My online stories
Perfectionism can be the biggest factor that stops writers and creatives putting their work out there. In this blog post I chat about how getting your work out there, learning each time, gaining confidence each time is more important than waiting for it to be perfect before you send it out into the world.
Over the last few years my home has come to reflect the animals we keep and those that fly into our garden. The extent of the influence from our pets and the outdoors hadn’t really occurred to me until yesterday when I spotted the Joules mugs below and I started to look around me at what I already had and put two and two together.
I have dog prints on the wall, chicken and highland cow photographs that I’ve taken myself (we don’t have cows, I hasten to add, but they’re in the field opposite), we have rabbit, pheasant and dog prints on lampshades, to my left of where I’m sitting I have a picture of a green woodpecker and foxes are running about everywhere on cushions, towels, bedspreads and mugs. And the chickens and the ducks are on the table mats, also on mugs, on china, on cushions…the list goes on. So I thought I’d write a post sharing some of my favourites. Just in case you’re as animal obsessed as I am.
How I've set my writing desk up to help me with my posture (and for organisation of all my notebooks and pens!)
I've had so many questions on Instagram about my desk now I have added a keyboard, monitor, mouse, wooden riser and tucked my laptop away underneath so I thought I'd make a short video about the equipment I've used and where it's all from.
Click to read the full post and see the video.
I often get books through the post directly from publishers. This can often be well in advance of the book’s publication date. And I love receiving them.
The six in the video are those that have really grabbed my attention. Some of them I’ve read, and some I cannot wait to read. One made me laugh out loud (rare for a book to do that to me), one was my favourite read from 2018 and one (the one above) I just utterly adored.
Books mentioned:
Dry Hard by Nick Spalding: https://amzn.to/2SXC54A US link: https://amzn.to/2spCaSY
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden: https://amzn.to/2Cmhj7z US link: https://amzn.to/2M9URDi
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield: https://amzn.to/2SQjIP6 US link: https://amzn.to/2SQLydX
The Day we Met by Roxie Cooper: https://amzn.to/2HbsR36 US link: https://amzn.to/2TTpQpT
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary: https://amzn.to/2RsBomZ US link: https://amzn.to/2FAdH5c
Needlemouse by Jane O'Connor: https://amzn.to/2SQjXK0
Is 2019 the year the blog returns?
With all the issues and frustrations Instagram have had in the past year it doesn’t make sense to put all your eggs in one Instagram basket. More and more people are returning to their blogs as this is a platform they can control.
This is why my blog is more important to me than Instagram.
Last year I did a lot. Or rather, last January and February I did a lot then I drifted for a while until September to the beginning of December where I exceeded anything I’d ever done in the past.
It was rather thrilling to sell a course, to create a book club, to see my blog stats grow, to hear what people said to me (nice things!) about my IGTV then YouTube videos. And to get so much support on Patreon was the biggest shock to me. I was so ‘lifted’ by all the messages, DMs, blog comments (though I know it’s tricky to comment on this blog). And everyone who subscribed to me on YouTube. SO grateful. Thank you.
There are times during every year where I find I just stop. I’ve always ignored it and thought ‘this year it’ll be different.’ It isn’t. There are two clear times are during the summer - July and August then again in December.
So I am going to learn from this. To plan my year - not strictly - but to take into account when I need to rest and do my thinking time.
Because during August 2018 and December 2017 and December 2018 I had, after a ‘creative rest’ breakthroughs in what I want to do. In December 2017 I had an idea for my course, in the summer I decided to up my game, become more productive and take on more projects and this December I’ve worked out that my projects, or rather some of my projects are not aligned with my biggest goal.
My biggest goal being not to become published - which is what I always thought it was - but to create a financially and creatively rewarding business from my writing and online creativity.
So simple. Yet it took me a while getting here. This means that my blog is no longer going to be written three (and sometimes four) times a week. Instead it is going to be one post a week. And my focus instead is going to be on other things.
I explain more in my video:
