New Year is historically a time for new beginnings. For many of us, the fresh year heralds a fresh start where we decide to stop doing certain things and/or start doing/do more of others. Frequently doing more exercise and losing weight feature, with New Year resolutions made… and fairly quickly broken!
A Breath of Fresh Air starts four days before Christmas but it’s not a Christmas book and we soon move onto New Year’s Eve. Rosie is spending the evening at home with her mum, Alice, who has clearly decided that the New Year means a fresh start. And, for her, the fresh start means telling the truth about something she has kept hidden all Rosie’s life. But I won’t give you any spoilers by telling you what that is!
Each New Year, I think about the things I want to change for the year ahead. Most of them feature on my ‘list’ every year and, if I’m honest, I don’t put any effort into doing anything about them. This year, that’s going to change because I approached the end of 2023 feeling burned out and completely disorganised. I have five goals for the year ahead.
1. Be kinder to myself
I struggle with imposter syndrome and am constantly pushing myself to achieve new goals as though to prove I am worth it. I know my IS comes from years of being bullied in the workplace and repeatedly overlooked for promotions/bonuses because I didn’t do workplace politics and schmooze with the right people. I therefore repeatedly needed to work longer and push harder to prove that I was good at my job and I can’t seem to get out of that mindset. I need to stop berating myself for what I haven’t achieved and celebrate what I have while reminding myself that originally I only ever wanted to see if I could write one book (I’ve written 22) and, after that, my goal was to earn enough that I could leave my day job. Big tick there. Anything over and above that is a bonus and deserves lots of happy dancing (which might also help me lose weight and get fit – double bonus!)
2. Be realistic with what I can do
I’m such a people pleaser and will often agree to do things when I know time is too tight, whether that’s running a training course, reviewing a book or giving a talk. Sometimes I regretfully need to say ‘no’. I’ve started putting this into practice already and it’s making me feel so much calmer. I’m much more realistic with how many books I have time to read and review. I also turned down an opportunity to be on the judging panel for a short story competition run through one of my library contacts. It sounded amazing and I’d have loved to be involved but the reality was that I needed to read all the entries while working on my edits and it wasn’t possible
3. Find the joy in writing again
I mentioned getting burned out earlier. I crammed too much into 2023. I released four full-length novels, spoke at four festivals, a conference and a local group (all of which required preparation), ran a half-day workshop, and ran two one-month workshops, one of which I designed from scratch. It was too much and, after the second one-month workshop, I was running on empty and struggling with my writing deadlines. Writing became a chore and the words didn’t tumble easily onto the page – every single one was dragged out of my addled mind, kicking and screaming! Something had to change so, this year, I’m releasing three books instead of four, I’m only attending festivals and conferences as a delegate, and I haven’t committed to running any training courses. This should give me some breathing space to find the joy again. I love what I do and I need to find my creative sparkle again. Ironically, I’ve become like Autumn in The Start of Something Wonderful!
4. Get a work/life balance
I’ve been saying this for ages but I’ve never managed to do anything about it. This is the year where I get a grip. I have some ideas to help me structure my day better such as not looking at social media until I’ve written 1,000 words, aiming for 2,000 words a day, and writing these within a ‘normal’ working day, giving myself evenings and weekends off so that I can recharge my batteries and be with my husband and daughter. I’d like to read more. I’d like to do more crafting. I’d like to sleep better too, and not going straight from ‘work’ to bed might help!
5. I will invest in me
I’m a trainer and a qualified coach so I’m all about personal development, but I often fail to develop myself. I’ve signed up to Sophie Hannah’s ‘Dream Author’ programme. I saw Sophie speak at the RNA’s Conference in the summer and she was so inspirational so I’m very excited about working with her. I think doing this 14-month programme is going to massively help me achieve the other four goals. I’m also attending a couple of conferences but as a delegate and am looking forward to those too.
Although these five goals might all seem to be about me, they are all going to have a massive impact on my friends and family because I will be happier and have more time to be with them. Win:win all round!
Just like Rosie, my New Year is going to be different… although I don’t think anyone has been keeping any major secrets from me. Or at least I hope they haven’t!
How’s your New Year looking? Wishing you all the best with any changes or goals you might have.
Big hugs
Jessica xx