WELCOMING 2026 - MY TWENTIETH YEAR OF BLOGGING - TAKE A LOOK!

 Happy New Year and welcome to my twentieth year of blogging about books, reading them, writing my own and enjoying seeing them in local bookstores.  I'm currently finishing half a dozen short stories which may (or may not) be bundled into a collection in 2026.   

Whether or not you like the idea of making New Year resolutions, the start of January offers a natural time to look at the year ahead and consider what you would like to work towards with your reading and writing choices. 

This year, I am celebrating my sixth decade of diary-keeping. Fascinating background for my writerly exploits and so useful for my work as a researcher and archivist to the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. (website: www.swwj.co.uk). The SWWJ is probably the world's longest established writing organisation for women writers, details of which were the foundation and basis of my sixth book The Woman Writer published by The History Press.

So many contemporaries belong to reading groups - mine is BookTalk, an excellent friendly group who meet monthly at Billericay Library, but I believe that there are more than seven hundred reading groups in Essex. 

Then there is Brentwood Writers' Circle which meets at Bardswell Social Club (www.brentwoodwriterscircle.com) and we welcome folk who want to know more about the business of writing books, articles, poetry and all aspects of writing. . Why not check out our website and learn what's in store for 2026?  

So, congratulations to all my contemporaries and writerly friends in our fascinating industry and sending wishes for a very happy New Year.