So normality has largely returned to the land after the disorientated period some call ‘The Christmas’. Schools are open again, people are back to regular working hours and (almost) all the decorations have disappeared from houses and shops around Dublin.
Of course the beginning of a new year always brings some navel-gazing, account-taking and aspirational planning along with it and that can be both a frustrating and a welcome thing.
So what do I want to achieve in 2008? Well I want Dáil30 to be off the ground as soon as possible and hopefully even wrapped up by the time December rolls around. I want to double my output (and if possible income!) and widen the net in terms of where I’m writing and what I’m doing as a journalist.
It’s far too easy to say these things now, much harder to actually achieve them but it’s unquestionably possible to achieve with a bit more personal discipline. To be frank I don’t want to give myself any other option but to knuckle down this year. While I think I’ve had a good start to my career so far I see 2008 as somewhat make-or-break and not making significant progress in that area this year is completely unacceptable to me.
So wish me luck.
Of course this blog (and blogging in general) has not escaped my navel-gazing… increasingly this place has become somewhere for me to relay or discuss media stories. I enjoy doing that when I can and I’ll continue to but I hope to try and bring some of the original intention back which is to talk about my experiences starting out in journalism in Ireland… the trick is doing so without making this place a diary or without talking about things I don’t really have the authority to talk about. However that ends up I hope to be blogging just a little bit more if I can, here and elsewhere.
Final aim for 2008? To avoid making even remotely personal posts like these on anything approaching a regular basis.