I have decided that being in a full time job when you would rather be at home writing is a specific kind of purgatory! My job is getting worse by the day and wears me out emotionally and physically.Every moment spent there, feels like another wasted moment, and each one of those carries the weight of all the other wasted moments. By the end of every day, I am wrecked! Not a pretty sight on the best of days, I can tell you!
Things are happening. Two days ago, I received a copy of the press release that Sarah the Publisher is going to release shortly about the first book. And yesterday, I was contacted by the editor of an ezine called My Pet Friends asking me if I was still interested in contributing as it had been some weeks since I first expressed an interest in doing so and hadn't been back in touch. I have another publisher interested in some inspirational poetry who has suggested I put a collection together. All of this takes time and time is what I am so sadly lacking in on a day to day basis. This blog is a good example of what I mean. When I started it a few weeks back, my intention had been to write every day - but you can see from the eratic state of the dates that it has only been a couple of times a week. Although - BIG round of applause here please AND a roll of drums - I am actually writing this on my laptop at home at ten in the evening rather than squeezng it into my lunchbreak at the office. So it looks like I got that right last week even if I got everything else wrong.
On Monday next week, Hubby and I are off to the north-western isles of Scotland for a two week break. We are doing a coach and ferry tour which takes in a four or five of the islands, so this will be my last blog till I get back. One thing I am planning to do, is to get more organised when we return. I am going to move the ancient, giganticus computer I bought in the year 2000 into Hubby's hobby room, which is where the home office is already based, so that my desk here in Successful Writer's Study is less cluttered. I am going to get my head down and get the next book in the series written for Sarah the Publisher and then, maybe in the new year, I can look at cutting my hours down - because working less hours would better than working full time and writing whenever I get a spare second (at the moment, I am writing at bus stops, on trams, first thing in the mornng or well into the night and still finding it is not long enough to do everything else).
I also want to do a lot more talks next year at schools, writing circles and clubs, and to do that I need to sell mself (not on street corners obviously- per-lease, I'm fifty!) and get myself more into the public domain. So any other writers (or readers) logging on, take note. I am an experienced speaker and I am never happier than when talkng about my beloved writing.
Unless I am complaining about being cooped up in a stuffy office day after day, geting grief from almost everywhere and feeling like a moth trapped in a jar, of course. I quite like grouching about that.
Maybe there is something in being a grumpy old woman, after all. Now - where's my sacred bar of Greens Maya Gold .....
Thursday 13 September 2007
Tuesday 11 September 2007
LIFE ACCORDING TO LILY
I seriously think I am over the worst. Yes, dear Reader (as writers of yore would say), I think I am a Changed woman. I am down to less than two hot flushes a day where I used to get four or five an hour. In fact I don't think I had a single one yeterday and I somehow feel different; better in myself than I have for ages and full of the joys of ... something. Of course none of this detracts from the fact that I am still forgetful, easily confused and left standing at the door of the fridge wondering what I'd gone there for. But that will all settle down in time, I am sure of it. Or almost sure.
Last night at eight o'clock, I went to visit my neighbour. Lily is 91 years old and getting smaller by the day. I doubt if she is more than five feet tall and weighs much more than six stone and she is almost totally deaf but I absolutely love her. I am still not sure how the weekly visit thing came about. I only know that since we moved in next door to her, I have gone in every Monday night for a visit. Long long ago, I'd go in at quarter to nine and stay for an hour. But she was hospitalised for months last year and in the process, became quite institutionalised as well; putting herself to bed at seven in the evening because that is what time the nurses tuck their senior patients up for the night. It has only really been the last six weeks or so that the Monday night visit has started up again but now they are from 8pm until 8.45pm - then I go home and she goes to bed.
Lily is an amazing woman! She has two daughters and a lot of support from them, friends and family members, and although she can't actually do a lot for herself these days, she has always got plenty to say. About everything. And that forty-five minutes is soon taken up with her tales. "Once," she told me. "I gave Ken (husband) bubble and squeak for dinner on Monday. 'What's this?' he wants to know. I say 'It's bubble and squeak.' 'I'm not eating that!' he says." For dessert that same day, she did bread and butter pudding and custard. "I gave it to him," she told me. "And he says 'What's this?' 'It's bread and butter pudding!' I told him. He says ' I'm not eating that!' " So she threw the custard over his head. A whole jugful of it. Every last drop of it. Needless to say he never complained about his food again.
Lily is full of anecdotes like this. There was the time her (then) eleven year old daughter took the milk float for a joy ride around the green. And the time she had a midnight picnic on Mitcham Common with her boyfriend of the time. And, when she worked at Paynes Poppets, there was the time that she and a colleague filled dozens of packs of lemon jelly with orange jelly by mistake. She once even offered to share her pack of night-time incontinence pads with me. But I politely declined. Even I haven't quite got to that stage yet!
