My mid-week to mid-week diary is a mess of notes and scribbles… yes, another frenetic week. Three days with little ones meant some LONG work days to keep everything ticking over, including three manic inboxes. I think in total I spend one full working day each week replying to emails, adding SEO to guest posts on LLm and loading Tweet schedules for @loveahappyend, @LAHEBookshelf and @LinnBHalton. My daily astrological forecasts reflected as much, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise, but I was hoping it was going to be the week to allow me a little breathing space. No.
A hair dilemma saw me in the hairdressers for longer than usual – another 
interruption to my working week! When your other half passes a comment on the colour, it’s time to take heed. ‘It’s rather brown,’ he said awkwardly. As in ‘it was blond in August last year…’ and yes, it has taken a walk on the dark side lately, although not intentionally so. It was highlighting time. Personally I don’t mind what colour it is and the reason it’s getting longer is quite simply because I don’t have time to fuss with it. Drying it takes ages, but I can tie it back or coil it up on top my head when I’m bathing kiddies… and when I’m home alone writing, the only person I can scare on a bad hair day is the postman. He’s a gentleman and would simply avert his eyes… Ladies, isn’t hair a pain?
There’s another reason why I was in marital listening mode this week – today is Lawrence’s birthday. So happy birthday honey – I‘ll keep you for another year if you behave and hope you like your present! Spouses of writers are patient, long-suffering folk and I take my hat off to them. Lawrence is a sweetie and I wouldn’t really swap him in for a newer model, but between you and me it doesn’t pay to let them know that! It keeps them on their toes. Every relationship is about give and take though, hence the pending house move is really about Lawrence having his own project again and something that fires his imagination. I’ll be ‘supervising’ of course, will help with the paint-through and roll up my sleeves to ensure whatever project we end up with looks the best it can interior-wise. In the meantime, I have plenty to keep me busy!
When I have really packed weeks with work and my personal life conflicting, it means long days. Then when I do finally get into bed my head is buzzing, so it’s reach for the Kindle Fire and log into Pinterest.
This week was a particularly intensive Pinterest week and my ‘Perfectly Purple’ and ‘All White’ boards were fun to do. Sadly I’m even organised on Pinterest – I create my new boards as ‘secret’ ones and only unveil them when I feel they represent the theme I had in mind. I realise that’s probably a bit OTT. It was the reaction to my newsletter bedroom beautifying tips (see below) and ‘arranging the pillows’ to stand up, to add to the luxury feel of a double-duvet heaven, that made me feel the need to prove I can be disorganised too. So my handbag was a total mess yesterday, so much so I couldn’t close it. Little Bill was not very impressed when his sunglasses appeared to ‘disappear’ into a bottomless pit. He’s very wise for a two and a half year old and I had the stare of disapproval. I was proud of myself though, but sorted it this morning before breakfast. Well, one does have standards… He did remind me (yet again) that life should be full of silly moments too. When I tried to explain that big people weren’t supposed to use the tunnel slides at the park, he took no notice and insisted I go first and then he followed. It was fun the first half a dozen times…
Talking of handbags… it was also a week of writing lots of articles for other people’s websites – including an interesting one for Mandy Baggot’s website about – yes – what we keep in our bags. I don’t think you’ll be too surprised when that aires and you see the contents of mine… the latest one is a smart Jasper Conran satchel.
I interviewed best-selling author Steena Holmes and amazing book reviewer Kim Nash for the LLm monthly Newsletter. Also going live was my interview on LLm with Donna Trinder, a most inspiring lady who is a busy mum and blogger with an eye to getting her first manuscript written. She battles with MS and the article is a testament to her positivity and zest for life. It’s a real treat to be inspired!
