An update for November 2021

Well,I missed a whole month and didn't update for October. At least not here, I didn't.

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is upon us. I have done absolutely nothing other than look after Jack, which is fulfilling in itself and I stopped worrying about not being able to work on my book or doodle in my bullet journal. There just isn't time when you're chasing an almost 2 year old around. (And I do mean chase.)

I didn't do NaNoWriMo. I didn't finish the online business classes I signed up for. We haven't done any holidays. We've had a few days to ourselves (me and Steve, I mean) and the rest of the time has been the routine of the household and the keeping of things functioning as normal.

I did, however, update the Jack's Mum Podcast yesterday and I primarily update short entries at suzanne.micro.blog when I think of something quick to jot down. Other than that, I'll write something more in December maybe, but until then, I hope everyone is winding down 2021 well.

An update for June 2021

It’s been hot up north lately which is lovely for England because we don’t squander our days in the sun. Most of the time we’ve been playing with Jack in the garden or taking him on walks with his trike.

Steve’s birthday was on the 1st and we had our first date (breakfast by the river) since 2019. The rest of that weekend we spent as a family hanging out then Jack got sick had to stay home from nursery (and get a Covid test — negative).

I really need to start back up with the podcast because I have lots of stuff to talk about with taking a toddler out and about how that lockdown has eased. We’ve done two restaurants outside and lots of kid-friendly events like the farm, a sensory room, swim lessons, and walks. We even got him a new trike but quickly discovered those are not for long trips when the child gets tired because the one we have doesn’t recline. (It was also the only one decent-rated online that was available: a Kingerkraft Aston.)

Other than that, we’re getting on as we do. Steve is still working from home and I’m doing my management course at work so hopefully, I can get that done by the autumn of this year.

Still no official word about our trip to Florida, but we still plan on seeing the Picks next month for Jack’s christening. It will be two years since we’ve seen our families.

 

A blog update for 19 January 2021

I’m writing this at 9:30 at night while I’m holding Jack. We’ve had a power cut and this poor sweaty child hasn’t had a bath. It doesn’t help that he decorated himself with apple sauce at lunchtime, but never mind. Steve had to light the gas stove with a match to get some water boiled to make a bottle for Jack. I was tempted to go across the street and ask someone to heat a bottle for him in one of the neighbors’ microwaves but I didn’t have to. Poor kid still is dirty. I go back to work in two weeks. I am not pleased by this just because I feel like I’m abandoning Jack. Steve sees this as an opportunity for Jack to be somewhere else, playing with other kids, being part of the world, learning and doing and not being stuck in the house all day with us. - LATER - It is now Tuesday. The electricity went on at 10PM last night, so luckily we had some heat through the night. I'll be so ready to get this baby into the bath tonight (and myself into the shower!) I had a nice chat with one of the girls at work today, so they know to expect me in a couple of weeks. (My poor baby!) It's still raining and I doubt a family walk with by on the cards for the evening. This is all we can do -- take walks when Jack isn't napping or when the weather approves (so, rare). I'm still struggling to get any real writing done, so 200 words a day is the best I can aim for. I want to get the YA series out of the door but, alas, time isn't really a thing anymore. (And, yes, I know people say that's not an excuse but when you have a one year old, that is the only thing you can concentrate on.) Well, I'm being summoned once again by the man of the house, so here's to randomly updated blog posts. Oh! And I have a podcast now! Jack's Mum is where I talk all about mummying.

An Update for November 2020

Halloween is over. It's time to get the Christmas lights up and prepare for Thanksgiving. In England, we're still in Lockdown 2.0 so there are limits on what Jack and I can do this month. Luckily, we're allowed to go back to one of his baby classes so we have that to look forward to each week. Plus, it's good for him to keep seeing other kids, I think. Mister Pick and I have already started getting ready for Christmas because, like many people this month, we figure why not celebrate early and enjoy the season after the crazy year we've had? I can't go to any Keeping in Touch days at work and I haven't ventured to even walk around the mostly-closed mall. I've just been taking walks with the family and keeping our heads above water. At least this lockdown was something we could prepare for and knew what to expect. I'm still trying to keep up with NaNoWriMo 2020 but today I discovered I lost a chapter from yesterday. It's not great literature, but it did make me feel like I'll never get anything accomplished. It's tough to steal moments to write, so it's that much tougher than it would be if I wasn't mummying 24/7. It's also tough to keep up the bullet journal but I did at least start a November spread today (even though I'm a couple weeks late). I've considered starting a blog just devoted to writing with tips and activities, prompts and writer interviews but, again, I don't know when I'll have the time to get that together. I at least got bookblogarama active again after being on hiatus for a long time. And with that said, I'll close this update because block editor in Wordpress has just deleted text from this entry. (I'm doing well with technology today!) It isn't a riveting post but I hope everyone is keeping well and getting their writing done. Happy November!

