is a superb magazine and one that I have supported for a great many years. I'm absolutely delighted to be able to give them this exclusive interview.