A Clue...see next blog

At this precise moment, Leia is alerting the world to the fact that there is someone two fields away who is a murderous threat to her humans. She's gone outside and is barking frantically through the fence. They are obviously quivering in their walking boots, completely out of earshot.

What a stunning day. The sun made an appearance late morning and decided to hang around. I can barely see this screen as I type because I'm sitting opposite the patio doors, so if there are spelling mistakes, I can't see them.

Leia is apparently happy that she has done her job and is back beside me, in case the imposter somehow appears in the lounge. She's very happy that the sun is out. Nothing better than lying beside your human, bathing in the sunshine.

We watched a great film on Netflix last night. It is advertised as 'Trueish', which is accurate if you look it up afterwards. I would highly recommend it. A lovely, simple, feelgood film about a real character who is an absolute gem. How wonderful that there are people like this in the world. Rory Kinnear plays him brilliantly. I looked up his birth year and felt sad that he must've been ten when his dad died. I knew Roy died a long time ago but didn't realise it was quite that long 😕. Anyway, it's an excellent film.

I also watched Call the Midwife last night (mine and Nikki's favourite programme - sooo exciting when, each year, New Year 's Day arrives and the special is on then a WHOLE NEW SERIES!). It was very close to home this week, which was tough to watch, but was so well done, as ever. I hope Call the Midwife goes on forever. There is rarely an episode that doesn't bring tears to my eyes.

I did some more writing yesterday, but actually fell asleep doing it. I hope that's not a reflection on how riveting it is (or isn't)! That's why I ended up watching Call the Midwife after midnight, because the unplanned nap messed up my body clock. I suppose I ought to read through what I wrote, but I'm almost dreading it. If I was that tired, I may have been rushing it.

Every so often I can hear a crash as Jon chucks something down from the loft. This is the first tier of the Great Loft Clearance because he has been meaning to do it ever since coming back from Bahrain. The fact that the solar panel people will need access at some point to do work on our panels means that it's time to get started, and the fact that he's not going to freeze solid up there as he would have a week or so ago means it's definitely a better time to start.

Where did those four hours go? Nearly time for SlimmingWorld. I'm at target but I still weigh-in each week so keep track as I don't want to put the weight back on. I'm also on the Social Team so I take money for the raffle and sell the magazines and HiFi bars. Just took some painkillers as, for some bizarre reason, my neck and upper back aches like mad and I keep getting pains in my chest. Hopefully I'm not having a heart attack but if I don't come back tomorrow...

Not keen on Elon Musk, personally, but he said:

Failure is an option. If things

are not failing, you are not

innovating enough.

As per Thomas Edison. 

Don't be afraid to fail.

Decisions decisions

 Today the pelvic and back pain is gone. I will say no more about it except 🙏.

This day has been another all over the place day. The car failed its retest (!) so today was a scramble for parts, and tomorrow Jon and Tasha will replace the brake shoes, or pads, or something like that. The air, no doubt, will be blue, but at least they will be outside. Apologies to the neighbours.

Tasha and Reece are working at the Chinese and Jon is in Poole at a day festival (indoors) so apart from the dog wanting to go out into the garden every five minutes, it is quiet here. I will attempt to get on with some work. I did a bit earlier, about half a scene, then I had to go to Euro Car Parts. Joy.

I'm tempted to read because I've wanted to get on with the autobiography that Alan bought me. I read some in bed last night but had to stop because Jon turned off his light and it's a book, it's not on a kindle. Or I could relax and watch a RomCom. I've been wanting to rewatch Just Go With It for ages.

Too many choices.

A lovely local lady with her partner and family took Leia out for a walk today. It's their third time together and Leia loves it. She was so excited when she saw her again. She never refuses a walk (she has a LOT of energy) and I love that people who can't have a dog right now get a chance for cuddles and dog walks. Leia gets a mega walk with Jon most mornings but never turns down the chance to go back out lol. When I first got her, I asked the vet what was wrong with her as she would tremble at the front door with her lead on. I thought she was traumatised. The vet couldn't explain it. Eventually I realised it was pure excitement. She couldn't control her anticipation about what was on the other side of that door!

Leia's previous BorrowMyDoggie friend is moving up to Scotland to be back with her husband. We are all sad as she adored having Leia now and again, and even had her for the odd weekend that we were away (a Godsend as Leia can't go where there are cats). We will miss Helen. She is the loveliest woman you could wish to meet.

