Happy New Year 2026

I haven’t touched my laptop for eight weeks and even just opening the computer right now feels daunting. This is the longest break I have had from writing in six years and it feels weird, as if I have had a part of me amputated and I have to re-learn how to make my body and mind adjust.  Of course these are just phantom pains, but they feel very real and I have this fear that after this break, I will not be able to write as well as before and therefore have been reluctant in case this is true.

Six of these past weeks have seen me travel the length of England and Scotland and then I was on a cruise around the eastern Mediterranean, the latter an experience I never want to repeat. For the last two weeks I have been at home. My first week was spent downing medication and recuperating from food poisoning on day 12 of the cruise….which has also left me with a lifetime aversion to lobster. Even the thought of that white corpse life flesh in an orange shell fills me with dread. Having constant nausea, I did not feel well enough to write, so i told myself I will start in the new year…but it was really me procrastinating, feeling daunted by the task ahead of tackling the final draft of my as yet untitled third book.

I recall a famous writer whose name I’ve forgotten saying how sometimes she simply hated writing but she loves having written. Thats the stage I am at. I also know that determination, persistence and discipline are some of the elements i need to grab hold of, if I am to progress.

I lay awake last night reflecting on 2025.  It started with the death of my 13 year old dog and grief and then all I seem to recall is working on the various drafts of this rather complicated novel, doubting and questioning myself if I have been too ambitious in wanting to stretch myself in this genre. I suppose time will tell. The year ended with a new cocker spaniel in my life and joy, Laylah is nine weeks old and sitting at my feet as I write this and my older spaniel Boswell is snoring in the corner. All is as it should be.

I have no major resolutions this year, except to be more tolerant, maintain good health, persevere.  Oh and find a really fantastic title.