From rant to relaxation…

So there I was happily writing my blog and the page froze. Long story short, I lost the post, couldn’t even find it saved in draft mode. The irony is that my post this month was basically a rant about the vagaries of technology!

Anyhoo, another long story short, I decided not to rewrite the original as I wondered if it was a sign to just let the frustrations go! So I went out into the garden (my happy place) to take a few deep breaths and smell the roses. Literally.

When we moved here over twenty-six years ago, we inherited some rose bushes and while we’ve lost a couple, the ones I love the best continue to bloom year after year.

This is my favourite. Not only beautiful, but has the most gorgeous scent, too. For some reason I never cut the roses to bring them into the house, although I do cut other flowers, but the roses just seem to want to bloom where they were planted, you know?

The new dahlias are coming along, too. Usually by this time the slugs have been nibbling their little hearts out. The recommendation to put copper wire around the new plants seems to be working a treat to deter the slugs. I bought dish scourers and pulled them out from the middle. Can’t wait to see how they turn out.

The sweet pea actually survived the winter and is now growing far better than the new sweet pea plants, and the tub of petunias and lobelia just makes me SO happy, as does the agapanthus.

Sweet Peas

Agapanthus

Petunia and Lobelia

The power and beauty of nature certainly has the ability to uplift. So much that I can barely remember what had me angst-ridden in the first place.

And, of course, I can’t do a post about things that make me happy and relaxed without including my main stress-reliever and happiness-maker, can I?

My Golden Girl

The Wood for the Trees…

I live quite close to the Georgian city of Bath here in the UK and like most people who live near tourist cities and attractions, I tend to take the place for granted. In fact, nowadays, I usually avoid it like the plague thanks to the sheer volume of traffic, the traffic restrictions, and the car parking charges. That said, whenever I do venture in, I always find something new and beautiful to appreciate about the city.

Aside from its architectural and historic interest, Bath offers many interesting possibilities for an author. The ghost walks and tours have provided many an entertaining evening and are one of the first things we always do when we have non-local friends to stay. We’ve actually had a couple of scary encounters during these walks, but that’s for another blog another time 🙂

On a trip into Bath this week for a dentist visit, I had some time to spare before the appointment so, armed with my trusty phone camera, went off to explore. On this trip it was the trees of Bath that held a certain fascination for me, and I came away with ideas for new stories in the process.

First stop, the Circus. These London plane trees, planted in the 1820s and said to be the most photographed trees in Bath, can be found in the central grassed off area of the Circus, and are surrounded by a circle of townhouses. They’ve so far survived the weather, pollution, and even the Bath Blitz during the Second World War, when a number of nearby townhouses were destroyed (since rebuilt). The Circus is considered a fine example of Georgian architecture, designed by John Wood, the Elder, in the 1760s. Apparently, John Wood was influenced by the knowledge that since Bath was a major centre for Druidism, the Circus design should reflect that of Stonehenge in nearby Wiltshire, which was thought to be a Druid temple back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The old hanging tree can be found in the heart of the city in Abbey Green, a Georgian square by the Roman Baths and the Abbey. As the name suggests, this is where public executions would take place. Sadly, my photo was too dark to post here, but you can see a photo of the tree at this link.The tree is one of the oldest in Bath, said to have been planted in 1793. Mary Shelley wrote most of her masterpiece and finished the final draft of Frankenstein while living in this square, and a pub opposite is said to be haunted, most likely by some of those poor unfortunate souls who met their demise by the old tree!

On the way back to my car, post dentist, I walked past these beautiful blossom trees lining the edge of the Royal Victoria Park. Landscaped in the late 1880s, the park stretches over ten acres and is filled with the most beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowers. Despite that it was named for her, it is said that Queen Victoria hated the city of Bath, allegedly because she overheard someone describing her in a less than complimentary manner! Regardless, those blossoms are pretty stunning. Don’t you just love spring?

Thanks to my spare half an hour in Bath, you might just find the old trees of Bath, and their history, making their way into future Faye Avalon stories. Watch this space!

www.fayeavalon.com

It’s the little things…

Almost since the day we married, hubs and I have always been big on celebrating our wins. Back in the day, we celebrated with weekends away, foreign holidays, meals out, new clothes … you get the drift. Since I started writing to get published, we’ve marked each book release with luxury chocolate and a bottle of champagne (I save the corks!)

