Happy Birthday!

Today is my youngest son's birthday.

A horrible time to have a birthday, when everyone is fed up with the Christmas celebrations and just wants to get back to normal.

Usually his birthday falls on the first day back at school and the weather is horrible.

Poor thing. 

He was due on Christmas Eve but hung on all the way through Christmas and New Year, so in many ways he's only got himself to blame.

So, twelve years ago this little angel popped into my life.

And this is him now

Yes, he does look like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, but I can assure you that looks can be deceptive and he can be a real challenge at times.

But I love him to bits and hope he enjoys his birthday despite the rotten time of year.

Love you Georgie!

A Belated Happy New Year!

A very happy belated New Year to you all, lets hope that 2016 is a good year for all of us.

At the very least I'm aiming for 2016 to be a productive year as you can't control success, but you do have to be in it to win it!

Sometimes though when I sit down to write, I have so may projects on the go that I don't know where to start.

So in the gentle period between Christmas and New Year, I started to go through both the hard copies of my previous stories, and all those I have on the hard drive.  Now they are all in places where I know what the next stage is and I have a list of things to do to work through.

Now its just a case of finding the time to actually do anything with them.

This weekend we had our usual pre-youngest son's birthday trip to watch Leeds play. To be honest it was a bit a of disappointing game, ending in a draw but only because the opposition scored an own goal.

Today, I planned to have the day to myself, but eldest son didn't go back to school as he was up all night with a stomach bug and I had to try and fit in buying birthday presents for the big day tomorrow, with nursing said sick child.

I'm at work for the rest of the week and then we are going back to Leeds again this weekend for the cup game.  Here's hoping Leeds are on better form next weekend.

So, somewhere in between all this, and meal out tomorrow, I'm aiming to fit some writing in somewhere.

Wish my luck!

Hope you are all settling into you New Year's writing habits.

Linda

Happy In Between Christmas and New Year

Okay, so this isn't exactly a Christmasy image, but we are betwixt and between now, and one of the over-riding images of Christmas this year for me was settling down on Christmas Eve with my boys and watching the Snow Chic documentary.  It was a fascinating insight into the life of penguins without being too highbrow.  My youngest son adores penguins, so this made it even more enjoyable.

The other image of Christmas for me was my 14 year old son sitting on the end of my bed on Christmas morning, opening the presents from his stocking.  My mind kept floating back to when they were little and although he showed as much enthusiasm as in years gone by, there was rather a lot less room left in the bed for us.  Its nice that he still has that youthful exuberance though, I wonder if it will still be there next year, or whether I will have to drag him out of bed!

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and have survived the food, the drink, the excess and the water!  My heart goes out to all those people who have been flooded out of their homes this year, I can only imagine what that must feel like.

It's been a difficult year for our family this year and perhaps because of that I was counting my blessings this Christmas.  I've blogged about my difficulties at work, but now I'm in a new job and am enjoying it so much more - what a difference nice people make - although it's been a challenge to get my head around it all, which has left very little time for writing.  Towards the end of this year too, I have also encountered some family problems which, although not resolved, I feel at least we are coming to terms with now.

My main thought just before Christmas was that I would be glad to see the back of this year,  but then came a little ray of sunshine in the form of editor, Alison Cook, from The People's Friend.  Alison is such a lovely person, even when she's rejecting my stories, but this wasn't a rejection but an acceptance!

My story had been with them with September which proves that you should never give up hope, and it's just about the only story I have out for submission at the moment, so you can imagine my delight.  It gave me that extra boost I needed to believe in my writing and really made my Christmas.

I had decided that I wasn't going to make any New Year resolutions this year but this has made me determined to put more effort into my writing, and get more stories written and out there - after all you've got to be in it to win it.  

I'm getting myself organised in the lull between Christmas and New Year, and now that I'm more settled in my job, I hope that I can get into a better writing routine on the days when I'm not in work, and have a bit more enthusiasm to continue writing after work on the days that I am.

I'm also aiming to be a better blogger this year - but I say that every year!

Happy belated Christmas everyone.

Where's There's Hope

The House at the End of Hope Street - Menna Van Praag

A friend of mine bought me this book because she knew I had been feeling down recently and she thought it would cheer me up.  And she was right. This is a wonderful book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

The House at the End of Hope Street is a mystical sanctuary for women. It can only be seen by people at times when they need it. 

The main occupant of the house is an elderly lady called Peggy who has inherited the house from a long line of women who have magical powers.

On the walls of the house are portraits of past residents – women like Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Parker, Agatha Christie and many more.  The women were all residents in the house at a time when they were experiencing difficulties in their lives. The house helped them solve their problems and their portraits have the ability to talk to the current residents to help them solve their problems.

