What's Another Year

Happy New Year!

One of my favourite parts of the new year festivities – remember them? – is charting out my year on a vast wall calender. I buy three calenders – I’m a sad Virgo who needs structure and routine in my life – one, the sensible one with countryside images, lives in the kitchen and gives details of things like birthdays, rubbish collection days, doctor and dentist appointments. I’ve another – the Australian Fireman’s calender which is full of pictures of cute, furry animals. The fact that they are being held by handsome, tanned, muscular young men has nothing to do with its appeal. That calender does nothing except hang on inside of my office door.

The other one, probably my favourite, is the big wall chart one on which I can plan my writing, editing and book production schedules. Last years one was a mass of colour, chunks of red for writing, swathes of yellow for when I was away, or had visitors staying. All of that went by the board last year because of Covid. I doubt there is a life anywhere which has not been changed by the pandemic. There was a month blocked off in yellow for a big adventure. I had intended to travel to New Zealand, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. Instead I started a part time job, just a few hours a week, helping a quadrepligic lady. I enjoyed the job and the hours I did became more and more, eating into my writing life. There is nothing that makes me long to write than not being able too, so recently I’ve made the decision to cut down the hours I spend away from my desk and focus on what is really important to me.

I’ve resisted the temptation to block off chunks of my wall chart, life seems so uncertain at the moment. I will just write when I can and hope life will return to normal eventually. Then I can get out my colours and block out time for a holiday!