The Year Ahead

First and foremost – a happy New Year to you all and may you enjoy a healthy and successful 2025.

I’m not a great one for making New Year resolutions other than trying to write and publish a novel each year. I managed one book ‘Journey to Casablanca,’ in 2024 and by late summer was able to make a start on another. Things went well for a month or so, but then life took over and I lost the impetus. I seem to be ending the year in a state of mental and physical tiredness.

All I really want to do is sit in the chair and read or play sudokus and code words! Even though we went to spend Christmas up in Scotland with our daughter, who waited on us hand and foot for a whole week, both my husband and I are having difficultly getting ourselves back into a routine.

It seems we are not the only ones. Several of our friends appear to be suffering from the same lethargy. It doesn’t help that the constant bad news we are fed in the media with increasing hostility in so many parts of the world, climate disasters and political unrest makes it difficult to keep up the positive glass-half-full mentality.

At one point, I did consider working out a manageable planner for the year ahead factoring so many words written each month, so much time spent on promotion etc alongside our planned holidays, book fairs, talks and presentations. However, my resolutions are down to just two. One is to get back to ‘In the Shadow of the Sphinx,’ the latest in the Aunt Jessica and Harry series and the second is not to put myself under pressure. If I want to take a day out now and then, I’m planning on switching off the old guilt reflex and chill out with a good book with a clear conscience. We all need to step off the treadmill now and again.

If you’d like to share your plans for the year ahead and your strategies for achieving them, I’d love to hear from you. Either drop them in the comments box below or email me. I will always make time to share with you.

Whatever your plans for 2025, be kind to yourself and have a great 2025!