![Jo Franklin wishes you a Happy New Year](https://i0.wp.com/www.jofranklinauthor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Fireworks.jpg?resize=398%2C223)
Happy New Year 2018 Fireworks in London (from BBC)
Happy New Year 2018 and thanks for dropping by.
A new year means new beginnings, resolutions and good intentions. 2017 was a very tough year for me in my personal life so I am very pleased to leave it behind and look forward to fresh horizons. As with anyone who takes a hit on the personal front, my work life has suffered over the last twelve months and I start the new year looking forward to getting back to the focus of being an author.
As I have said in other posts, being an author is not all about writing. There are a lot of other aspects to the job – including writing blog posts! So my current Open Projects List looks like this :
- Series fiction proposals – this is my creative focus for the beginning of the year. I’d love to write and sell one of my zany series fiction ideas to a major publisher.
Move over Famous Five and Beast Quest!
- Devise sessions for an after school club – I’m delighted to have been asked to run a creative writing club at a school in Forest Hill. I hope to be able to share some of their work later in the year.
- Write a day course for adults. I teach creative writing part-time at The City Lit in London and I am running a course in early February so I need to put the materials together.
- CWISL – I belong to a group of authors called CWISL – Children’s Writers and Illustrators for Stories and Literacy – we work together to deliver literary events for children. I’m joint webmaster for CWISL and I’m also jointly responsible for creating the annual literary quiz
- Review my website (this one) and build a new one to promote my services as a literary mentor to aspiring children’s authors. So if you know anyone who would like some help then ask them to drop me a line.
- Papers Pens Poets. Like many authors I am a stationery addict. Eighteen months ago, I set up a website with my dear friend Anita Loughrey, exploring the way authors use stationery in their work. Papers Pens Poets includes interviews with authors and stationery reviews.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.jofranklinauthor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Anita-at-stationery-show-right-way-up.jpg?resize=225%2C300)
Anita at the London Stationery Show
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.jofranklinauthor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Anita-and-Me-right-way-up.jpg?resize=300%2C225)
Anita and Me – a business lunch overlooking the Thames
Sadly, Papers Pens Poets has been another victim of my difficult year so I’m determined to put that right in 2018.
So it’s a busy start to 2018. Bring it on!