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Biting the Bullet: to Submit or not to Submit?
You know how sometimes you’re on a roll, getting stuff done, thinking that there is a high likelihood that you may in fact be superhuman… When you suddenly realise you’ve forgotten to write your Monday blog post? Yeah, that just happened to me. I’m feeling pretty chuffed with myself for getting through some time-consuming chores this morning, so I won’t be too harsh on myself; besides, here’s the post! I mentioned last week that I was in the process of working on a piece of speculative fiction, and I actually started writing this particular one as an entry into the The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition (deadline is tomorrow, so if you’ve got…
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Aussie Expats Update – Our Expat Australia Day & Other Tales
Friday again—where does the week go? We’re off to yet another ball tonight, since James’s Brigade decided that celebrating St Barbara’s Day when it’s meant to be celebrated (in December), is lame, and we’re much better off doing it in late January. The big upside is that I’m going to paint my toenails red and James’s sister, Amy, will be coming with us: so hopefully we will all get out of it alive! I can’t, however, promise that I won’t eat other people’s desserts. I’ll try to restrict myself to just two or three. We’re greatly looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing this weekend (though we’ve got…
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Responding to Prompts in Writing Comps
Before we start, I hope everyone noticed that the title of this post rhymes. It wasn’t intentional (originally), but I did it, so I needed everyone to appreciate my skills. Okay, now that’s out of the way, welcome to a brand-spanking new week everyone! There’s been a lot happening in the world: to everyone who participated in the Women’s Marches all around the world (there was a march on every continent! How cool is that?), you’re awesome. Regardless of what your political leanings are, those marches that took place over the weekend are an incredible feat of solidarity, and are a sign of a societal promise to work for change which…
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Aussie Expats Update – Uni Break and another 2017 Bulletin!
Happy Friday everyone! Well, James and I are currently hoofing (great word, right?) our way from Lawton up to OKC. We’re collecting his eldest sister, Amy, tonight and then James has a 20km race tomorrow. Yuck! Well, I mean, he’s looking forward to it, so I guess that’s all that matters. Ahem. I can’t believe I’m in love with a man who likes to run 20km races for fun. Good god. Anyway, I’m on uni break. Finally! Despite a bit of a kerfuffle on my way to Oklahoma City Community College on Tuesday—our debit cards have been scammed, which is just awesome—I managed to get in and smash out my 120…
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Cherishing the ‘Exciting Bits’
Happy Monday! It’s a public holiday in America, which is awesome, because public holidays rock. They’re even better when your boyfriend is working with the American Army, so he got Friday off as well (except it does mean that I spend a lot of time not doing the things I maybe should be doing—like studying for tomorrow’s exam. Oops). Anyway, it means we can all actually be happy about the fact that it’s a Monday (at least, those of us in the USA). It does, however, also tend to mean that I find it hard to do anything more than sit on the couch and catch James up on Sherlock…
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Aussie Expats Update – The Risks of A Break in the Juggle of Life
Well, here we are starting the second week of January. Yeeeeesh. I’m sure there are a lot of people getting ramped back up again for work, or university, or the countless other things that require our energy and attention. I wish you all luck, but for me, the end of the tunnel is in sight. Well, this immediate tunnel, at least. After my psychology exam next week I’m due for a blissful month off from lectures and assessments, during which I will theoretically achieve monumental goals—like splitting the atom or starting (and finishing) my next manuscript, or becoming a world-famous blogger—and in all likelihood won’t achieve much at all… Other…
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Aussie Expats Update – Getting Ahead of the Curve & Preparing for the Storm
HAPPY FIRST 2017 Friday!! I’m thrilled, because having James go back to work this week means that I’m over-ready to spend some time curled up with him this weekend. Like everyone, I’m looking ahead at 2017 and feeling a little weak at the knees about what’s in store. Don’t get wrong: I’m excited!! But it’s also a big year, and we have a lot planned, and like I said earlier in the week, it’s easy to let things slip away in that scenario. In early February, James and I are taking full advantage of his leave and heading off on a six-week adventure through Tennessee, Georgia, South and North Carolina,…
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Writerly Habits
Habits are a tricky business. You put a whole heap of work into creating a routine, sticking diligently to it and instilling positive practices… And then you take a couple of weeks holiday— or you get caught up with work, or university, or partying, or whatever else it is you like doing with your time—and then your lovingly-cultivated habit is dead, and you have to somehow resurrect it or build a new one. Damn. Anyway, that’s me, right about now. I feel like I was (for the most part) tracking pretty well last year with regularly blogging, working on my novel and keeping my head above water with uni and…
