So, what did I do in 2015?

To be honest, the title of this post should be ”what did I do in 2014 & 2015”.

Unfortunately, the answer is Nothing. Writing wise at least.

I tinkered around the edges of I Can See You, but nothing more than that. I did manage to fill a couple of note books with random ramblings. I even organised these notes into my Scrivener file so I can work through them and tick them off when they are complete. Yeah, right!

To complete them you actually need to write.

Making notes and organising them is one thing. I need to transfer the thoughts to the page.

I’ve discussed this before, but I need a plan!

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Fresh New Year equals a fresh new start.

Sounds simple.

Read more. Write more. (I know, I know.  I’ve said this before, many times!)

So I will make more of an effort to blog once a week on Saturdays. I will read more blogs and books in 2016. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t read a single book in 2015.

Small steps.

Get back into the writing habit and fall in love with my stories again. Make it part of my routine and maybe even refresh my blog theme as it hasn’t changed since I started blogging back in 2011.

Small, small steps. If I stick to the simple plan then even I have a chance. 🙂

Thanks for reading.

What are your plans for the year ahead?

2016 – Happy New Year!

I would like to wish everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, a very Happy New Year!

2015 has gone by in a blur and I managed to post ONCE during its 365 days. I plan on doing more in 2016 so posting on New Year’s Day is a step in the right direction.

I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas and I will be back soon.

Honest 🙂

 

Has it been that long?

I stepped away for what seemed like a moment and now it’s 2015!

I haven’t finished my blogging journey. I haven’t abandoned my writing dream, they are just on hold for a while.

The birth of a new year, hopefully, brings with it a fresh start. You might have noticed me stopping by a few blogs over the last few months and I hope to return to the writing the odd blog post in the near future. I’ve even started editing that bloody novel again.

In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy New Year.

 

Goodbye, Mr Fluffy-Buttocks

When I started blogging, what seems like two-hundred years ago, my intentions were to keep it about my writing. Not let anything else slip in under the radar.

It didn’t last long.

It’s difficult not to share posts about events as you meander through life. Whether it be a rant about something that’s irked you or sharing of news, good …

… or bad.

I’ve posted a number of times about our much-loved cat, Munchkin. Or, Munch to you and me. The post that Mr Google sends most readers my way is My Cat Keeps Bumping Into Things. A post about his high blood pressure, retina-popping condition, which thankfully was brought under control with medication.

Anyway, a few weeks ago Munchie’s breathing became laboured. We cat-napped him and took him to see his favourite vet. After a listen to his chest and heart and a diuretic injection, he stabilised with the help of another TWO TABLETS a day and some potassium powder to mix into his food. That added to the three other tablets and twice-daily insulin injections!

At the end of February, his breathing worsened again. Another trip to the vets where they drained fluid from around his lungs. The vets hoped that would help his breathing, but the diuretics had obviously stopped working. Munch stopped eating and drinking despite not having his insulin, which should have made him thirsty and eat like a how-many-hotdogs-can-you-eat-in-sixty-seconds contestant.

One final visit to the vets where Munch started his final nap.

Who knew that a bundle of fluff we first saw eating dried bread in a neighbour’s garden would dominate our lives for so long? He survived many years after having a cancerous lump removed from his tail. As a stray he would have died a few years back without treatment.

We did our best for him and he repaid us with his effortless glamour and barely audible squeaking. We loved him despite his habit of climbing into the litter tray and then peeing over the edge onto the floor! Or moving off the easily cleaned laminate/wood floor and onto a carpeted area when he tried to cough-up a fur-ball.

The house is quiet without him, but I’m thankful that we have many photographs and videos of him to remember his ways.

We’ll have a prolonged break from being pet slaves now. The last year or so has been dominated by the furry little fella and we need a break. Maybe one day.

Thanks for reading.

Writing Magazines

Do you or don’t you?

Over here in UK’land there are a couple of magazines aimed specifically at writers. I subscribe to Writers’ Forum and have been known to buy the other one imaginatively called Writing Magazine. (Give the marketing person a bonus for coming up with that title!) I think they are the main two writing magazines in the UK.

This morning, I’ve settled down to read a copy. Nothing special I hear you say. The magazine dropped through my door about five months ago. FIVE MONTHS AGO!

I’m questioning why I buy the magazine when I don’t wait to devour the content the second it hits my doormat like the six-year-old me would have done with his Christmas presents.

Let me start by saying it isn’t the magazine. I think it has good content. Sometimes the same writers are contributing each month, but as I’ve never pitched them anything I can’t really complain about that.

Their articles have given me lots of inspiration, ideas, posed questions I had never thought of before and all these things are making me a better writer. I think so at least.

So, why do I not rip open the plastic wrapping and read it from cover to cover? Why do I leave it unopened for a couple of weeks before I finally open it and thrust it into the magazine rack with the previous four issues I haven’t read yet?

Probably because I’m lazy!

Or, maybe because I’m in the editing phase of my writing. I know what I need to do and don’t need/want distracting. I’m going to have a readathon of the magazines and see if anything takes my fancy.

I will question whether to bother renewing when they next want some cash from me.

Do you read any Writing Magazines? Do you pitch ideas to any of them?

Thanks for reading. This blog and/or your writing magazine.