Reading and new plans for 2022

A difficult year

2021 is over, 2022 has now begun.   New resolutions, new hopes and new reading plans.  Do you set resolutions? I personally do not.  It would be nice to believe that 2022 will be a happier year.  Surely it will be better then last.  Worries over the rising energy price in the UK. Then calls for facemasks in secondary schools, rumours about primary schools. Talk now of not needing a PCR test following a positive LFT test.  Different rules between England, Scotland and Wales. Does the news get any better? I never thought I would want to be injected, I’m scared of needles but I don’t want Covid.

Sat here now I’m sniffing, coughing and have a headache but LFT is negative.  The last time a lot of us did tests like these we were willing for 2 pink lines.  Weeing on a stick is a better experience then regularly putting a stick to the back of your throat and up your nostrils, I hate it. The latest is for daily LFT tests, I guess we all do what we can, but I don’t like the idea.

My blogs

2021 was a very quiet year for both my blogs, following losing dad, fundraising and walking took over.   My dad loved walking so when walking I feel closer to him.  I have wondered if he is with me, especially last year when I did 32 miles and got lost. Walking through the woods at night using my phone as a torch was a scary experience.

2021 was thirty stories in thirty days a challenge for a different story every night.  Trying to think of a new story and writing it, I’ve always been a pantser, I had no time to plan them.

So, 2022, what now?

I’m hoping for a better blog year.  I still want to fundraise so have tried to think of something different this year.  Last year I walked over 1000 miles, this year I would like to do that again, but needed a new challenge.

Reading

I’ve been planning on reading the Lee Child, Jack Reacher books for a while, I found one in my Goodreads account tonight from 2018 unread.  Realising that a Marathon is 26.2 miles and there are now 26 books in the series I thought of doing a reading Marathon for Pancreatic Cancer UK.  I am also reading to the children every night and I have also found a book of Jack Reacher short stories. So, my Marathon will be over 26 books. I had set a goal of the end of May, I am now on book six, since 13^th December 2021, so hoping this is realistic.

The children are still walking, though as they get older, I am having more regular arguments about computer games.  Getting out in the countryside is always good, they both relax, and we usually have a good time.  Cries of I’m tired and my legs hurt are eased with biscuits, chocolate and squash / water.  Time outside is always good, its just motivating ourselves to get out.

My novel

I last looked at my novel in 2020. After losing dad I lost a lot of faith in my writing.  The distractions of life, fundraising and Netflix took over.   I know I need to go back over it, only I can bring my story to life, but it is a daunting prospect.  It sits at about 70 000 words and needs rewriting.   I set up Marianwood.com to focus on my writing, I know I need to get back to it.  My Jack Reacher Marathon is not going to help that though.

Life is busy and there is so much that I would love to achieve.  However, my priorities as always are to my family.  The children are growing up and my ten-year-old changes school this year.  New prospects, new plans and new challenges.

December 2022

I would love at Christmas to be able to say that I’ve completed my novel.  To have read the forty five books that I’ve said I would read on Good Reads.  In recent years I’ve struggled to read twenty.   To have walked over 1000 miles again, plus work and life etc, yes, I’m possibly expecting too much.

So, what are your plans for 2022? Are you planning to be busy? or hoping for a quiet one?

My new fundraising page

Links to Pancreatic Cancer UK – A story a day in November

Please note last years fundraising page on the November stories, will still accept donations

A story a day for Pancreatic Cancer UK