Perhaps it’s me, but this winter seems to be particularly dull and drear. The dark days of winter have never particularly bothered me. After all, those shorter days mean I have an excuse to stay indoors more and write. Or catch up with those indoor hobbies that just don’t seem right when the sun is shining outside. It’s also a great time to enjoy a drink in a cosy country pub!
Winter can be a great tool for a writer
Many authors use the seasons to their advantage. Foggy autumn nights, summer thunder storms and April showers can all be utilised. And dark winter nights are especially good for ghost stories and thrillers, aren’t they?
I have just finished reading The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves, featuring her marvellous character, Jimmy Perez. It is set on Orkney in the run up to Christmas and the short days add an extra layer of tension to the story. I loved it.
Writing historicals, I have to be very aware of the seasons, because in the Georgian period my characters are dependent upon candles, lamps and firelight. I keep a small printout of sunrise and sunset times on my wall to remind me of how much daylight my characters will have at any time of the year.
That’s one of the reasons I enjoy the change in seasons. I like the different scenarios that can be conjured. So why is it not working for me this year?
Perhaps it’s personal
“The desolation of a winter night sat brooding on the earth” Dickens (The Battle of life)
I live in the Highlands, a long way north. 57.7282° N, to be precise. Around the winter solstice the sun doesn’t rise until 9 am, and it’s gone again by 3.30 pm. That’s if it comes up at all. Although sometimes it does result in the most beautiful sunset or sunrise.
January and February always feel far bleaker than November and December, even though Spring is getting closer every day. This has set me thinking about the season and how we deal with it…. In our society there is definite bias towards the first month of winter!
Winter
“In winter’s tedious nights sit by the fire…Tell thou the lamentable tale of me/And send the hearers weeping to their beds” Shakespeare (Richard III)
The dictionary definition of winter is as the coldest season of the year. So, in the northern hemisphere, meteorological winter runs from the beginning of December to the end of February.
There is also astronomical winter, of course. This is from the Winter solstice, (21st/22nd December) until the Spring equinox (21st/22nd March)
Caution – AI reference!
If you google the definition of winter, the AI overview also adds that “it is characterized by cold, sometimes snow or frost, and signifies a time of dormancy or decay in nature, but also festive periods in many cultures.”
Festive periods…interesting
In the UK, it seems to me that no sooner have we thrown out the carved pumpkins of Halloween than thoughts turn to Christmas. 
We don’t even wait until Bonfire Night is over now before the first festive products appear on the High Street and online. I even went into one of our small local shops last September to find they were selling buckets and spades alongside the first mince pies! I kid you not. Sadly I did not know I would be writing this post at that time, or I would have photographed that.
Bah Humbug!
At the start of December we might be joyfully anticipating the winter feasts and parties galore to come, but I would point out to you that by twelfth night – January 6th – the celebrations are over. Festive lights are switched off, decorations taken down.
Wall to wall Christmas music disappears from our radios until next December.
So it’s not all bad then…
Enough now. Let’s look on the bright side.
I am usually very positive. Honest. I relish the winter, look forward to it. Where we live now, there are very few tourists in the winter, and since the beaches are not crowded in summer, just imagine the bliss of having all that sand and sea to oneself in winter!
And the roads are pretty quiet, too, with spectacular views of the snowy munros like the mighty Slioch on Loch Maree . What’s not to like?
However, this year I have had to seek out ways to revive my winter mojo.
How to survive the dark days.
I know some people dislike winter, and many suffer from Seasonally Affective Disorder (SAD). It is a form of depression and there is help available for it now, but there is also lots of self-help advice which is useful for us all, like this from the NHS —
- Get as much natural daylight as you can
- Get regular exercise
- Stay in contact with family and friends
- Keep up with your usual activities
- Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
Some people recommend yoga or gentle stretching first thing in the morning, or even just washing your face (or maybe taking cold shower, but I think that is a step too far!)
