Where Did 2025 Go?

As I plan my writing and speaking schedule for 2026, I share my top tip for how to convince yourself you’re making the most of your time – and in the postscript share my completed temperature blanket for 2025. 

In 1812, when John Letts, founder of the printing, bookbinding, and stationery business Letts of London, launched the first pre-printed diary, it was an overnight success. In the pre-digital era, this combined calendar and journal provided a revolutionary way of keeping track of past and future events in a single volume. The name Letts soon became synonymous with diaries. The company continued to expand its range of diaries long after John Letts had written his final entry.

Those of us over a certain age associate the word Letts with diaries in all shapes and sizes, from pocket-sized books with tiny plastic-topped pencils tucked down their spine (my favourite was a blue, purple and white 1971 Princess Tina diary), to heavy A4 page-a-day hardbacks. By the time I started using diaries, other brands such as Collins had joined the marketplace.

Although the company Filofax was founded in 1921, it wasn’t until the 1980s that I became aware of their alternative to the Letts-style diary: a fancy ring-bound personal planner. A huge choice of hole-punched inserts allowed you to customise your Filofax to suit your lifestyle. Working as a journalist in London, I tucked a Tube map into mine, plus plenty of blank pages for taking notes at press conferences, and sheets of plastic pockets for storing business cards.

For digital natives, such concepts may seem obsolete. When you carry a multi-tasking smartphone everywhere, it’s a no-brainer to tap appointments into its electronic calendar. Who needs a printed diary anymore?

Actually, I do.

Although I’m tech-savvy, I still buy several printed diaries each year, and 2026 will be no different. I need a pocket diary to keep track of appointments, because it’s easier to flip through paper pages than scroll down a screen, and I’m far less likely to enter an engagement on the wrong day.

An A5 week-to-a-view diary lives on my desk to help me plan and manage my work.

Beside my bed is another A5 diary in which last thing at night I jot down what I’ve done that day.

I started the page-a-day habit two years ago, on 1st January 2024, in hope of assuaging a niggling worry that I wasn’t making best use of my time.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives,” says Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer Annie Dillard in The Writing Life.

Where do my days go? I kept asking myself. And my weeks and my months and my years? What do I have to show for them? I hoped my nightly log would prove I wasn’t frittering my life away.

I needn’t have worried. I soon noticed that just about every entry started with “Another busy day”, followed by a catalogue of tasks ticked off my to-do list, plus many things I hadn’t planned to do, but which I’d nonetheless enjoyed.

By New Year’s Eve, I’d created a satisfying record of what I’d achieved that year. Most of the entries were hardly exalted achievements, but “tidied study” or “took three carrier bags to charity shop” or “started to reread Travels with my Aunt again” still counted as worthwhile ways to have spent my time.

So when I asked myself on 31st December 2024, “Where did that year go?”, it was no longer a rhetorical question. I had answers. I had evidence. I had my diary – and a new, comforting habit.

Whether or not you choose to keep a diary in 2026, I wish you a very happy and fulfilling New Year.

(This post first appeared in the January 2026 issue of the Hawkesbury Parish News)

PS Another way in which I kept track of the past year was to knit a temperature blanket, of which the dated corner is shown in the header image. Here’s another shot, of the last few stitched about to be made on New Year’s Eve 2025.

The basic principle of a temperature blanket is that you choose different coloured wool, with each colour representing a specific temperature range. I allocated a different shade for every 5 degrees centigrate, dark blue for 1-5 degrees, etc. The flash of purple across the centre is for the only couple of days in midsummer when my Cotswold village registered over 30 degrees.

Then according to each day’s temperature, you knit a row or two in that temperature’s colour. If knitting isn’t your thing, you can also crochet, embroider, patchwork or paint on the same principles.

If you’d like to find out more about creating a temperature blanket, visit www.temperature-blanket.com, which also provides a handy guide to daily temperatures wherever you are in the world, enabling you to create blankets for years gone by also.

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IN OTHER NEWS

For the last couple of weeks of the old year, I spent a lot of time away from my desk, not least to recover from a frantically busy run-up to Christmas.  I committed myself to far too many activities in 2025, creating pressure on my writing time and my well-being. It also meant I shamefully neglected my blog and my Readers’ Club newsletter. Going forward, I’ll be giving those more prioirty – and of course, writing more books!

Speaking of which, Boldwood Books has now officially revealed the cover of my next mystery novel, The Importance of Being Murdered. This is a new departure for me: a standalone story rather than a series, based on a fun comedy murder mystery evening playscript I wrote for my local amateur drama group last April.

The Importance of Being Murdered is already available to pre-order on Amazon and elsewhere, and it will be officially launched on Thursday 26th March.  Here’s the Amazon link: https://amzn.to/4bqhEIz

The Hawkesbury Drama Group enjoyed staging my play so much that they have asked me to write another one for them to perform in April 2026. I haven’t yet decided the title (unusual for me), but it will be set in a 1980s office, inspired by several office jobs I had during that decade – not that any of them was home to a murder.

I’ll keep you posted on progress in the run-up to the April production.

After that, next on my list of things to write is the fourth Cotswold Curiosity Shop mystery, as yet untitled, but also already  available to pre-order on Amazon here, with a launch date of 5th July 2026 – which is a bit scary, considering I haven’t written it yet!

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WHAT I’M READING

Finally, a few book recommendations from what I’ve been reading ithe last little while…

The Orchid Hunter’s Daughter by Jane Anderson

The publication of this book was timed perfectly for me, because I’d just finished reading Sathnam Sanghera’s history book, “Empireworld”, about the impact of British imperialism on the globe, and I was particularly fascinated by the chapter on botany, and the huge significance and popularity of plant-hunting.

I’m also keen on orchids, have enjoyed a visit to the Eric Young orchid centre on Jersey, have seen the Innerpeffray library (sadly from the outside – it wasn’t open when I was there), and know the area that the book is set in very well. Plus, I really enjoyed Jane Anderson’s first two novels.

“The Orchid Hunter’s Daughter” is her best yet – full of fascinating historical details woven seamlessly into a gripping storyline without swamping the plot, which, fittingly, cultivates the growth of three key characters, including the eponymous daughter.

I was completely hooked by this terrific combination, and raced through it, ignoring everything else I was meant to be doing, as I was so caught up in the story.

I’m really pleased to see this is the first in a series, and I really look forward to reading more books like this. Highly recommended.

Click here to order your copy. 

How the Heck Did They Do That? – 11 Traits of Epic Adventurers by Brad Borkan

It’s always worth reading Brad Borkan’s books, usually co-written with his collaborator David Hirzel, examing the habits and decision-making processes of remarkable people. This latest addition identifies key traits shared by an outwardly disparate group of achievers, identifying interesting commonalities between them. A relatively, quick easy read because of the short chapters, one per trait. I especially enjoyed the inspirational quotes at the start of each chapter – I copied some down into my commonplace book to help me remember them.

I read the ebook edition, but it’s worth getting the paperback as it’s a nice book to dip into and revisit. Would make an excellent present for people who are keen to maximise their own achievements.

Click here to order your copy. 

 

The Painted Veil by William Somerset Maugham

An engrossing read that reminded me of why I love Somerset Maugham so much – compelling flawed characters in challenging situations and vivid settings, this time set in London, colonial Hong Kong and China with a shallow, spoiled young society woman at its heart.

I love the Vintage paperback editions too, with their gorgeous, evocative covers.

I feel another Somerset Maugham binge coming on…

Click here to order your copy.