SO, new year, new horizons. Santa was pretty generous with the whisky marmalade and remote-control helicopter. I didn’t realise I’d been that good.
After writing two books in 2013 I promised myself an extended break but the fingers are itching. The keyboard is calling.
Sitting down to the first blank page of a new book is a massive commitment so before that I have a few smaller projects.
One is to publish my dad’s Second World War diary. He was a gunner during the Battle of Britain and the liberation of Europe.
His is not a particularly dramatic wartime tale but it’s the story of an ordinary soldier’s slog across a continent in world-changing chaos. He was a man of few words but there are some interesting events.
Rather than have it gathering dust in my office I thought I’d publish so anyone interested can take a look.

DURING the festive lull I’ve been playing Fantasy Danny Casting again.
Luke Evans impressed as Bruce Reynolds in the BBC’s Great Train Robbery. He was also the odd-job man in Tamara Drewe. And Gwilym Lee was good in Midsomer Murders. Could either be Danny Lancaster?
There are several hundred characters featured across all four Danny crime thrillers and current Fantasy Danny Casting includes:
Downton’s Joanne Froggatt as Emma
Hot Fuzz’s Nick Frost as Bob
Roger Allam as Sir Charles Wolfram
Helen Mirren or Joanna Lumley as Lady Margaret
Ray Winstone as Big Eddie Archer
I’m still working on the sultry Camilla but contenders include Rebecca Hall or possibly Michelle Ryan.
We’ll see what 2014 brings.
Writing is all about dreaming.
The quest goes on.

PUZZLED. The government want to flatten ancient woodland to build houses but promise 100 new trees will be planted for each ancient tree lost. Surely, if they built the new houses where the new trees were supposed to go they could built 100 times more homes and leave irreplaceable woodland alone.

CHUFFED with ROCK HARD. It rose again into the 20ks in the Amazon paid chart and hit No3 in the Kobo Mystery & Suspense-International chart. It also got a mention in January’s Gibraltar Magazine. Roll on, 2014!

I HAVE kept my 2014 wishlist brief:
•Health
•A Danny TV/movie deal
•Being twitter-followed by Cheryl Cole
•Discovering new cheeses
•Remembering the men of 1914

A BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!

www.billtodd.co.uk
www.facebook.com/DannyLancasterInvestigates
@williamjtodd