What have I done this year?

The festive season and the end of the year are coming up fast.

It's almost time to shut up shop, reach for a mince pie and turn on the Christmas lights.

2017 has been an incredible year for me personally but, like the rocky terrain in the title image of this post, it's been a challenging one too.

I've learned so much, set myself on a steep learning curve, and met people who have changed my view on life (and my future) forever.

So, with my goals and plans for 2018 firmly in hand, I thought I'd look back over the last twelve months.


January, February and March

Many people have slammed the door on 2016 as a year of divisiveness, hate and loss. I have to agree that yes, it's been all of that, but for me it's also been a time of growth and realisation. Not all of that was comfortable, for the world or me personally, but no worthwhile change was ever achieved from a place of safety and comfort. Challenging times bring out the best in people.

Looking back at these words now, it seems that somewhere in my unconscious mind I knew 2017 was going to be one of those 'challenging times'.

I took part, with my daughter, in the first amateur theatrical performance I'd acted in in decades at the end of January and the beginning of February. It was an eye-opener, with a company of new people whom we now count as friends.

February saw a chance email to a local company grab me by the wrist and tug me onto a new career path - freelance copywriting.

I found myself writing emails, blog posts and even a newspaper article, and best of all, being paid for it too.

Murdering The Text turned 20 years old and to celebrate the event, I started on a new murder mystery play, A Brush, with Death, for the group who performed my first ever murder mystery back in 1997.

April, May and June

April and May were much the same as the month before. I was now firmly on the copywriting path, learning new skills and accepting fresh challenges.

I did have time for an inspiration walk though.

I finished A Brush, with Death, and discovered that not only was it an anniversary year for Murdering The Text but also the theatre group whom I'd written the play for. 2017 was their 70th anniversary.

June saw me begin on a much needed overhaul of the Murdering The Text website, utilising what I'd learnt through my copywriting work and much much research on website design.

The weather was beautiful, too beautiful for working indoors, which resulted in my post, 7 ways to cope with hot weather when you work from home.

July, August and September

Dominated by the summer school holidays, I did my best to continue my updates to the Murdering The Text website.

There was a lull in copywriting work so I took advantage of the extra time to work on my novel which had taken a definite back seat so far this year.

I also reviewed Watling Street by John Higgs for the 'Who Do You Think You Are' magazine.

Oh, and I discovered Canva.

I investigated how to set up a website for my freelance copywriting business.

On top of all the trips out with my teenagers and puppy, we decided to find a new home, which in turn led to an almighty decluttering session.

September marked the new school term and with it, a return to peaceful home working.

I purchased the domain name for my copywriting business, and caught up in the giddiness of the moment, I bought the domain for my writer website too (whoops).

I launched a new monthly newsletter for Murdering The Text and posted 6 reasons I keep a bullet journal.

October, November and December

You know in the film Top Gun where Tom Cruise's character Maverick and his friend Goose say, "I feel the need, the need for speed"? Well, I feel the need, the need for obsessive and to within an inch of its life organisational skills at the moment. Energy would be good too but I've given up caffeine.

That was the general mood for the month as we prepared for a house move, realised exactly how much stuff we had, and began to work out how I was going to transfer my business to our new house with as few problems as humanly possible. Phew.

In November, the day of our house move finally arrived. Our boxed life was shuttled, over the course of a long day, to our new home. We went to bed that night exhausted, surrounded by boxes, but happy with our fresh start.

About a week later, I met with literary agent Lucy Morris at Chester Literature Festival to discuss my novel and its synopsis. It was a wonderful meeting, informative, helpful and ultimately encouraging. Thanks, Lucy.

December has been a month of unpacking and planning - unpacking our life into our new home, and planning for our future here.

The school term ends tomorrow. I finish work on Friday. After that, Christmas can begin.

It's been a good year, if a difficult one, and you know what? I wouldn't have had it any other way.