Happy Valentine's Day

I always used to hate Valentine’s Day, probably because it gave all the more popular, prettier girls in school an opportunity to boast about how many cards they had received whilst I never received any.  I consider it a night which is overpriced, over commercialised and is a bit of a poke in the eye for anyone who isn’t currently in a relationship.

Also, with a distinct lack of babysitters at the moment, going out for a romantic dinner is pretty much off the cards.

But I do like to make an effort and we’ve swapped cards this morning and tonight I will be cooking a three course meal.  I love cooking and a chance to try out new recipes so I’ve spent the day doing my domestic goddess bit and feeling very happy with myself.  Let’s hope the dishes work out and I’m feeling just as happy by the end of the night!

Anyway, for those of you who have ever wondered about the origins of Valentine’s Day, here’s a bit of history.

St Valentine was an early Italian Christian Saint dating back to around 269 AD.  At that time the Emperor had decided that single men made better soldiers and Valentine was imprisoned in Rome for performing secret marriages.  During his imprisonment the Jailor;s blind daughter who studied scripture and prayed with him was miraculously cured. But this miracle could not save Valentine and before his execution on 14 February he’s said to have written her a farewell note – From Your Valentine. 

So whilst Valentine’s Day does represent the love between two people, the day itself is rather sad. 

It’s not just those who are alone who may have reason not to like Valentine’s Day though.  In the 19^th and 20^th centuries unflattering “vinegar” Valentines were produced to send to people as an insult.

Here’s one that I came across:

“You’ve had your day my dear,

Remember your age if you can,

People can see without looking,

You’re mutton dressed as lamb.”

Charming! I’d be quite glad not to receive a card if the alternative was that!

Here’s something that is rather sweet though.  Sending messages via sweets has been around since Victorian times. Early unromantic examples like “Take ye not to strong drink” soon gave way to phrases like “Can you Polka?” or “Love me” on floral scented sweets. 

I like the originality of this.  So that’s why tonight I’ll be cooking a meal for my husband rather than buying him a present. I think the personal touch works every time.

Happy Valentine’s day everyone.  And even if you are alone, have a fab time and be your own Valentine.

February Challenge

I’ve decided to go back to basics for February as I wanted to make this month really count as far as my writing is concerned.

After a day of work, tied to a computer screen, I don’t always feel inspired to switch on the laptop when I get home, so I’ve decided to get out my notebook and start filling up the pages instead.

Now, I’m a big lover of buying notebooks  and as the pile of freshly printed paper is building, it’s about time I started to use them and I’m finding that the whole pen to paper way of letting my words out is a hugely satisfying process.

I’ve set myself a challenge throughout February to write a minimum of 500 words each day.  That might not sound a lot, but after a long period of editing rather than writing I am pleased that every day I am now producing something new.

I know it’s probably quicker to write direct to the screen as I am a fast typist, but I’m just glad that already this month I have written two new stories and am onto my third.

Obviously it will take time to type up the first drafts and edit them but I’m feeling really inspired.  And the good thing is that I can pick up my notebook whenever I have a few spare minutes and just carry on for however long I have. I’ve even managed to complete some of my word count on the bus to work. 

Now I just have to keep generating the ideas so that I can carry on writing for the rest of the month.

A Long, Slow Process

I haven’t blogged much about writing recently but that’s because I’ve been working on a long, slow project.

For a few years now I’ve been working on a couple of novels but one in particular is the most complete.

It’s a novel about a working mum, who struggles to find the right balance between her work and her home life.

After completing a very rough first draft I started an online course with Writing Magazine where for each assignment I submitted a chapter which was critiqued and re-written before sending the next chapter.

The course was good and really gave me the confidence to improve the rest of the novel. 

It took me a while but I completed a second and then a third draft and then sent it for feedback to the Romantic Novelist’s Association for a critique on the New Writers’ Scheme.  After receiving some positive feedback I redrafted it again and then sent it to my online writers’ group.

By this stage I actually felt that it was almost complete but it was still too long, so on my next read-through I cut out all the superfluous words and sentences I could find, aiming to reach for a total word count of 100,000.

I slashed and burned and killed my darlings but by the end of this draft I still had a wordcount of 108,000 words.

So, during January I have been laboriously working through the entire novel and yesterday I managed to achieve a word count of 99,999 words – yeh!

Now I need to dust off my synopsis – thankfully already written, research possible agents and then hopefully, in the very near future, I will be in a position to allow my child to fly the nest. 

I’ve been working so long on this project that I day I send it out for the first time will be a champagne day as far as I’m concerned – regardless of the outcome.

The Lion King

I mentioned in my last post that we went to see The Lion King on Friday.

This is one of the few musicals I’ve never been to before so I really looking forward to it, especially as quite a few of my friends had recommended it.

I must admit I was intrigued as to how the animals would be portrayed as was my youngest who asked me how it would be done.

