Monthly Archives: September 2015

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

  1. Child’s toe is apparently NOT broken, and he seems much more himself again. Hurrah!

2. I had my photo taken for an article in Kent Life magazine where I’m being interviewed (along with three other local writers) by Rachael Hale, the History Magpie. It’s due to come out in just over a month, I think, which is quite exciting (though I do hate having my photo taken).

3. I discovered this week that the plarn mat I made is being really useful. I’ve got a couple of knitting commissions to finish, and then I shall go back to making those. I have another one half-done.

4. Someone’s emailed me about potentially getting me involved with a project they’re doing. I know this is all very vague, but I’ll let you know if there’s anything further to be said about it 🙂

5. I’m doing a bit of de-cluttering, and am selling off some of my yarn (because if I’m going to be making plarn mats most of the time, I won’t need so much) and books (because we have a slight crisis of bookshelf space). If you might be interested in the books, look here. I’ll do a proper yarn post at some point, too.

6. I’ve been spending some much needed time on my spiritual life and have created a lovely sacred space where I can just Be. It’s by no means finished but I feel happier for having it there.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

  1. Right now, I am profoundly grateful to the NHS (National Health Service). I am just back from hospital, where I took Splendid Son after he damaged his foot. In fact, he stubbed his toe, but this possibly doesn’t give quite the right amount of gravitas: by stubbing his toe, he has managed to break a bone in his big toe and get a wound which needs antibiotics and could mean he loses his toenail. Our excellent free-at-the-point-of-service health system has not only got his foot diagnosed and bandaged but has also provided antibiotics and painkillers and two follow up appointments. I don’t have words for how appreciative I am.

2. I am also thanking my lucky stars in regard to a car accident I had earlier this week (yes, it truly has been one of those weeks). My car lost power to steering and brakes, which as you can imagine is quite terrifying. However, I am grateful because it happened somewhere where there were no people to injure – which as it failed on the school run could easily not have been the case – and when I had slowed down to go round a big bend in the road. Damage: one flat tyre, and nothing (and more importantly, no one) else. AND I got to school only a couple of minutes late to pick up Splendid Son.

3. Aside from Dramatic Events, I have managed to get past the 50,000 word mark in The Sisterhood. It is coming along nicely, though I need to do some more research fairly urgently.

4. I bit the bullet and took out some of my knitted rugs to local shops to see if they were interested in stocking them. They weren’t, but one place said they’d take some of my scarves if I made them in a similar fashion and in darkish colours. I’ve also had some interest shown on Facebook in the rugs – you can take a look at them here.

5. Having won a £10 Amazon voucher last month, I ordered a couple of books which came this week. Very exciting. (They were, for those who are interested, Two Joans At The Abbey, by Elsie Oxenham; and End of Term by Antonia Forest. I have a particular interest in old girls’ school stories.)

6. Okay, I have to admit I’m struggling to find a #6. It has been a fairly full-on week, as you’ve probably gathered. Oh, the Rugby World Cup started yesterday with a win for England. That’s something to be cheerful about.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

^ I forgot to post this heading last week: huge apologies to Terry for that.

  1. It was my lovely son’s 10th birthday on Monday, which was quite the most important thing which happened this week. Double figures and everything – he’s getting very grown up!
  2. I met Rachael Hale, the History Magpie, this week for a chat, which was ever so pleasing! She’s writing a piece about local writers with an interest in history, and I was gabbling on at top speed about Georgian and Regency things. It’ll be amazing if she caught a single word, but it was really great to talk to her.
  3. Ooh, ooh, ooh, Thrace has been republished this week!  It’s a sci fi anthology of 3 novellas, each between 10,000 and 15,000 words and I consider it one of the best things I’ve written (as do the reviewers who have commented on Good Reads about it). Sadly it got very little sales first time around so I’m hoping for better this time. If you’re in to non-gendered aliens with tails (and if you aren’t, why on earth not?!), take a look at it. (More on this in a different post soon, I hope.)
  4. I also managed to type up a whole screed of the new novel, The Sisterhood, and write another couple of thousand words this week. I keep finding more things I need to research, but I am enjoying the story very much! I know I’m not writing for ‘me’ exactly, but it doesn’t half help confidence if I feel happy about what I’m writing.
  5. I went to the bookshops at the two universities local to me (Kent University, at which I studied many moons ago, and Christ Church University, at which I worked for more than a decade until I became too ill this year) and they’ve both agreed to stock Petticoats and Promises, which is splendid news.
  6. We’ve had a couple of days of sunny weather, which is lovely when we’re on the cusp of autumn.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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  1. We’ve had a lovely holiday – another, less crowded, week in Cornwall when many schools had started back.
  2. My copy of this edition of Jane Austen’s Regency World was awaiting me when we got home last night – it has an article I wrote about alternative medicines in the Regency. Trust me, you should be grateful you live now!
  3. I have got my cats home – apparently, they caused a lot of fuss and bother during their time away, which is rather embarrassing. However, I did miss them and I’m glad to have them back with me.
  4. I had a lovely time last Sunday, not only with my boys but with my sister and assorted family. We got to spend time with fab family members, and actually also went to a gorgeous village I’d not visited before (in living memory) but which I’ll certainly be visiting again.
  5. I got most of my *whisper it* Christmas shopping done whilst I was away, too. I love present buying, so it was fun for that reason; it will also be useful as I have to help Child with all of his presents, which can be stressful unless I have plenty of time.
  6. None of the fishes managed to die whilst we were away. There are een a few more little babies, so I may have issues in the other direction in the not too distant future by having too many fish for the size of the tank. But at the moment, I am delighted that we seem to be able to keep fish alive, as long as Lovely Partner is responsible for everything!