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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’ve arranged to write another article for Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine, which is exciting. I’m looking forward to researching the different branches of Christianity and the different treatment afforded to them.
  2. Very proud of Lovely Partner this week, who passed his written exams for becoming a fencing referee. (Both epee and foil.)
  3. Also proud of Splendid Son for doing a fantastic job sorting out his bedroom in epic fashion this Monday.
  4. I set myself a writing target for the month and I’ve already met it, which is quite pleasing. Not all that much is publishable, but keeping writing is always useful practice.
  5. I started knitting something again this week for the first time in a while. I’ve not had the energy, and I still struggle to do it for very long, but it’s nice to be doing it again.
  6. I’m not doing brilliantly healthwise at the moment, but my family are being so kind and helpful. I don’t know how I’d manage without them, and I appreciate them so much.

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 my copies of Love Plus One this week, which is really exciting! Books in print. (It is also officially available as a paperback on the UK Amazon site as well as on the US one.)
  2. I also received a copy of the book I edited, Capri in July, this week.It is utterly beautiful, and the author, Barry Pugh, is an amazing photographer.
  3. Splendid Son was singing in the O2 arena this week as part of the Young Voices choir. I couldn’t go (for boring health reasons), but Lovely Partner and my mother went, and apparently it was amazing. I’m very proud of him.
  4. I’ve done both some writing and some beta-reading this week, which has been good. Nothing wildly productive, but it’s good to keep my hand in.
  5. I had a bit of a bad day, mentally, earlier in the week, but chatting to a couple of good friends on the phone really helped. I’m lucky to have such great people around me.
  6. I am really enjoying my new sofabed, which means that I can lie down and basically be ‘in bed’ downstairs, thus spending more time with the family. Hurrah for practical solutions.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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Well, it’s been A Bit Of A Week, but there have been some fabulous things this week, too.

 

  1. I had visitors last weekend – one of my closest friends came to stay with her family. We’ve been good friends for over a decade, ever since our children – about a month different in age – were babies. However, thanks to the fact that she lives on the other side of the world, we’d never actually met in person before. It was simply amazing to get to spend time with her finally.
  2. Splendid Son has managed to pass an exam which means that his choice of secondary school (the school he will attend from age 11-18) is much improved. I have a great objection to the system of deciding whether children are academic achievers or not at the age of 10-11, but given that it exists in my area, I’m delighted that Splendid Son was so successful.
  3. My article about Plot Holes In Harry Potter has been translated into Italian. By Cosmo magazine, no less! I’m famous!
  4. Third, and I hope final, edits on Love Plus One complete. We should be on for the publication of the novel now…
  5. Thank goodness for our National Health Service. I’m grateful to live in Britain sometimes, and when I ended up in Accident and Emergency on Sunday evening and they dealt with me fast and well… that was one of those occasions. Thank you to all the people I saw.
  6. I’m hoping to write more articles about Harry Potter (one on trivia coming up at some point… watch this space…) which is exciting. Out of a matter of interest, what would anyone like to read about? Tell me! I’ll see if I can pitch 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.

 

Well. I have been missing for a dreadfully long time, for which I apologise. Health things have been troubling me – I’m currently spending the vast (vast) majority of my time in bed, and the time outside that is spent doing rather dull tasks so it’s been difficult to think of things to say! (And time when I’m awake and not doing dull tasks in which to say them…) However, though things have not wildly improved, I’m going to attempt to get back into keeping in touch and I thought a nice Satisfied Saturday Six would be a good way to get things going again.

  1. I wrote an article which came out this week 🙂 It was about Harry Potter (if you didn’t know I was a total fangirl, you do now!), and the new things we’ve found out since the books came out. No real spoilers for Cursed Child or Fantastic Beasts, incidentally. And not nearly as much about the next generation (Harry et al’s kids) as there could have been…
  2. Although my physical health is… well, the less said about it the better, really… my mental health is unexpectedly good. I am holding up well, which is extremely pleasing. Trust me, as someone who’s had both physical and mental illnesses, I’d take the former over the latter. (Hint to body: I’d rather not have either.)
  3. I’m currently doing the second round of edits for Love Plus One, which will hopefully come out in January with Nine Star Press. I’m so excited about this book, I really can’t tell you. PLUS (have I mentioned this before?) it’s the first in a series about these characters (I hope), so there’s more to come…
  4. Splendid Son has had an interesting couple of weeks. He turned 11 the week before last, and took an exam which will determine where he spends his next seven years going to school, so that’s quite a major thing. We also found out that he unexpectedly passed (very well) a tenor horn exam which he strongly believed he’d failed, so that’s been pleasing news.
  5. Lovely Partner and I are going to Amsterdam in less than ten days time. Given the health problems, goodness knows how this is going to work, but I’m really looking forward to it anyway! It will be lovely to get away with just the two of us for a bit.
  6. (Wow, this is hard when you haven’t been doing anything! Goodness!) Ooh, and I’m also looking forward to having a friend and her family come and stay in a couple of weeks’ time! I’ve known her for more than a decade, but thanks to the fact that she usually lives on the other side of the world, we’ve never previously met. I absolutely can’t wait for her to visit!

