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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!

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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.

A quick one this week as I’m on holiday, but I missed last week, so here goes.

  1. I’m on holiday in Cornwall, pretty much my favourite place, with my boys, pretty much my favourite people. This is excellent.
  2. My editor at Jane Austen’s Regency World liked my piece on toilet habits,  which should be published in November, I think.
  3. I am finding Cornish beaches incredibly inspiring for writing: I’ve written a few thousand words whilst being here, which is pretty good going. Whether any of it is any good, I’m less sure – but then, that’s always the case with me!
  4. I am compiling a list of things I need to google when I get home – when people started drinking hot chocolate is one of them, and when it became more regular. I am vaguely entertained by the things I end up needing to google.
  5. Oh, also, I discovered a massive sub-plot to The Sisterhood, which whilst it means I have a lot of research to do, explains the existence of a couple of characters who had insisted on pushing themselves into the story for no good reason. Now there’s a good reason.
  6. I’ve been enjoying watching some of the Athletics World Championships in idle moments.

Friday Fiction (Pansy Learns A Lesson) 18+

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So, my short story Pansy Learns A Lesson came out recently. It’s a sequel to Punishing Pansy, which I wrote quite some time ago and (despite what the middling reviews might tell you) has probably been my most successful short story ever.

Fancy a quick taster (as it were)?

Naughty Pansy is getting off at work again. But when her boss (and lover) catches her with another man, will she finally learn her lesson?

Warnings: This title contains explicit sex, including threesomes (M/F/M) and spanking.
Word Count: 2000

      

EXCERPT:

It was about twenty minutes before three when Pansy stopped innocently at Aaron’s desk. David had a meeting until three o’clock; he often liked to work off his frustrations with Pansy afterwards. But it also meant she was safe from him noticing her plotting… well, until she wanted him to see, that was.
“Aaron,” she breathed huskily. “There’s some sheets of A3 paper I need to get from the basement, but the shelf is too high for me to reach. Will you help me?”
“Sure.”
Aaron glanced at her and then away. He was shy, then, and still uncertain of her motives. Even better. He got to his feet and she led him down the stairs. There was a little stepladder in front of the paper shelves, and Pansy climbed onto it, reaching her arms upwards as if trying to reach the highest shelf. Her skirt hitched higher around her thighs, and she heard a sharp intake of breath from Aaron.
“You see?” she asked, looking round, her arms still reaching up. “I’m just not quite big enough. But I saw you and I thought ‘Oh yes, Aaron is definitely big enough’.”

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. I got a request from an ME group  to allow them to translate my blog post, Five Things People With CFS/ME Would Be Happy Never to Hear Again (And What We’d Like You to Say) into Dutch. Needless to say, I’m delighted for them to do so!

2. I haven’t written as much of The Sisterhood (my new novel) this week as I’d like – ill health (having ME – see above if you don’t know much about it!) has been dogging me more than usual. However, I am getting really inspired and I keep having inspirations about different bits and how the story fits together.

(I don’t write in a linear fashion, which has both up sides and down. The ‘up’ is always having a bit of the story to get on with – if I can’t find inspiration for one scene, I just write a different one. The ‘down’ is the complication of trying to fit all the bits together in the correct order, since I don’t always know where a certain scene will go; or, if I’m not entirely organised, accidentally writing the same scene twice. NOT that I’d ever really do that, obviously…)

3. Child and I are going to Wales for the week to visit thoroughly excellent people. In fact, we’re probably in transit as you read this, as I wrote it last night and scheduled it to post today 🙂

4. Child has been on a football training course this week, and really enjoyed it. He did one at the end of May and has cheerfully been telling me that he can see the difference between then and now.

5. I am thanking my lucky stars, however, that we still have him – and a house. I bought, a short while ago, an electric fan. I find it very hard to sleep in hot weather, which is hugely problematic to my health. It only cost about £10… but now I know why. When my son was sleeping in our bedroom on his own with the fan on, at some point during the early evening, the fan jammed. When I went to go to bed myself (and throw Child into his own room), there was a strong smell of burning and when I tried to stop it, part of it fell on the floor. As it was very hot, I had a small fear that it was going to set the carpet alight. Thankfully, this story has a happy ending – the fan did not cause any havoc and disaster above terrifying me out of several years of life and a revolting smell in our room.

6. Having dyed my hair black after it was blue and green, I have noticed that it is beginning to go very dark blue, with equally dark purple and green bits. I look like a Goth Mermaid. I’m not sure I actually want to look like a Goth Mermaid, but it’s quite interesting to see it change colour every time I wash it.

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. My sister and my nephew have been down staying locally this week. SO nice to spend time with them.

2. Also, my sister and I scandalously Went To The Pub. I think it’s the first time I’ve been out to do that for… um, at least six months. Probably a lot longer. It was splendid, even if I did drink too much (both wine and water).

3. I feel mean for being pleased that Lovely Partner’s fencing clubs have stopped for the summer, but it’s very jolly having him home a bit more.

4. I’m not the speediest writer ever, but the new novel is plodding along. Next week Child has a football club, so I will try and get a bit more done then – I’m going away next Saturday (YAY!) so it would be nice to go with the knowledge that I’m well on target (which in my terms means ‘definitely ahead of target so I don’t panic’) to get the first draft completed by the end of September so I have all of October for editing.