I still can't decide what to do this evening. Perhaps I'll write for half an hour, then put the laptop away. Seems a fair compromise.

Quote for today:

The person who makes something today

isn't the same person

who returns to the work tomorrow.

Rick Rubin

A lot of these thoughts we touched on during our MA. It is quite a profound thought that as every minute passes we become minutely different. Everything in the universe affects us, so how we approach something becomes different from the way we imagined it at its conception. We can never complete something creative as the same person who started it. If it is something prescriptive, that's different. There is a route, a way of doing something, and it has to be stuck to...but something that evolves according to our will is unpredictable. I have planned novels that I don't now even recognise because, as external happenings influence me, my vision of it changes too. 

I hope you're having a great weekend.

Disjointed day

After taking Leia for a few loops of Mudford Rec this morning, I called at Tesco Express then went home and sluiced her off. It was a wee bit muddy! Bit of a nightmare with the retest of Tasha's car - the garage said they couldn't do it, after saying to drop it back anytime before 28th. She needs it by Sunday to get back to Bournemouth so please keep everything crossed that they find ten minutes tomorrow. All the work has been done. 

I seem to have been jumping about all over the place today re writing. I started off by looking at what my serial synopsis included so far then, out of the blue, I emailed the editor and asked about the 9500 word stories. Are they all crime/mysteries? Do they need a synopsis first or just the complete story? How much do they pay? My editor is amazing and always responds really quickly, even though he's maxed out. I'm so lucky to have a good rapport with him. (He also said that my serial instalment 3 was super after my rewrite and that he will send it across to the main editor straight away. Angela has the final say so I wait with bated breath.) 

Anyway, this got me thinking and took me away from my present serial plan. I started thinking about how I could write a 9500 word mystery and then I remembered a few scenes that I cut from the novel I worked on for my MA. I loved the two elderly characters but felt like there were two many different decades involved in the story. The first chapter was actually one of my favourites but I'd eventually taken it out. I piddled around in my emails and found it (I always email myself any work I do), copied the relevant chapters into a new document and read through it to see if it could work. I realised that if I could split it and add some scenes in between and then some at the end, I could turn it into a mystery, although it would be a comedy mystery (if there is such a thing?!). I will have a go. I already have about 4500 words to work with. Some of the language needs changing, but it has potential. I won't really know until I've written a fair bit more whether or not it will work.

Jon's out at a festival in Poole tomorrow (Saturday) so that'll be tomorrow's job for me.

Today's happening have been slowed down dramatically by pelvic and lower back pain. I've had the spasming pain in my back for a week or so (what I've had since I was 16 and damaged it. The spasming comes and goes). Today's pain feels like when my endometriosis was bad, so it is either inflammation from something I've eaten, or it's pain that's travelled from my ribs/back. Either way, I wish it would do one as it always freaks me out. It's too much of a reminder of what that pain was like day in, day out - and it makes me silently panic that it's back. It will probably last a while longer, then start to fade. It happened when we were at Butlins last September for a 70s weekend and made it a bit miserable for me. I had to keep going back to the cabin, take pills, lie down with a hot water bottle for an hour or more and hope it would calm down enough for me to go back to the club.

Today's quote is by Thomas Edison:

I have not failed. 

I have found 10,000 ways that won't work.

A really well-known one, for good reason. I can certainly relate. When I first started submitting to magazines, I could easily have given up. There were a lot of rejections; enough to repaper a house over the years. The trick is to find a balance between developing a thicker skin at the same time as listening to what an editor says. They know what the reader wants and if you think you know better, you won't sell your work to the magazine. Writing seems to be a learning curve that never really ends. There's always something new to learn and there will always be something that doesn't work, no matter how many years you've been writing. Edison swallowed his pride and battled on. What a great life lesson.

Veins and words

 This afternoon was blood test time. As usual, I apologised to the nurse before she'd even got her gloves on.

"I'm sorry," I said. "My veins are not the easiest to find."

She laughed. "A lot of people say that," she said. "We'll be fine."

She poked about on my arm for a while, then suggested we try the other one. 

Finally, she looked at me.

"You weren't joking, were you," she said. "Do you actually have any veins?"

Eventually, she thought she'd found something, put in the needle and, hey presto, we had lift-off.

As I got my coat on to leave, she said 'Can I suggest something?"

"What's that?" I replied.

