Hello.  How have you been these past…um…seven months?  The last time we spoke I promised the remainder of Mum’s and my trip to Bath and as the next week came and went, the days and months snowballed and now here we are at the end of the year.

Perhaps you’re wondering where I’ve been?  Or perhaps not, but I do hope you’ll indulge my explanation nonetheless, in the spirit of festive cheer and all that.

Since I came back from Bath work has been non-stop in the most exciting and, often, all-consuming way.  Over the past 7 months I’ve seen 4 programmes through, from start to finish and am mid-way through working on another 2.  I’ve been very fortunate to travel with work and this year I got to have a go on the ‘big’ cameras, shooting for broadcast on an international series.  This has been a great year for professional growth and I’ve grabbed opportunities with both hands and tried to push myself out of my comfort zone.  I think, it’s largely been a positive learning experience.  When I think back to this time four years ago, as I was getting ready to move to London, I dreamt of a career that would leave me creatively fulfilled.  Each new job and skill I can hone brings me a step closer to making that my everyday.  (Or as close as I can get to it.)

Outside of work I’ve still been exploring more of the city; devouring as many books as my daily commute will afford me the time to read and getting to know my community a bit better.  (That last one’s been a bit of a slow burner on account of rarely being around but I’m embracing the mantra of baby-steps-still-move-me-forward.)

In September I travelled to York to celebrate the wedding of dear friends made long ago.  Old familiars caught up as though we’d never been apart, dancing well into the wee hours and getting up to as much mischief as we could manage before we had to catch our respective trains home the following day.

The following month, Mum and I took a race to Lisbon, for a belated birthday city break.  We started strong but an unfortunate gamble with some grey meat didn’t pay off and rendered us housebound for the majority of the trip so our sightseeing was somewhat limited.  That said, I came back 5lbs lighter than when I went away so I’m taking it as something of a win, if not a great excuse to return sooner rather than later.

In November, I learned a schoolfriend was very ill with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  The old girls from our school got together and began to raise funds that could enable her to pay for life-saving cancer treatment, in the form of a drug called Nivolumab.  (I hadn’t heard of it either.) Together we held events of all sizes and are slowly helping Vicky inch ever closer to achieving her target of £50,000.  If you fancy a longer read please click here for her story.  Her strength of spirit in the face of adversity is really incredible.  If you can donate, please do.

December was a mix of travelling and getting ready to travel and involved me spending very little time in London and an awful lot of time on the road.  All good fun though!  I’ve been spending the last week at Mum’s, eating chocolates like they’re going out of fashion and moving less than I should, given the chocolate-to-mouth ratio.  And that’s us up to date.

How has your year been?  I’d love to know.  When you look back, are you satisfied with how things turned out?

Moving forward, (I hate that turn of phrase but I’ve been toying with this post on and off for hours so it’ll have to do,) the direction of the blog looks set to re-route a little in 2018.  I’d like to shake up the content to include much more creative prompts and play.  There’ll still be plenty of travel but alongside it there’ll be more about writing, navigating freelance life, literature and, probably, political landscapes.  I’m also going to try and work through the massive backlog of rushes that have lain dormant on my Drive for up to 24 months.  (I KNOW. What can I say?  Editing is bloody hard graft and takes me hours upon hours of fiddling about.  I promise, I’ll get to it.)

Until then, I wish you a peaceful, memorable New Year celebration with your nearest and dearest, wherever in the world you may find yourself today.

With love,

Laura X