UK bookshops have recently reopened (hurrah) and this alone makes me feel a whole lot better. I’ve had my first vaccination, with my second one due in a few weeks time – things are definitely on the up!
Like so many I’ve now had 2 lockdown birthdays (no I’m not the Queen), and this years celebrations were a vast improvement on last years. We managed to sit outside and have brunch at our local vineyard a few weekends ago, last year it was a take away curry and another box set on Netflix!
On the writing front I am still rocking the two book parallel writing theme, and have set down 10,000 historical and 3,000 contemporary new words. Whilst this is good news it could have been a lot more. With no writing retreats to run off to, juggling my day job and everything else has proved a real challenge. I think this is true for a lot of people who’ve been working from home. My day job, or as some like to call it my ‘real job’ (heathens!) has crowded into the spaces where my writing used to be; what was once my sacred writing space is now my day job office. With restrictions easing I’m hoping to claw it back and actually leave the house to work at some point in the future – now wouldn’t that be nice?
On the plus side I have been reading tons in an attempt to decompress from endless Teams meetings. Don’t get me wrong, I think virtual engagement is a wonderful thing but there is just so so much of it. You can still be working without the need to be on screen the whole time.
I recently re visited The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – this book gets me every time. I find her writing inspiring, and visceral, and scarily real, and absolutely bloody brilliant!
As I stroll around my garden I stare down at the daisies. I recall a line from the above mentioned book which makes me smile.
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
And on that cheery note….