Review Of My Year: Vans and Victory

Goodreads says I have read 254 books so far for 2024, and they named me a Top 1% Reader and Top 1% Reviewer. And the month is ongoing.
As always this has been a busy year, and I notice myself trying to pack in as much as I can to each day and week. I am in the middle of my next book, and 2024 was the first year I haven’t published one since I started in 2013. Instead, I concentrated on my photography, bringing my gallery on Shutterstock from 300 to over 1,000 images. When you hit 900 you are getting regular sales every month. The habit is so ingrained in me that I look around and snap anything worthwhile.

I took a course online with the Law Society of Ireland in Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, Law. This is my second course with the Law Society and I find it really helpful in keeping my credentials updated. I also took an environmental course with the UN again.

I attended conferences ranging from donkeys in developing nations to climate-smart agriculture and biodiversity in Ireland. I attended book talks by authors from a crime fiction writer to a tree surgery professor, and on topics ranging from the Amazon rainforest to the war in Ukraine. I helped out at Octocon again, and was invited to join a panel on 70 years of The Lord of The Rings.

I’ve made good friends locally and helped them through the complexities of independent publishing. That is ongoing. I’ve started volunteering, with my husband, with Age Action to help seniors use tech safely and expand their skills. We are booked again for January’s course and looking forward to the start.

This year I had to say goodbye to my van of many years, the first new vehicle I bought myself. I would happily have bought the same model again. Now I have a slightly smaller van which doesn’t have the same features, like a sliding door on each side and a rear-view mirror. I’m baffled how van manufacturers think adding an LED screen that tells you what song is playing on the radio, beats the sheer usefulness of what I had. As I do tree surgery work, but less of it now, the smaller vehicle is justified.

I’ve done some decluttering, which is always helpful. I keep trying to declutter some books; however the piles continue to grow. Review e-books and libraries are to blame. This year I read a Ken Follett book for review, but had not managed to read his previous book which I’d bought. I’ve now put it on top of a pile. I’ve continued to review for Fresh Fiction, getting the best of forthcoming reads. And Shepherd.com asked me again to pick my three favourite reads for the year. Find them at this link.
https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/clar...


My husband and I took a long-promised trip during autumn and visited the Historic Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. We visited HMS Victory, the Mary Rose, and HMS Alliance, which is a submarine. Victory included a museum about the Battle of Trafalgar and the preservation of the ship, which has had renewal work done in every decade. Mary Rose museum showed us Henry VIII’s naval service. Our guide inside Alliance was a former crew member.
We ate lunch each day in the dockyard café, such goodies as Waste Knot Soup and Cornish pasty, served with enamelled tin mugs and plates. We ate dinner in the commercial quarter near our hotel, ranging from sandwiches or a cheese platter to a sticky Korean chicken rice bowl, with English ciders. If you have time to spend in the south of England, this compact set of museums, with hostelries close at hand, is a great way to enjoy a few days.

Looking forward to 2025, I will be feeding the birds, and this month I’ve had bullfinches and goldfinches in my garden. Here’s hoping I see more of them. The weather really was not good very often during 2024, which limited my photography days. This also limited the days available for tree work, so it’s just as well I don’t depend on that anymore. Next year we’ll do some more travelling, for short breaks, destination currently unknown, and some more reading. That is for sure.

Warm up with a free read, you can download Dining Out Around The Solar System Part One and Dogs of Every Day from Kindle 23 – 27 December. Happy Christmas to those who celebrate and Season’s Greetings to all others.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SONOGF0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SONOGF0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08CJG12SP
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CJG12SP

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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