Hello everyone and a very happy 2019 to you. I am sorry not to have been back since early November, but moving in and getting the house straight in time for Christmas quickly became a twenty-four hour a day job! For a few weeks we were kind of stuck in limbo as we waited for a new storage shed to be delivered and erected, thus freeing up the two bedrooms that have now become our studies - I got the big one, but that was Steve's idea. I must say it is lovely to be back at my desk and my beloved laptop, tapping away and befriending my Inner Writer all over again! It feels great to have all my books back on their shelves and I have even made a great start of sorting all my writing, updating and listing work that easily filled two dozen box files, which are all smartly re-labled and standing in a neat row along the top of the big bookcase! It all feels inspiring and incredibly right.
We have been seeing a lot of our grandchildren which is great! Three of the boys all had birthdays the first week in January which meant a family tea for the little one and dinner at Pizza Express with the whole family for the older two - and three birthday cakes in as many days. We took the older boys to a football match and our granddaughter to see a show and this weekend will be the little one's turn, with a trip to the SeaLife Centre which is just half an hour away. And yesterday we managed our first sea-front stroll since moving in, even though it was bitterly cold, but that takes nothing away from the fact that even a stroll along the high street involves the sight of the sea sparkling at the end of the road! I can't believe how lucky we are!
I have just starting looking for a part time job again. None too sure what I actually want to do, though. I still might go back into a Care setting, but being off work has reintroduced me to the joy of full weekends at home again and I don't really want to lose that, so we shall just have to see. In the meantime, I am writing - this is my second blog post today and I published an article on LinkedIn, earlier so I have been pretty active today!
I will try to get back with a Writing update before long. I have just introduced one of my books to a potential publisher so watch this space!
Friday, 18 January 2019
Wednesday, 14 November 2018
We Are IN!!! Westcliff is HOME
Here I am, back again after the frenzy of moving house last week. The Move Out went smoothly on Wednesday. We spent the night at an hotel and then Moved In on Thursday morning with the HUMUNGUS removals van pulling in just half and hour after us. The rest of that day is a bit of a blur. It comes back to me as one of those old fashioned cartoons with someone running across the screen in a puff of smoke. As our three removals guys brought in box after box after box, that is all I can recall; them running up and down the stairs and in and out of the rooms in puffs of smoke as the new house - now Home - got fuller and fuller and fuller. Eldest daughter Lorraine turned up midday with three year old Oscar in tow and even he seemed somewhat bemused by the all the activity.
By around 4pm, everyone had gone and a while later we popped along to this rather brilliant Fish and Chip retaurant we'd discovered a couple of weeks before, had dinner, went home, unpacked until midnight then fell into bed with every muscle throbbing! We have now been here for almost a week and it is already starting to look like Home. The kitchen/diner, living room, bedroom and bathroom are all but finished. The spare room and the room we have designated the Office will take much longer and could yet be box-bound for several weeks to come. The good thing is that the place is livable, even if I am writing this post at the table in our gorgeous kitchen diner!
Every day this week, we have been out either shopping for essentials (like bread and milk) or for Useful Household Implements (like mug trees and coat hooks), so we are getting to know the area of Westcliff , Leigh and Prittlewell, which is lovely. Ironically however, even though we have moved near to the sea, we haven't had time yet to actually take romantic walks along the sea front; never mind, I am sure that will come in time.
All in all it has not been nearly so stressful as we expected (although in all honesty, we have had our moments - mostly brought by exhaustion I suspect) and the really great thing is that we have seen lots of our grandchildren, which was, after all, one of the main reasons we picked the area.
It is a nice place to be. The neighbours seem very friendly; everyone has time to chat to you in the shops and we feel very comfortable here, so here's to many more days. And maybe, just maybe, I will be able to properly get back to my beloved writing by the next millennium!!!😌
By around 4pm, everyone had gone and a while later we popped along to this rather brilliant Fish and Chip retaurant we'd discovered a couple of weeks before, had dinner, went home, unpacked until midnight then fell into bed with every muscle throbbing! We have now been here for almost a week and it is already starting to look like Home. The kitchen/diner, living room, bedroom and bathroom are all but finished. The spare room and the room we have designated the Office will take much longer and could yet be box-bound for several weeks to come. The good thing is that the place is livable, even if I am writing this post at the table in our gorgeous kitchen diner!
