Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing)

My final post before 2024 is finally done with. Frankly, I say – thank the gods for that. It’s been a dreadful year for me in many ways, not least as a writer. That said, there’s been some great things along the way.

From the writing point of view, the worst aspect of the year has been my complete and utter failure to finish editing my fifth book and get it published. Along with that is my failure to edit the videos to my new video course that accompanies my Try Not To Laugh memory book.

That said, I got down to more consistent writing online, including getting more book reviews done. I’ve been particularly pleased with the book review podcasts that my friend Nick and I have done in recent months.

Without making the terminal mistake of making new year resolutions (which we all know won’t happen the moment you decide they will), it is my hope, at least, that I’ll get even more book reviews out in 2025 and Nick and I will settle into a routine of doing one podcast per month.

On top of that, I need to get more writing done to help writers craft their work better. I’ve got so much material, I really need to share it. I will perhaps start doing some midweek posts rather than just my usual weekend one.

Personally, outside the writing work, it has been a transitional time this year too. Just over a year ago my family and I moved home. My daughter was due to get married too. We’re still living out of boxes now in a house that is ever-eating into our wages and my daughter, alas, didn’t get married in the end. It was a traumatic time, to say the least. On the plus side, I have a wonderful study with a great view and listen to the birds all day long while I work and my daughter has found a lovely young man who dotes on her. And the boxes are, slowly, finally disappearing.

So I’m hoping 2025 is going to be a less traumatic year, but also an exciting one as I get the next book done and get started on my sixth and seventh books. I hope too that I get more time to read so I can do more book reviews – I would love to review at least fifty books next year. Let’s see if I get anywhere close!

See you all next year (and next week). Thank you to everyone who comes visit these pages. You come in your tens of thousands every week from all over the world and that amazes me. Most of you seem to like what you read and that amazes me even more. I hope you all have wonderful new year celebrations and a prosperous 2025. See you on the other side.

Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.

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