(This is the bit that Tasha will love).

"Could you get a tattoo?"

(Yep, I was a bit taken aback.)

"Erm. A tattoo?"

"Yes. Right where I got the blood out. It is going to save you and other nurses an awful lot of time in the future."

Jon wasn't too impressed when I relayed the story to him 😂.

This evening I went to the cinema to see The Crucible, beamed live from the National Theatre. Amazing! I've never seen or read The Crucible before (I know, I know. I'm a philistine). All I knew was that it was about witchcraft. What a word-wizard Arthur Miller was. Incredible that such a dark play could make you come out feeling satisfied and somehow buoyant alongside the sadness.

There are only so many words in the world, but people have made endless magic with them. They've made us feel every emotion known to man, just through their imaginings. Poems, monologues, plays, novels, short stories, films, docudramas and lyrics, as well as the wordless like music and art. All of life condensed into something so small, and yet so enormous.

We're so lucky. What would we be without language and art?

Another gem from Rick Rubin...

The ability to look deeply

is the root of creativity.

To see past the ordinary and mundane

and get to what might otherwise be invisible.

What else can you add? This is what all these genius artists did, and still do.

Kindness and frustration

People are so kind. Since Tasha and Reece's wedding has been announced, people have been so generous, offering to make, lend or give us things for the big day. I feel pretty emotional, to be honest. It's really amazing. It feels like every other minute I think of something else we need to do or organise. Poor Tasha and Reece haven't had much peace on their week away lol.

Last night I went to the cinema to see Babylon. I confess to being a bit concerned that it was over 3 hours long, but it turned out not to feel like 3 hours at all. It was a BIG film - a sort of cross between an extravaganza and a love letter to cinema. Brad Pitt was brilliant and Margot Robbie was amazing. 

I am sad that I haven't had time to read for a few days but I have managed to plot instalment 2 for the serial synopsis so that's something. I had intended to plot instalment 3 today, but am not confident that will happen. I have a daunting list of things to do and also the bank are being a total pain in the arse about a bank transfer and want me to ring them. Jon rang them yesterday and they froze our main account. Now they are asking me to ring them as well. If I ring them and can't remember some flipping words about favourite places or teachers or something else equally ridiculous that I agreed on fifteen years ago, they will freeze mine too and then we will be sitting outside the house with a bowl, asking for dinner contributions 😧. I'm dog-sitting at Nikki's so will have to go home and find something that may or may not help me with the phone call. Arrrggggh.  I actually came set up for the day here today.

Best laid plans, and all that...

Some of the best ideas come from sheer discovery, and not by some masterminded, preconceived genius.

Spike Jonz

Was it yesterday that I was thinking about that? Most often, your original idea changes beyond all recognition before it reaches completion. And, it's odd because, once you decide to write about something, the universe seems to link you to things related to it. In reality, it is probably just a heightened awareness of that particular 'thing'. For example, I was watching Call the Midwife and a Hindu woman gave birth to twins. We learnt some things about what happens after a baby is born to a Hindu couple, which is relevant to what I am writing about. You get a sausage dog and suddenly they are everywhere lol. You get pregnant and suddenly every one in the world is pushing a pram. (I'm not pregnant 😜). 

Anyway, I suppose that's how the idea changes so much. You are linked to something, which sparks a new thought, which links you to something else, until the idea has metamorphasised (it doesn't seem to like that word) into something else entirely.

I do love quotes. They are so thought-provoking.

Which, of course, is the point of them! 😄

Finally!

 At last I can talk about the wedding! Reece asked permission before Christmas (I'm glad Jon said yes because Reece lives here and how awkward would that have been? 😄) but the engagement ring has only just made an appearance. Seriously, though, I am thrilled that Reece will be an official part of the family soon. I am so happy for them. The wedding is on June 13th so no time for messing around. It's definitely all systems go!

Despite all this, I have managed to do a bit of research here and there for the serial proposal, and have even managed to get past page 2 of 'The Creative Act: A Way of Being'. I should have waited a week or so before ordering it as I now have two books on the go. I'm also reading an autobiography but can't remember what it's called or who wrote it. His wife died of cancer after a long marriage and it flicks back and forth between her treatment and when they met etc. As soon as I've finished this blog, I will probably remember it. (no rolling eyes emoji - how can they not have a rolling eyes emoji? It's my favourite emoji of all time!)