In fact there isn't a lot I don't know about The Life and Times of Lily now but the strange thing is that I never tire of listening to her. She's a terrible flirt! She is. She would have the boys queuing up for miles if she wasn't so loyal to her late husband. A particular favourite of hers is Jeremy Paxman. Don't ask me why. And when I leave on a Monday evening she says to me "Kisses for Steve!" "How many this week?" I ask her. If she's in a good mood, she says "Two!" And I duly pass them on to Hubby when he gets home. "Be good!" I say to her as I wave cheerio. "No fun in being good !" she tells me, with a twinkle in her eyes that defies her age.
And that's my Lily. I hope I have got half her spirit and zest for living when I get to her age. Ah well - I have forty one years in which to practice!
Last night at eight o'clock, I went to visit my neighbour. Lily is 91 years old and getting smaller by the day. I doubt if she is more than five feet tall and weighs much more than six stone and she is almost totally deaf but I absolutely love her. I am still not sure how the weekly visit thing came about. I only know that since we moved in next door to her, I have gone in every Monday night for a visit. Long long ago, I'd go in at quarter to nine and stay for an hour. But she was hospitalised for months last year and in the process, became quite institutionalised as well; putting herself to bed at seven in the evening because that is what time the nurses tuck their senior patients up for the night. It has only really been the last six weeks or so that the Monday night visit has started up again but now they are from 8pm until 8.45pm - then I go home and she goes to bed.
Lily is an amazing woman! She has two daughters and a lot of support from them, friends and family members, and although she can't actually do a lot for herself these days, she has always got plenty to say. About everything. And that forty-five minutes is soon taken up with her tales. "Once," she told me. "I gave Ken (husband) bubble and squeak for dinner on Monday. 'What's this?' he wants to know. I say 'It's bubble and squeak.' 'I'm not eating that!' he says." For dessert that same day, she did bread and butter pudding and custard. "I gave it to him," she told me. "And he says 'What's this?' 'It's bread and butter pudding!' I told him. He says ' I'm not eating that!' " So she threw the custard over his head. A whole jugful of it. Every last drop of it. Needless to say he never complained about his food again.
Lily is full of anecdotes like this. There was the time her (then) eleven year old daughter took the milk float for a joy ride around the green. And the time she had a midnight picnic on Mitcham Common with her boyfriend of the time. And, when she worked at Paynes Poppets, there was the time that she and a colleague filled dozens of packs of lemon jelly with orange jelly by mistake. She once even offered to share her pack of night-time incontinence pads with me. But I politely declined. Even I haven't quite got to that stage yet!
In fact there isn't a lot I don't know about The Life and Times of Lily now but the strange thing is that I never tire of listening to her. She's a terrible flirt! She is. She would have the boys queuing up for miles if she wasn't so loyal to her late husband. A particular favourite of hers is Jeremy Paxman. Don't ask me why. And when I leave on a Monday evening she says to me "Kisses for Steve!" "How many this week?" I ask her. If she's in a good mood, she says "Two!" And I duly pass them on to Hubby when he gets home. "Be good!" I say to her as I wave cheerio. "No fun in being good !" she tells me, with a twinkle in her eyes that defies her age.
And that's my Lily. I hope I have got half her spirit and zest for living when I get to her age. Ah well - I have forty one years in which to practice!
Friday 7 September 2007
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MADE....
It has surely been a 24 hours of huge change! Yesterday, within five minutes of getting to the office the MD came round to say goodbye to everyone as he had resigned with immediate effect. I now know a few had kind of suspected it was going to happen but most of us were left reeling in shock. Such a nice guy too!
Met Mother for lunch yesterday and she told me she is definitely going to be moving to West Sussex next year to be nearer Middle and Youngest Sister. So who will I meet for lunch once a week, then?
And to top it all off Sarah the Publisher and I have had a long talk about the second book and decided it needs a complete re-write. She wants the third story I had planned for the series to form the basis of the second story and says we'll think about the third one in the new year. This is actually good news for me because I wasn't a hundred per cent happy with the third draft of the second book either (confused? You will be!) and this way I can have a bit of breathing space. So the idea is that I concentrate on making the second book totally brilliant and Sarah concentrates on pushing the first one into the public eye. All this in 24 hours! I am not sure if I can keep the pace!
Other good news is that Pregnant Colleague referred to in the first post has had a baby boy whom they are going to name Matthew, Engaged Colleague is now Other Other Married Colleague who is honeymooning in Singapore and Middle-Aged Me has defied all odds and finally sorted out the home internet and emails - and I did it without the help of Clever Son-In-Law. All this must bode well for the weekend......
Met Mother for lunch yesterday and she told me she is definitely going to be moving to West Sussex next year to be nearer Middle and Youngest Sister. So who will I meet for lunch once a week, then?
And to top it all off Sarah the Publisher and I have had a long talk about the second book and decided it needs a complete re-write. She wants the third story I had planned for the series to form the basis of the second story and says we'll think about the third one in the new year. This is actually good news for me because I wasn't a hundred per cent happy with the third draft of the second book either (confused? You will be!) and this way I can have a bit of breathing space. So the idea is that I concentrate on making the second book totally brilliant and Sarah concentrates on pushing the first one into the public eye. All this in 24 hours! I am not sure if I can keep the pace!
