It's that time of the year..

It is of course THAT time of year, for looking back and looking forward, reflecting on resolutions made and kept/ broken and making them all over again to keep/ break.

I wrote last year that I don't really 'do' resolutions - although I do love a plan - and instead wrote myself a letter that reflected my aims for the year and what I thought I'd like to achieve. 

So farewell then 2012

I love re-reading things like last year's non-resolution letter, it's a bit like finding an old diary that transports you back to another time, with all the feelings flooding back.  If you want to read it it's here, but essentially there were three main things I wanted to get into the habit of doing and do well - writing, running and meditating. So how was it for me?

• Writing - I've definitely made progress this year. I've had articles published in magazines and on websites, I have a contract for an e-book, I have a whole series planned, and know that I want to focus on travel related non-fiction. I don't earn a living from any of it. I still don't write every day. Yet. But watch this space.
• Running - I started the year very focused on fitness, with a personal trainer and regular running habit. I was probably the fittest I've ever been by the time I went to trek to Machu Pichhu in April. Then three hospital stays within three months (one unplanned in Peru, and two planned here at home) set me well back. I have discovered much to my chagrin that I am in fact not Wonder Woman (maybe a good thing, I do not have the figure for that costume). My 'I'll have a couple of weeks off, then I'll be fine' after two not insubstantial operations turned out to be naive/ optimistic/ daft. It took til the Autumn for me to start feeling properly better. And the after effects still go on. So running took a back seat. Though I did turn vegan.
• Meditating - I have done this on a very ad hoc basis, which as with most things you don't get the best benefits from. I did go to two sessions of a six session course but was wasn't really too taken with the teacher (or have been very lucky and spoilt to have had an excellent previous teacher) I don't do this every day but would still like to. And I don't have to go on a course to do it really!

The last bit of last year's letter was an almost flippant pledge to clear out the black hole that was the cupboard under the stairs. Do you know what? This is the one thing I actually did 100%! In fact it became my small but perfectly formed office! This year's black hole is the garage... 

And hello 2013

So - what about this year? My aims are in similar kind of groupings - writing stuff, health stuff and good for the soul stuff.   

Writing stuff - I want writing to be my number one focus (there are all sorts of other things I'd love to do like learn Spanish, dig out my guitar - but I must focus!) My target is that I will finish and publish my first e-book and complete one other that I've started (ooooh is that a pattern of starting things and not finishing them I spot?!)
I do have ideas for a whole series and if I achieve any more than this it's a bonus but let's get one done at a time! 

Healthy stuff - I have no plans for any more hospital stays or operations! I have committed myself to fundraising for a charity and some challenges which are going to need tip top fitness (more on this another time) I also want to keep up being vegan and understand more about nutrition. I know what it's like to have something that you take for granted like good health suddenly taken away from you so keeping well is vital to me.
Running will be my exercise of choice and I do have goals which I'm still in the process of signing up to so I won't say any more until that's all signed and sealed. 

Good for the Soul stuff - this is where the meditation and mindfulness comes in. I'd also put things I sometimes mention like random acts of kindness and gratitude into this. The fundraising and support for the charity I'll be doing also comes into this Lentil Soup for the Soul grouping. Harder to set specific goals but I know that I want to feel more like I'm giving back, being more aware and more present.

With my managerial head on I am shouting measurable targets and actions are needed! So I am going to set monthly goals then you Dear Reader can cajole, criticise, congratulate and chivvy me along if you like – the resolution will be blogivised (with apologies to Gil Scott-Heron!)

So The Plan for January is that by the end of the month I will:

1.    finish the draft of the Machu Picchu book and apply for the Northern Writers Awards

2.    be able to run for 8 miles

3.    re-read Happiness and How it Happens by my favourite mindfulness teacher Suryacitta aka Happy Buddha

And on that note I am off for my first run of the year!

Changes and challenges

Two weeks before Christmas after four and a half years of being self employed, working from my HQ in The Cupboard, I started a temporary job which involves going into an office every day.  It's an exciting job which I think is also going to be a lot of fun, working with a great team and I'm really looking forward to it. But going from homeworking to office bound has been a slight shock to the system.