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. Petticoats and Promises is a Golden Crown Award Finalist for lesbian historical fiction, which was a nice thing to find out.
  2. Splendid Son and a friend came second in a local maths competition this week, so I am also bursting with maternal pride. (He was also man of the match in his football match today, so he’s having a good week.)
  3. I wrote a couple of difficult emails this week, which was good going on my part – and they were taken well by the people to whom they were written, which was good going on theirs. I’m counting this a success.
  4. I wrote a short (unpublishable, but I didn’t write it for publication) story a couple of days ago, which was pleasing.
  5. I’m getting on with the edits for an anthology I’m putting out with Nine Star Press, which is pleasing. I should have finished them by next Friday, I think.
  6. I had a truly awful day on Wednesday when I couldn’t do anything, but it turned out that it was actually just a sickness bug and not the start of the apocalypse.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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  1. As I think I’ve probably gone on about more than anyone needs to know, my health is not the best thing in the world. But I have been put on a new medicine recently, and it really seems to be having a good effect. I’m amazed and delighted, and suddenly back at the point of going “oh my goodness, doctoring is like *magic* sometimes, isn’t it?!”
  2. My next novel, The Sisterhood, is available for pre-order on Amazon.com, in all its “look, it has an amazing cover!” glory. I’m a bit self-conscious about this one, because it’s (by my standards) quite a grown-up novel and I’m rather proud of it. Which means that I’m terrified everyone else is going to hate it, of course!
  3. I had my hair cut really quite short a fortnight ago, and intended to colour it purple. However, I seem to have ended up with very short, ginger-and-green hair. Weirdly, it seems to suit me, and I want to keep it!
  4. I’m currently editing a set of three gay erotic stories for Nine Star Press. Whilst editing is never an entirely wonderful experience, I have always found (which says a lot for my editors) that it is a good and useful one, because my stories always end up the better for it. My stories are ending up the better for the editing. 🙂 And I tend to enjoy it a lot more than I think I will!
  5. I’ve spent time either by phone or in person with my close family this week, and goodness, it is a good thing! I am exceedingly lucky in that sense. Dear relations, you are all rather wonderful!
  6. I bought some new clothes this week. I am not inclined in that direction, which makes it worth a comment! But it is nice to have a few things which actually fit me 🙂

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 an acceptance of a story/possible short anthology this week, which is very exciting. Still working on the details so I can’t say more than that, but it’s lovely news.
  2. Meanwhile, the edits have come through for The Sisterhood so I’m going to be working manically on that for the next couple of weeks. It looks like there might be a publication date of June or thereabouts – I’ll keep you posted on that one!
  3. Although I’ve not been feeling at my brightest and best, I’ve managed to get quite a lot done without leaving bed for all that long. Which has a pleasing sense of achievement to it!
  4. I also finalised arrangements with a very good friend about her coming to visit at the end of next week (hurrah!) and confirmed with some other good friends that Splendid Son and I are hoping to visit them over the Easter holidays as well. I find People-in-general a bit terrifying as I’m somewhat socially awkward, but specific people (who know about my weirdnesses and make allowances) are a very different matter so I’m feeling quite bouncy!
  5. Oh, still ploughing on with my contemporary gay threesome story. I’m still not entirely sure how it’s going to pan out in terms of whether it wants to be a novel, a set of novellas, or something else entirely, but I’m just going with it at the moment and writing what seems to need to be written. I’ll worry about the details in due course, I’m sure. (But they’re lovely. I do love these characters particularly much. I don’t know why, but I do.)
  6. I braved visiting the doctor to talk about medication woes. The brief version is that I’m going to have to continue for another month with my current medicine in the hope that things may improve. But I’m glad to have been and checked (he seemed to think it was reasonable to have done so, too). It’s not something I enjoy doing (I usually take someone with me because I find it that difficult, but owing to Reasons that wasn’t possible on this occasion) so I feel I can give myself credit for having done 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. Sowley, the shop which sells my scarves in Canterbury, turns out to have sold some more of them. I originally gave them four scarves, all of which have sold, and I’ve now given them three more. But it’s delightful that they’re selling – I’m so pleased!

