Looking back over 2004, I can’t say it’s been a terrible year, on a personal and more significantly professional, level. I’m sure all of us go through that same phase at this time of every year. We ponder what has been and was and could have been and we contemplate over the moments and events that touched us and affected our lives.

I can honestly and contently say that I’ve matured and grown more in these past 12 months than I have these past four or five years. I feel now that I know myself better and that, more importantly, I know my heart, mind and soul, better.

I suppose that, for as long as I’ll live, 2004 will always have a special place in my heart. It is, after all, the year in which I made my dream come true, in which I (dare I say) made history in the process, and in which I spent the most memorable time with my special one, Karen, in the prettily sleepy town of Woodbridge (which I miss greatly).

It’s the year I took the sudden, impulsive plunge to go ahead and self-publish QuixotiQ, the novel that I worked on for almost five years and which I almost entirely gave up on if it weren’t for last minute inspiration and relentless encouraging from my muse!

It’s the year in which my debut novel became a National Best-Seller within the first week of its local release, in which I met many great and wonderful people through my writing (online or offline), in which I had a dream first book launch attended by prominent figures and literature enthusiasts, in which I took part in an international book fair. And in which the publication of QuixotiQ has been labeled as one of the most “memorable and influential” events in Bahrain in 2004!  

Not to mention being offered a decent job as writer and assistant editor of two lifestyle magazines and getting a new car (just got the keys yesterday actually). So all in all, it’s been one heck of a year!

Now, as we leave all this behind, we look forward into the future and what 2005 will bring us. I am, understandably, optimistic about it. And I am hoping that it will see me bringing out more projects to life.

There is the collection of short stories (working title Moments) awaiting final edit and publication, there’s a second novel (titled Buried) to be completed (halfway there!) and a film-script in the process. And I am also hoping to have a bigger role with the magazines I’m working for.

Got a nice New Year’s gift in the mail box yesterday… A free signed copy of Dave Sim’s Cerebus all the way from Ontario, Canada! (And with a nice, pretty insane and hilarious letter from the author too.)

I had to write an actual letter to the author telling him why I want one and why he should send it to me, after reading about his mad-offer on Neil Gaiman’s journal some time back.

I’ve not read any Cerebus comic books before but I’ve heard lots about the series and its author. Apparently, it’s got a big fan base and loyal following. The issue on offer (to whom ever bothers to write a “proper” letter and send it via “snail mail” was the “Mothers & Daughters” #14 issue, first released in 1993, and which features a Sandman-parody!

To learn moer about it go to Gaiman's journal and do a search for "Dave Sim or Cerebus", I think and I might be mistaken, the offer still stands. But I'll be damned if I'm not the only one from Bahrain who's got one! 

Lastly I’d just like to wish you all a very peaceful, pleasant and dreamful new year. Many millions of thanks for visiting.

And that wraps up my first post of 2005.