Solstice Round Up

I’ve called this entry my ‘Solstice Round Up’. I sometimes do a blog post to ‘round up’ what I’ve done in the year and try to publish it around about Christmas time. This year, I’m publishing on 22nd of December, the Winter Solstice, which is, to me, a time of new beginnings and moving towards the light again. I don’t really like the dark nights (going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark are not my favourite activities!) and am always hugely thankful when this day comes around, as it indicates the end of the proper dark nights and we gradually start to see longer and longer stretches of daylight.

As a time of new beginnings, it’s also an appropriate day to do my round up, as a lot of that has to do with the ‘new’. In spring, my publishers Choc Lit were bought out by Joffe Books, and us authors transferred across, books and all. I guess I’ve moved to a ‘big’ publisher without any real effort – Joffe were awarded IPG Trade Publisher of the Year in 2023 – so let’s hope we can continue to work together and keep new readers reading our books. There’s that word again – “new”.

Since moving to Joffe, I have managed to write two new books – we have the fourth Padcock book due out in the spring, and the fifth Pencradoc book has just been contracted, so that will come out for Christmas 2024. I’m working with a new (to me!) team at Joffe, and getting to grips with a new approach to edits – I’ve done the first round for the Padcock book, Matilda’s Summer of New Beginnings, and look forward to the feedback on that, and am also looking forward to starting the edits on Pencradoc. If you know the series, you might be interested to know that this one picks up almost directly from Summer’s Secret Marigold, and we have a focus on Elsie’s wedding – which took place on the Winter Solstice of 1911. I do have a theme going on, don’t I?

I’ve also had a few of my existing series relaunched with new covers  – I was the first Choc Lit author to get a new Joffe box set, no less – and my summer 2023 book, Bea’s Magical Summer Garden, was the first new Choc Lit title to be published by Joffe. I also managed to reach the number one spot on Kindle for a good few weeks with a few of my publications, so that was great as well.

I’ve felt a bit more of a buzz this last few months for writing. I had definitely lost my mojo for a while, but I’m now thinking of working on a new Tempest Sisters book. It helps that I clawed back a bit of creative time by finishing my two year art course, though – so now I have a new qualification as well, an NCFE Level 2 in Art and Design!

So yes – there have been lots of “new” things to round-up this year. Let’s hope there are more new “good” things in 2024 to celebrate too. In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful New Year, and I’ll see you on the other side!