Inspiration Strikes

As well as my ever towering to be read pile of books and endless notes on what I want to write next, over the Christmas period I also amassed quite a few recordings on the TV.  Well it was a bit of a cultural highlight - Jane Austen and Charles Dickens all in one season. So during these dark winter nights I have been very much entertained.

The other night I watched the TV biography of JK Rowling.  Now I don't know how close to the reality it was, but considering it  was unauthorised and was made to entertain, I suspect that a fair proportion of poetic licence may have been involved in the making.  The further I got into the programme, though, the more I enjoyed it.

For me it wasn't really about the facts; it was about one woman's determination to achieve her goal, no matter how long it took or how many rejections she received along the way.

I especially loved the bits where she had a few spare moments and she would slip out her notebook and start writing.

Perhaps it's a lesson to all us writers out there - make the most of whatever writing opportunity we have, even if it's just for a few minutes.

I'm a bit of a scatty writer myself, I'm usually working on several projects at a time and have notebooks and folders on my pc all over the place.

At the moment I'm trying to edit several short stories written in first draft and am going through my back list to see if I can breathe life into some of my ancient relics. I'm also trying to edit a novel, so I often find it difficult to have the right piece of writing with me at the right time.

But for my next project, I have decided to use a dedicated notebook, which I can carry with me whenever I go, then when I do get a few spare moments, I don't have to log on to anywhere to see where I left off at my last writing session.

Technology is a wonderful thing and I'm so glad I don't have to type on a typewriter any more but this programme has inspired me to go back to basics - the good old pen and paper. And its also made me want to concentrate on one project at a time.  I think it's time to declutter my writing life.  A bit late I know but that can't be a bad resolution can it?

It's Snowing, So It Must Be Panto Season

Last weekend I went to see my sister-in-law perform at a school production.  The school is where my niece goes to, where I and both my brothers also went, and was to celebrate the school’s 50^th anniversary.

My sister-in-law has never acted before and had decided to give it a go because it is something she has always fancied trying, and she seemed to be really enjoying herself.

We all had tickets for last Saturday night but to be honest, I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it because of the weather.   I live about 30 miles away from my old home, and normally the journey is a doddle, but I don’t like driving at night and I particularly don’t like driving in bad weather. But it was important to my sister-in-law and I wanted to support her, so I decided to go anyway.

It was raining heavily when I left, even though it was -1^oC, and the spray on the motorway made driving difficult.  Before I had left, my Dad had said it was snowing where they were but I didn’t think it would settle because it was so wet everywhere else.

When I turned off the motorway, it was like driving into a different world. The hedgerows were completely white and the roads full of dirty slush.  The further I got to my parent’s house, the whiter it became and the slippier the roads. It was at that point I was glad I had packed an overnight bag for me and the boys, just in case.  I thought I may have to use it.

We walked round to the school in a snow storm, the pavements and roads were thick with it and the boys had snowball fights all the way. They thought it was brilliant but by the time we arrived we were all looking pretty much like snow monsters ourselves.

The panto, Dorothy and the Wizard who’s Odd, was brilliant.  Full of local humorous references, lots of laugh-out-loud moments, and some singing and dancing.  And as for my sister-in-law’s performance, well I was absolutely blown over.  I thought she might be a bit nervous, but it looked as though she had been acting all her life.   She is one of the nicest people I have ever known, but her part as the wicked witch was utterly convincing and I don’t think I’ll ever view in her in quite the same light again.

Despite the snow I was pleased that I had made it because it was one of those moments in life which I will never forget.  I was so proud of her for getting out there and doing something she has always wanted to do, and for being so good at it too.

The snow was still thick when we left but didn’t seem to be freezing.   Desperate to spend the night in my own bed, I decided to brave the weather and drove home.  It took me a while to get back onto the motorway, but once there the snow simply vanished.  I said to the boys that I felt as though I had come from Narnia back to the wardrobe.  My eldest commented, ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, can I be the Lion?’ I replied, ‘And I suppose I’ll have to be the witch.’  There was a silence until my youngest said in a small voice, ‘Why do I have to be the wardrobe?’ And our laughter eased the journey home.

It was certainly a night to remember in more ways than one.

