Bah, humbug.

I find Christmas hard.

Everyone is talking about buying pressies, where they are spending the holidays,  and how many people they will be catering for. I try not to let it get me down but it doesn’t quite work. Each time I hear on eof those conversations, I am reminded of what I’m missing out on. That said, there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’ll just have to grin and bear it. I’m using jigsaws and baking to help me cope. I love baking, trying new recipes and so on. And of course, I love to eat the results. When I’ve posted this, I’ll be making a posh bread and butter pudding, wheat free of course.

I have invited my ex round for food, again. I wish I didn’t have to lean on him quite so much but there it is. Besides, he’s more than happy to eat my food. I’m a much better cook than he is (in case you’re wondering, he’d agree with that).

Although I’ve hardly written anything new, work on the novel(s) is progressing. I now know there are at least two books and the bare bones of what will happen in book one.  I also know the title and the overall focus of book two. I think there may well end up being a series of books as I know from previous experience (when I wrote articles about tropical fish), that once I start a project, more ideas will come into my head.  What I need to make sure of is that I have enough for Book One and that it can stand alone.

I still have some thing sot figure out before I can take off the brakes and get scribbling. Having to plan things out, even if just sketchily, is new to me. With a short story, I can simply see what happens but in a book, that’s not quite so easy as everything has to link up and make sense. For example, I can’t kill off a character in the first book if I find I need them later.

Over the past year, I have been letting go of various things - jobs, such as Secretary of Leeds Writers and tutoring for the Writers Bureau,  and membership of groups, such as LWC and the cryptic crossworders . I am now finishing off that process by stopping doing any voluntary work for at least a year.  I have very much enjoyed helping out on Friday afternoons at the local Good Neighbours Art group but in 2015, I want to take a year out, which means plenty of holidays, going to new groups and trying different events and activities. For that, I don’t want anything in my diary that I can’t get out of without letting people down. This has been a very hard decision to make. It leaves me feeling pretty much redundant with no role or purpose in life but something tells me I need to do this. Time will tell if it’s the right decision.

So what about Christmas? I have bought DVD sets and invited my ex to stay. There will be plenty of good food and drink. What more could anyone ask for?

I wish anybody reading this 9and everybody else for that matter) good luck, health and happiness in the coming New Year.