Writing

October 28, 2016

‘Pass me the flibberdegibbet would you?’ ‘No, I was in here first.’ ‘You’re not even watching anything – you’re flicking channels.’ ‘I happen to enjoy flicking channels.’ ‘Oh don’t be an asparagus about it; just give me the galloping flibberdegibbet will you – the Eastenders ominous is on and we need to catch up.’ (…..)

Should I do NaNoWriMo?

October 26, 2016

If you have no clue what I’m talking about and wondering What is NaNoWriMo? Then here’s a quick answer: it’s short for National Novel Writing Month. In November writers all round the world get their pens and keyboards at the ready and try to write 50,000 words. There’s a website for support and to help track your word count, and little groups get together in real life for writing sessions. Now that November is approaching fast, I’m wondering if I should get with the programme….

What it’s like to be an Introvert

October 20, 2016

Move over anxiety; being an introvert is the new fashionable difficulty! I am of course, being slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I when I recently started getting into You Tube, I couldn’t believe how many people are giving their videos titles such as, ‘Coping with anxiety,’ and ‘My depression story.’ I couldn’t help but be a little cynical. Could this many people really be dealing with mental health issues, or has it just become a little fashionable? Then I considered two things…..

5 Ideas to do in October

October 15, 2016

1. Kick some leaves. Next time you’re on your way to work, walking the kids to school, or generally going about your day, and you spy a pile of leaves at the side of the pavement; kick it! Go on! Even if there are people about to see; scatter those leaves in the air! (Just make sure there are no small children nearby you might accidentally kick in the face. And make sure the foot not in the air has secure purchase on the ground – not on a wet slippery leaf. See? I struggle with letting go.)…..

Adulting: A series of things I should’ve learned by now – Keeping receipts

October 13, 2016

I always have the best intentions of keeping receipts. In fact, I gasp in horror when people throw away a receipt before they’ve even tried on the item of clothing; or plugged in the toaster – let alone keeping them for a year at least! Like everything in my house, I struggle to throw anything anyway in case it comes in useful one day. Keeping the receipts isn’t the problem – it’s keeping them in an orderly manner that is. As you can see from the photo, I currently stuff all receipts in the same cupboard that I keep the ketchup and honey. Why I do this? That’s anyone’s guess….

Blackberry picking

October 4, 2016

At this time of year, throughout our childhood, my sister and I would go to Nanny Up-the-road’s house (Or Nanna Sharland to my cousins) and then we would venture off to Woodland’s Walk with washed empty ice-cream tubs ready to fill with autumn fruit. I used to look forward to it so much. Proof that you don’t need expensive toys and gadgets to have fun – just nature and family time. This is a gentle post about memories and blackberries….

Welcome to Blogtober!

October 2, 2016

What is Blogtober?I have set myself a blogging challenge to upload a post every single day in October. I noticed several people doing Vlogtober on You Tube, but as I already have Vlogmas planned for December, I decided to stick to writing and photographs for this month. Yes, I know I’m starting a day late. That’s because Friday’s post was delayed by a day, so that’s pushed everything up a bit. This is also quite a brief one because this weekend has been all about my eldest daughter’s twenty-first birthday, which has kept me rather busy. So, the reasons I’m doing Blogtober are to see if I can keep it up because maybe I’ll try writing shorter posts, but add them daily even after October if it goes down well. Also, I love blogging, but it is encroaching on my Oshun business time because I am a slow writer. At the moment I spend about an hour and half writing a post; an hour taking, editing and adding photos and half an hour to three-quarters adding links into the it. My goal in daily blogging is to make the process much faster without compromising on the quality. I’m hoping the daily practice will help a lot, but if it doesn’t, at the end of the month I’ll probably go back to three times a week. We’ll just have to see how it goes! The last reason is that I have a notebook where I write all my ideas for blog posts, and I have so many, at the rate I’ve previously been going, I’ll never catch up with all of them, so I’m looking forward to writing all the things I’ve had in my head for a while. Wish me luck!

Monthly Memoir – September

October 1, 2016

September is mainly about birthdays in my family – particularly this year as it’s a special one. Jude was eighteen on the twelfth, and Rain is twenty-one tomorrow. So we took a trip over to Kent to celebrate with each of their grandparents; aunts, uncles, and cousins etc and of course eat birthday cake! Although it seems like we travel there quite often, I still miss them all since we moved, so I like a good reason to see them again. A week later, Jude celebrated with friends by having an afternoon tea party in the garden. They all really enjoyed themselves and the food, games and weather were all a success. I’ll be writing a blog post next week about the whole thing, if you’d like to come back and have a look. There are also some pretty pictures on my Instagram!….

Monthly Memoir – August

August 31, 2016

The very sad truth of the matter is that if I am writing this at the end of August, that pretty much means that summer is over. The leaves on the willow are mostly yellow already and flowers are sparse in our garden. It’s been a lovely summer, but a very busy one so I’m making a note to be more prepared next year. It began at the beginning of June with frantic sewing of bottle bags for Glastonbury Festival; then I just had a week to get ready for the three week American road trip; then I had two weeks to fulfil two custom orders for Oshun and get ready for my stall at the New Forest Fairy Festival; then I had two days to catch up on housework before my parents came for a a few days; then I had four days to make a mermaid wedding dress ready for a photo shoot in Cornwall. Which brings me up to two days ago! I’ve still got a couple of Khaleesi costume orders to make, but once those are done I can calm down a little. Oh and then it’s my daughter’s eighteenth birthday party. I’m hoping I get one or two days to relax before Christmas! ….

Monthly Memoir – July

July 31, 2016

The whole of July was pretty much about our holiday in America. The few days before we left were spent frantically researching where we were going, and the few days after were spent unpacking, washing, and trying to get over jet-lag. We had three weeks away and began in New York, getting the AmTrack train down to Washington DC, picking up a hire car and driving to New Orleans via Nashville and Memphis, and then following the coast East to Orlando to spend the last couple of days in Disney’s Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios. Wow! I’m exhausted just remembering it! We covered ten states of America (New York, New Jersey, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.) Phew! ….

pink alarm clock - a short story about Kurt Cobain

Insomnia

July 21, 2016

Here’s a poem / piece of writing giving you an insight into what goes on in my mind at night….

Monthly Memoir – June

July 1, 2016

What a tricky month June has been in the world of politics. I think it is a real shame we left the EU, but just as I thought we might be ok, Michael Gove puts himself forward for the leadership. I think I would have to leave the country if that happens! Anyway, for me it’s been my busiest month of the year, as I was making cup carriers and bottle bags to be sold at Water Aid stands at Glastonbury Festival. I’m not entirely sure how my sewing machine coped, but in the end I delivered two hundred and seventy-five altogether….

Writing

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