Category: Lovin’ Life

I hit the ground running – is there any other way? Especially as this month’s full moon on 27 March was heralded as an ‘angry’ one. Similar to the ‘monster moon’ on 29 September last year, like it or not life doesn’t run as smoothly when the cosmos isn’t happy. If you don’t follow astrology or horoscopes, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t affected you or the world around you. Family problems came to the fore with this angry moon and every family goes through periods where life isn’t quite so easy. What can you do? Listen mainly, be there when you can.

This week my little charge was poorly, so it was dinosaur play, lots of cuddles and books. We did manage to get out and about on one of the days and I marvel at the way he makes me see life in quite a different way. When the rest of my week is spent online or writing, it’s a refreshing break and re-charges my batteries. I MUST stop working 7 days a week though…

For Loveahappyending Lifestyle magazine I found out all about a new action romance imprint:

Newcastle based independent publisher Myrmidon launches PULSE

I love doing the People with a passion feature as I get to meet some really motivated, passionate and inspiring people. The launch of this imprint kicks off with a big competition and a contract is on offer for one lucky author!

As editor of The Bookshelf newsletter I had the pleasure of talking with Black and White Publishing to bring together an interview with the amazing Daniela Sacerdoti – that goes out this weekend. Daniela’s latest novel, Watch Over Me, has sold more than 150,000 ecopies!

Also in the next newsletter is an interview with DizzyC – aka Carol Wright – an amazing and passionate book reviewer who runs DizzyCsLittleBookBlog. I had the pleasure of meeting DizzyC at last year’s Festival of Romance…

Which brings me on nicely to my next task for the week, which was to begin talks with Festival of Romance organiser Kate Allan for a little event Loveahappyending Lifestyle will be doing … more news about that, and the authors involved, coming soon! Mark the date on your calenders – it’s the weekend of 9-11 November 2013!

I treated myself to an indulgent couple of hours creating my own new look ‘bookshelf’:

This was yet another huge learning curve for me, but I do enjoy the process of learning something new. Albeit at times it can be rather frustrating if time is short and I have emails flooding into the three inboxes I look after, or deadlines for articles. However, this was something I’d been meaning to get my head around for a long time and I was thrilled with the result.

And I have a confession… when it comes to guilty secrets I also indulged myself on Pinterest with a brand new board – ROMANTICA! Well, it was the week of my wedding anniversary and a time when I’ve been reflecting over the wonderful and romantic times since that ‘I do’ moment…

Well, week 2 of my diary and I feel liked I’ve crossed a bridge to a higher vantage point and can now see for miles! To the extent that I actually gave myself a WHOLE evening off to celebrate my wedding anniversary; usually I would come back from an evening out and sit in front of the computer screen for a moment… err…. couple of hours! You know how it is, time just flies.

Now that I’m keeping a list ready for my weekly diary post, I found that looking at the amount of work I’ve gotten though is beginning to put things into perspective for me. Admittedly my ‘to do’ list is growing by the day and sometimes I add more than I cross off, but it reminded me to be ‘satisfied’. It allowed me to feel a sense of contentment, something as one’s own boss I find rarely happens. You focus on what you haven’t yet done, rather than what you HAVE done. So it was a week for taking that little walk and appreciating the daffodils, then back to WORK… of course!

This is the start of an online diary of a mad wife/mum/grandma/author/website administrator/Gemini….

When I was a teen I kept a daily diary. Marriage, kids and a career sucked up time and it became an indulgence I could no longer afford. I’m in the mood for nostalgia at the moment, I think it’s because I’m conscious that I don’t always take the time to stop and ‘smell the roses’ as I focus on my ever-growing ‘to do’ list. So now I have decided I’m going to celebrate each week as it passes by recording my highs and lows in ‘Lovin’ Life’.

Part of the reason too, is that life whizzes past at a rate of knots in this day and age where time, and time zones, mean a 24/7-level of communication. With online friends from all around the world there is always someone messaging, no matter what time of the day or night it is. So I wake up to a burgeoning inbox (well, actually I have three) before the day even begins! I think it’s about time I put things into perspective and realise just how much IS achieved each week!

… and what a week!

It has been one of extremes. Bad news included a nephew having a heart attack, although (thank God) he now seems to be doing well and has been brought out of an induced coma. A sharp reminder that we should all try our best to live each day to the full. Another friend has a tough problem, although all I can do to help is to be a listening ear.

I began writing guests posts for a forthcoming Blog Tour for The Restaurant @ The Mill, one of the two novels I have published by the amazing Sapphire Star Publishing.

One interview threw out some really interesting questions and I really enjoyed answering them – can’t wait to see it go live on the Dan O’Brien project on 27 April, 2013.

You  meet such great people when guesting and Dan is an amazing guy with lots of energy.

My debut novel, Touched By The Light was in the top 100 again on Amazon.co.uk in Humorous Fiction! Thank you to the lovely person who DM’d me on Twitter to let me know! I’m still a newbie author and something like this is a big thrill and a huge boost. So mega thanks to everyone who purchased a copy this week.

It was a week that saw me making palm trees with some strange- coloured coconuts out of toilet rolls and card, cutting out ladybirds from a birthday card and making a pretend bush. Spending time with a  two-and-a-half year-old certainly puts things into perspective. Not least that he has a ‘car wash’ set up to wash his elephant. That found us on YouTube looking at clips of elephants being washed and was why we were creating our ‘jungle’ foliage. Fun, fun, fun!

I drafted my next interior design article for online magazine Loveahappyending Lifestyle. It saw me on the floor demonstrating whilst husband Lawrence took pics! Having had a good reaction to my article on storage solutions, my next article, on 2 June 2013, is a project that can be completed in a day. It’s all about using mirrors to create a feature that will add light and works especially well in a small room, or one that doesn’t have a lot of natural light.

A large part of my week is dedicated to the running of Loveahappyending, which includes liaising with our members and developing the website, plus two sister websites. I’m constantly learning new skills and my next big learning curve is about to begin. I began working on the cover for Lifestyle’s first downloadable emag (May/June) and began by bouncing ideas off  my lovely friend, and fellow author, Janice Horton. It was also a week spent designing logos. As our daily readership has double since the original Loveahappyending format changed on 17 February 2013, it’s a testament to how hard everyone involved is working. The posts are fun, informative and great to catch up with at coffee time!

Wearing my feature editor’s hat for the magazine I interviewed Donna Trinder for ‘People with a Passion’ – that article will be out on 26 April 2013. She is one amazing lady, having been diagnosed with MS some six years ago and as a busy mum of two, she still finds time to blog, read books and write. It’s a truly inspiring interview. Donna also blogs for the MS Society. I love this post by Donna on her own blog Letter to my 16 year-old self!

 

I spent a couple of hours looking in antique shops for some shabby chic stools for my brother’s new house. He loves the ones I have in my own kitchen. He’s renovating an old cottage and it’s almost time to start designing that interior! We will be looking at material swatches for the sofas tomorrow and my quest for those elusive stools will continue next week. I did discover some wonderful oak framed mirrors and a few other small items of furniture that made me go ‘oooh…’. I might have to revisit one of the shops again next week – I try not to buy on impulse if I see something that isn’t on my shopping list. But I also can’t pass up a bargain that I know will look fabulous in the right setting.

Well, week 1 has certainly taught me something. In my head I thought I’d had a disappointing week, as I didn’t achieve everything that I set out to do. Putting this together has made me realise it wasn’t a bad week’s work after all!

Do you keep a diary? What do you do to take time out and sit back to consider what you’ve achieved? One thing I can say is that I’m looking forward to seeing what pops up in next week’s post! Have a great weekend everyone.