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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.

Well, this has been another trying week. I do have non-trying weeks, I promise! Nevertheless, there are always good things to find.

  1. I finished and submitted The Sisterhood! Which is very exciting, and a big relief.

2. I had lost a book I’ve been wanting to read for weeks, and I finally found it yesterday. This is probably more pleasing than it has any right to be.

3. Unfortunately, due to a lot of terrible things, one after another, I had to pull out of a weekend I’d promised to attend. This, obviously, is not at all good – but the organisers were wonderfully supportive and understanding about it and that makes such a big difference! Much gratefulness to them for that.

4. Both of my cats are being really cuddly at the moment. It’s probably because it’s colder and I’m nice and warm, but whatever the reason it’s much appreciated. (I like to think that it’s because they know I need cuddles, but you know. I’m a soppy cat owner. It’s probably the heat thing.)

5. My humans are also being wonderful. I have a great support system, you know? Sometimes life is pretty grim, and that’s just how it comes. But having the right people around me means that I know things will get better again. From the people I live with to the people I know only through Facebook – you’re all brilliant.

6. I was interviewed for ‘Kent Life’ magazine a while back. It turns out that the text (not, thankfully, the picture!) is now online.

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 nephew have been down for most of the past week, which has been splendid!

2. I am trying to re-learn about twitter, and will be trying to tweet from both my @penelopefriday account and my newly set up @friday_yarns account, on writing (the former), knitting (the latter) and random topics (either or both)!

3. I’ve got a fair bit of The Sisterhood edited. It’s almost certainly going to hit 90k before I’m happy with it (I added 2000 words today, sort of accidentally), and when I’ve done this first round of edits, there will be another round to do (so I’d better hurry up, eh?) but it’s improving all the time, I think.

4. My Zula-cat, who has been quite skittish lately, has been a little bit more friendly over the past few days. (Of course, I write that at a moment where she appears to have vanished, but oh well.) Possibly it took her this long to forgive me for going away in late August, but it’s nice to have her back being purry and friendly.

5. My sister brought down some of the clothes that in her slimness she has grown out of. Which means new clothes for me!!! Very pleasing, though I wouldn’t mind being slimmer myself, either!

6. Ooh, I completed a Sekrit Project a couple of days ago. It’s a present for someone, so I can’t say any more, but I’m really pleased at how it turned out.

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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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

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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 ÂŁ10 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.

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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. 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 ÂŁ10… 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!)