December - A Busy Year

2023 was the first year in several that I wasn’t in college at the start of the year. I put that right by signing up to take a certificate with the Law Society of Ireland, in Social Media and the Law.
I also took courses with the United Nations, gaining certificates and a much better understanding of their works, and with LinkedIn, gaining online certificates and a lot of useful knowledge. For instance, I am now certified in Fuel Management, Women’s Health, and Headshot Photography.

Putting my skills to good use, I attended many talks and exhibitions in colleges and libraries, taking photos, noting content and holding brief interviews. The results have been published on LinkedIn, Goodreads and my author newsletter. Those featured, who include authors, photographers, artists, an opera manager and journalists, have seemed pleased. This work also thanks those hosting the talks.

My husband and I travelled abroad three times, on short trips. We visited London, Cardiff and the West Country of England. See my earlier blog posts for details. These fun and marvellously scenic and cultural outings did us good. We also drove to locations around Ireland for days out and photography.

I helped to staff Octocon again and appeared on a panel, this one about Maps in SF and F. I sat with fantasy cartographer Jog Brozin on my left, and I said to him, “I have a map!” and produced a map of Doggerland, the land now under the North Sea between the Continent and Britain. This was dry land during the Ice Age. “See, the Thames and the Rhine are the same river. They join and flow south,” I continued. Jog was delighted to find a kindred spirit. He had some of his work exhibited at the Con, but I was the only one to hold up maps during the panel.

The other maps I showed were of London, as my characters cross the Thames, which lies between their zine office on the Isle of Dogs and the Dome, now the Embassy of Jupiter, at Greenwich. I explained I’d had to go there and find out how people cross the Thames. There’s more than one rowing club on that stretch, there’s the Docklands Light Rail, the Tube, a pedestrian foot tunnel, a motor tunnel from Poplar, a cable car, besides the bridges. And sailing boats and barges ply the trade route, plus which the characters can hitch a ride from friendly Neptunians.

Towards the end of the year, I completed and published the third in my Irish Lockdown series. A Cat For Company is making many friends. The book brings in the characters from the earlier books to a new character’s tale, and continues their stories. Once more I illustrated the adventure with my photos of cats and dogs, and journalistic scenes during the Pandemic. Again, I explored modern media and how young people are using these in so many exciting ways.

I’ve also met and been helping other authors who want to bring out books on Kindle. Giving back to literature and the writing community is something I’ve been doing for many years, starting with reviewing books I loved as a child, on Amazon. I’ve continued to review for Fresh Fiction, getting the best of forthcoming reads. And Shepherd.com asked me to pick my three favourite reads for the year – a tough choice! See the outcome at this link.
https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/clar...

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently.
www.clareobeara.ie

This month I am making Murder At Scottish Mensa free, so grab it 18 – 21 January.

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

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