The late Dr Michael Mosley, in his book and BBC podcast Just One Thing, recommends stepping out into the morning light within two hours of dawn. It hits sensors at the back of your eyes and tells your brain that the day has begun.
Music can lift the spirits in these dark days, too. Or you might try starting the day by thinking of three things to be thankful for.
My own mood-boosters
Most of the things mentioned above are already part of my winter survival kit: taking a walk as soon as it is light, setting my alarm and getting to my desk by 9 am to crack on with my writing and going out every week to the leisure centre and a dance class.
Timers on lamps around the house help, too, so I don’t have to turn on the light every time I want to go into the kitchen. I have also set the timer on the stair lights to switch on every morning as well as the evening, so that when I get up in the winter it doesn’t feel as if it’s still the dead of night.
There are compensations of course. Days may be short here during winter, but even brief periods of sunshine are glorious, and this year we have seen some of the most spectacular Northern Lights since moving north. Watching the colours shifting in the night sky is truly wondrous.
Just writing this has improved my winter mood
I am beginning to feel more cheerful already. This blog is another task completed. A small success to build on in the coming weeks as I continue with my current wip.
And now, having taken a break before finishing this blog, I have just noticed these little beauties popping up in the garden. 
Finally, to make things even better
How could I have forgotten that Rescued by the Rakish Lord, which is published in May, is set on Exmoor during the dark days of January and February? I promise you that is exactly what happened, but that’s how winter’s dark days can cloud one’s judgement and make one forget the good things in life.
So now I am off to grab a book and sit by the fire… Although it looks like someone has beaten me to it! Happy days.
Sarah, who has almost completely revived her love of winter!
Perhaps you have some ideas of your own on ways to survive the dark days of winter – just pop them in the comments below, I’d love to hear them.
I so agree about the glories of winter sunshine, Sarah. In fact I was out and about in the far less glorious King’s Road this week and had to go back and get my sunglasses. The low sun was spectacular but hit me straight between the eyes!
And love your snowdrops. (I have one!) Can’t wait for the Physick Garden to open again so I can go and drool over their wonderful collection.
Somehow everything seems better when the sun is shining, doesn’t it, Sophie? Snowdrops are appearing here in abundance, now, swathes of white under the bare trees and bushes. Thank goodness for gardens (and I really must add the Physick Garden to my visit-list next time I am in London). I always feel better after just ten minutes outside but sometimes it can be an effort to get out of the door. I didn’t make any new year resolutions this year, but if I had done, it would be to make that effort! Thanks for dropping by.
Thanks so much for this, Sarah. I loved the photographs and envy you the snowdrops. I have never been able to grow them although, on Gardeners’ Question Time this week I learned that have to planted deep. It’s another grey, wet day here down in Sussex but hopefully the sun will soon put in an appearance and I’ll be able to try the early morning sun treatment. In the meantime I’m considering a light therapy lamp!
Glad you enjoyed the photos, Liz. Just sorting through them for the blog cheered me up. I can take no credit for the snowdrops, they were planted before we arrived, but they do seem to do well up here on the coast. As I write this the sun is shining beautifully here and I have already taken the dog for a morning walk, so now enjoying a coffee and feeling just a little bit smug!
You’re entitled to feel smug, having done that. Sunday is a day of idleness in the Maitland household. Coffee, pastries and newspapers. Loved your pics especially the fabulous Northern Lights. Thank you so much for cheering me up. Here in Hereford, it’s miserable, dark and raining. Again! What Scots would call dreich. Sigh.
Glad this cheered you on a dreich day, Joanna! Sunday is a sort of rest day here, too, so I am pottering rather than working too hard. Enjoy your pastries, coffee and newspapers!
I have managed to kill hundreds of snowdrops too, Liz. But last spring, lovely Christina Hollis gave me some of hers in the green. About 8 or 10 of them have come up and about 4 are actually flowering. I thought I’d planted them deep enough, but maybe not?