December – Rounding off the Year

I feed the birds over winter. This helps them survive bad weather and leaves them in good shape to build nests and raise chicks in spring. Apparently the Buddha said that feeding wild birds was good karma. A science study has also shown that watching birds even for a short time can lift your mood. Recently I hung out a suet block with seeds stuck all around it, for my visiting wild birds. Generally this lasts a week for the starlings, tits and sparrows. I looked out a couple of hours later and the block was gone.
I went out and the string was still on the tree, tied.
I am pinning the crime on the magpies or hooded crows, which frequent the area and work in small flocks. Probably the magpies as the hoodies are not keen to come so near the house. Next time I get one of these blocks, I’ll break it up and put it in the container with the suet balls.



According to Goodreads I read 156 books this year. Recent nonfiction books I enjoyed are
Mercator: The Man Who Mapped the Planet and Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. The latter is a brilliant book to pair with the fiction I am reading right at this moment, A Ghost of Caribou.



During December it’s customary and natural to look back over the past year. This year contained a lot of firsts for me. And some other great experiences.
• I graduated from two colleges with a degree in multimedia journalism and a postgrad certificate in data visualisation.
• I won a second trophy from the National Student Media Awards, this time for work completed on my own instead of last year’s for work editing for the Journalism Society in college.
• I’ve taken many LinkedIn courses, from short film making and graphic design to diversity in the office and safety in workplaces.
• I was invited to be interviewed on live radio, and talked about independent book publishing.
• I covered the opening of the Creative Futures Academy, a collaboration between colleges, which was hosted at UCD, and I was interviewed on camera talking about my experience with the CFA.
• Due to a lack of parts, my van was off the road for five months, because the national safety tester broke a part inside the door while testing it. My husband and I walked everywhere for five months, apart from a couple of public transport trips.
• We bought, at intervals, a bread maker and a slow cooker and an air fryer. Yes, my husband has got keen on kitchen robots. They are all regularly in use.
• We stayed in Galway for a few days and Somerset for a few days. Travel is good.
• I attended Octocon as an in-person volunteer again. This was wonderful, but I’ll tell you, the Croke Park conference area is cold.
• My former school classmates organised a class reunion, which was a highlight of the year.
• I got to visit friends and relatives I had not seen since before the Pandemic – I still owe some visits, but we are now trying to avoid germs in influenza season.
• And I have been catching up on book reviews for Fresh Fiction, while trying to declutter email and stored books. Also pursuing other projects which were on hold while I studied, such as my volunteer work with the National Library of Australia, helping to digitise old newspapers. It’s amazing what a difference one person can make, so if you’re thinking of volunteering anywhere – do, and keep doing the work.
• I’ve been researching for my next books.


This month I am making Murder At Scottish Mensa free 19 – 22 January.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E78J0W0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E78J0W0

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We have created a page for Young Adult readers. This contains plenty of horses and dogs! You can find my podcasts on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.