Every day this week, we have been out either shopping for essentials (like bread and milk) or for Useful Household Implements (like mug trees and coat hooks), so we are getting to know the area of Westcliff , Leigh and Prittlewell, which is lovely. Ironically however, even though we have moved near to the sea, we haven't had time yet to actually take romantic walks along the sea front; never mind, I am sure that will come in time.
All in all it has not been nearly so stressful as we expected (although in all honesty, we have had our moments - mostly brought by exhaustion I suspect) and the really great thing is that we have seen lots of our grandchildren, which was, after all, one of the main reasons we picked the area.
It is a nice place to be. The neighbours seem very friendly; everyone has time to chat to you in the shops and we feel very comfortable here, so here's to many more days. And maybe, just maybe, I will be able to properly get back to my beloved writing by the next millennium!!!😌
Monday, 15 October 2018
ALL GO, GO, GO ... WESTCLIFF HERE WE COME!
It has been a totally crazy couple of months! Steve and I went house-hunting in Westcliff on Sea for a whole weekend and the very last house we saw was the one that was right for us. Having made the decision, there was a couple of weeks to get all the formalities in place and on 1st October we collected the keys. We move in on 8th November. We have been "down the house" a few times since to measure up and to freshen and spruce it up a bit (it had been standing empty for over a month) and on Saturday just gone we introduced our youngest daughter and her family to it. The grandchildren loved it - especially the little one who was asking which room was his within minutes of walking through the front door!
Despite the fact we began packing months ago, it took on a new urgency once the house was ours and most of it is done, so we are back to being surrounded by boxes! And even though we moved into this sweet little place with its leaded lites and walk-in larder just over two years ago, it has still been a bit of a shock at how much we have a/ accumilated and b/ have to do; ie booking removals, informing companies of note that we will be moving, arranging to have the gas, electricity, water turned off, setting up and/or cancelling direct debits and standing orders ... the list just goes on and on.
I left my job at the Care Home on 5th October and will not be going back to work until mid - January. It took the pressure off Steve a bit and doing everything together has brought us closer than ever - if that is even possible. It has given us a proper chance to sort through all the stuff we had in storage and, I kid you not, at least two dozen archive boxes of unwanted items have now gone to the BHF charity shop in Sutton, half a dozen went to a local scout group who were collecting for a jumble sale and last Friday morning, a clearance company came in and took away some old furniture and a pile of wood (where that evolved from is anyone's guess). It feels great to off-load and declutter, especially knowing that most of it has gone to good causes.
Our house here in Sutton is looking blanker and bearer each day but we can hardly wait to get in to the new place and get sorted. Our aim is to have the majority of it done by the end of November so that we can enjoy Christmas. We even know where the tree is going!
It has been a bumpy ride and my writing has suffered intolerably - but I know the muse will come back when we walk the local beaches - which are just fifteen minutes from our door!
I always wanted to live near the sea!!!!
Despite the fact we began packing months ago, it took on a new urgency once the house was ours and most of it is done, so we are back to being surrounded by boxes! And even though we moved into this sweet little place with its leaded lites and walk-in larder just over two years ago, it has still been a bit of a shock at how much we have a/ accumilated and b/ have to do; ie booking removals, informing companies of note that we will be moving, arranging to have the gas, electricity, water turned off, setting up and/or cancelling direct debits and standing orders ... the list just goes on and on.
I left my job at the Care Home on 5th October and will not be going back to work until mid - January. It took the pressure off Steve a bit and doing everything together has brought us closer than ever - if that is even possible. It has given us a proper chance to sort through all the stuff we had in storage and, I kid you not, at least two dozen archive boxes of unwanted items have now gone to the BHF charity shop in Sutton, half a dozen went to a local scout group who were collecting for a jumble sale and last Friday morning, a clearance company came in and took away some old furniture and a pile of wood (where that evolved from is anyone's guess). It feels great to off-load and declutter, especially knowing that most of it has gone to good causes.