Well, times change… Although we still celebrate our wins, the way we choose to do so has kind of morphed into, shall we say, more prosaic means. Vivvy is a huge part of our lives now and neither of us enjoy leaving her for very long, although we have the very best friends who look after her for us – in fact, Viv can barely contain her excitement when we roll up to their house and she shoots out of the car without barely a backward glance for mum and dad. Typical! But since we miss her so much when we’re away, we tend not to want to go away that much, so the holidays and city breaks have taken a backseat, celebration wise.

Not that the actual celebrations have waned. If anything, we find more to celebrate as we get older, or that maybe because we look for any excuse since we found our new celebratory purchase 🙂

Belgiun buns!

They’re our new addiction. We’ll celebrate anything … a day when it doesn’t rain, bin collection day, garden waste disposal day, grocery shopping day, when the window cleaner comes day, daylight saving day … you name it 🙂 In fact, getting my blog post up on time today calls for celebration…

We buy ours from the bakery, but here’s the recipe for you cooks out there: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/belgian-buns

New Habits for Old

Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented.
Maya Angelou

When I first became aware of that quote, it seemed like a massive undertaking and one that required a really huge and constant amount of awareness and work. It seemed impossible. But I’ve come to realise that reinvention doesn’t need to be huge, it’s more like a thousand tiny things over a period of time that mount up to the whole.

The sniff of spring always has me tidying out my closets, cupboards, and the garden shed. So I’m currently in the mood for ‘out with the old, in with the new’. A while back I bought Atomic Habits by James Clear. In this book he talks about how making small changes (or even minuscule ones) can grow into such life-altering outcomes and how these small changes can have a transformative effect on all areas of our lives. I love this book and as you can see it’s well flagged with my favourite sections. In fact, I love this book so much that I recently bought an audio version to listen to while walking Vivvy.

Anyhoo, one of the things that resonated with me was the idea of habit stacking, where you identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack the new behaviour on top… example: After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout gear.

I’ve tried this a few times (not with the workout one, ha!) and found it really effective. The most successful habit stacking I’ve done of late is every time I turn on my computer, I open up my work in progress first. I hoped it would stop me wasting precious writing time by heading down the rabbit hole that is social media. It’s worked really well and now I do it without thinking. Another one is every time I enjoy a cup of coffee, I drink a glass of water right after. Again, it’s worked for me and now really is a habit. I’m trying out a few new habit stacking ideas as we move into spring. The first one I’m adopting is every time I open the biscuit tin, I screw the lid straight back on without indulging. 🙂 That’s going to be a hard one, but giving up biscuits/cookies is my long term goal. Watch this space!

Have you ever tried habit stacking? Do you think it would work for you?

Website: fayeavalon.com

I see the moon and the moon sees me…

Do you remember this lovely lullaby? Whenever I hear it, it brings back so many memories of a beloved aunt. I adored my Aunt Chris. She was only ten years older than me and we were very close. As a child, I’d watch her get ready to go on dates and she’d let me try out her make-up, she’d style my hair, and later when I slipped into teenager-hood she gave me loads of advice about boys. When she married I was one of her bridesmaids (that’s me in the ankle socks – stylish, or what 🙂 ) and later became god-daughter to her two babies, who I also adored with a passion.

Her husband was in the military and when the babies were still little they were posted to Singapore. It was my first taste of grief. I remember waving them off in the taxi that would take them to the airport, then disappearing to my bedroom to cry my young heart out. I missed them so much. We wrote all the time, my Aunt Chris and I, but it wasn’t the same, of course.

I remember one night I was in the garden looking at the moon and feeling sad when my lovely dad came out and sat by me. We chatted for a while and then my dad reminded me that the very moon we were looking at was the same one my aunt and little cousins would be looking at, too. It’s strange how the simplest thing can make you feel better, because my dad reminding me of that brought my long-distance family closer.

When they came back to the UK we had the biggest party. My little god-daughters were school age by then and I was well into the dating scene. My aunt picked up the mantle as if she’d never been away and we were back to the make-up, hairstyling sessions and, of course, the tips about handling guys. A skilled dressmaker, Aunt Chris soon became really busy and much in demand to make the most amazing creations for people. One day this chap I’d had a crush on for forever asked me out. Of course, I didn’t have a thing to wear! I bemoaned the fact to my aunt and when I got home from work that night, excited to prepare for my date but still not sure what to wear, there was a gorgeous pink shift dress (mini of course, it was the late sixties) laid out on my bed, a replica of the very one I’d been drooling over in a magazine. She must have worked like blazes to make that for me, despite the fact she had such a busy schedule.

Sadly, my aunt died a few years after returning home to the UK. I still feel the closeness we shared and think of her often … every time I look up at the moon.

