Sunday 13 December 2015

Happy Christmas One and All
This will be my last blog for 2015 and I'm sure like me you wonder where the last twelve months have gone. This year for the first time in many years we shall be spending it away from our own house and will be staying in Manchester with our daughter who lives about five minutes away from our son, daughter-in-law and our two grandsons. 

The week is ending on a high for me with two new stories published on Alfie Dog Fiction.

On Wednesday, my story, 'Whispers in the Olive Trees', was published. It is set in one of my favourite parts of the world, a region of Greece where I often visited my aunt and Greek uncle. Following in her mother’s footsteps a generation before, Alex travels to the Peloponnese region of Greece searching for answers. What changed Elin’s life forever in the summer of ‘69? Will Alex find out who the mysterious C. is? Why does an old lady verbally attack her on the beach?

To put you in the festive mood, why not download a Christmas story from Alfie Dog? Mine is entitled 'Santa Calls' and is one of the new stories that went live today. It's a feel good story that I hope will make you feel warm and Christmassy. The festive season is in full swing but Mary's heart is not in it this year. She goes through the motions of buying a tree and decorating the house but memories of happy Christmases past reinforce the fact that this one will be different. How can Steve help lift her mood?

I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas. What are your plans this year? Are you staying at home or like me spending it away? I look forward to hearing how you'll be spending your Christmases, whether you'll be writing or not and whether you'll be carrying out any family traditions as part of your celebrations.


As the year comes to a close in a couple of weeks, I'd like to thank you all for supporting the blog. It's two years old in January and I have my very loyal readers who read and comment - you know who you are! :-) but the 'stats' also show how many more people read the blog without leaving a comment. 

Thank you for reading and I'll see you all again in 2016.

You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and on my Jan Baynham Writer page.

12 comments:

  1. I hope you have a lovely Christmas, Jan. Best wishes for 2016.

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    1. Thank you, Patsy. You, too. Thank you for your help and support this year. 🙂

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  2. Congratulations on your story publications, Jan. We are at home for Christmas this year, but will go looking for some sun in january. I aim to keep writing up to and through the Christmas period, setting a modest daily word count goal. Best wishes for 2016.

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    1. After all this dreary rain, the sun will be very welcome, I'm sure, Christine. I'm impressed that you're able to keep writing at such a busy time. Have a lovely Christmas and holiday in the New Year. Thank you for commenting and your good wishes.

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  3. Hi, Jan, and so glad the Santa calls is published. It's a lovely story and the olive groves one as well. You're doing well with your writing now. I've gone a bit lazy, but doing other things and still doodling. I'll get into the swing soon. We're at home and have all of our three grown up children with us and little Sophie Suzy as well, so looking forward to that. Best Wishes for you and your family, and Happy New Year. xx

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    1. Thank you, Sue. Have a lovely family time and enjoy spoiling baby Sophie. Thank you for all your positive vibes and support this year. Sending you good wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

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  4. Merry Christmas, Jan. We'll be spending Christmas with our daughter and son-in-law, so I'll be away from the computer and will try to take a break from writing. (But I'll have a notebook with me just in case I need to jot down a story idea.)
    See you next year!

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    1. I hope you have a happy Christmas, Linda. A break from the computer is good but we writers never know when inspiration will strike! When with other writers, I've lost count of the times one of us says 'there's a story there!' or 'you'll have to write about that' and wish a notebook was to hand! All the best for 2016. Thank you for commenting.

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  5. Have a fantastic Christmas Jan. I hope it is filled with joy, laughter, wine, mince pies, turkey, sprouts and Christmas pudding :)I'm staying in Germany this year. The Christmas fayre is just not the same - hence the list of things you must eat on my behalf :) Many congratulations on your Christmas Story in Alfie Dog. That's a great way to end the year. Wishing you good health and continued success in 2016. All the best, Jan!

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    1. Thank you for your good wishes, Nicola. We're spending our Christmas in Manchester this year with our daughter and our son and his family who live close by. I'm sure there'll be lots of what you recommend on the menu! I hope you, too, have a lovely time and enjoy your German Christmas. Here's to a happy and healthy 2016. Thank you for commenting.

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  6. Belated Christmas wishes, Jan, and congratulations on having your two stories published. What a splendid way to end the year. I hope your new year starts with being accepted onto the RNA's NWS.

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    1. Thank you, Sue. I do hope you've had a lovely Christmas. I shall let you know if I'm lucky enough to be accepted.

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