An Update on Halloween's Eve

It's been a slow couple of weeks. Jack got sick last Sunday. It was a cold coupled with throwing up, so I spent a few nights holding him a lot and trying to get him some rest. Luckily, he's feeling better now but I'm still worse for wear. I have a runny nose, cough, and sinus headache. I did have a fever. I also had a loss of smell. But all of this is from the stuffy nose and the cold. I didn't feel it necessary to get a test. I've had many colds in my life, and this is one of them. What troubles me is that with all the social distancing and super hygienic conditions that these places supposedly have these days, Jack still got sick. If we can catch a cold, we can catch Covid. I've wanted to keep taking him to classes just to get him used to other kids because, unfortunately, I'll have to go back to work next year and he'll have to go to nursery. I worry about this constantly, and I want to make that transition as easy as possible for him. (I'll be a wreck. There's no way around that one.) Despite this illness in the house, I've been able to write a bit in snippets, which keeps me sane and makes me feel productive in some respects. I've posted to Medium (the last article was on the subject of said baby illness) and worked on my book. I don't know why I say "book" when I have about four I dip in and out of. I love beginnings of stories, then slog through the rest. What I'm doing is something along the lines of YA romance, and I've found Jami Gold's Romance Beat Sheet. This has helped me plot a little better than I usually do because I have always been a pantser and I end up not knowing how to steer the story back to where I wanted it to go. Does anyone else have this problem? I'm so impatient and I really want to crank out a decent 1st draft, then edit it without having to totally rewrite the story. This is why I'm amazed that people can churn out a book a month. Today is Mandalorian Season 2 day, Halloween's Eve, and the day before I do another Keeping in Touch Day at the library. We've not been able to find pumpkins anywhere nearby, so this may be the most subdued Halloween we've ever had. But it's 2020, so what else can we expect? If anyone else is taking part in NaNoWriMo next month, good luck to you!

An update for May 2020

I'm trying out my new keyboard. It's red with typewriter type keys. I never thought about getting one of these before until I saw a post where a girl had a pink, compact one for her iPad. (I need one of those too.)

It’s been so long since I’ve used the computer, and right now, Steve is watching Jack while I get ready for Steve’s birthday tomorrow. (I found his cards! Hooray!)

We’re still under lockdown here, unlike the US apparently who have restaurants open and like is “back to normal.” I still haven’t been to the shops since March, I’m guessing, so the only thing we’ve done is take walks. Sometimes I’ll take a ride in the car with Jack, just for a change of scenery, but that’s it.

To be honest, I don’t know what else I could be doing with the baby other than taking classes or going to the zoo, visiting the library, or other little activities just to pass the time. I worried a lot about “wasting” my maternity leave under lockdown, but I’ve accepted that there’s nothing I can do about it, and Jack’s happy with us, so it’s fine.

Jack has been sleeping better at night (touch wood), so I started journaling and bullet journaling again. I’ve also looked into working on my current WIP (at least I chose one) to keep up with and can tie into JuNoWriMo.

Anyone else doing that? Or has lockdown just been one big writing fest for everyone else? I’m so out of the loop and full of baby life that nothing else really is important.

I’ve messed around on the phone during Jack’s naptimes and want to work more on my author page and my imprint for when I do get my books back to publishing form. (I’ve been saying this for years, haven’t I?) I have only eight more months to be at home so maybe I can get something done but, again, I can’t really worry about that. There is just hardly any time with Jack’s schedule.

The funny thing is, I really thought I would have time to write this year. Yeah, not going to happen. Oh well!

I hope you all are writing and keeping safe. Here’s to a good June!

An update for February 2020

Jack has arrived!

Our boy was born on the 29th of December and I’ve been in a whirlwind of baby ever since.

Right now, I’m holding him with one hand and trying to type with the other. Motherhood will make you learn to improvise all sorts of things, I’ve noticed. (Eating with one hand. Sleeping with your hand in a cot. Having your husband hold the baby while you go to anywhere other than the bed because, otherwise, the baby cries when you set him down. Etc.)

Aside from trying to keep the baby’s weight up, which is ironic since my whole pregnancy was devoted to worrying about what a big baby he was, I have been trying to get out and about and stay active. This photo was taken during our first walk at the park.