Our house here in Sutton is looking blanker and bearer each day but we can hardly wait to get in to the new place and get sorted. Our aim is to have the majority of it done by the end of November so that we can enjoy Christmas. We even know where the tree is going!
It has been a bumpy ride and my writing has suffered intolerably - but I know the muse will come back when we walk the local beaches - which are just fifteen minutes from our door!
I always wanted to live near the sea!!!!
Tuesday, 28 August 2018
A Ghost Story Too Far?
I have had a supernatural story in my head for years and years. I have tried starting it dozens of times but no matter what I do, or which character I write as, I just cannot get it right. The story itself is clear as clear can be - and has a great twist in the tail. It even has a title. But it just won't let me write it down. I don't know if it is because I have overworked or underworked the idea or what. Am I trying too hard to get it too perfect? Should I let it develop on its own? If I do that I might end up never writing it! Besides, everything that does happen is fully mapped out. Every incident has a reason, all the reasons add up and the story is just screaming to be immortalised in paper. But it seems to want to be immortalised on its own terms. Curious.
This, I have found, is one of the nicer problems we writers have to face. I don't know about you but when people find out you are a writer, they seem to expect to see you physically writing every minute of the day. "Thought you were a writer," they will say. "Don't see you writing!" The truth is, as every writer will know, you never stop writing. Your brain is constantly trying to make sense of your characters, what happens to them, the good and the bad. I feel really bad if I kill off anyone. Seriously! I find it hard to write in a character if I know he or she (or it) is going to meet its doom. It may be absolutely necessary for the story, but the guilt kicks in and I think that maybe I shouldn't kill them off. Maybe there is another way.
When Stephen King wrote Pet Sematary, he intimated it almost killed him when little Gage Creed ran into the road and straight under the wheels of a mega-truck. J K Rowling wept buckets - effectively went into mourning - when Sirius Black was killed in the vaults at the Ministry of Magic. Clearly our characters are alive in our heads and as real to us as our parents, friends, kids. Clearly even they have an instinct of survival. However did Agatha Christie cope with all her murder victims? Did they go on to haunt her from beyond the page?
Getting back to my supernatural story. I recently went with Steve to see Susan Hill's The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre in London. It is a brilliant play and I can't recommend it highly enough. It is so simply done, so beautifully portrayed, with just two male actors slipping very cleverly into all the characters the story needs to move along. In fact I was so impressed that I tweeted Susan the next day to tell her how much we'd enjoyed it. I was chuffed when she tweeted back to thank me for being moved enough to write her. In the programme on sale at the venue, there are a couple of articles about how Susan tackled the story of The Woman in Black. She wanted to write a gothic ghost story in the same style as stories such as The Turn of the Screw and A Christmas Carol. How she did it intrigued me enough to go into Waterstones today and actually buy The Woman in Black. My plan now is to devour it completely. Where she was inspired by the writings of Henry James and Charles Dickens, I am hoping to be similarly inspired by her. And maybe then my supernatural story will actually find its voice and let me write it. Does it have a ghost of a chance, do you think?
This, I have found, is one of the nicer problems we writers have to face. I don't know about you but when people find out you are a writer, they seem to expect to see you physically writing every minute of the day. "Thought you were a writer," they will say. "Don't see you writing!" The truth is, as every writer will know, you never stop writing. Your brain is constantly trying to make sense of your characters, what happens to them, the good and the bad. I feel really bad if I kill off anyone. Seriously! I find it hard to write in a character if I know he or she (or it) is going to meet its doom. It may be absolutely necessary for the story, but the guilt kicks in and I think that maybe I shouldn't kill them off. Maybe there is another way.
