Thank You for Another Year of Stories.

Here is a wee behind the scenes shot from this series of Big Scottish Book Club. In it, you can just about glimpse our floor manager Karen and Peter on camera one and I think that's the silhouette of the back of Gareth on camera two. Out of shot are all the other people who make the show happen - the runners, producers, assistant producers, make-up team, the catering van, the cleaners who make it all sparkle and the drivers who get us around. Then there's lawyers, accountants, editors and commissioners and publicists and marketing folk. It is a massive team effort to make telly and I've been lucky enough to make lots this past year. So, thank you everyone at IWC and BBC Scotland. And thank YOU for watching and sharing!

The same goes for radio - it's a smaller scale but it is still not possible to do solo, even if it is only my voice you hear when you catch me in your kitchen or on your way to work. Thank you especially to Steven Rajam and the team at Overcoat Media and everyone I have worked with at R4 and BBC World Service this year. I am so proud of 'Whose Truth Is It Anyway?' You can still catch it on iPlayer.

Writing seems a solo enterprise and it is, in many ways. I've been working on my novel this year and it is mostly just me and my characters deciding what to do next. But the novel wouldn't be possible without all the folk at my new publisher, Canongate-the editors and assistants and marketing and press and accountants and literary agent and everyone else involved in taking a book from a thought to a finished thing you can hold in your hands. There is so much more to do, so I'll be disappearing back into my book soon.

I recently announced I'm adapting my memoir Maggie & Me for the stage with the National Theatre of Scotland. Its a huge honour. I'm cowriting the play with the wonderful James Ley and we are working with the inspirational Suba Das as our Director. I can't thank them enough for pushing me as a writer and lifting me as a person. The teams at NTS and all the partner venues are huge - theatre is the most collaborative and iterative work I have done so far. I can't wait for you to see it next year--we tour in May and June 2024. I am also slightly/moderately terrified about this.

Thank you for all your messages of support and your questions here and at all my events through the year. Your insights often come at just the right time. And in these darkest times it matters even more that we all keep sharing our stories.

See you for more in 2024.