Now, since I am pretty much stuck to the house and can’t really do much more than watch TV while I feed the boy, I have plans on how to keep myself sane during my maternity leave.

First: exercise. The easiest thing to do now, aside from sitting in bed all day, is to walk with the baby in the pram. I try to find places to take him during the week while Mister P. is at work, so that the day differentiates to the night.

Second: writing. Now, this is tricky because I can only type one handed at the moment (Jack hates the baby bouncer I have in the computer room, otherwise, I’d let him sit in there for a few minutes and give myself typing time.) So, its going to have to be me taking the laptop to a café and letting him sit in the pram.

I’ve decided to start with the basics, such as the blog (ta dah!) and maybe start some Medium stories. I was planning on writing something in draft form for Wattpad but I’ve also discovered Substack and Scribophile. (Has anyone used either?)

Third: bullet journal. This may not seem important on one’s list of to-dos but I dearly miss it. I’ve tried to grab snippets of time when I can use both hands for a quick weekly spread, or a list of TV shows to watch (because that’s pretty much all I do these days). But without the zen-like ability to quietly sit at my desk while I find the perfect washi tape, or look at tutorials on YouTube for making great Valentine’s Day doodles, it’s just not as fulfilling as it could be. Still, I’m grateful for whatever time I can use for organization and preparedness.

Fourth: reading. Well, this one does have options that I’m pleased about. I have the Kindle app on my phone, so I don’t have to go digging around for my Kindle or the book at the side of my bed. The trouble is, I’m only going to read a page at a time before I either get distracted by the baby or I start to nod off. Still, plenty of time to read for a few minutes when I’m said somewhere with the pram.

And those are my main objectives for the next bunch of months. Nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary. I suppose they’re resolutions of sorts but all of them take the back seat when it comes to being a mother and focusing my attention on Baby Jack.

But with that said, I hope everyone had a fab Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Update before Christmas 2019

We're now 3 days away from Christmas and I’ve been on maternity leave from the library since the 14th of December. I spent my last evening at a work Christmas party so I wasn’t as melancholy about being away from my regular people as much as I could have been. However, it was insanely weird to not be at the library on Monday and not be expected to be at work all last week. I got listless and bored quickly, but being as heavily pregnant as I am now (only 1 week and 3 days left until my due date) I am way too tired to even consider being on my feet in the office or the library anymore.

For example, today I took two naps and it’s not even 11:30PM.

But everything is fine with Baby Pick. He is estimated to be 9.9lbs according to our last scan/ultrasound, so once we speak to the doctor on Christmas Eve, we’ll have a plan as to what to do as far as delivery is concerned. I think they’re gunning for induction the week of New Year’s, which I’m not keen on, but we’ll see what they say.

While I’ve been home, I’ve gotten a lot of Christmas wrapping done in case I’m otherwise engaged at the hospital or something. We bought all of our groceries last Friday so the house is full of snacks and everything we need for a traditional Christmas dinner (turkey crown, turkey gravy, rolls, parsnips, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, carrots, pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, and brussel sprouts). I haven’t done anything really and I feel incredibly bad that Mister Pick has had to do all the things to get ready for Baby and the holidays. Fingers crossed I recover quickly after Baby arrives. I miss walking the dog in the mornings.

Now that I’m off work and have some waiting around time, I’ve picked up The Cheerleaders as my current Kindle read. I also want to get back to writing and I’m itching to start crafting a project. I have the idea that I’ll just write all the books and so many authors who are writing all genres of YA and MG just make me all the more motivated to get back to the task of creativity. It’s something I really do miss.

And it’s not like I don’t have tons of ideas and topics I’ve jotted down over the last year to keep me busy. The idea of flexing and toning those muscles of creativity really is true and when you get out of the groove of it because of life and whatnot, it’s even more daunting to get back to it.

With Baby on the way and New Year’s approaching, I’ve also been in the mindset of setting some goals for 2020. I admit that it’s all very traditional: be a good mom, be a good wife, get back to a healthy weight, run my 5K again, write all the books, and things like that.

So hopefully during my next post I can update everyone on how that’s going and maybe Baby Pick will have shown up in the world to give me a little more motivation and a little more understanding of what’s most important in the world. Until then, Merry Christmas!

October prepping and returning from vacation

It's October! We're back from our holidays and went from 35C/95F temperatures to 8C/48F. It's appropriately autumnal in Newcastle with the fog and the rain, as is expected. While we were away it only rained maybe a couple of times and we spent two glorious weeks in Disney, Universal, and Cocoa Beach.

