Happy New Year! Now let's buckle in for the ride
My hopes for 2024, and on trying to live a good life in uncertain times
I’ve spent a bit of time over the last few days using different prompts to reflect on 2023, and to think about my goals and strategy for 2024 – both for my writing and my personal life. I loved
’s post on this, and if you too like self-reflection and purposeful goal-setting I highly recommend you read and reflect on this one:Most of the posts I’ve seen online over the last couple of weeks have been seasonally merry and bright, which has been a cheerful change, because I often find the online world strange and disconcerting. Some people are intently pursuing personal happiness and/or marketing ferociously with clear business goals, but more and more people seem to be withdrawing into their particular enclave, and a burgeoning group are talking about and prepping for civilisational collapse/change on a grand scale. I noticed on Sunday that the conversations we had with our friends during our New Year’s Eve celebrations kept unexpectedly hitting darker topics, and we had to keep mindfully bringing the light back in.
I also spent the holidays devouring Naomi Alderman’s book The Future (and I’ll be writing in more detail about this in an upcoming post). The story is about a group of tech billionaire preppers who each get the call that it’s time to get into their bunkers. Alderman’s cultural commentary is brilliant, and I’m still thinking over the book even though I finished it days ago. I recently heard Rumaan Alam (author of Leave the World Behind, now a hit film on Netflix) talking on
’s podcast about ‘the age of the billionaire’, which will be the focus of his book and others in the coming year, and my own upcoming thriller When She Was Gone features one such scenario too. It’s a clear sign of the necessity and urgency for continuing the cultural conversations we’re already having around wealth and inequality, and I’ll be keeping an eye on this theme in new literature and reporting back throughout the year.At the moment I’m developing my own way of living with so much uncertainty, both in personal and cultural spheres, but also in my professional life too, with book sales and advances contracting once again. The question of how I might continue to thrive in this tricky publishing world is looming large this year. My primary goal for the year is to maintain clear and steady boundaries in order to find time to do the simple things I love, like reading, growing plants (and keeping them alive for more than a week!), walking on the beach, ocean swimming or snorkelling, valuing downtime and eating well. These kinds of things will sustain me in everyday life as I work on some of my bigger challenges, both personally and professionally, because I want to write more stories as I seek new contracts and promote my new book. I’ll be sharing that journey with you here, exploring my frustrations, disasters and triumphs as I go along, evaluating my experiences as authentically as I can, and hoping that my insights and curiosities connect with you and contribute to the broader conversations we’re all having about the Arts and creative living. I’m planning to write twice a week this year, alternating between topics on writing and culture, and I’m looking forward to that challenge. Substack is the place for me right now: I’ve only been here a few months and I’ve already found some incredible and generous writers such as
and– and I can’t wait to discover more this year. I really hope the Substack powers-that-be heed ’s recent warning and put in some safeguards to make sure the conversations we have in this space are healthy and respectful to everyone.So here's to a year of sharing our stories. Here’s to another year of living in the paradox: acknowledging that our infinitesimally small and inconsequential existence within the universe does not negate the incredible possibilities of our lives, or the impact we each have on one another and our precious planet. Here’s to digging in and working hard to nourish all those things that bring about positive growth and change for humankind, while strengthening our understanding that we can only look after one another if we know how to take good care of ourselves. The work-in-progress continues.
Here's to you, dear reader, and the possibilities that 2024 might bring for us all. And thanks, as always, for your support.
Thank you for the kind mention!
thanks for listening! 💛