It’s (almost) a wrap…

… of 2022 that is. Where did it go? You may well ask, and I only wish I knew.

There’s something about the start of a new year that is exciting and scary in equal parts, at least it is for me. Exciting because of all the potential new opportunities ahead, and scary because there are things I’ve loved about 2022 that I don’t want to let go of and hope will continue with me into the new year.

No resolutions for me this year, instead I’ll be listing out my ‘intentions’ in my shiny new 2023 journal. The list is pretty long and may well get even longer since there’s still a few days left to think about things. I do a little ritual on New Year’s Eve which I really look forward to, and this year I’m adding a few new ones. We’ll be out during the evening, so I’ll get them done as soon as the light fades around teatime here in the UK.

My main ritual involves writing down all the things I don’t want to take into the new year with me … such as hurt feelings, past mistakes, fears, disappointments… and then tearing up the paper and setting light to it (this is done outside and in an appropriate container, of course). There’s something very freeing about watching those words go up in smoke, taking with them all those negative emotions. After that’s done, I write down all my intentions for the new year while burning a candle and playing some music, assisted as ever by my trusty companion, if she can let go of her favourite Christmas toy for an hour, or so.

After that we’ll grab a bottle of bubbly and head along to a neighbour’s house for some New Year merriment, happy in the knowledge that I’ve let go of the old and am ready to welcome in the new.

So, all that’s left is for me to wish everyone a very happy, healthy, safe, prosperous, and successful 2023

Oh, and here’s my choice of Christmas 2022 TV advert this year. Have the tissues ready…

So that was November?

These days every month seems to pass in a flash, but November takes the prize for me this year. Probably because my main focus was NaNoWriMo (a yearly event that challenges you to write a 50,000 first draft of a novel in one month). I’m extremely happy to report that I hit that goal. Yay! And a double yay to my fellow NaNo-ers Jillian and Kit who also came in well ahead of schedule. We rock, ladies 🙂 (nothing like a bit of self-congratulatory rhetoric, ha!)

Working toward that goal was harder some days than others, but what I found interesting was how it kind of solidified my process. I’ve been writing for many years and I’m usually a sit down and just write kind of gal, but lately I’ve noticed that word sprints are my bag. Word sprints consist of setting a timer for however long you want to write (or whatever task you want to accomplish), in my case twenty five minutes, and then not stopping until the timer goes off. Then you can take a short break (five minutes) to get up and stretch, make a cuppa, sweep the floor, you get the drift, before heading back to the keyboard and setting the timer again. It’s worked so well for me and really keeps me focused, so I’ll continue to work this way in the future.

When I wasn’t writing, November has been a month for walks in the local woods. My happy place. I think we’ve had everything weather-wise this month here in the UK – gorgeous sunshine, rain, fog, rain, frosty mornings, rain, and yes, even more rain. And with rain comes mud, mud, and even more mud. Happy days. It was during one very rainy, muddy walk that I discovered my sturdy boots leaked (thank goodness for Black Friday sales 🙂

One day I checked to make sure nobody was around and then had a very happy time amusing myself kicking up leaves as high as I could. Well, it made me happy. It wasn’t long before an inquisitive little girl made her way back from her own explorations to see what her crazy mummy was up to 🙂

Can you spot Vivvy in the photo?

Anyway, I hope everyone has had a good November and taken the opportunity to enjoy the month whatever you have been up to (and a belated Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends).

I want to just finish this blog with a heartwarming video I spotted on Facebook this last week. You might have seen it, but here it is below. It’s a mamma chimp reunited with her baby after she thought the baby had died. In reality the baby had been whisked away for life-saving treatment. That is one adoring and beautiful mamma. I admit to shedding a happy tear while watching, and even AJ was clearing his throat a few times. Best with the sound on…

It’s spooky time…

Don’t you just love Halloween? No? Me either, well at least I didn’t used to, but lately I’ve gotten more and more into the spirit (pardon the pun) of it. I think it started a few years ago when I dressed Vivvy for her puppy Halloween party at doggie training. It was lovely taking her for walkies dressed in her little witchy hat and cape, and getting the reaction of the kiddies who were doing their trick or treat fun. One little lad caught up with me in the local field yesterday and asked if Vivvy would be dressing up again this year, so it looks like I’ll be heading out to the shop to get her a new costume 🙂 We have a Spooky Evening Walk here in the village on Monday night where lots of houses are decorated. It’s fun, and Vivvy loves it, mostly because she gets loads of attention, and treats!