What I took home from the trip were a couple of bags of flavored coffee, some Christmas ornaments (because this year will be quite special), some baby onesies, and a cold. So going back to work this week with jet lag, a tiredness that comes from being six months pregnant, and a stuffy nose has not been that pleasant. However, after sleeping a lot this weekend, I think I'll be ready to take on the next 10 weeks of work before my maternity leave.

Ten. Weeks. That's all I have left. I think that freaks me out more than labor and delivery at this point, as well as being off of work for a whole year. I keep being assured that I won't care about the goings on at the library while I'm away, but I'm a control freak and have severe FOMO, so if Baby Pick supersedes all of that, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

What I noticed about holidaying in the Central Florida area is that Disney is just so much better than the other parks. I know I'm a Disney fan girl and all, but the amount of rude staff we came across during our one day at Volcano Bay water park and the severe lack of organization we encountered at Sea World just proves that Disney sets a higher bar for customer service.

For example: Preferred Parking at Sea World costs $35 and regular parking costs $25. Everyone was parking in the same rows in the same area so we wasted $10 on that. Plus, the queue to get in was miles long, including the self service kiosk, so it would have taken ages just to get into the park. I investigated buying the tickets online, but unlike Disney, it didn't tell you up front before you paid, what dates the tickets were valid for. It's not until you leave the tickets in your cart and you get an email later saying, "Don't you want these tickets that let you go into the park three days after purchase?" If I had bought them and tried to go into the park the next day, as we intended, I would have been even more disappointed because we tried to go over on our last weekend in Florida.

Mister Pick was bummed out about this because he wanted to see the new Sesame Street land, the Halloween events, and experience the beer festival, but I think that was the reason so many people were trying to get into the park at the same time. Other people in our parking row did the same thing we did, got to the gate then realized it wasn't worth it, and turned around and went home having wasted $25-$35 on parking. (We did sent an email to Sea World about this and we got a parking pass for next year.)

With Volcano Bay, Mister Pick went as far as to write an email of complaint about the rude staff. A lot of the time there was no please or thank you, there was no finesse or love for their job that you see at Disney. There was, "You need to move the line here!" or even having rafts for the rides thrown at customers. What irritated me the most was the couple of bits of wrong information we received. I specifically asked at one of the lunch cafeterias if the park unlimited drinks cups could be used at the adjacent hotel, Cabana Bay, where we were staying. We were told, "yes," only to find out that was just wrong. Also, when we left the park, there was a staff member blowing bubbles (because that makes it seem fun to be there!) and she didn't stop when I approached her, then gave me wrong directions to get back to the hotel.

It wasn't anything major, and we did enjoy our time there. I loved the wave pool and Mister Pick had a fine time on all of the slides, especially the lazy river, but it was just that little attention to detail when it comes to customer service. As someone who works in customer service day in and day out, I can tell you full well how high expectations result in higher quality treatment of customers.

Aside from that, everything was good. We did experience the drunken nightmare that is EPCOT Food and Wine Festival on a Saturday and I can safely say I will never do that again. People just loud, shouty, and making a point to draw attention to themselves. I even saw two women cursing each other out in a line for the ladies' toilets, children in tow, all because they were off their face at two o'clock in the afternoon. It was so busy and so hot and if you go there just to enjoy the park, a weekday is your best bet because, wow. Those Florida Passholders treat that like a bachelorette/bachelor party on a weekend. (Most importantly, not a time to bring children unless you want them to experience brawls and lack of security.)

Other than that, it was great. We saw a lot of my parents who are doing well (except my dad caught my cold, poor guy). We went to Galaxy’s Edge (!!!) and saw the new Toy Story Land. I didn't go overboard with the eating because I had my glucose test when I came back home (still waiting to hear results of that), but I enjoyed cake and (low carb) ice cream on my birthday. I wasn't in the mood for a lot of shopping either, but I managed to bring back the essential snacks, and souvenirs for my co-workers, as well as my own gifts mentioned above.

Oh, and I didn't spend too much at Michaels. I was very proud of myself, considering that I was in Happy Planner Heaven and would only have that chance once.

So now that I have all of the planners, including my Academic Passion Planner that's on the way, I'll be prepped for some time with Baby and being at home for, hopefully, some creative time. I'd love to do even 25k words for Nanowrimo this year, but the more I don't write, the more daunting it seems. I keep hearing about people on social media who are fast typers and they write a book in a month anyway. I used to do that but they weren't good and it was the editing that was more frustrating than anything. That means I'd like to have a more organized approach to what I'm going to work on and at least have some sort of plot structure in place before I try to work through the story.