Not surprisingly, I'm knee deep in researching Hinduism, so if there are any Hindus out there who might be willing to read my first instalment to check for embarrassing errors (when I've written it, of course) then please let me know. I will be forever grateful.

I've just looked up and the sunset through the patio doors is stunning. It nearly always is but pretty much evening Jon and I shout to each other to 'come and see this' as if we hadn't seen it before, yet we'd seen one twenty-four hours earlier. It never gets old, does it?

Richard E Grant. 'A Pocketful of Happiness'.

No I didn't remember. I ran upstairs to find out. I need the exercise anyway. I am 7435 steps away from my recommended 10000 steps and it's 5.22pm. And seeing as I am on the social team at SlimmingWorld tonight, I have zero chance of reaching the magic number, whereas Jon hits his, and more, every day. For him, it must be like living with a sloth.

I'll finish with a quote for you, from 'The Creative Act' by Rick Rubin.

Turning something from an idea

into reality

can make it seem smaller.

It changes from unearthly to earthly.

The imagination has no limits.

The physical world does.

The work exists in both.

(This is probably why many artists don't talk about their work until they have completed it. Talking about it somehow removes its magic. I get it. I used to think artists were being pretentious when they wouldn't talk about what they were working on. Did they think that someone would steal their idea? Nope. It was far more fundamental than that. (I do talk about what I'm writing as I talk all the time anyway, but I can't go into detail as the details always sound so ridiculous. Keep it general, is my motto. Discussing the intricacies kills it stone dead.))

Plans in sand

 Half the day was spent unproductively, waiting to find out if Yeovil Town's match was on. They didn't decide and announce it until 1.30pm. At least we hadn't travelled from Altrincham. Imagine!

After that, I could settle and get down to the long-overdue thinking. I was determine to come up with something for a serial this weekend. About a year ago, the editor sent me an example of a serial proposal that someone had sent in sometime in the past. It was fantastic and I unashamedly used it for my own. What I found was that, once you started completing the character analyses, their conflicts, personal stakes, development etc, the story outline began to emerge. Before that, I had been stuck, unable to form a complete plot. After this, I copied it, deleted the information I'd added, and was left with a serial synopsis template. Today, I looked for it and failed to find it (WHERE had it gone????!) so went through the process again, saved it and started to fill it in again. I didn't have much idea what this new one was going to be about, but I certainly didn't know that it was going to be called 'Daughters' and about a Hindu family! I have absolutely no idea where that came from lol. Now I have a whole lot of research to do, but that's OK because I love researching. The trick, as many of my friends know, is not to fall down the research rabbit hole and never scramble back out...

Later on, Ant and I sat down to watch Teen Wolf (we've been making our way through the seasons for about a year, whenever he comes to stay. Often we don't get the chance to watch it. We probably managed more before Jon retired ha). We saw some last night, but got deflected today by a true crime programme (we both love them). We ended up watching two but, worryingly, the second one was about a son who killed his parents with a shotgun because he wanted their inheritance. I kept trying to drop in how Jon was now retired, just in case :-)

I have read one page of my new book. I loved that one page and am very excited about reading page two.

'Write the story that's in your heart'...even if you don't realise it's there.

Thinking

 I was thinking (yes, that's the title) about what is the most difficult part of being a writer at home. Interruptions? Yes. It's impossible to not be interrupted, but it would be the same in an office. Harder, probably. Possibly... well, no...probably not, really. 

Actually getting the work done when you're freelance and nobody is waiting for what you are writing. There are a million other things that need to be done first. Well, people are waiting occasionally, if it's a serial or, for instance, when My Weekly wanted me to write a Pocket Novel for Christmas and I had five weeks to write 50,000 words, plus the edit, because I had to finish my degree first. That wasn't funny. Tasha always reminds me of when I disappeared into a room, worked night and day, and re-emerged five weeks later. It didn't help that the editor decided she wanted to radically change a character halfway through, so I had to go back to the start and change a LOT.

But thinking. That's something else entirely. When you're hidden away in a corner of the house, staring into space, it's hard to convince someone that you're working. But without a great deal of thinking, it's very hard to write as there's nothing to write about. As Tasha mentioned in the first post, I have about a million tabs open, and a lot of these look crazily random: the history of the ironing board; when was bread first sliced commercially; definition of a daxie dog (is it specifically miniature dachshunds or dachshunds in general?).  These are all part of the 'thinking time'. Some come to nothing and some suddenly take shape and become something exciting. The feeling you get when you know something is going to work is like a high. I'm sure all of us feel that. Creating a new recipe, painting a landscape, probably tidying up the garden. My book arrived...The Creative Act: A Way of Being...and the first quote is by Robert Henri: The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.