When Stephen King wrote Pet Sematary, he intimated it almost killed him when little Gage Creed ran into the road and straight under the wheels of a mega-truck. J K Rowling wept buckets - effectively went into mourning - when Sirius Black was killed in the vaults at the Ministry of Magic. Clearly our characters are alive in our heads and as real to us as our parents, friends, kids. Clearly even they have an instinct of survival. However did Agatha Christie cope with all her murder victims? Did they go on to haunt her from beyond the page?
Getting back to my supernatural story. I recently went with Steve to see Susan Hill's The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre in London. It is a brilliant play and I can't recommend it highly enough. It is so simply done, so beautifully portrayed, with just two male actors slipping very cleverly into all the characters the story needs to move along. In fact I was so impressed that I tweeted Susan the next day to tell her how much we'd enjoyed it. I was chuffed when she tweeted back to thank me for being moved enough to write her. In the programme on sale at the venue, there are a couple of articles about how Susan tackled the story of The Woman in Black. She wanted to write a gothic ghost story in the same style as stories such as The Turn of the Screw and A Christmas Carol. How she did it intrigued me enough to go into Waterstones today and actually buy The Woman in Black. My plan now is to devour it completely. Where she was inspired by the writings of Henry James and Charles Dickens, I am hoping to be similarly inspired by her. And maybe then my supernatural story will actually find its voice and let me write it. Does it have a ghost of a chance, do you think?
Thursday, 2 August 2018
Finding Myself Again ...
Despite the fact we have been sooo busy since my last post here, I have been surprised at just how much writing and researching I have been able to do. It is so nice to be able to pick up a pen and just write, or switch on the laptop and just seek out writing opportunities, without having to worry about work, or why I feel so tired, or a hundred and one other things. And the ideas have been chasing me every minute of every day! I've had some great ideas for at least one brand new book for 7 to 9 year-olds, I did another talk for Croydon Writers a few weeks back. I have written some more poems. I even woke up the other week (rather annoyingly) with Jim Reeves singing a song in my head which didn't at that time exist! It does now - or at least, the lyric does - but it was all rather strange. I have never been a huge fan of Jim Reeves (although my mum was, bless her), yet there was this song playing round and round in my head like it was on repeat. I wrote the first couple of lines on my way to the bus stop on my mobile phone notebook, and within half an hour every word of that song, and its tune (though I can't write music) had embedded itself into my memory. Very odd. Was Jim trying to reach me from beyond the grave? Who knows? All I know is that there is now another Jim Reeves song in the world, one which will prpbably never be heard by anyone else! Did he even write his own songs? Absolutely no idea!
Anyway, Jim Reeves apart, I have enjoyed my summer. Seen a lot of the grandchildren, been to lots of places, gone property hunting, spent some real quality time with my gorgeous Steve, turned 61 (unbelievable, I always thought I'd die young) in July, could finally have someone interested in re-inventing the Yucketypoo books (although that is still in its infancy, but I feel pretty optomistic this time) and just feel so much better in myself. It is almost as if I had gotten lost and couldn't find me. Well, I have found me now. And it feels great!
Anyway, Jim Reeves apart, I have enjoyed my summer. Seen a lot of the grandchildren, been to lots of places, gone property hunting, spent some real quality time with my gorgeous Steve, turned 61 (unbelievable, I always thought I'd die young) in July, could finally have someone interested in re-inventing the Yucketypoo books (although that is still in its infancy, but I feel pretty optomistic this time) and just feel so much better in myself. It is almost as if I had gotten lost and couldn't find me. Well, I have found me now. And it feels great!
Thursday, 28 June 2018
MOVING ON ... (again)
Well hello Each. So much has happened since I last blogged that I can hardly believe it. I got the Young Writer poetry booklet done in time for the final session on 2nd June, thank goodness. I was dead chuffed the way it finally turned out with its full colour front cover. Luckily, many moons ago, when I worked at an office supplies company, I had the foresight to buy a long-arm stapler which meant that, not only was I able to print and collate the booklet, I was also able to bind it. The faces on my Young Writers when I handed them their copies of that sweet little booklet were a joy to behold! And when I handed them their certificates, printed on proper certificate parchment and decorated with a red seal, I felt such pride in these children, who worked tirelessly and enthusiastically for six years to make Addiscombe Young Writers the huge success it was. And what a send-off they gave me on 2nd June! Flowers, plants, chocolates, pens, mugs, writing books and masses of cards were heaped upon me so it was vey lucky indeed that Steve had been able to come along because I would never have got it all home on my own!
