I have just become aware of how I’ve naughtily neglected this blog over the last month. I have been letting down my readers, all three of them. Facebook keeps sending me messages about how my followers haven’t heard from me for a while. I’m sure they’ll cope; however, I still feel rather guilty.

I now have to explain this hiatus without sounding passive aggressive. Simply, I’ve had lots of work on, and what with Christmas and all that, something had to give.

All is calmer now. Work is still happily busy; but the pressure of being Father Christmas for two expectant littlies with near-impossible riders has gone, and I don’t have as much as a Christmas cake to inject anymore. Life is simpler. However four weeks ago, I was sitting at this very laptop, as yet another email requesting “completion before Christmas” pinged over, thinking “Why on earth do people need copy for Christmas???”

If I sold crackers for a living, it would make sense. Indeed, if I sold anything more tangible than words it would not be surprising. But why do people urgently need copy for Christmas?

Then, of course, I realised. It’s called New Year. New year, new business plan, new direction, new website, new copy. And as the site has to be populated with lots of lovely words prior to its January launch, the text is written in December. It all seemed very sensible when I thought about it.

It may be – gasp – the first week of 2015 already, but it’s hardly too late to get a nice, New(ish) Year launch for that fresh website or brochure. If you work in any form of tourism-related industry in particular, you’ll know that this is the time of year when people start browsing in search of cheering holiday plans. In other fields such as catering and retail, you may be having a quick post-festive breather – the perfect time to step back and look at your promotional material.

So, if you make any business-focussed New Year’s resolutions, cast your eyes over your website, leaflets, posters etc. Looked at in the cold, clear, mildly hung-over light of January, it’s easier to see what needs refreshing.

And a very happy 2015 to you all.