Sweet Things

Thank you to the lovely Teresa Ashby for passing on to me the Sweet Blogger Award.

So here we go, seven things about me.

1. When I was younger my grandfather owned a farm and the early autumn months would find me in the kitchen making jams, crumbles and pies – those were the days when I had time.

2. I’m not a big pudding maker and I haven’t actually made a pie or crumble in years (see above), but I am a dab hand at chocolate profiteroles.  I don’t usually get to eat them though because my boys get to them first.

3. I have a hankering for Bailey’s ice cream, made at the Cheshire Ice Cream farm.  When the boys were little their outdoor play area always used to be a good excuse to visit and stock up on supplies – but hey? Who needs an excuse?

4. My favourite chocolates in the Milk Tray box are the fudge ones, followed closely by coffee creams.

5. When I was little I always used to insist that my mum made me coffee cake for my birthday – I can see a trend here.

6. I’ve just discovered a Cadbury’s seconds shop close to me – it’s done my waistline no favours what so ever.

7. My favourite Cadbury’s bar is Fruit & Nut, but I also like Crunchies, Cream Eggs, Whispers, Fry’s Chocolate Cream, Caramel bars – oh dear the list goes on, and I didn’t think I had that much of a sweet tooth!

Thanks Teresa, you’ve made me think about my guilty secrets and now I’m hungry!

How They Have Grown!

As I have blogged before, just over a year ago, we became the proud owners of two tiny little kittens.

Now they have grown.  And grown. And then grown some more.

They have gone from this  ........

To this ..........

Numerous toys and one scratching post have bitten the dust

But they really are the most affectionate kittens I have ever come across and I am proud that they have chosen us as their owners

Cloud

Hi all

I spend a lot of time working from different computers and struggle to keep everything up to date and backed up. And we all know how much panic that can cause if it all goes wrong.  Most of the time I save my work to a usb stick and try to copy any updated files across to my computer.  But I don't always manage to keep things up to date and I'm paranoid about  losing the usb stick.

I've heard of the web based system - Cloud computing and it seems like a good solution for someone in my position.  But I'm not that clued up on the latest IT solutions so I was wondering  anyone has any experience of Cloud and if so can you recommend a company who provide this as cheaply as possible? Any help would be much appreciated.

Any other options would be much appreciated, preferably good, free ones!

Thanks

Linda



I'm a Survivor!

Back in the good old days, when the children were young, birthday parties consisted of twenty to thirty children and two hours when you wanted to invest in ear plugs.

Nowadays the numbers are much lower but the duration - well it seems to last a lifetime because of the dreaded sleepover.

Last Saturday afternoon I took possession of two extra seven year olds, fed them, kept them entertained and tried to get them to bed and to sleep before midnight. I don't really know if they slept - they were doing a quiet pretence if nothing else.

The next morning I cajoled them into eating breakfast, took them to the cinema and then out to lunch. It cost roughly the same as it did in the old days. After that I took them home.

Then I handed my own children over to my husband and locked myself in the bathroom for a two hour soak in the bath and a good read.

Can I have a Survivor's badge now please?

Another Celebration

Whilst everyone else is celebrating the return to normal after the festivities, we are entering into a new zone of celebration.  Eight years ago today I gave birth to my youngest child.  I always feel sorry for him having his birthday  at this time of year, at a time when everyone is jaded from a party atmosphere. And whilst I am usually fed it with it myself, I always do my best to try and make it special for him. It's not his fault he was born at this time of year but it could have been worse, he was due on Christmas Eve and I keep joking that if he was, I was going to call him Jesus - it is a joke!

At the moment he loves school so the fact that his birthday always seem to fall on the first day back isn't too traumatic, but I'm sure there will come a time.  This year we've held back some of the best presents for today, so the smile on his face when he opened them was well worth the wait. We've been out with his Nanna for a birthday tea, and at the weekend he's having a sleepover with some friends and a cinema trip followed by a bit of a party with some of our friends, and then next weekend another party tea with family hosted by Grandma.

I hope I've done him proud, he certainly seems happy, but as every year,  I will be glad when life can truly get back to normal?

What about you, are you sad or glad at the return to routine?