Ducks in a row

So what’s your goal for next year?

Well, here we are with a new year on the horizon and, as me dear old dad used to say, what are you going to do with it?

(I think what he had in mind was me doing something useful around the house instead of having my nose stuck in a book or comic. Mind you, I was still below the age of teenage irresponsibility at the time, so maybe he was just getting in early before I became a full-time layabout.)

One of the easiest bear-traps a new writer can fall into is a lack of a