You don't need to read this but I need to write it. For about the last year, I've been on a Writing West Midlands programmed called Room 204 and through a misunderstanding, I got into the habit of sending them a monthly report of what I'd been up to. They were very patient with me. But I found that writing it all down and actually remembering to make the odd note during the month, meant I didn't forget things. And where I would naturally dismiss most things I do, forcing myself to put it in black and white truly helped me.

January, for instance. I'd walk away from January thinking I'd had a good time but hadn't really achieved anything. It's true. But I had a right good bash at things. While I need a practical benefit to writing it down – so I use these lists to check I'm not repeating a pitch or to see how long it's been when I want to chase one – the real benefit isn't practical at all. It's just that I feel better for doing it.

I'm about to leave Room 204, my year is up, and I need to continue this report for the sake of my very soul. I have to write it but, seriously, you don't need to read a word. If it's a choice between me and a biscuit, even I am already munching.

One thing. I have to summarise and edit this list because a lot of things are confidential. It would be nice if that were as dramatic as it sounds, but you know you can't name names when you're still negotiating and you definitely won't name names when they've said no.

With all that in mind, this was my January 2014:

Phone calls: set a target of 30, did 56

Writing: approximately 30,000 words
Radio proposals: 3
Television proposal: 1
Self Distract personal blog: 5 entries
The Blank Screen news blog: 63 entries
Guest blog on two sites
Assorted promotional material

Pitches: 25
Success: 7
Rejection: 4
Ongoing: 14

Workshops/schools/talks: 9

Attended:
Big Finish Day 4
Room 204 funding workshop
Rep Foundry Showcase day

Other:
Officially launched the new williamgallagher.com site
Wrote and shot “Ye Olde 3G” 30-second video promo: won an iPad Air
Edited gorgeous 40-second video
Begun issue three of Write On! magazine
Room 204 buddying with Sarah Leavesley
PR discussions with Gigi Blum Peterkin in US
Clipped my and friends' radio appearances
Liaising between RTS, Writers' Guild and Screenwriters' Forum continued
Planning poetry app for Jeff Phelps' River Passage and funding application
Read and edited more chapters from Catherine Schell
Quoted by online newspaper WriteSoFluid
Interviewed for Doctor Who Magazine
Novel discussion with my agent Paul Moreton
Devised a pattern week: a regular timetable for office days; made me more productive

ENDS