Have a Two-Faced New Year!

Isn’t technology wonderful?  That is, until it breaks down.  Then you realise how much you rely upon it.  I was hoping to show you some breathtaking shots of Hadrian’s Wall and Derwentwater that I took on my cameraphone over the holidays.  That is until my mobile phone gasped its last before I could transfer the pics to my laptop.  And they haven’t been saved to Dropbox because it’s full and despite those annoying pop-ups, I didn’t want to pay for extra storage.

Sometimes the digital world can be liberating and present so many opportunities.  Through Facebook, I’ve just reconnected with a student friend I haven’t seen for many years and of course listenupnorth has been a great platform for audio recordings of my own and other Northern writers’ work.  But at other times, when things don’t work for us or when we are faced with constant demands for our attention, it can feel like a straightjacket.

It’s at times like this, when we are chained to our keyboard and feel like we’re going round in circles, that we need to walk away and take a fresh view.  As we cross the threshold of another New Year, I take my cue from Janus, the Roman God of beginnings, gates, doors, transitions and endings from whom January takes its name. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past .  It’s important that we remember all that we have achieved and all that we hope to achieve, sometimes because of, and sometimes despite, our digital culture.

I’ve had great fun reminiscing as I put together this collage looking back at my projects of 2016 (below).  Thanks to everyone who has supported them and I look forward to sharing future projects with you in 2017.