Putting aside the fact that I can't work half the day in my PJs (it was never a regular occurrence but just knowing I could was kind of nice!) I’ve quite like the novelty of getting dressed up every day (jeans and jumper were the usual uniform in The Cupboard). The downside is the increasing pile of washing and ironing...
The commute is working out to be about a 45 minute drive (to The Cupboard it's a minute - downstairs and turn left) but I've decided to use this constructively to listen to Learn Spanish CDs - if nothing else I may learn to shout at other drivers in a different language.

I will be there All Day. A huge benefit for me of being self employed was being able to balance work and other things. Although regularly working more than 8 hours a day for myself I could split it up and be flexible so I could also get to shops/ hospital appointments/ hairdressers/ gym/ take car to the garage etc easily anytime. I could take the dog out when it was light or whenever it stopped raining/ snowing etc. I could meet people easily for coffee/ lunch/ meetings without clock watching. I could always catch up on my work later on in the evenings or weekends. I will now have to work things around work time (like walk the dog only in the dark).

Having so little time (or so it feels at the moment) outside work I will have to be Much More Organised. My first week was ok. Wanting to stay vegan I cooked meals in advance at the weekend as I don't want to stop eating healthy home cooked food, made my packed lunch and prepared breakfast the night before. My second week was the week before Christmas and more frantic with trying to fit in shopping for last minute presents, food shopping as I was Doing Christmas Day, wrapping, socialising, cleaning the house and those million and one things there is always to do this time of year.

I will get paid a regular salary, every month, on time! As I am regularly chasing up several well overdue invoices - this is a huge plus and a very welcome benefit.  I have paid holidays and time off - unheard of luxury when self employed!

I'm also aiming to keep some freelance work ticking along (the job is just an interim one for nine months) and of course want to concentrate on my writing. In theory this is all possible. My challenge for the New Year is to work out how to fit it all in. There are of course seven days in a week and 24 hours in a day. It is all do-able. So tomorrow on New Year's Day I will be making a plan - oh I do love a plan - that I can stick to. I will share with you Dear Reader and plot it all on here so I can feel accountable and like I'm making public commitments that someone somewhere someday may well ask me about.

To kick off and help with my writing aims I'm taking part in 100k words in 100 days challenge, thanks once again to Sally and looking forward to charting the ups and downs with my fellow 100k challengers on the FaceBook page.

Changes and challenges – 2013 here we come!

Sunday Snippet

Sunday snippet time - a little taster from the WIP (or WISP - Work In Slow Progress!) - my e-book about this year's trek to Machu Picchu...

Walking through the tiny airport to collect our bags we speculated on whether it was unfinished, under repair, or just was always this way. Looking around we decided that it probably 'just was'. A much needed trip to the toilets also gave us our first taste of what to expect in the bathroom department. The fact that there was no toilet paper and no toilet seat were the least of the problems - there were no lights and no ceiling either. Welcome to Cusco...

Let the festive fun begin...

Disparaging as I was with Christmas stuff appearing in shops before we'd even got Bonfire Night out of the way, the first weekend in December marks the start of the festive season for me. The tree is up, tinsel draped, lights lit, chestnuts roasted, wine mulled, parties planned... Christmas here we come!

Hidden Treasures

I love finding hidden gems on my own doorstep and experiencing that 'wow why didn't I find this before' feeling.

This week I took a trip to Newcastle's Lit and Phil. It's a fantastically located building near the Central Station and en route to the quayside, making it a place I have passed more times over many years than I could ever remember.

Like many of this city's understated glorious buildings, there is nothing yelling at you to come in. There is a small easy to ignore A board outside when it is open and if you do take the time to peer closer there is a plaque. Neither prepares you for what's inside.

Walk through the entrance of this 200 year old building and you're at the foot of the type of staircase built for ladies in crinolines to glide down and be greeted by men in top hats with large mutton chop whiskers. At the top of this elegant staircase is a list of some past members of the Lit and Phil that reads like a roll call of the North East's great and good - Bewick, Swan, Dobson, Grainger, Armstrong, Parsons, Grey, Stephenson. It harks back to an era of engineering excellence and reflects the region's strengths in ideas, ingenuity and creativity. The list takes us right up to recent times - the first lady president (hurrah!) and today's incumbent Alexander Armstrong.

If you then throw open the doors (with a bit of effort, they built them sturdy in those days), ignore the definitely modern day security system, you step back to a time when printing was the latest technology and books prized possessions. It smells like a library and looks like a library - no glass and steel or rows of computers here. It is all about the books.  Rows and rows of them, floor to ceiling, covering every inch of wall space. One hundred and fifty thousand of them.  As someone who once dreamt of working in a proper library where you got to say shhhh, use a stamper and shin up ladders to impossibly high shelves, it's heaven on earth.