That's the best place to be.

But today's thinking is going to have to wait as Nikki needs a lift and someone from BorrowMyDoggy wants to meet at Mudford Rec at 2pm. 

Hey ho. 

'Tomorrow is another day.' I'm sure Scarlett O'Hara wasn't wrong:-)

Wow

 Wow wow wow wow wow. If you love theatre, don't ever miss out on your local AmDram productions. I'm lucky enough to go regularly to one in Yeovil (The Swan) - a tennis friend organises it for a small group of us. The productions are incredibly varied and it's rare that I'm not completely blown away by the talent on stage. Tonight, I was left speechless, with awe and emotion. The whole evening was a monologue by a young woman playing a sixteen year old with a terminal illness (Glee and Me). The actress was astounding. She didn't need a single prompt, which, to me, is some kind of witchcraft. How does anyone do that? You wouldn't have seen better on TV or at the cinema.

Go carefully out there. This evening, on my way to the car to go to the theatre, I went straight down on black ice on the path. I landed heavily on my right knee and right hand, and underneath my right hand was my phone. It smacked straight down on the pavement, my weight right on top of it. 'Well, that's a goner,' I thought. Imagine my amazement when I picked it up and it still seemed to work. Hopefully the same can still be said for my knee tomorrow. It's lost a layer of skin but fingers crossed that's all!

Dog-sitting for Nikki today, I managed to get the rewrite done about the Dog Show. I must show it to certain people in the cul de sac as a mention in it may make them laugh...

Failure on the ironing-board front. I didn't get around to researching its history, so that's one for tomorrow. It probably means I won't get to writing it until Friday. Hey ho. Tomorrow will be a bit fractured as my car is going in for MOT. We're also picking Ant up from Taunton, although I'm hoping Jon will do that in his car so I can do some work. Capazzoli is working his way through our cars. Tasha's today (fail). Mine tomorrow (hopefully pass) and the Picasso in Feb. We should get a family discount ha.

The infamous weird spots have flared up again on my upper left arm. These weird spots/lesions started on my left thigh during the last heatwave in August after I swam in the sea with a load of mackerel (yes, I know!). They were pretty dire and lasted for months. I had, and still have, to moisturise twice a day and use steroid cream. The spots spread to the whole of both legs, but worse on my thighs than lower legs. Eventually, before Christmas, my legs cleared and they appeared on my upper arm. All very odd. I'm having a biopsy soon, apparently, but they couldn't tell me when. Dr said it would be quite a few weeks before I could be given an appointment. Gutate psoriasis is a working diagnosis, I was told. It doesn't itch and it doesn't hurt either. Very odd.

I'll send the rewrite off tomorrow. After not having written anything for a few months, before the steroid injection kicked in, Alan my editor at PF must be wondering what on earth is happening! 

Have a great Thursday.

Interruptus

 Hi all. I've been away for a few days down in West Sussex to stay with my sister and her husband. I also went down for the funeral of a wonderful lady, Anne, who was the mother of my best friend through primary school. Sally and I were inseparable for those years and, sad though it was to say goodbye to Anne who had been like a second mother to me then, it was amazing to catch up with Sally and make plans to spend some proper time together.

Whilst down there, I did manage to catch up with another close friend and we had a fantastic meal together (thank you Sharon!). Over the few days, I sent off a story about Limericks and managed to do a final edit on the final serial instalment and send that off too. Tomorrow, whilst dog sitting for Nikki, I intend to do a rewrite on the short story that came back last week, and also research the history of the ironing board for another short story (don't ask! lol). Hopefully, I'll be able to write that one on Thursday or Friday.

Weirdly, after that flare-up, my tooth has been fine. Sore and a bit swollen, but that's been the norm for over a year.

I'm wrestling with wanting to order a book that I've had my eye on for months. It came out today. It's called 'The Creative Act: A Way of Being' by Rick Rubin. It is about creativity in all its form and how it is in all of us. It looks amazing and I think I am likely to give in any second now...

Yep. Couldn't hold out any longer...used some Christmas money that I received from a kind relative.

