Times, They Could Be Changing

It’s been five months since my redundancy and I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown.  I send the children off to school each morning and before I know it, it’s time to pick them up again.

I don’t seem to have much writing to show for this time away from work, but on the other hand I have been trying to set up a new business and have had nine year’s worth of clutter to try and dispose of (still working on that one!) Let’s just put it this way I found writing magazines which were only than my sons which just goes to show how long I’ve been at this lark.

Some days I feel as though I get a lot done and then others nothing at all, but on the whole it’s been lovely being out of the rat race for a while.

However, it looks as though my little sojourn might be coming to an end. Out of the other week I had a telephone call from the college I used to work at asking me to apply for a management post to cover a maternity leave. It’s four days a week and could be up to a year. In the other day I will be able to continue with my freelance work.  So, if I do get the job I’ll be back to more or less full time work for the foreseeable future.

I must say I have mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand I’m delighted to be head hunted, and obviously am not going to turn down the opportunity to earn some money, but after five months I am a bit daunted about going back into the real world again.

I’m sure I’ll cope, I’ve done it before after all but it does mean that I will have less time for my writing.  

But you know what they say, if you want something doing, ask a busy woman, so I’ll just have to be better organised.

And besides, I might be counting my chickens etc – I’ve got an interview on Tuesday, so wish me luck.  I think.

newbooks magazine

A while ago I came across a book review website

I signed up to the website and became a reviewer.

They have a list of books you can choose from. You need to select three and you will receive one of them, although you don't always get your first choice.

All you have to do then is read them and add your review to the website. You don't get paid but you do get a free book!

I've enjoyed reading and reviewing the books, but didn't really think that my reviews were being read by anyone.

Then, out of the blue, newbooks editor, Guy Pringle, emailed me to say that my recent review of Julia Gregson's Jasmine Nights was going to be published in issue 74 of the hard copy magazine.

Up until that point I had thought that it was a subscription only magazine but then I found out that you could buy copies at W H Smith.

In addition, Guy asked me if I would like to submit a list of questions to be put to the author in an interview - would I?

I'm pleased to say that both my questions and the review are published in the edition currently on sale, along with my mugshot - yeuck - must get a better photo done!

Of course I bought a copy and was thrilled to see my name in print, and that several of my other reviews had also been highlighted and one published in an earlier magazine.

I was just as pleased though to read the magazine from cover to cover. Its a glossy magazine and is jam-packed with author interviews, publishing news and reviews of loads of books. Basically anything a reader or writer would be interested in. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and one I will be looking out for again. I might even be tempted to subscribe!

Why not have a look next time you are browsing through the magazines in W H Smith?

Happy reading.

Linda

　

Lightbulb Moments

The other day was I browsing through my favourite blogs when I came across Wendy Clarke's guest post on the wonderful Womag Writer's blog.

In the two years since she was made redundant, Wendy has carved out what appears to be successful career in writing short stories for woman's magazines. You can find her blog here.

When I read her blog, my initial instinct was how lucky she was to have had such success. And then I had a lightbulb moment.........

Luck did have something to do with it. Getting the right manuscript in front of the right editor at the right time does have a certain amount of serendipity, but I suspect that Wendy's success has more to do with hard work, an ability to learn from mistakes and work with editors to give them what they want.

And then of course numbers do come into it. When I read that Wendy had 14 short stories accepted last year, it made me wonder just how many stories she had subbed to get that many yeses.

It made me think about my own submission rate. At the moment I'm only managing to sub about one story a month. Albeit that I am working other projects, but even so, it's pitiful, especially when not all of those submissions are new material, but often re-worked stories. I quickly realised that if I'm ever going to have any success in this field, I need to put an awful lot more effort into it.

Doing some late night reading later that same day I had another lightbulb moment. A. germ of a story idea hit me and instead of shelving it in my mind as I am often tempted to do, I wrote it down. And as I did so a title even came to me - and titles are often the hardest for me.

The next morning I decided to develop the idea. I was just intending to write a plotline but as I did, snippets of text came into my head and I started to write them down.

It's not often that a story writes itself in the first draft, but this one was like a gift. Its just under 1000 words, but there is room for development. I've put it to one side for a few days and then I will type it up, edit it and send it out. Who knows, my own luck might be about to change.

But just to be on the safe side, I've also gone through my back catalogue, identifying which stories can be re-worked for other markets. I have a much clearer idea now of where I'm up to and one thing is for certain - March is going to be a lot more productive than the last few months.

So thank you Wendy for giving me a good kick up the bum and for renewing my enthusiasm.

Busy Busy

It’s been a busy few weeks but now, thankfully, I have the time to re-group and, hopefully, get some work done.

Youngest’s arm is fixed and my eldest now has a permanent brace fitted to his teeth – top and bottom.  The words, Metal Mickey, spring to mind, but bless him, he’s adjusting to it really well and so far is taking the cleaning of it, which is a bit of a nightmare, really seriously. 