The oldest book here is from 1560, the newest from the latest best sellers list. And everything in between. The two cavernous rooms each have an upper level balcony that you can walk around. The balconies and stairs are built for practicality rather than health and safety and you are trusted, as you were in the good old days, to take enough care not to throw yourself over the ornate railing.

There is no shushing here - originally founded as a 'conversation club', it is a sociable place where discussions and debates are actively encouraged (and as likely to feature football as much as the latest political or scientific issues). Inclusive and forward thinking, women were admitted as members by 1804 and there is currently a 'ladies room' if you want to escape from all that football talk.  Downstairs there is a quiet room though for anyone who wants or needs to sit in silence.

As if you need any more encouragement to linger for more than a while, there is a supply of tea, coffee and cakes and you can take your pick of seats from those at the huge wooden tables, to leather arm chairs to the comfy sofa in the Ladies Room.

As well as the surprising, splendid building and contents, the ambience and environment of the Lit and Phil is so far removed from the bustling, busy modern streets outside that it is a very special sanctuary indeed. And one I'll be escaping to whenever I can.

If you want to find out more go to Newcastle Lit and Phil's website here

Here's five fab things in my week

Been a while since I've looked back and thought about fab things that have happened in a week. This one started with a bang - firework's night which I can't enjoy as the poor dog is always terrified, it peaked with some wonderful news mid week (see point 1 below) and the end of it finds me exhausted but feeling very content as I write this sitting in my favourite cafe before heading out for a celebratory cocktail. Happy Friday! And here's my fab things of the week:

·      Getting a long term work project (well nine months long - that's long term when you're self employed!) and one that I am excited about and looking forward to starting

·      Buying myself and teen son poppies to wear and finding he has already bought his own - I love that he does things like this which I think are thoughtful and respectful

·      Meeting an incredible lady who lost her own son aged just 15 years old. She decided to fund raise in his memory and has raised almost half a million pounds - inspiring and just puts everything into perspective

·      Going to Ikea and only coming home with some tea lights (essentials)- I am so over wasting money!

·      Decided what I'm going to do next year for my own fund raising challenge - I'm supporting Maggie's Cancer Centres - watch this space for details of the slightly crazy rather scary plans I have...

It may be NaNo but not as we know it

I just realised yesterday was this blog’s first birthday! I started this on 1/11/11 with a blog on firsts that included me taking part for the first time in NaNoWriMo.

I was inspired after a great writing workshop ran by Stephanie Butland. The aim was to get me doing some (to me) scary things - writing regularly, maybe write things that other people would read (eek!), hopefully connect with others and be A Writer like I’ve always wanted to be. Over the past year as I’ve been trying to do this, there have been plenty of life’s ups, downs and in-betweens, some things I’ve written about on here – and some that remain unwritten. I admire all those really upfront bloggers who bare their life and souls warts and all but I’ve shied away from that and realised that there are no rules, it’s my blog and I can write what I like! But it does mean that at really busy or difficult times I don’t blog as often as I had hoped I would and I’d like that to change. So my aim as I go into my second year is to blog better, more often – and maybe let people get to know me a bit more… (that may be scarier for you than I dear Reader!)

The other Very Exciting writing thing that has happened since I started this blog was getting the contract with ebook publisher Collca to publish a travelogue about the trek to Machu Picchu I did earlier this year.   I have, as many others do I think, a couple of very contrary gremlins that live on my shoulders and whisper in my ears. One that tells me that I CAN do anything and gives me confidence and positivity, the other is a dark little devil who constantly says there’s no way you can do this, who chips away at my self belief and confidence. At the moment he’s winning as I’m behind with my own writing schedule and I can hear him uttering ‘I told you so...’

So, I wasn’t going to join in with NaNoWriMo this year, I need to get my ebook finished by the end of the month and I’m writing and editing as I go along - but there’s something great about just knowing a whole bunch of others across the word are writing, creating and panicking away too. So while officially I’m doing my own thing I will be posting my word count, updating this blog with progress and checking in occasionally with others I find who are taking part in this month of madness! (But not so much that it just adds to my ever growing list of distractions!)

So – one year one – and I have one ebook to finish in one month - one is still a magic number! And because I CAN do it, I’m now off to write!