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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.

  1. I had a WONDERFUL couple of days in Bath with Lovely Partner – it’s only the second time in ten years that we’ve been away alone together, so we were probably due it 🙂
  2. Also in Bath, I got to meet the most excellent Tim Bullamore, the editor of Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine, for which I’ve been writing semi-regularly for the past 7 years! Probably about time I met him, really!
  3. Rather improbably, on the back of being interviewed by Scope last week about erotica and disability, this week the November edition of Kent Life Magazine came out, with an interview with me in it, as a local writer with an interest in history (did I mention that I’m fascinated by the Regency Period and general Georgian Period? [I have to expand it as The Sisterhood, the current novel, is set before the Regency.] Oh, I did? Sorry – as you were…). You’ll have to take my word for it, I’m afraid (or, y’know, go and buy it) as there’s no online link to it! But still, it exists, honest!
  4. Today, Splendid Son (who is a little bit fed up of being designated ‘Splendid Daughter’ by everyone, based solely on the length of his hair… just saying…) and I used our Charlton Athletic Season Tickets for the second time and went up to London. Um, rather unsuccessfully, since we lost 3:0, but you know – excitement and all. And we saw Guy Luzon in his last game as manager… :-/
  5. My knitting is continuing apace: I knitted a scarf on the way to Bath, and have knitted about half of one today, to and from football (and a bit in half time. I think I come across as a reasonably harmless eccentric). So that’s good. I need to fringe a few next – I tie each fringe piece on by hand, incidentally. Let no one say I don’t take pains with what I make!
  6. Um… um… um… There are plenty of things I could write here about things in Bath – the Roman Baths, the Fashion Museum (LP and I are a hilarious couple of people to go to something about fashion, but it’s at the Assembly Rooms [Regency alert] and they have a lot of Georgian exhibitions), walking by the river, going out for a meal… But I think I shall finish by saying that whilst we were in Bath, Splendid Son had a great couple of days on a school residential trip, so everyone was happy 🙂

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.

Sometimes it takes me a while, but I get there…

  1. Being invited by Scope to be part of their ‘End The Awkward’ campaign about sex and disability was really lovely. (For those who haven’t seen it, I was ‘N’ for NSFW.)

2. As you may have gathered from previous SSSs, I knit a lot as well as writing. This week I set up a Facebook page for my knitting, called Friday Yarns because I couldn’t resist the intersectional knitting/writing pun 🙂

Incidentally, I also have an authorly FB page which it would be splendid if more people liked 🙂 For both that and the Yarns, a ‘like’ is in no way an expectation that you will ever buy anything, it just makes me feel encouraged!

3. Well, the good news is that I’ve written lots more of The Sisterhood. The bad news is… I still haven’t finished it, though it’s now over 76,000 words. I’m still hoping to finish the first draft by the end of Tuesday, giving me time to revise it. But it’s definitely ‘hope’…

4. Ooh, I am meeting up with one of my editors next week. The  excellent Tim Bullamore (who has been kindly letting me write for Jane Austen’s Regency World for years without checking whether I’m actually a yeti or something) is around in Bath when Lovely Partner and I are going there to visit. It will be very exciting to meet him in person at last!

5. Splendid Son had a great day on a maths workshop earlier this week. They showed him how to make a dodecahedron out of sheets of A4 paper without using glue or cutting anything. (They probably did other things, but this was quite the most exciting!) We have tried it at home, and it’s officially A Thing. I’m really quite impressed 🙂

6. I made it to my choir for only the second time in the last 6 weeks. It was really lovely to be well enough to go, after several weeks of no voice on top of another week where I couldn’t make it for child-minding reasons. I don’t sing well, but I’m very enthusiastic!

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 goodly chunk of The Sisterhood written this week (yes, this is a reoccurring theme at the moment, but such is life). The end is still not yet nigh, but I’m quite pleased with the book nonetheless.

2. In other work-related news, albeit of a different type, Sowley of Canterbury have agreed to take some of my hand-knitted scarves. So if you’re in the market for beautiful fuzzy knitwear, I can only suggest you go there..!

3. And to plough a third vein of work (back to writing again, though), I’ve been talking with Scope about their ‘End The Awkward’ A-Z look at disability and sexuality for their ‘N’ (NSFW) section about erotica. Which is quite fun. ‘N’ isn’t out yet, but I believe it’s not too far away.

4. I had an excellent and unexpected trip to see my sister and nephew this week, which was splendid! Lots of talking and laughing and drinking  🙂

5. And talking about going away, Splendid Child is going on a school residential trip for a couple of nights soon, and Lovely Partner and I have just organised to go away by ourselves for a couple of days to Bath. I can hunt Jane Austen connections down to my heart’s content!

6. Last Sunday, Splendid Child and I took an exciting trip to London to watch Charlton Athletic football team. It was quite an adventure, including getting a bus to (close to) the ground, and then trying to find where we were going. SC did a splendid job pushing my wheelchair, and got bonus heroic points for that – and we discovered that our seats were right near the pitch (indeed, my wheelchair stopped a couple of balls that came flying off the pitch at various times) and practically next to the Home Team’s dugout! It looked like it was all going to end in disappointment for our team, as they were 2:0 down with 10 minutes to go, but incredibly, they managed to get something out of it and ended up with a last gasp equaliser for a 2:2 draw. Looking forward to the next game we can attend (24th October)…

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.

