How sweet!

I was honoured and super chuffed to be awared the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award by the lovely Carol and it truly made my day.

In spirit of making friends, and hopefully passing on happiness I would like to nominate the following bloggers to receive the award (and apologies there are not more nominees but I'm still quite new to all this so still in the process of building my blog reading list!).

The always inspiring and entertaining Lynne

and
The ever helpful and full of information Patsy

As part of accepting this award, I am required to tell you seven things about myself...hence the reason for the delay in posting. I have been trying to think! But here goes...

1. I have absolutely no sense of direction in general but can navigate the Tube without a hitch
2. I'm not too keen on heights but once abseiled and loved it
3. In Class 7 at primary school, I was chosen to be the May Queen at the church service
4. I once won a bowling prize on a works' outing despite normally being absolute rubbish at bowling. (The boss wasn't pleased I got a higher score than him...wonder if that had anything to do with me getting passed over for promotion...)
5. I once stroked a man's hair in a shop before realising in horror that it wasn't actually my husband, who had moved
6. I'm frightened of flying but once did 13 flights in five weeks
7. My favourite lolly is a lemonade sparkle but they're incredibly hard to find these days

Thanks again, Carol x

Rejecting Rejection

My resolve for 2012 was to get a lot more written and a lot more sent out. By the 5th January I'd already received two rejections and my resolve was severely shaken. In fact, this is the first bit of 'proper' writing I've done since. There's been a definite cloud of 'what's the point?' floating around over me since those 'thanks but no thanks' came in. One was something I'd really been looking forward to getting involved with and the other was an article of which the editor had pretty much said yes if I could send on some images from the local tourist board, which I duly did. So to have both these bounce back at me within days of each other, well, I was pretty fed up.

I know everyone goes through this and what we're all supposed to do. Send it right back out. And I do try and stick with that but sometimes it's just hard. Sometimes you start to think that maybe it is you and not them.

So, I gave it a break for a bit. Then today, I went out, looked around for another title to which I could submit said article and I've just sent it off. So, wish me luck and hopefully I'll have better luck this time. If not, then I'll just have to find somewhere else.

If you have any great tips for coping with rejection, I'd love to hear!

Happy New Year

Goodness! 2012! Where on earth did 2011 go? Honestly, this year, or rather last year, I suppose I should say, seems to have gone even faster than the previous one. It's a little unnerving frankly!

First of all, I would just like to wish you all a Happy New Year, and very much hope it will be a good one. Of course, the new year always brings with it the expectation of resolutions. Personally, I'm not sure about all that. I think if you want to do something you don't have to wait until the start of a new year to begin. Having said all that, sometimes it is the impetus we need. A fresh start for our goals.

So, do I have any resolutions? Sort of. I'm not really one for setting particular goals or planning. Again, that's a personal thing. But there are things I'd like to do, and will aim for. Generally, I just want to write more, and try and get more out there into circulation and obviously more published as a result. I also have a writing course half done that I'd really like to actually get finished and, of course, finish the next novel. And if someone wants to take that in return for a nice hefty fee and contract, I'd be gracious enough to accept...

Whatever your resolutions, and whether you choose to make them or not, I wish you great success with your writing in 2012!