I'm back, he said.

Had a holiday, much of which I spent writing in a deckchair on a beach. Got the Marvel Eternals project all nailed down in my head and in my notebook, wrote most of a Graveyard Book short story thanks to Maddy, who I read the first chunk to at the point where I was convinced it was rubbish, and she liked it and wanted to know what happened next, so I had to keep going, wrote an introduction to Will Eisner's New York Stories for Nortons.

I tried posting from San Juan airport, on the way home from Antigua, using my cell phone and Opera Mini (a wonderful little cellphone utility that says it only works "in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Germany" but installed just fine in the US http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/operamini/,) but by the time I realised that it wasn't going to post a Blogger entry they were already closing the plane doors.

The New Year comes here in a few minutes, and so this is a short, waving, I'm back in the world sort of post. The Crowley and Aziraphale New Year's Resolutions are up at http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/author_xml.asp?authorid=3417&tc=ae.

And I'm still not sure I can improve on what I wrote at the end of 2001 -- so consider the wish for 2002 to be equally as applicable to 2006. Back then I said... I just realised I probably won't post again in 2001, so this is by way of being a New Year's greeting to all of you out there who read this. May your 2002 be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in 2002, you surprise yourself.

And I hope you do.