I also launched my own newsletter ‘Livin’ and lovin’ life 101’. It’s mainly about how to style your home on a budget, time-saving ideas and decorating tips. I freely admit to being borderline OCD and totally fussy when it comes to details – my scatter cushions have to be on the right angle, and everything has to have a place so it can be put away easily. That said, the amount of time I spend keeping the house clean is minimal, simply because it’s organised. I have some great tips lined up for future newsletters that will go out once a month and can’t wait to write no. 2!
Byre Cottage, our current home, photographs so well. The pics I’ve used for the newsletter illustrate the topics I will be talking about in the future. Photo 1 above is storage in our guest bedroom; photo 2 is a large metal candle holder in the sitting room (love ironwork); photo 3 is a great example of a slim-line storage cabinet in our main bathroom; photo 4 is how to pack a lot into a little, in the kitchen of our bijou barn conversion.
I was a guest of the very energetic Dan O’Brien, answering some rather thought-provoking questions and talking about The Restaurant @ The Mill. If you want to know what is the most blatant lie I have every told, here’s where I come clean: http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/a-moment-with-linn-b-halton.html
Dan, (originally from Connecticut), is an editor, writer, and psychologist. He currently works at a national magazine, Empirical, in northern California. He has written over 10 novels, several screenplays, and is working on a graphic novel. A philosopher and martial artist, his days are filled with writing and training.
Weekends are work days for me if there’s nothing going on with the family. Lawrence and I don’t do lazing around, we are always productive in our leisure time. So Saturday morning up with the lark for a couple of hours online before popping out to our favourite restaurant in Nailsworth – Oldstone – for a posh brunch. We met up with old neighbours, which was lovely, and the conversation was dominated by our shock decision to find another home renovation project. Why are you moving? is the question everyone is asking. It’s one that’s been asked many times before, but this time we really did think we’d stay for longer. Then we dashed back home a little later than planned, so I could to get some more work done. Before I knew it, it was 12.30am Sunday morning before I turned the laptop off. What didn’t help was having only four and a half hours sleep though, as we had to get up at 5am for the long trip to Rhyl, in North Wales. It was a grey day, bitingly cold wind but we arrived in time to accompany little Charlie to Rugby Tots. I was the one doing most of the running following 2 year old Lily and grabbing her from amidst the scrum of 4 year olds. Baby Joe is only seven months and he sat quietly and watched – clearly thinking ‘wait until I’m out there’. It is a long journey for a day but well worth it. There are some fabulous sights on the way up and I stopped to take a few pictures.
On my non-babysitting days I usually carry on working through the evening after Lawrence and I have dinner. Two evenings this week were busy though. There was a mad dash to the Dunelm store in Gloucester to check out blinds for my brother’s nearly –completed renovation. I chose them a while back but needed to see them close up to check the colour and quality. Buying things online, unseen, is a risk. Window treatments are so important in a home and I wasn’t disappointed. I also checked the ‘flock of birds’ metal wall hanging is still available as it will look perfect over his cast-iron inset fire in the sitting room of his cottage. In North Wales I managed to find the perfect duvet cover for his master bedroom, so I think all the interior things are now sorted. I just have to buy some large candles for the metal candle holders I’ve lent him, so he’s down to that final snagging list on the general redecoration. I’ll be taking a few photos when it’s finished and sharing them on Pinterest. He’s done an amazing job!
The Arlingham Love My Books club met last Wednesday and we gathered in the Red Lion, our village pub. We usually meet in the Church hall but the flower arranging ladies were having a session. So over a glass of something refreshing we had an interesting chat and exchange of views about classic stories we DIDN’T like. It was great fun as we had a new member too. Which classic tales did I choose? War and Peace (we were made to study it at school, at an age when I found the war scenes too gory and stomach-turning and felt it was too heavy) and Gone With The Wind. Really? Yes. Well, I hate an ‘open’ ending and even the author, Margaret Mitchell, admitted she had no idea what happened next.
Well, I’m feeling rather tired after writing up my week and work calls … thanks for dropping in. Believe it or not, this is my year of working SMARTER not HARDER….