Excited!

Lastly, I've been listening to Prince Harry's 'Spare' on audible. Apart from being gripping, I am aghast at his narration skills. He is also very proficient at accents, which makes me think that perhaps he missed his vocation as an actor. He could certainly have a career narrating audiobooks.

The above is so important. If you can't bear to fail, you will be forever paralysed, and that essential part of you will never be set free.

 Uuuurgh toothache. I've had an underlying infection around my wisdom tooth for about a year, but have been terrified to have it removed because my last dentist said 'don't ever have another wisdom tooth removed at the dentist. You have to insist on having it done in hospital.' However, this dentist said it wouldn't happen. Nowadays, having it removed in hospital is not really an option, so I have agreed to having it removed by the specialist who comes to the surgery. I now have an appointment for 28th Feb, but today the paracetamol isn't really touching it. Not great news as I'm going away for a funeral in West Sussex on Monday.

I also had to book two appointments for a crown. I had to pay a 50% deposit for each procedure, so parted with £525. FIFTY PERCENT DEPOSIT! And the receptionist said it may end up being more than double this.

Take a deep breath...

I've just finished my weekly review on the SlimmingWorld podcast, posted on our local SlimmingWorld FB group. We have a new podcast every week from two SW members (one is a consultant as well). For those who don't know (is there anyone who doesn't know? lol), I started SW on 21st Dec 2021 and hit my 2st weight loss target on 12th Sept the following year. I honestly never thought I could lose what I called my Menopause Weight, and I'd tried! I'm still at target but am having to be careful because I am almost 3lbs below it. I'm finding it hard to find the right balance to maintain as opposed to losing still, but I'll get there. It's weird forcing yourself to eat more when you're not hungry. I already eat a lot! My best achievement is dropping 10 cholesterol points and getting down to the 3% risk bracket for cardiac events. 

Today was another great day, writing-wise. Last year (can't even remember when but early on), I submitted the synopsis and beginning of a serial for PF. They asked me for the first instalment which I sold. I submitted instalment 2 and about two months later it came back. The editor asked for major changes. She wanted me to drop one of the Points of View. This meant a complete rewrite. I did this and could subsequently see why she wanted me to do it. I resubmitted. Another gap of many months (a writer has to have patience and not chase things up, even though they may want to explode because of all the waiting) and today I sold instalment 2. I had held off rewriting instalment 3 in case there was still a problem with no. 2, but now I can get on with it. However, it has been so long since writing it, I will need to reread the 10,000 words so far before attempting the major rewrite of no. 3.

Wish me luck!

Writer's Tip: always remember that no matter how desperate you are to know how your 'baby' is faring, the editor has a million things on the go. Never wait for a response to something. Start something else.

Ideas

 Frustratingly, I can't say what my day has been full of so far today, but let's just say I haven't had time to get on with any writing. However, I am going to have to, even if I am still writing at midnight. 

Something I have been thinking about is 'ideas', and timings. Sometimes I have an idea every other day and sometimes there is a huge chasm where my creative brain cells should be. This is torture when I'm desperate to write something. PF do dedicate some pages online to sparking ideas in their writers, which are incredibly useful. When I remember (which is not always the case because I am in a creative desert, parched and panicking), I go on and have a look. If you are writing fiction for magazines, something you need to keep in mind is that you have to rise above the here and now. If you are sitting in your lounge, in the depths of winter, huddled up by the fire, you need to put yourself into a heatwave. If you are sitting on a sun-lounger by a pool in the Mediterranean (well, we can dream), you need to imagine yourself knee-deep in snow. I would say write six months in advance of your time-setting. Magazines plan a long way in advance. Word count is vital. Make sure you check. Sometimes there is a bit of leeway (10% perhaps) but not always. 

Think about big days that are coming up. Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, VE Day. You get the idea. You don't have to always be writing about 'days' but it can help to spark something. Similarly, you can use incidents that you've been involved with; everyday happenings that might be funny or particularly emotional. Make a few changes. Embellish a bit. You have a new story.

I don't often write in the study - more often in the dining room/Ant's room when he stays - but on the walls up there I have put up printouts of things that hit home. Here's one of them.

Find sayings that resonate and print them off. I will share my favourite one another day. It always makes me smile.

