Well, what about it 2025?

 New year - a time for the start of wonderful things? 

At this time of year I actually feel drawn to the idea of being a bear - an excuse to eat a lot, and sleep, also a lot. Despite the passing of the solstice it is still dark ... and cold. Humans are expected to greet the new year with gusto - resolutions, life plans, new leaves  to be turned over - all that stuff. When the new year comes in, my mind always turns to the Gate of the Year poem by Minnie Louise Haskins which talks about walking into the unknown. It was used in the King's Christmas broadcast in 1939, the first Christmas of the Second World War, and created quite a stir. My grandmother had a text - I think published by a newspaper - in a frame. My mother would recite it to herself when she had to go out in the dark of the blackout to go to work and when she got married asked my grandmother if she could have it. I grew up with it and read it at her funeral - didn't really read it as I also knew it by heart. It was also apparently read at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. All this is very sombre - but a new year is a step into the unknown. 

What is on the horizon? A few things I know will be different - neither the Romantic Novelists' nor the Crime Writers' Association  are having conferences this year, but other events are springing up, taking their place.  I don't currently have a book in production - although I hope that will change by the end of the year. I am having a lot of work done on the the house to keep it and me from falling over, which is exciting and nerve racking, as these things are. Also expensive! 

So - no resolutions as experience has shown that you never know what is before you. Hopes and plans, yes. 

If you have made resolutions I wish you every success. if not, then we will muddle through together and enjoy the months as they pass. 

Happy New Year.