A lot of people have asked me since that day if I regret leaving the Young Writers but I don't actually. At least not yet. Steve did say that if I started to miss it too much, perhaps I could think about starting a new group once we have settled in our new home. I am none too sure about that. I think I would expect too much of it having seen how well the group worked so I shall have to think about it seriously. Plus I think I would be forever comparing the two groups and I would live in absolute terror of it not working out.
Part of my leaving the group was to find more time to focus on my writing and, now I have not got to worry about preparing stuff for the children, marking their work and all the other paraphanalea that goes with running such a group - as amazing as it was - I am starting to find my own writing again and I am so excited about it. Working part time is also giving me the opportunity, like today, to sit down and update my blog, look at what writing opportunities are about, go through my MsLexia, plough through my Children's W & A Year Book and just be a writer again. And I am relishing it, I really am.
As far as the move is concerned, well, we are getting there. We are back to boxes but we are taking our time with it. We have already given lots of stuff to charity shops and we have a lot more yet to go. We have been keeping an eye on what houses are available in or near Southend and hope to be in by Christmas. Luckily we do not need to rush. And there's other stuff going on. We have just got back from a weekend in Margate and before that, a week in Italy (beautiful). We have a break in Great Yarmouth coming up, a week in Cornwall, several trips out, theatre shows and a wedding in July, as well as having our youngest granddaughter to stay for a week so it is all go, go, go.
But d'you know what? I don't think I have ever been happier!
A lot of people have asked me since that day if I regret leaving the Young Writers but I don't actually. At least not yet. Steve did say that if I started to miss it too much, perhaps I could think about starting a new group once we have settled in our new home. I am none too sure about that. I think I would expect too much of it having seen how well the group worked so I shall have to think about it seriously. Plus I think I would be forever comparing the two groups and I would live in absolute terror of it not working out.
Part of my leaving the group was to find more time to focus on my writing and, now I have not got to worry about preparing stuff for the children, marking their work and all the other paraphanalea that goes with running such a group - as amazing as it was - I am starting to find my own writing again and I am so excited about it. Working part time is also giving me the opportunity, like today, to sit down and update my blog, look at what writing opportunities are about, go through my MsLexia, plough through my Children's W & A Year Book and just be a writer again. And I am relishing it, I really am.
As far as the move is concerned, well, we are getting there. We are back to boxes but we are taking our time with it. We have already given lots of stuff to charity shops and we have a lot more yet to go. We have been keeping an eye on what houses are available in or near Southend and hope to be in by Christmas. Luckily we do not need to rush. And there's other stuff going on. We have just got back from a weekend in Margate and before that, a week in Italy (beautiful). We have a break in Great Yarmouth coming up, a week in Cornwall, several trips out, theatre shows and a wedding in July, as well as having our youngest granddaughter to stay for a week so it is all go, go, go.
But d'you know what? I don't think I have ever been happier!
Thursday, 10 May 2018
The Day The Printer Rebelled ...
May already! What the f%*# ! It is a somewhat grey day at The Gallop. Earlier on when I went out coatless in glorious sunshine, I thought yep - this is what summer is all about! Now, as I sit behind my latticed windows, listening to the constant growl of council grass strimmers tidying the verges, the blue sky is disappearing behind candyfloss clouds and the sun has said That's it, time for a nap - and gone to bed. Hopefully it will wake up in time for this weekend which we are lucky enough to be sharing with five of our seven grandchildren in Southend. Adventure Island - watch out!
