Welcome to the new monthly plot twist. It’s January – and a very Happy New Year to you all! May 2025 bring you only good things.
However much I plan and try, the early part of December always seems to devolve into chaos of one sort or another. Last year, I quite deliberately only scheduled one online Christmas party and no releases, hoping to give myself time and space to plan this year’s marketing. As usual, I overloaded the plate. Or life decided that marketing planning alone was boring.
Still, in the spirit of 2024, I focussed on progress and cleared as many items off my list as I could.
And then I called it good, and turned my mind to our traditional Christmas Day picnic on the beach.
And yes, it was exactly as peaceful as it looks! And no, we didn’t jump in. We just went for a walk along the shingle to see the seals and their pups… which was a much shorter walk this year as there were many more seals and they’d come further down the beach.
Instead of enjoying our picnic in the dunes, we found shelter beside the Girl Scout’s hut, and we even fitted in a stroll around Blakeney – which somehow never feels crowded, even when there are people out and about.
It made for a lovely peaceful day with time to think.
I always try to give myself a little breathing space at the end of a year, though I’m learning not to spend too much time looking backwards and not to feel guilty about any project I didn’t get to. Knowing where I’ve been and what I’ve done is helpful, but agonising over it is not! 😉
After 2023, my year for experiments, and 2024, my year for progress, my focus word for 2025 is MOVE. And I’m hoping it will apply to all aspects of our lives. Moving home, moving myself – because I spend far too much time sitting in front of a screen – moving ahead with my paperback store, and most importantly, keeping the writing momentum going despite the distractions all our plans will bring.
So far, I have two new books and two box sets on my schedule, plus a French translation of the White Knights. Apart from those, I’ll be spending quite a bit of time in the Nook, posting chapters from both Fan Bait and A Simple Mistake.
Backlist Spotlight: Hiding Place
Because there’s nothing like a bit of motivation, this month’s backlist focus book is Hiding Place.
It’s an m/m murder mystery, a tale about finding distractions to deal with grief, and – here’s where the motivation comes in – features a main character moving to Northumberland. We’re not likely to buy and renovate an old pele tower, but I can live vicariously through Zach, and when the decluttering and relentless tidying get to me, I can imagine myself alongside him, watching towering clouds race towards the sea.
It’s a story of healing and fining peace, set in a county that was dubbed “The land of strife” – which makes total sense to me.
There are sample chapters up in the Readers Nook, and for the rest of the month, Hiding Place is on sale in my store.
In Jackie’s Readers Nook
The Readers Nook is busy this month, and it will get busier as the year progresses. It seems to help me focus, so I’m planning to take full advantage.
The Hiding Place sample chapters are up already, and I’ll be sharing a few Northumberland memories during the month, too. Beyond Hiding Place, I will have snippets from Fan Bait and A Simple Mistake, and a kitchen chat with Gareth Flynn.
In addition to all the posts in the free tier, the first chapters from A Simple Mistake and Fan Bait will go up on the paid tiers. There’ll also be another Cooking with Gareth post, complete with downloadable recipe cards. And yes, eventually there WILL be a Cooking with Gareth recipes & stories book. And the posts and recipe cards are my way to find the best format. So… comments and suggestions are VERY, VERY welcome here!
And if you haven’t explored the Readers Nook yet, then just hop on over.
And that’s it for me for this month. I’m off to format the White Knight Security Omnibus edition – which I’m planning to release in February. But that’s news for the next monthly plot twist!
2024 – A Year of Progress