5. And, as above, I’m going away next Saturday with Child, to stay with incredibly excellent and splendid friends! Excuse me whilst I bounce a bit just thinking about it (*bounce*)

6. I like summer. I like light evenings. I like no school. I like the laid back feel. I like summer.

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. The school summer holidays have started! Six weeks of no school run, no panicked “oh no, what about your homework?” conversations and no “Mum, we need an Ancient Greek costume for tomorrow!”

2. My contract for The Sisterhood came through: a new lesbian historical romance. I haven’t finished it yet (nowhere near, to be honest!) but I got 2.5k written this week. I’m hoping to get going with it. I’m full of inspiration at the moment 🙂

3. I hit my first weight-loss goal last Tuesday. I rather suspect that I’ve drifted away from it already this week (but hey, I have a couple of days to reel myself back in) but it’s encouraging to know I CAN do it.

4. I would invite everyone to look at http://www.pledge15.org.uk and consider joining up. (There’s a twitter and a Facebook as well.) Making a little difference can sometimes make a big difference.

5. A  friend of mine inadvertently gave me the best laugh of the week on Thursday. Writing to his boss, he sent an email saying “I just want you to look a tit.” Not, you might think, the most tactful or appropriate thing of which to inform your boss (even if – or perhaps especially if – true). Unfortunately for my friend, he had intended the considerably less inflammatory “I just want you to look at it.” Oops?

6. I met Child’s teacher for next academic year on Monday, and asked him what I could do to help Child transition into a much more academically focused year. He said something along the lines of “Not much, really – give him a break so he comes back fresh.” That’s very much something I want to hear from a teacher. (The fact that Child actively WANTS to do maths over the summer is a different matter, and something I’ll just have to cope with myself!)

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. This Thursday, I got to meet a very old friend whom I had never met in person before. We’ve been friends for over 15 years online, but as she lives in Alaska and I in the UK, trying to meet up has not been realistically. By chance, however, she was around locally just for one day – and I got to go and actually meet up! Fabulous.

2. I have finished the first draft of my article on toilet habits in the Regency Period. Not something I’d ever researched before, but it was strangely fascinating. And once again reminded me that I’m glad to live in a world of flushing toilets.

3. The sekrit project I mentioned last week is going from strength to strength and should hopefully be officially launched this week. Look out for a Huff Post story about it, as well as me going on about it all over Facebook and Twitter…

4. I ordered various things online recently, and they have been drifting through the post. Even when it’s something like a feather duster, or a maths book, it’s somehow still quite exciting to get parcels through the door! (And yes, I had ordered both of those things. Welcome to my world!)

5. Having damaged my back rather nastily a week ago, it’s feeling much better now. I had a few days of swearing and taking painkillers in large doses, and it has slowly been recovering so that now it’s not too bad as long as I don’t make any sudden twisty motions. (Or knit. Annoyingly, there is apparently a ‘knitting’ muscle in one’s back.)

6. I’ve been trying to lose weight for a while, and it’s finally beginning to pay off. I noticed in a recent photograph of myself that I didn’t look quite so enormous. As I’m unable to exercise, it’s really quite a challenge, so I’m quite proud of having managed to lose a bit.

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. I had a very sociable Sunday last week, with Lovely Friend staying. We went out for a meal with her family, who are most splendid.

2. Ooh, Bella are potentially interested in the new novel. All I have to do now is write the remaining two thirds of it… Oh, and edit. And edit and edit and edit.

3. Goodness, I can’t believe it took me until point #3 to mention that Child – who is, of course, brilliant in every single way – chose to be brilliant at art and managed to be one of ten winners of a competition to have his artwork on a big banner in the local city centre.

4. A local friend of mine, whose son is one of Child’s best friends, very very kindly offered to take him to and from football practice today, and then hang on to him for a while as I had a choir rehearsal this morning. I thought I was going to have to make Child come to the rehearsal with me instead, which would not have been joyous for either of us, especially as Child informed me that the music we’re singing makes him want to cry. (I think it’s the music not my interpretation of it, as we’ve had the CDs on in the car and I haven’t been singing audibly along. Just in case you were wondering 😉 )

5. I accidentally managed to buy some books this week. A charity shop leapt out and forced me into its depths, refusing to let me out again until I’d bought five books. It’s terribly sad, but what choice did I have?

6. I’ve been working with a friend on a project for the last few days. Hopefully I will be able to tell you about it shortly 🙂 Anyway, I think it’s a Good Thing.

Friday Fiction

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So, my latest blog for the Huffington Post is up, in which I’m talking about a subject which can get many people up in arms (just read the comments if you don’t believe me) – disabled parking spots.

Why Parking in a Disabled Spot Without a Badge Is Never Okay

Disabled parking spaces are a hot button trigger for a lot of people. Disabled people getting really frustrated, and able-bodied people finding it difficult to understand why blue badge (‘disabled permit/placard’) holders are getting quite so irate about a minor parking infringement.

So let’s have a look at things. Here are the usual reasons people give for parking illegally in a disabled parking spot, and a quick explanation of why it’s just not okay.