2012 has been quite a year for me. I'd been saying for a while I'd wait until I was happy with the writing I was doing before poking my head above the parapet too deliberately. And at the beginning of this year that writing happened.

Granta Magazine picked me up for their Britain issue, and things went from there.

Quickly on the back of finishing The Dig, I wrote the very different Bird, Blood, Snow, which reminded me not to cement myself into a way of working too self-consciously. That came out in October.

And the year has closed with a publication deal. But that's mostly secret, at the moment.

Best wishes to all of you, and thanks for the support since I got here a few months ago.

Happy new year.