2. On top of that, I’ve sold all the other scarves I had on offer at Friday Yarns – and am in the middle of making arm warmers/fingerless mittens as a commission. (I have also finished a commissioned rug and now just need to find brown paper or large postage bags so that I can post it.)

3. I’m still writing a lot. I am really enjoying myself with the writing at the moment: it is lovely. I think this is the first time I’ve been whole-heartedly enjoying it for a while. I needed to have deadlines and to get things submitted on time, but I am definitely liking the freedom to write whatever I feel like at the moment. And I am finally getting round to writing some things which may actually be publishable. I’ve got a half-written story about three men which I’m currently quite pleased with.

4. Splendid Son had his horn exam on Wednesday (grade 2). He was worried in advance, which isn’t like him but he came out of it saying that he thought he’d passed, so that’s good. Also, it means that I don’t have to hassle him to do horn practice every day! I promised him a week off after he’d done the exam 🙂

5. Ooh, I ordered some things from Breila Cards for Christmas, and they arrived this week. She is so talented!

6. I have realised that my body is really not working at the moment (not good) and scaled back a bit to cope with it (good) AND am nonetheless feeling quite cheerful (very good)!

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 was down for a couple of days at the beginning of the week. It was excellent to meet up and have a chat 🙂

2. I seem to have made what is to me a surprising discovery: if I take painkillers to deal with my pain issues, it greatly improves my mood as well. Other people may not find this as surprising as I do – Splendid Son clearly didn’t, as we had the following exchange (apologies to those who have read it elsewhere, but it bears repeating!):
Me: “I’m not in much pain and I’m feeling much happier than I have been lately!”

Splendid Son: “That’s like saying ‘I’ve put on trousers and now I don’t feel so naked.'”

Well, obvious or not, it’s extremely pleasing!

3. I’m still writing lots. Including some things which may well be publishable. And I’m doing lots of research into what to write for which markets next, which is quite fun.

4. I’m feeling well enough to go to the football today (Charlton Athletic), which is pleasing as I feared I might not be. I’m going with my father rather than son today – Splendid Son, Lovely Partner, my mother and a couple of SS’s friends are all going to the pantomime (all together now: “OH NO THEY AREN’T!”) so everyone will be happy. Dad and I have never liked panto very much, but we do like football 🙂

5.  The US’s Thanksgiving has meant that my Facebook has been overwhelmed with people writing about things they’re grateful for. It has been a lovely explosion of good things!

6. Splendid Son has a horn exam next Wednesday. I have promised him a week off practising afterwards. Little does he know that I have promised MYSELF a week off nagging him to practise 🙂 He’s been very good, but I can hardly wait!

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.

Considering the attacks in Paris (which is closer to my home than many places in England, and any place in Scotland), it seems slightly insensitive to post an SSS. But in the theory that at bad times, recognising the good is important, I’m going ahead.

  1. After a few days of feeling “I never want to write again” after submitting The Sisterhood, my writing mojo is back. I’m avoiding anything long still, but poetry and flash fiction are singing through my brain, and I’ve been reminded that I do indeed write for the love of it. It got a bit lost in the epic battle to turn in a decently edited novel on time, so it’s nice to be feeling it again.

2. Lovely Partner and I are planning a couple of nights in Berlin sometime next year. I won accommodation there, so it’s just a case of getting there and finding food. It’s giving us something nice to look forward to – I’m not a winter person, so it’s good to be planning great things.

3. I had a medical appointment on Wednesday which went much better than anticipated, so that was a relief.

4. I am looking at getting business cards made up for Friday Yarns, which feels like a terribly grown up thing to be doing.

5. Next weekend, I have organised to go up and visit one of my sisters. Then, when I get back, my other sister will be staying locally, so I will get to spend time with her as well. This is very pleasing.

6. I efficiently managed to do much cooking of food earlier in the week, which is all portioned up in the freezer, so that is rather excellent.