He recounted an amateur production of The Wizard of Oz where they used a real dog as Toto, and the dog did something he shouldn’t on the stage, much to the audience’s amusement, but not the cast I am sure. Anyway I said that I didn’t think they would be using real lions on the stage, that might just be a bit too unpredictable.

At first he thought he was going to be disappointed when he found out that the animals would actually be people dressed in costumes, but when they first appeared on stage he was so amazed that his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

The set design and the costumes were incredible and all credit needs to go to the wardrobe people who must have been working feverishly behind the scenes.  The giraffes were particularly amazing as the actors were on stilts, both on hands and feet so that they were bent over and the neck and head sat on top of their own heads.  It’s difficult to describe but it looked amazing and how they walked with such grace, I’ll never know. I think that giraffes are one of the most graceful animals and the actors mimicked that grace so well.  There was also a massive elephant and a baby elephant too which danced around with much delight.

The storyline was incredibly close to the film version (which we watched on Sunday) and all in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening – despite dosing the boys up with cough medicine in the interval.  I must admit though that for me the costumes and the set design were the real winners. 

Struck Down

For over a week now our household has been struck down with an awful cold and cough bug which seems to have overtaken.

My eldest was the first to get it.  Uncaring mother that I am I dosed him up and sent him into school the day after he started with it as he was going on a school trip.  When he came back that afternoon he went straight to bed (unheard of) and spent the next two days off school (also unheard of) coughing and spluttering.

On Friday he was just about fit enough to go to school but my youngest was struck down and also had a day off school.

That night we were due to go and see The Lion King at the Palace Theatre in Manchester.  We had booked the tickets ages ago as a birthday treat for my mum and no one wanted to miss it (especially after paying so much for the tickets) so off we went.  At least half the theatre was coughing and spluttering so we weren’t the only ones spreading our germs.

On Sunday my husband was struck down and my youngest was still ill so didn’t go in on Monday either.

I’ve done my best to nurse them all through it, even though I have craved the peace and quiet that is our house when they are all at work and at school and just when I got them all well again I’ve been struck down too.

I’m trying to keep going – mums don’t have time to be ill after all, but I must admit I currently feel rotten.

Let’s hope in a few days’ time I’ll be feeling more normal and next week will be full of beans and able to concentrate on some writing again.  

Another Busy Weekend

Recovering from another busy weekend.  On Saturday we travelled up to Leeds to watch the football.  Setting out from Chester it was a glorious sunny day, but just the other side of Manchester and it felt like we had entered into another world with lots of sleet and snow.  Fortunately we were prepared with thermals, hats, scarves and gloves and my new coat which comes down to my knees and resembles a sleeping bag was definitely the order of the day.

We stayed over at the Crowne Plaza hotel which is a lovely hotel with swimming pool and where the staff are so nice that’s it’s an absolute pleasure to stay there.

We got absolutely drenched going into the stadium, which wasn’t a good start but fortunately the sun soon came out and it was dry for the rest of the game.

It was a very tense game.  Leeds started out well, but then an early penalty given to Birmingham resulted in a goal and for the rest of the game they were desperately trying to equalise.  They had plenty of chances but couldn’t quite seem to hit the target.  The referee wasn’t doing them any favours either and he seemed very biased towards Birmingham, much to the displeasure of the majority of fans who made their feelings quite clear.

Fortunately about ten minutes before the end of the match Leeds scored to equalise and then seemed to get a second wind. We ended up with a draw but it was a good result considering.

In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant close to the hotel and the boys were delighted to find that two of the players, Bellusci and Antenucci were dining there.  After a discrete enquiry with the waiter, they very kindly agreed to have a photo taken with the boys.  It really made their weekend!

They Boys with Antenucci

The next morning we went for a swim, had breakfast and then went to the Leeds Superstore on the way home where the boys bought some new kits with their Christmas money.

All in all a lovely way to spend the weekend.

I Survived!

I have survived the birthday week and now life can really get back to normal!

Last Monday as it was my youngest’s birthday, we took him out for a meal at our local pub and a good time was had by all.

On Tuesday a restaurant down the road from us was having a 50% discount night so my husband booked us a table there as well – how decadent for the first week in January!  He’d told the staff that it was a birthday celebration and bless them they put balloons on the table and made a real fuss of the birthday boy.  The pudding came out with a sparkler and a song.

After eating a huge portion of fish and chips the young man found it a bit difficult to eat all the pudding so Mum had to help him out – well that’s what Mum’s are for aren’t they?

The rest of the week was business as usual but then on Friday we had a sleepover for four of his friends.  They all had a lovely time – although it was a trifle loud and not too easy to get five boys to sleep in one room, but thankfully they’d all had a busy week so eventually crashed out.

Saturday morning was more noise and then I took them to play football at a centre which has synthetic pitches.  They had a great time and I got to sit down with Writing Magazine and notebook for two whole hours – what bliss.

Then it was out for lunch and then eventually I managed to get them all back to their separate homes before crashing out on the sofa, completely exhausted.