Goodbye 2018 and Hello 2019 #Bookish #Reflections and #Plans #BookBlogger #Chapterinmylife

Every year around this time I like to reflect on my bookish year gone by and set myself a few new goals for the year ahead!

Last year was awesome and it started with a bang when I hosted the Louise Beech, Madeleine Black and Michael J Malone panel in Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street. I was also lucky enough to interview Craig Robertson in Stirling for the launch of The Photographer in January too!

I was back in Waterstones in September of this year to interview Michael J Malone again for the launch of After He Died, in which he features independent advocacy (a theme close to my heart)

I made my first trip to Granite Noir in February but sadly the snowstorms of March prevented me making a trip to Leeds that month! Still, I had Aye Write, Harrogate, Bute Noir, Tidelinesand Bloody Scotland along with The Wee Crime Festival in Grantown on Spey plus a host of outstanding book launches to keep me going throughout the year!

I was also lucky enough to win the Linwood Barclay typewriter in the “First Line” Competition at Harrogate!

Bute Noir was an eventful weekend…I was due to attend the Friday through to Sunday and interview Craig Robertson and Denzil Meyrick on Saturday morning. However, my first grandchild made his surprise arrival in the early hours of the Saturday morning, two months early, which meant I missed out my Saturday panel but made it over for the Saturday night to celebrate becoming a gran with my bookish friends!

Last year’s reflection post talked a little about my work and the lottery funding we received for our creative writing group. We were so proud to launch the publication of the group’s anthology earlier this year and thanks to all the bloggers who gave up some of their precious time to review the book for an extra special blog tour!

Over the year friendships I’ve made with bookish people have been cemented and new ones made. I have to give special mention to my #Twinnie, Noelle Holten who also achieved her dream this year, securing a two-book publishing deal with Killer Reads! Her debut novel, Dead Inside, will be published in May 2019!

Looking forward to 2019

So last year I said that I was going to buckle down and do some writing of my own. After a few false starts I finally got the ball rolling and at the time of writing, I have 50k words under my belt! I am feeling rather proud of this (even if I have to edit most of them out at least I have made a start!) I am aiming to have my first draft completed by 8th March 2019 when I will be attending Crime and Publishment – a weekend crime writing led by some of the top names in the business! I’ve also signed up for a few one-off sessions to assist me in mastering the craft!

Of course I shall also be continuing to blog, read and review. I’m lined up to attend Bloody Scotland, Harrogate, Bute Noir and hopefully Newcastle Noir and the Wee Crime Festival again next year. And with a host of outstanding reads coming up in 2019 I am more than sure that I shall be attending a good few book launches!