What I really love about Halloween though, aside from eating all the leftover chocolate/sweeties after trick or treat, is watching the scary movies on TV. This year so far I’ve watched Interview with the Vampire (can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this in the past), Dracula, The Midnight Club, What Lies Beneath, and 28 Days Haunted. The shows I love most though are the ones that are those ‘reality’ types they do just for Halloween, where celebs get to stay at a ‘haunted’ house/mansion/castle for a few nights. I especially like the ones where there is audience participation and you can comment via email/YouTube about anything paranormal you think you’ve witnessed on screen. Yes, I know they’re mostly a set up and purely for entertainment purposes, but it’s just fun getting scared in a safe environment, LOL.

How about you? Are you a Halloween fan? Like scary movies?

Three Down and One to Go…

…quarters, that is. A couple of blog posts ago, I wrote about becoming a passionate planner. The system I use breaks the year down into four quarters, and it’s hard to believe we’re just about to move into the fourth and final quarter of the year. Where has the year gone?

Prior to discovering my inner planner, my writing schedule was a bit hit and miss. Basically it had become a ‘write when the spirit moves me‘ kind of deal, and to be brutally honest, the spirit didn’t move me that much at all!

Anyhoo, that’s all changed, and it’s time to start planning for quarter four. Moving into October means some of my quarter four planning will be geared up to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which takes place in November each year. NaNoWriMo challenges you to write a 50,000 word novel during the month. The aim is to let the words flow and get the bones of the story down so it can be edited and refined later.

To be clear for NaNo, I need to finish the first draft of book one of a new paranormal series by the end of September. Since book two is in first draft mode too, it means that October will largely be editing and revision, and hopefully even working on the third book of the series which is about thirty percent done. I also want to be planning my NaNo project ready to start on 1 November. Depending on how things go with the third book, I might even use the 50,000 NaNo words for this.

Before becoming a planner, I probably would have stressed out at the workload, but now I get to plan it all out using the system developed from working on the original course.

Easy, peasy (she says with her palms together, eyes up to heaven) or it should be if I stick to the plan, and manage to catch a following wind 🙂

Oh, and something else I’ve discovered while working this whole planning deal. Stickers! Oh, how I love them, especially ones with pretty colourful shapes and inspirational quotes. They make a great motivator to get the words done, or any other task you want to complete. Just award yourself a sticker when the task is complete and pop it in your planner/diary. It’s simple, but for me it’s working so I’ll take it.

So, here’s to Quarter 4… Bring it on!

Back to the Future…

Way back in the day, I learned to type on an old black typewriter. Anyone else remember them? The ones with keys you had to bang on so hard to get them to work? And woe betide if you gathered some speed because if you typed too fast the keys would stick together and you’d get ink on your fingers separating them. Happy days. No, really, they were.

Typing stencils for use on the Gestetner machine was something else. Working with this duplicating machine you had to make sure you didn’t type too hard on the stencil, especially any letter with a circle (o, b, d, p, q), because the circle could disappear beneath a blob of ink and didn’t look too great when printed out – achieved via turning the handle on the side of the machine until you felt your arm would drop off! Any mistakes were corrected with this red fluid that if you sniffed too robustly could get you pretty high!

Things progressed pretty rapidly and soon we had the super-duper electric typewriters. Those things took some getting used to. By the time I had an electric model my speed had progressed and the thing seemed to run away with me. Thankfully tippex was around then and I made good use of it 🙂

Technology moved on and I bought my first computer – an Amstrad 9512. I loved that machine and spent many happy hours on it. I went kicking and screaming into the modern computer age, and while it’s great having new technology which makes life easier (most of the time and when it works properly) I do hanker after those old manual typewriter days, especially the keyboards… Hearing the clackety-clack of productivity made my little heart sing.

When I saw they made old style keyboards I wondered if it was worth buying one and taking a trip down memory lane. Not really able to justify it, I put it on my wish list and kind of forgot about it. Then Amazon Prime Day happened and there it was at a nicely reduced price. Needless to say, it now adorns my desk 🙂 It took a while to get used to as it’s so much smaller/narrower than a modern standard keyboard and it was a few days before I got used to having to press down harder on the keys again. It was hit and miss if the required key was obtained, and there was much mumbling of “this will have to go back” but after persevering I now love it. The clackety-clack is modified, but it’s there. Happy days are here again 🙂

So I’m enjoying my trip down memory lane, although I have to admit that I’m not looking to go back to the days of tippex and carbon copies. No sirree.