Santa is coming to my home village this evening to turn on the Christmas lights. We take this sort of thing very seriously in Cornwall, where villages and harbour towns raise funds all year to put on a colourful display. You people in Oxford Street do not know what you are missing; nothing beats the sight of coloured lights twinkling from waterside cottages and pontoons in the harbour.

With his arrival imminent this seems a good moment to write my list.

Dear Santa

In 2015 please can I have:

1. A year as enjoyable, busy and productive as this one has been.

2. That said, a bit more time for my own writing would be welcome.

3. Another successful Writing Retreat in March 2015, with more to come, working in partnership with my colleague Kath Morgan

4. An elf to keep my desk tidy.

5. A fall in the world price of printer ink. Really, it’s getting ridiculous.

6. A new issue of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. Mine is looking dog-eared.

7. A lovely new moleskin notebook.

8. Time to read, I mean really read, in that total immersion way.

That will do for now.

What would you give the writer in your life for Christmas? If you’re not sure, ask them now. Only 17 days to Christmas.