Other good news is that Pregnant Colleague referred to in the first post has had a baby boy whom they are going to name Matthew, Engaged Colleague is now Other Other Married Colleague who is honeymooning in Singapore and Middle-Aged Me has defied all odds and finally sorted out the home internet and emails - and I did it without the help of Clever Son-In-Law. All this must bode well for the weekend......
Tuesday 4 September 2007
CLOSET PUBLICIST STRIKES AGAIN
Had one of our early morning coffees today!. Fell out of bed at 5.15, left the house at 5.40 and met Hubby outside East Croydon at 6.00. The things we do for love!
During the course of the next hour Hubby became almost maniacal about the Book - the first in the series - and what we should do to sell it. He thinks we are letting too many opportunities slip through our fingers. Between us we made a gigantic list of who we could contact and I reckon that just from these contacts alone , we could sell at least half of the number Sarah the Puiblisher says we need to justify a print run. At one point he said to me "Surely this is the publisher's job?" and I completely agree. So the plan today is to contact Sarah the Publisher. Should we even be thinking about the two sequels before we sell the first one? I don't know enough about publishing, that is half the problem. I know lots about being a writer. But I must admit he had some very valid points and I do feel some action needs to be taken. Especially now the book can be also pre-ordered through W H Smith and Amazon! In the meantime - please go, this instant, to http://www.yucketypoo.co.uk/ and click on the Order button. The print edition costs just £5.95 and 10% of every copy sold goes to the CLIC-Sargeant charity which cares for children and young people with cancer. What's more tell everyone you know to order it as well! Please, please, please. I will even sign them if you want me to. I am not sure how but I am sure we could find a way
And now I have got that off my chest (I am truly fired-up today and it is still only 8 am - blame Hubby for being my closet publicist!), I can move on.
I have a question - is being a bag of nerves all part of being menopausal? I ask this because I keep getting panic attacks and feelings of complete inadequacy where, before, I have always been very calm, cool, collect and level-headed. I almost gave myself a coronary yesterday when it looked for a moment as if a huge furniture order I had overseen for one of the reps at the Day Job
had gone missing. I mean I felt physically sick. I was almost light-headed. Yet I knew I had put it through so there was no way it could have gone missing. As it turned out, the goods were at another depot so I needn't have wasted so much nervous energy worrying. A few years ago I wouldn't have done. I'd have found Logical Self and sorted the whole thing out in twenty seconds flat. Answers in a postcard please.
Got a pleasant surprise earlier when I found that my personal profile here on Blogspot had been viewed almost 30 times. I am only responsible for half a dozen of those, so someone somewhere is reading this. Please don't be shy - get in touch. Let's do lunch.
During the course of the next hour Hubby became almost maniacal about the Book - the first in the series - and what we should do to sell it. He thinks we are letting too many opportunities slip through our fingers. Between us we made a gigantic list of who we could contact and I reckon that just from these contacts alone , we could sell at least half of the number Sarah the Puiblisher says we need to justify a print run. At one point he said to me "Surely this is the publisher's job?" and I completely agree. So the plan today is to contact Sarah the Publisher. Should we even be thinking about the two sequels before we sell the first one? I don't know enough about publishing, that is half the problem. I know lots about being a writer. But I must admit he had some very valid points and I do feel some action needs to be taken. Especially now the book can be also pre-ordered through W H Smith and Amazon! In the meantime - please go, this instant, to http://www.yucketypoo.co.uk/ and click on the Order button. The print edition costs just £5.95 and 10% of every copy sold goes to the CLIC-Sargeant charity which cares for children and young people with cancer. What's more tell everyone you know to order it as well! Please, please, please. I will even sign them if you want me to. I am not sure how but I am sure we could find a way
And now I have got that off my chest (I am truly fired-up today and it is still only 8 am - blame Hubby for being my closet publicist!), I can move on.
I have a question - is being a bag of nerves all part of being menopausal? I ask this because I keep getting panic attacks and feelings of complete inadequacy where, before, I have always been very calm, cool, collect and level-headed. I almost gave myself a coronary yesterday when it looked for a moment as if a huge furniture order I had overseen for one of the reps at the Day Job
had gone missing. I mean I felt physically sick. I was almost light-headed. Yet I knew I had put it through so there was no way it could have gone missing. As it turned out, the goods were at another depot so I needn't have wasted so much nervous energy worrying. A few years ago I wouldn't have done. I'd have found Logical Self and sorted the whole thing out in twenty seconds flat. Answers in a postcard please.
Got a pleasant surprise earlier when I found that my personal profile here on Blogspot had been viewed almost 30 times. I am only responsible for half a dozen of those, so someone somewhere is reading this. Please don't be shy - get in touch. Let's do lunch.
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