Three women are the current residents – they are all very different but during their stay they develop a bond of friendship and gradually the house shows them how they can achieve what they really want out of life.

It sounds a bit whacky I know, but I found such a realism in the characters that I was able to suspend my disbelief regarding the more magical elements. Not only was this book a wonderful read but it inspired me to reach out and question what I really want out of my own life. It also made me value my friendships –particularly the person who bought me this book! 

I've never heard of this author before but I will definitely be looking out for more of her books.

Suffragette

Last week I went to see Suffragette at the cinema.I don't often get a chance to go to the cinema but I was determined to watch this film on a large screen.

I do love history particularly women's social history, so I thought I was pretty well versed on the suffrage movement.  

But nothing prepared me for this film which I have to say was absolutely brilliant.

The characters' story arcs really brought the plight of women in the early 19th century to life.  

One of the things that came across to me in the film is that social status made no difference to the fact that women were treated as the property of their husbands, fathers and even brothers. Women simply had no control over their own lives.

One of the main characters, Maud, is brought into the movement almost by accident but life events cause her to become heavily involved with her fellow Suffragettes.  She literally fights for her life as she believes that women have a right to be counted and not, as has happened to her and her fellow work colleagues, be treated by men, and particularly employers as objects which can be used however the men decide - taking much more than labour from the women.

Although Maud at the start of the film is in a loving relationship and is a mother, she risks losing everything to make the world a better place and the fact that she is prepared to do this makes this film particularly poignant.  The scenes in the prison also highlight how brave and courageous these women were to bring to us women today rights that we often take for granted.

The Suffragettes were ostracised from society, not just by the powers that be and men but sadly also by other women, who were sometimes their harshest critics.

Whilst some might argue that women still haven't reached true equality today, we owe so much to the sacrifices that were made in the past and that is something we should never forget.

If its too late to go and watch this film at the cinema I would definitely recommend that you watch it when it comes out on DVD.

And as far as the younger generation are concerned, I really think that this film should become part of the national curriculum - it will certainly make both girls and boys think about the struggles and sacrifices which were made in the past to allow us to live the lives we do today.

All Change

I haven't blogged here recently because life has been more than a little hectic.  

First of all I handed my notice in at the horrible job. I've been wanting to leave for ages but didn't want to leave until I had another job to go to. In the end the atmosphere had become so toxic that I felt physically sick each day before I had to go in and near to tears most of the time that I was there.  Eventually I decided that life was just too short.

It saddens me that an organisation whose aim is to empower women made me feel so belittled and diminished.  From the moment I handed in my notice until the day I left the trustees didn't even have the courtesy to speak to me or even respond to work related emails. After nearly two years of dedicated hard work I found their attitude positively insulting.  I can only take heart that their behaviour reflects badly only on them.  I know I behaved with professionalism and dignity until the end.  I am just so pleased that I don't have to have anything to do with them any more.

Because I didn't have another job to go to (although I didn't tell them that), I spent my notice period applying for jobs and trying to make more freelance contacts.

I left work the day that half term started and was hoping to have a quiet week spending some quality time with my boys.  But it wasn't to be as two lots of last minute work came in which kept me tied to my keyboard for most of the week.

The following week I was offered a job, working three days a week.  Its with another charity - this time working with the elderly, but because of my recent experience I was a first hesitant to take another job in the voluntary sector.

As the expense of Christmas is around the corner though, I took the plunge.  I completed my first three days this week and thankfully they seem like a really friendly bunch and it has felt good to be in an environment where the staff are respected.

There is just so much to take in though that each day my head has been near to explosion point by the time I get home.

Its going to be a challenge fitting my increased freelance work, home and family around all this and over the last few weeks my writing has definitely taken a back seat.

I'm sure things will settle down soon but in the meantime I'm setting myself small writing takes each day so that at least I'll feel as though I'm achieving something, rather than having so little time and head space that larger projects seem too daunting.

There is one thing I'm grateful for though, and that is that I didn't sign up to NaNoWriMo this month.  I think that might just have sent me over the edge.

Woman's Weekly

This morning two fat envelopes appeared on my doormat, and recognising the labels, I knew without opening them that they were rejections.

The sad thing was that they were both from Woman's Weekly.

It doesn't matter how hard I study the magazines and scrutinise the guidelines, I've never managed to get it right for this magazine, even when I think I've written the perfect story from them.  What's even more frustrating is receiving a standard rejection telling me to read their guidelines.  Sometimes I wish I had a bit of mystic ability and could interpret a crystal ball.

Never mind, you have to take it on the chin and my stories will be reassessed and sent somewhere else.  You never know, one man's meat is another man's poison or so they say.

So now its back to the drawing board to create the perfect story for Woman's Weekly, because now its personal and I'm determined to crack this market one day, even if that day is a long way in the future.