Tag Archives: satisfied saturday six

Satisfied Saturday Six

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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.

Gosh, yet another ‘challenging’ week after I’ve been acutely ill as well as chronically ill and have basically felt like grumbling about EVERYTHING. So,  here’s a go at some positivity.

  1. Having lost my voice for most of this week, it is just beginning to return, which is good.

2. I was having a quick look at Petticoats and Promises to see if I could work out its position on the Amazon lists (I couldn’t), and discovered that it has some really, really nice reviews, which was encouraging.

3. Not being able to sleep has had a positive effect on The Sisterhood, and I’ve written about 5000 words in the last four days. The end appears to get further and further away, unfortunately: it is going to be a longer novel than I anticipated, but if I can get a grip of it, it might be a better novel, too. IF…

4. Manchester United managed to go top of the league this week (very temporarily), which considering that they’ve not exactly been setting the world alight is quite impressive. And they managed to win mid-week, too.

5. Talking of football, tomorrow Splendid Child and I are off to watch Charlton Athletic, using our Season tickets (which I managed to win unexpectedly) for the first time. I don’t think Charlton are likely to win, and I’m certainly not going to be yelling them on (see #1) – but one always hopes!

6. And continuing with the sports theme (look, what can I say? It hasn’t been a good week), I’ve been enjoying the Rugby World Cup matches. The less said about England the better, but it turns out that I enjoy watching even when my team aren’t doing well.

Satisfied Saturday Six

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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.

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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

1 Reply

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

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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.