A Writer's Life

 For those who have little idea what I'm about, I'm in my fifties with three grown-up children, who are all really incredible in their own ways. I'm also lucky enough to have two amazing grandsons. Since 1994, I've been writing fiction for a number of UK women's magazines (Take a Break, Bella, The People's Friend and My Weekly).  I have always concentrated mostly on DC Thomson because they publish more fiction than other magazines (PF and MW). They were wonderful when I first started writing. Always so patient and encouraging, despite what I originally sent them being so dire! Nowadays, MW only accept manuscripts from their pool of regular writers, but PF still accept submissions from new writers. Here's a link to a very useful webpage which explains required story lengths, etc, for anyone who's interested. https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/2019/01/14/peoples-friend-fiction-by-numbers/  The page links to other pages which are treasure-troves of advice and ideas.

It's been a busy week writing-wise. I've sent two new stories to The People's Friend, and refreshed an old story and sent that too. It was rejected by MW about six months ago, but experience has taught me that you can often alter the length for another magazine and retry. They don't always sell, of course. Sometimes there is an inherent flaw with it that I've overlooked, or perhaps it just doesn't work that well, but sometimes it's just that they have recently bought something with a similar theme, or it's just a subjective decision by one editor - another might love it.

I have another complete story idea, too...I just need to write it. In addition, I've just received a part-rejection via email as I write - a previously-submitted story is a bit too long and needs a few changes. If I can get the changes right and cut it well enough, I can resubmit and keep my fingers crossed. So plenty to do this week before I go away on Saturday to visit my sister and go to a dear friend's mother's funeral on the 16th.  It's such a relief to be writing as I've barely done anything for months. I have arthritis in both thumbs, the right one being the worst, so I think my brain was trying to avoid the pain for me. I was struggling to type at all. My first steroid injection was in the summer of 2021, which worked but eventually wore off. I had another injection last September but it had absolutely no impact. Then I had another one in November and, thank goodness, it seems to be working. I can feel the pain now as I type, but it's nothing compared to what it was. It will wear off, of course, so I need to make the most of it right now.

I thought I'd include a few photos. The older ones, Take a Break, Bella etc, are in the depths of the loft somewhere in boxes. Over the years, I think I've sold approximately 200 short stories, won a few competitions and had a pocket novel published with MW. I then sold this on to a large print company and it went into libraries. I'm seriously thinking about attempting to write something for Mills&Boon because that's basically what Secret Santa was. Perhaps I can sell Secret Santa to them as well one day as I now have the copyright back, but you have to sell Mills&Boon something new first. Like DC Thomson, they are very good to their writers and can provide you with a great writing career if you break through.

I'm sure I've bored you enough for today. Apologies that it's not as funny as the first blog post. Tasha has now returned to university and so you're stuck with me. :-) (PS In case you're confused by the pocket novel by-line, Anne Ryan was my pen-name because it was my name before I was adopted).

What is Technology?

I have p'd off my daughter today. I have around 354 tabs open on my chrome browser. She says I need to close some down but finding out when UK Spring flowers bloom is just so important to me and I might need that tab again in 5-6 working years. How do I convey this to her? She's 19, so her brain is very different to my own. I don't know if she knows something I don't about searching for the exact same thing again at a later date, but this is unfathomable to me. What if I wake up screaming in the middle of the night needing to know when daisies break through the damp British soil and the tab is gone? How will I ever go on? Don't even get me started on the Ebay tabs...there's this thing called a 'basket' but I don't trust it. What if it loses all my anti-Tory mugs? I won't ever be able to find them again. That one was a once in a life-time investment. 

Also apparently I can have multiple browsers running at once, but this seems far too convenient. What if I need to buy a football scarf and check what day Mohammad Ali died at the same time? Oh, maybe he's not dead. Let me open another tab and check. I will never close it. Does anyone know what the arrow pointing left does? I think it destroys the page I am currently on and I'll never get it back. I think every time I make a new post on my blog I will open a new tab, just to be sure. After a year, my laptop will act like it's from 1876, perhaps worse. I think I may have websites open that have shut down. One of them still says that Obama is president and rerunning for the next campaign. The spinning arrow? Don't even get me started! She says I can press it to get today's news rather than open yet another beautiful tab, but I like to keep an archive of these things. What if I need to know the Man U score from 1903? There's no other way of finding it. Right? 

This is my daughter test-running my blog. Normally it will be about my life in general - particularly writing, so tomorrow's blog will not be anywhere near as entertaining, but tune in just to check.