And now, without trying to tempt fate, I have a clear run ahead of me without a plethora of hospital, doctors and dentists appointments to attend.

Last week was half term, and needless to say, I didn’t get much writing done.  It was also my husband’s birthday so we were busy busy, including watching Les Miserables at the cinema, which was fab, a trip to the theatre to see Phantom of the Opera (third time for us oldies, a first for the boys).  The boys loved both Les Miserables and Phantom, what cultured children! In fact, at the theatre, they were better behaved than the adults who were sitting behind us (but that’s another story).

We also had a visit to Quarry Bank Mill in Styal and The Grosvenor Museum in Chester (other children get to go to theme parks, but not mine poor things! They will thank me later in life.)

I’m looking forward to a quiet week now, applying my bottom to my desk chair and my fingers to my keyboard.

 

Just need to un-cross those fingers now

Lazy Sunday Mornings

Easy like Sunday morning is something I’m not familiar with.  Sundays mean homework, football matches and running around getting ready for the week ahead.

Last Sunday however, my husband was playing golf, one son was at a sleepover, and the other had his football match cancelled and was practising being a teenager by staying in bed as long as he could.

So I decided that, “if you can’t beat ‘em, you should join ‘em” and stayed in bed too.  Only my lie in included a cup of tea and a good book.

Normally I read in short bursts when I get the time, but on Sunday I decided to indulge in a long luxurious read.  It was bliss!

It’s a long time since I’ve read any Erica James books, but my mum passed some of them on to me the other week, and I’d made a start on A Sense of Belonging, earlier in the week.

Erica writes about strong, independent women, who, whilst ambitious, aren’t afraid to fall in love. Her books are also set in Cheshire, close to where I grew up, which adds an extra interest.

I forgotten how much I enjoyed her books, and this was no different.  I can honestly say I didn’t want to put the book down, so guess what? I didn’t.  I was sad to finish it though and can’t wait to start on the next when I get a minute.

Good News!

The good news is that after a visit to the hospital on Friday, my youngest son has had his plaster removed.

 

After another x-ray, it seems that things are healing well.  He does have to wear a splint, all the time for the next two weeks and at night time for a further three, but it is fastened by velcro and it means that he can take it off when he has a bath or shower - that certainly makes things easier.

 

It also means that he'll be able to rejoin his swimming lessons soon too - although football - well I think that will take a bit longer!

 

It certainly gave my weekend a bit of a sparkle!  Hope yours had one too.

 



Frustrating Days

Today is turning out to be a frustrating one.  First of all I had to take my car in for it’s MOT.  Although it was booked in, I didn’t fancy hanging around so thought I would come home and try to work while I was waiting for it – better than shivering in a drafty garage!

So when I got home I thought I would just empty the washer before getting back down to some work.  But I didn’t realise that it hadn’t drained properly and although the door shouldn’t have opened, it did and flooded the entire kitchen.  I used up practically my whole collection of towels to mop up the tsunami and now I have to wash them too – fingers crossed that the washing machine will actually drain this time, otherwise I won’t actually have any towels to mop up the mess.

I don’t know about you but my washing machine has a little tap at the bottom which you can turn when the water won’t drain and it releases the water from the front.  The design on it is so brilliant that you can’t actually fit anything underneath it at the bottom to catch the water coming out – so there was another flood.

Soon I’ll have to go and pick the car up and knowing my luck today it will have failed it’s MOT – oh the joys of working from home!

And the weekend wasn’t much better – my youngest son scored a hat-trick – not in goals mind you but in broken bones.  He first broke his wrist when he was four – playing football in goal.  It was a bad break and for a while we were worried about how well it would heal.  But as he was young we were assured that his future growth would sort it out.

When he was six, he broke his other wrist – playing football – in goal.  Brilliant!  So after that we decided that perhaps he shouldn’t play in goal any more.  But he loves it so much and is really quite good so last year we decided that he could start playing again. Everything has been fine and it has reignited his love for the game.

On Saturday morning, though, his luck ran out.  Although he had hurt his arm, we didn’t think it was broken as he could move everything quite freely.  We strapped it up and hoped for the best.  But on Sunday morning when it was no better I decided that a visit to A&E was in order.  In my defence, the triage nurse didn’t think it was broken either, but when the x-rays came back, although the bone wasn’t fractured, there was a crack.  Now he’s back in plaster and I’m waiting for an appointment for the fracture clinic.

At least he’s not in pain anymore, and actually is quite enjoying being the centre of attention, but I spent most of yesterday cancelling arrangements I’d made for him for the next few weeks and he really is going to have to consider the fact that his goaly career is over.  Later today I have a visit to the orthodontist planned for my other son.  

 

But I’m managing to smile, I will take this all in my stride and tomorrow is another day.  Oh dear, think it might be safer not to get out of bed at all!

Hope you’re having better luck than me at the moment.