But October is here! Soon it will be Halloween, with Thanksgiving around the corner. I don't look forward to the frost coming in because I'm terrified of slipping and falling as it is, let alone being ungraceful and pregnant, but I'll take precautions and take it easy.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is choosing their costumes, reading spooky books, stockpiling their candy and having a fab month so far.

Author podcasts and finding Baby's gender

Well, we're having a boy! I'm sure it will thrill our son that I've already shared our pictures on Facebook, so to spare him the further humiliation, I've not posted the prize-winning scan photo on my blog. It's not long now until we head to Florida for our holiday. I am so ready for this. I'm sure it's the pregnancy hormones, but I get so overwhelmed during the day with the running around, the people, and the being up for over 8 hours. So, I have four months left until Baby arrives. I sort of seems like plenty of time and it also sort of seems like it's coming up very shortly. In order to prepare for my upcoming maternity leave, I'm working on being prepared for getting a book done (at least one) while I'm spending most of the time at home, not sleeping. The ways that I've done this are taking notes on my phone, setting up BookFunnel, and listening to my author/writer/creative podcasts. Here's a list of what podcasts I've been listening to:

• Create If Writing
• Stop Writing Alone
• Don't Keep Your Day Job
• The Creative Penn
• The Writer Files
• Write Now
• Write-Minded
• Writing Excuses
• Smart Podcast, Trashy Books
• You're Welcome with Hilary Rushford
• You're Booked

I commute a lot so having lots of options for motivation and inspiration is a big plus when the rest of the day is spent on the day job. What I find so helpful is that all of these podcasts have little gems of insight into how you want your author brand and writing to work. If one isn't fitting your mood or your needs for the day, you can always go to something else and come back to the episode later. I love music, but having a little bit of chatter in the background breaks the monotony. Plus, it keeps your brain interested in your creative endeavours even if you can't sit and work on your current project. We've also been in our house for over a year now. That flew by, but we're still in love with the place. Pick Manor is being slowly transformed into a place for a child to live. We have paint, we have nursery items, we have lampshades, and we have a new kitchen sideboard for bottles and baby feeding items. I still don't know how we'll be ready as I'm starting to feel like I'm training for a marathon. Steve has been working overtime and I'm exhausted all the time, so it limits our daily excursions. Still, the nice September air has crept in this morning, so I feel autumn is upon us. I hope everyone has a fantastic September. See you in October!  

From the end spring new beginnings

It is my pleasure to report that we’re expecting a Baby Pick on 1st January 2020! We’ve been wanting a baby for a while so the blessing of a child is all the more special for us.

Now, in preparation for the oncoming maternity leave I’m trying to decide at least how I’m going to use the time wisely in terms of writing. It’s been ages since I’ve outlined or attempted to work on scenes that I’ve already written and rewritten, but I’m really eager to get back into it.

And, yes, the time will be up at all hours, tending to a newborn and I’ll probably be too tired to even consider writing. But in case it’s not as awful as all that and I do have some time to be productive, I want to be ready. Of course I also want to get back to the gym and Weight Watchers and yeah, maybe I’m being way too ambitious on this one.

So my question is how? How do I get prepared for nine months to potentially a year of looking after baby and getting back into writing? So far, the only decent plan I have is, is to get an outline ready. Now, this is probably pretty standard for writing in any situation for most of you, but I am terrible at plots and outlines. I have good ideas for scenes, the beginning, and the end. What happens in the middle? What builds tension? How will the story be structured? Who knows?

I took it upon myself to order a Page One Writer’s Notebook to see if that helped with my characterization, plot, scenes, research, outline, etc. Of course there’s always Scrivener, but in the tradition of using my bullet journal (again), I thought something tactile would be a little refreshing.

I’ve heard on a couple of occasions that social media is our reason for being too impatient and too tired to read and write. I’ve struggled with this for ages now and I couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was. I haven’t read much in a long time but I never equated it to a patience issues, I just thought I was too tired from work. However, when I was commuting on the bus, I read a lot more, so putting the phone away for a while and focusing on a book is possible.

That means my next six months will be not only preparing for an infant, but also having a go-to plan so if I am able to steal some minutes in the day, I will have something to work from. Maybe I’ll even get into a routine of sorts? Is that too much to hope for?

First draft in 2020? Surely this is a possibility.

New Year, new member of the family, and a new outlook on life? Most definitely.