I will never look at my trainers the same way again. It feels as though maybe they should be locked away at night.

That is a serial killer laugh if ever I saw one.

I am very pleased with the design I came up with for my Fire & Ice series. An author started a thread asking about ‘author logos’.

It started me thinking; this could be mine. What do you all think?

I’m me. An everyday person with a life full of family, occasional drama, births, deaths, marriages, and health bombshells.

As an aside, health events are always a bombshell. No one ever sees them coming… those sideswipes that fill your brain with paralysing worry, but I digress… where was I? Success.

I accidentally wrote a book series. Yes, that sounds weird, but it is true. Okay, I was good at English at school. I read my way through my childhood and teenage years, but then nada, just living the mother, family, for three decades. And before you leap out of your seat, I consider raising three children a huge success.

Just as empty nest syndrome loomed on my horizon, a bizarre collision of inspiration and compulsion made me write a short story that refuses to stop growing. It was all consuming, and the feeling of obsession, being driven, was exhausting.

My success is that I managed to pour my heart out onto paper – well, laptop, but you get what I mean.

Now, I hunger for readers and the process of getting their attention is bewildering and complex. So, do I measure my success on the act of writing, or am I a failure unless I attract a fan base?

The elation at getting 5 star reviews certainly settled the anxiety when I put my work – my heart – out there, but if I’m honest, no matter how hard I push that boulder, getting the ball rolling and transforming it into an avalanche of readers – good grief! That’s not just a mixed metaphor, that’s a metaphor crash – erm, as I was saying, getting the ball rolling and transforming it into an avalanche of readers feels impossible.

On that measure, I’m failing, but I’m not giving up.

www.facebook.com/100001952685785/posts/5851022164972815/

Is this a short term fix to getting my books out in Audiobook format I wonder?

Speechify – Audio Text Reader

fb.watch/6cs9GB2v9m/

Sometimes, kindness is a lifesaver and must be celebrated.

twitter.com/vg_stef/status/1402581972191416320

As writers, solitude is needed; sometimes we hunger for it, but… I’ve missed human interaction.

It is the isolation of having choices taken away that has thrown my mind into a tailspin, I think.

Loneliness has been draining for a lot of us. Just having our social interactions stripped away feels like the lifeboat is sinking. This article helps to explain why.

The weird science of loneliness explains why lockdown sucked
— Read on www.wired.co.uk/article/lockdown-loneliness-neuroscience

https://youtu.be/PluaPvhkIMU

In dark times, we all need a shot in the arm of joy and love… here it is.