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.

Well. This has not been my best week ever. So it’s even more important than usual to focus on the positives.

1. I successfully(ish) managed to paint a small section of wall which had been a dreary concrete colour. It improves our kitchen immensely.

2. The election results, whilst not (at all) what I wanted, have given me a distinct idea of the sort of world I want to live in, and some ways of moving forward personally and with like-minded folk to try and move our country in that direction.

3. I’m also really appreciating the friends and family I have. They are most excellent people.

4. Child has been agitating to join a local football club, and I just heard this morning that he can start next Saturday, which will please him.

5. My cats are gorgeous and cuddly.

6. It is still mostly sunny and we are making the most of it, spending hours at the park.

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. Wow, I am really happy that my blog entry ‘Five Things People With CFS/ME Would Be Happy Never To Hear Again (And What We’d Like You To Say)’ has done so well. Obviously, after 22 years living with ME, it’s an area really close to my heart and I’m so glad that it resonated with so many other people. (Well, sort of glad – I’m really sorry how many people with this illness have heard the same unhelpful things I have, but I hope that maybe a few more people might understand now.)

 

2. The ‘Dark Lord Funk’ version of ‘Uptown Funk’ (a beautiful Harry Potter parody) has made me so happy.  I have no shame in saying that I’m a Harry Potter fan, and it incorporated so many parts of the original books and films into it – words, phrases, even the film’s theme music – that it was perfect. Love it.

 

3. I have a new (to me) car! After a couple of weeks without one, it is so great to have the freedom to get about. When your mobility is as limited as mine is (very), life is very curtailed without a car. I’m still getting used to its quirks, but I’m sure it will come.

 

4. On a slightly more mundane level, I managed to take my anti-migraine medicine the other day before the migraine took hold. I was still under the weather, but when I get migraines I can get frighteningly ill, and I managed to avoid that.

 

5. I had a parents’ meeting at Child’s school last week. Child is doing very well at maths (which doesn’t surprise me – he’s the sort of kid who thinks ‘mental maths problems’ is a great game to play in the car) and he seems happy at school. (That doesn’t surprise me, either – I ask him after school each day whether he’s had a good day and he always says yes. I got paranoid that maybe it was just a reflexive response, so I asked him if he’d tell me if he hadn’t had a good day, and he said “Of course!” So apparently, he really does have a good day every day!)

 

6. I’m really looking forward to going on holiday next week with my extended family. Thirteen of us! I’m expecting chaos…

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 PAPERBACK COPIES OF MY NOVEL CAME! I make no excuse for shouting at you – if you wouldn’t be excited by copies of your first paperback novel, I pity you.

 

2. I talked to a shop about potentially stocking my rugs/throws/comfort blankets. And we’ve agreed that they’ll stock some on a commission-if-sold basis for a month or two. I am counting no chickens, but it’s pleasing to know that I’ve tried.

 

3. I finished my article about mistresses. I can’t think of a title, which is annoying me, but I’m sure the lovely editor will be able to think of one if I can’t. (And I should stop dilly-dallying and send it to him so he can see it exists, incidentally.)

 

4. I’ve read some really good books this week, the best of which was White Feathers, by Susan Lanigan. A book about WW1, it followed a very real heroine and neither shirked the nasty bits nor over-emotionalised them. Brilliant.

 

5. I made a deliberate decision to stop trying to lose weight/improve my diet for the present. I want, and intend, to make changes in the future, but at the moment I’ve been struggling and it’s a relief to have stopped putting that pressure on myself.

 

6. I spent Thursday morning playing Mah Jong (the real game, not the extremely disappointing computer version) with my mother. This is an excellent way to spend time.

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 am slightly embarrassed to mention it again, but my novel Petticoats and Promises came out this week. I know, I know, I need to shut up about it. But squee! Novel! Exciting! Yay!

 

2. My lovely sister has been visiting over half-term, and it’s been excellent to spend time with her in person rather than hours on the phone (also good, but actual!real!sister wins).

 

3. AND I saw my gorgeous niece and her boyfriend on Monday, which was also excellent.

 

4. It was confirmed that I’ve been re-awarded disability benefits. As my Satisfied Saturday Six has been over-full of medical appointments over the last months (yes, I did have one this week – but there are NONE next week!), you may possibly have gathered that my health is not precisely the best. I appear to have started doing the SSS at a particularly difficult point in my life, which probably makes it more worthwhile for me, but a bit tedious for readers. Sorry about that!

 

5. It is half-term from school, which means that Child has been around more than usual. He is good value, and also had an excellent time on Wednesday on a day course which covered archery, falconry and bushcraft. I am somewhat jealous!

 

6. Talking of Wednesday, I also went out for a meal with my family that day. Mmm, steak. Mmm, red wine. Delicious.