Teresa: At the end of each year, I like to look back on what I’ve managed to achieve, writing-wise and in general, and to decide where best to focus my energies for the coming twelve months. I don’t always manage to stick to these goals, but it gives me a sense of perspective, and helps me to assess what I’ve done well, and where I need to improve. How about you, Belinda?

Belinda: I have a rather different approach. For several years now, I’ve tried to keep a record of the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of the year (everything) as they come up and at the end of the year I look over them and try to think how I can have a year ahead that leans towards more of the highs and less of the lows. Of course, some things are out of our hands, but it is good to look at those, too, and see how they affected you, because life can sometimes get in the way of even the best intentions.

Teresa: I really like that idea! I might have to adopt that approach for myself. In terms of writing, for the last four years, my aim has been to publish a book per year, and so far I’ve managed that, so the major thing I’d like to achieve next year is to publish my next one. The project I’m working on is a collection of suspense stories for young adults, and I’m (more or less!) on schedule to release this, hopefully in the spring. Where will your main focus be?

Belinda: So, I went a bit mad last month, and signed up for a year long course that (hopefully) will help me to organise not just my writing, but the business side of my publishing, and my marketing. I will tell you more about that when it starts, and, share any insights along the way. My biggest book goal is to (finally) finish my third Silvana novel, and to republish the first two. So I’m really excited about the year ahead … and excited to read your  new book, too!

Teresa: Thank you, and likewise! My other big writing aim is to produce the second draft of my adult psychological thriller. This manuscript has been percolating for some time now, and I’d like to make some progress with it.

Belinda: That is exciting! If we are doing ‘side quests’, then I would also like to pull together the fantasy-equine anthology I’ve been dreaming about for some years, at least gather the stories together.

Teresa: I’d very much like to be involved with that. Something that I plan every year, but never quite achieve, is to make more submissions to magazines or anthologies, as shorter projects help to keep up my interest and open up new opportunities. Last Christmas, I was delighted to have a story published in the well-established magazine People’s Friend. This was the realisation of a long-held ambition, as my stepmum used to take People’s Friend every week without fail, and I like to think how pleased she would have been to see my name in there and read my story. I fully intended to capitalise on that acceptance by sending more stories to PF, but I didn’t quite manage it. Maybe in the coming year?! Belinda, were there things you hoped to do but didn’t manage this year?

Belinda: Well, obviously, ‘finish the third novel’ didn’t happen! But I feel I’m on track now, plus I’ve had some insights that will make it better than it would have been. Like you, I keep thinking I will submit more shorter pieces to various places. Once upon a time I used to do that a lot, and had some nice results, but it’s not something I’ve done for years. I did submit one story to a competition, without success, and I prepared a children’s story for a different competition, but decided I’d rather do something else with it. Not quite sure what, though.

Teresa: What about your plans outside of writing? For me that entails working more on the garden, which is still very much a work in progress. As I live on the edge of a small wood, I try to make the garden as wildlife-friendly as possible, with homes and food for all kinds of creatures (in our garden we see all kinds of birds and animals, including hedgehogs and deer, woodpeckers and nuthatches). My dream is for the garden to be a haven for all kinds of creatures, whilst providing lots of herbs, veg and flowers for my husband and me.

Belinda: I loved your garden! Ours is small, but I’m currently planting out my tomato seedlings, that I raised myself, and hoping for a bumper crop. We have sacred kingfishers nesting in the phoenix palm again, which is always exciting – New Zealand ‘kotare’ are bigger than the kingfishers you have in the UK, more like mini-kookaburras but with ‘proper-kingfisher’ colouration, though slightly muted.

Sorry, rambling. Plans and dreams for next year: well, as part of my ‘looking backwards and forwards’ as I mentioned above, I like to imagine myself 12 months from now, and think of what I would want to tell a friend about, if I hadn’t been able to keep them informed over the year. 

My husband has a big birthday (with a 0 on the end) coming up in 2024, so I want to make that special – a family holiday with my daughter and her partner would be lovely, if we could make that happen. Besides that, we enjoy going to live shows, fringe events and indie film festivals, so, hopefully, there will be lots of those in the year ahead, and I want to make the most of living beside the ocean, with more sea swims and outings in the kayaks that we bought last year. I think it’s all about balance, isn’t it: writing can be quite lonely and isolating, and sedentary, so moving, and physical things counter that nicely, and enjoying other people’s creativity, too.

Do you have plans for next year? What are your hopes and dreams? Whatever they are, we would like to wish each and every one of you a happy and successful 2024.

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Belinda Mellor’s books are about to be relaunched, so watch this space!

Teresa Bassett: Linktr.ee/teresabassett

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