Thoughts for the New Year

As members look back fondly – and sometimes not so fondly - at the year’s achievements, it’s time to look forward and wish our readers...

And so the door is closed on the old and the door to the new stepped through.

April Taylor plans a busy few months. The third Georgia Pattison Mystery (Laid In Earth)  is scheduled for publication in Spring. There are also a couple of standalones, more romantic thriller than pure detective novels, to be finished, as well as writing the fourth full-length Georgia (Say Goodbye Now) and another Christmas Georgia short story – which she tells us after this year’s experience will be written in July!

Stuart Aken has already begun the follow-up to his Sci-Fi novel Blood Red Dust. Life on Mars is going to get complicated as the decades go by. He'll be completing the second in the series and turning his imagination to some shorter pieces for the literary press and some writing contests.

Penny Grubb expects to see publication of her seventh Annie Raymond novel in 2017 which is also Hull’s City of Culture year, not that Annie ‘does’ culture, but that doesn’t stop her becoming entangled in the darker side of East Yorkshire’s world of fine dining. Penny is also looking forward to the release of a short Sci-Fi / Fantasy story in audio. On the academic front, she hopes to publish more on the use of innovative teaching techniques to unlock the value of the written word in healthcare education.

Linda Acaster will be finishing the final novel in the Torc of Moonlight trilogy, Pilgrims of the Pool. [Members hereby note the term will and intend to keep her to it.] There is also a Horror novella to complete, a Western novella to write, and a new project to research.

Elaine Hemingway is far more businesslike. Having managed to keep one 2016 Resolution – to complete NaNowWiMo – she is chalking up four new goals:  to write between 100-1000 words daily; to complete at least one piece per month for submission; to attend Faith Writers weekly as well as Hornsea Writers fortnightly; to revise her work-in-progress Exiled.

Karen Whitchurch insists that 2017 is her 'Year of the Dog' with her goal set as launching her Cosy Crime dog-whisperer trilogy in e-book and paperback formats. Dogsbody, Dogwatch, and Dogdays are straining at their leashes, desperate to run free and socialise with their own kind.

Madeleine McDonald plans to concentrate on short pieces. In 2016 she had flash fiction, essays and poetry published in various print anthologies and on websites, including a commended poem in the 2016 UK Carers' Anthology.

Annie Wilkinson’s plan is to fight her fictional Cod War to the bitter finish, and hope it results in a publishable Women’s Saga to add to her others.

Joy Gelsthorpe will be finishing the rewrite of Reighton, based on church records of the late 1700s, and making a start on its sequel which will be lighter in tone. And with fewer deaths [Members will believe that when they hear it!].

Keep up to date with odd ruminations and new release information from members by following this blog by email (see the bottom of the page). And enjoy your New Year!