A belated welcome to 2010

View from The Trundle in West Sussex

It has been too long since I last posted. I came back to London after my week in Sussex refreshed and ready for the new year so I decided to completely overhaul my flat and sort everything out which turned into a week long endeavour rather than the afternoon that I had anticipated. Two trips to Ikea later and I am now sitting at my brand new desk in my transformed bedroom. At long last I have somewhere proper to write! I have no excuses now (theoretically).

This is the first year that I have no official resolutions. Last week, as I was rummaging through a cupboard wondering how it had got so full of tat, I found a crumpled list. It was my New Year's Resolutions for 2009. Evidently, I am no good at fulfilling resolutions as I had spectacularly failed to fulfill any for 2009. As my mood started to droop I realised that I may not have 'achieved' any on the piece of paper I was holding but I had done plenty of other things in 2009 that could easily constitute a resolution. The most important one is this blog.

I started this blog because I love writing and I love reading and I was losing a connection to both of these things through the monotony of full time work, sleep, domesticity and just life after university. I am still finding my way and my voice but this blog helps me to do that. I have loved dipping my toe in to the blogging world and I am so grateful for all the comments since I started. And I am actually staggered that there have been any at all as I thought my only readers would be my mum and sister. Both of whom should take all the credit for this as without them I doubt I would ever have picked up a book in the first place. My sister has been a reading inspiration since the moment she read Peace at Last to me - with voices. And my mum, a dedicated reader, has the best bookshelves in all of Sussex.

The other major achievement for 2009 was that I gained a City & Guilds qualification in bookbinding. It was a year of hard work but was worth every moment as I met some fantastic people who have become good friends and I learnt a wonderful craft which I hope to take further and turn into a bigger part of my life.

So, no resolutions for 2010. I am going to see where the year takes me and when I am clearing out my cupboards in preparation for 2011 I won't have a stark reminder of what hasn't been done - only a year's worth of memories, all of which will be a bonus.

As for my reading challenge to read 50 books - I read 44, which I intend to beat this year! My reading highlight for 2009 was absolutely Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, followed closely by both The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald and Princes in the Land by Joanna Canaan. I am determined to reach 50 this year - perhaps I have made one resolution after all?