Happy New Year! -- Joy Kluver

 Happy New Year! To be honest, it's a phrase I don't say with a huge amount of enthusiasm, especially after the last few years. I remember, as we ticked over into the Twenties, having a good feeling about the new year - 2020. How wrong was I! I've always been inclined to a bit of January blues but the last two have been particularly bad. So, how to beat it this year?

Well, to start off with, I have a first draft of my DI Bernie Noel book four to edit. It needs quite a lot of work as well as some research. I also have a deadline of sending it to my editor at the end of February. There are lots of others things I need to do as well to get my head round self-publishing. At at the same time, there's another book idea that's brewing at the back of my mind. I see my stories visually so it sometimes helps to 'cast' my characters. James Norton is my baddie so I'm having no problems thinking about him!

In another bid to banish the blues, I'm trying to set up a writing group at my local library. As we all know, writing is a solitary pursuit so I thought that meeting up with like-minded people to encourage one another would be a good thing. I know a few people are interested so hopefully we'll start soon.

So far, I have two 'book' things to keep me going. I'm being brave and going for a non-book thing as my final attempt to banish the blues. I was in a choir before Covid and love singing. I didn't go back afterwards and my voice is now very rusty. A new choir is starting up in Wimbledon this month and I've signed up for a two week taster. I'm not good at joining new things but I feel quite excited about singing again so hopefully that will push me through.

It does feel as though the last two years have been a bit wasted for me and I'm keen for that to not happen this year. Do you have any plans for 2024? Or any ideas for banishing the January blues? Here's a sunset photo I took at Bournemouth last week. There'd been a storm and the wind and the waves were still strong but the rain had stopped and the sun had broken through for the end of the day. The waves might be crashing but beauty is still there.