Been pretty busy since my last post. We have been househunting on the net and have set aside a weekend in September to go and view as many places as we can. I have spoken to my manager about transferring my services to another residential home in our new area. It is less than a month (and only two sessions) until I leave the Young Writers in the safe hands of Sara, the Chatterbooks facilitator and, in preparation for re-focusing on my own writing, I have taken out a subscription with MsLexia, the magazine for women writers. I was a subscriber for a few years back in the early noughties and was very excited last week when my first issue popped through the letterbox. I haven't actually had time to read it yet, but I have flicked through it. It is more like a paperback book than a magazine now and I am not sure where to start with it but I am sure I will get to grips with it in time.
Have been crazily putting together a poetry booklet for the Young Writers. I knew I would not have time to compile a new anthology for them - Word Magic and Word Magic 2 were both over a year in the planning, editing, laying-out, printing etc etc etc and this time, I only had six months between when I first proposed a poetry leaflet to the Young Writers and my final session in June with them. Talk about yet another learning curve. I found a programme on my laptop that allows you to put a booklet together and this morning I finished laying it all out and printed off the book covers. But when I began to print off the actual poems, the printer threw a tantrum, blew a raspberry at me and thoughtlessly chewed up the sheet going through it. So I have given it the rest of the day off and will try to get it finished over the next week or so.
I was recently a judge for the BBC 500 Words competition. I did it last year and was offered the opportunity to do it again this year so I thought why not? It is great reading the stories sent in by 6 to 11 year olds all over the UK and it never ceases to astonish me how much talent is out there. I have decided this is the best age group to nurture where writing is concerned. Their imaginations know no bounds and their honesty is something we can all learn from. Maybe once they hit High School their heads are, quite rightly, trained to go into exam mode so - in the most part - there is not much time left for Creative Writing as a hobby. I think, once we have moved and settled, I will start an on-line Creative Writing group just for children. I will have to learn how to build a web-site first but hey - never say never!
I think that is about it this time. Steve has gone off exploring and left me at home to write - and I still have Linked-In to catch up on so better fly. Speak soon I hope. Keep smiling!
Been pretty busy since my last post. We have been househunting on the net and have set aside a weekend in September to go and view as many places as we can. I have spoken to my manager about transferring my services to another residential home in our new area. It is less than a month (and only two sessions) until I leave the Young Writers in the safe hands of Sara, the Chatterbooks facilitator and, in preparation for re-focusing on my own writing, I have taken out a subscription with MsLexia, the magazine for women writers. I was a subscriber for a few years back in the early noughties and was very excited last week when my first issue popped through the letterbox. I haven't actually had time to read it yet, but I have flicked through it. It is more like a paperback book than a magazine now and I am not sure where to start with it but I am sure I will get to grips with it in time.
Have been crazily putting together a poetry booklet for the Young Writers. I knew I would not have time to compile a new anthology for them - Word Magic and Word Magic 2 were both over a year in the planning, editing, laying-out, printing etc etc etc and this time, I only had six months between when I first proposed a poetry leaflet to the Young Writers and my final session in June with them. Talk about yet another learning curve. I found a programme on my laptop that allows you to put a booklet together and this morning I finished laying it all out and printed off the book covers. But when I began to print off the actual poems, the printer threw a tantrum, blew a raspberry at me and thoughtlessly chewed up the sheet going through it. So I have given it the rest of the day off and will try to get it finished over the next week or so.
I was recently a judge for the BBC 500 Words competition. I did it last year and was offered the opportunity to do it again this year so I thought why not? It is great reading the stories sent in by 6 to 11 year olds all over the UK and it never ceases to astonish me how much talent is out there. I have decided this is the best age group to nurture where writing is concerned. Their imaginations know no bounds and their honesty is something we can all learn from. Maybe once they hit High School their heads are, quite rightly, trained to go into exam mode so - in the most part - there is not much time left for Creative Writing as a hobby. I think, once we have moved and settled, I will start an on-line Creative Writing group just for children. I will have to learn how to build a web-site first but hey - never say never!
I think that is about it this time. Steve has gone off exploring and left me at home to write - and I still have Linked-In to catch up on so better fly. Speak soon I hope. Keep smiling!
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