Sunday Catch Up #4

Hello all! 🙂

I hope you’re having the most wonderful Sunday. We’re spending the day on the sofa – I’ve grabbed my new blanket from where it was beautifully adorning the bed, laid it over me, and I’m sitting and watching the dogs excitedly bound through the crisp, white snow. It’s a book, candle, and coffee Sunday if I ever saw one. I’ve even whacked on the Amazon Prime music playlist called ‘Classical for Reading’. What have I become… Anyway, here’s a sassy little Sunday Catch Up for you all to enjoy, hopefully from the warmth and comfort of your own sofas. (Or beds. Bed is even better.)

Excitements of the week…

• Seeing our friends for a Friday night dinner

On Friday, we headed over to see our good friends, Rosie and Alex, for dinner. It was just an absolutely lovely evening, the kind that you really need every now and then. We played with their gorgeous dogs, lusted after their amazing house, oohed and ahhed over their lush honeymoon photos, ate yummy food, and drank far too much wine. I woke up on Saturday with a vicious hangover, but it was absolutely worth it.

• Not being at uni

I probably shouldn’t say this, but I wasn’t able to get to university this week thanks to trains and lecturer strikes, and it was blissful. I’ve been able to get so much work done and it’s been so nice being at home. Yes, a little lonely, but also really really nice. It’s been a nice little preview into what it’ll be like after graduation and I’m actually kind of excited.

• Business Meeting

I had a business meeting this week about some exciting up and coming projects regarding my editing company. I can’t say too much, because it’s all a work in progress, but I’ll hopefully be combining some of my favourite things – young adult, reading, and helping writers with their stories. I’m discovering that working around your passions is absolutely the way to go, if you can do it. I’m so happy with my job, even if it is ridiculously tough and temperamental at times! (Also it took me far too long to work out how to spell temperamental for someone who works with words…)

 

• 2000 words down, 6000 to go…

Yep, you guessed it – I managed to write 2000 words of my dissertation. I feel so much better now I’ve started it and writing those words wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. I actually know more than I think. Equally, I always thought I’d want to crack it all out over a few days, because that’s how I’ve tended to write essays in the past, but actually I think sectioning it off into manageable chunks is definitely the way forward for this. Now, when I sit and think about it, it’s nice knowing I’ve only got another 3 sessions of writing until I’ve written the full 8000. Totally achievable. Remind me I said that in a few weeks time…

• Writing

This week, as well as writing in an academic way, I’ve been returning to writing my novel. I stopped in about December – I was starting to get a bit snowed under with editing work, and juggling uni essays – vowing that I’d return to finish it off soon. Three months later, I’m finally back, and God does it feel good! Admittedly, I did re-read chunks of it and think ‘Jesus Christ, what have I written!?’, but some of it was alright! I’ve got a few more chapters to write to finish it off and then begins the massive task of editing. I think it might be ready for Pete to read in about 8 edits time. You guys might be waiting years. Sorry.

Books I’ve been reading…

Okay, so I’m rubbish and I’m still on ‘Eat Up’, but I’m massively enjoying it. I’m hoping to finish it off today and start ‘The Cruel Prince’ by Holly Black. I don’t think I’ll have manage to read all of my March To Be Read List, but I’m going to give it a good crack anyway. Also, I finally caved and bought some books this weekend. Pete had purchased a few in London during the week and I felt left out, so I hit up Amazon yesterday and a few of them arrived today! I love it when you open up a parcel and get hit with the scent of fresh, newly-bound paper. I adore the feel of an unopened book, the smooth, uncracked spines… I could write a whole love note about new books, to be honest. They’re just so wonderful.

Blogs I’ve read this week…

• ‘Two Months After Starting My Lifestyle Blog’ – Milli Berman

Firstly, Milli’s blog is beaaaaautiful. So clean and fresh and pretty. I loved this blog post the moment it came into my inbox. Firstly, it shows just how hard Milli’s worked to get her blog off the ground, which is commendable in itself, but secondly, it’s great advice for those starting out, be it with a lifestyle blog, beauty blog, or otherwise. She highlights the questions everyone panics about when they first think about starting to blog, whilst also dishing out some wonderful truths.

• ‘My Thoughts On The Slow Demise Of Blogging’ – Hannah Gale

(Yes, I’m a massive Hannah Gale fangirl, not even sorry.) I really enjoyed reading this post, mainly because a lot of it rang true, even if I didn’t necessarily see me within the words entirely. This post explores the slow, long demise of blogging, as audiences begin to shift to quicker, snappier content, such as that enjoyed on Instagram. I totally get that – I love Insta, particularly the stories format. I like nothing more than a good flick through pictures, reading about people’s days, and giving them a like. It’s definitely my most used app. But, I still enjoy reading a longwinded blog post about an event in someone’s life, or why time changes everything. I’m a magazine girl through and through, religiously buying Glamour (RIP) and now Red, which makes me wonder whether that’s why. Anyway, basically, this blog post is a super interesting analysis of the blogosphere today and where Hannah thinks it’s going.

• ‘So You Think You Want To Be A Full Time Blogger?’ – Beth Sandland

I’ve had a real blog theme this week, haven’t I… I loved this post, not only because of its’ honesty about working as a blogger, but also because I could absolutely relate to Beth’s views on self-employment and freelancing. I totally got her points about job security, not just being able to write in cafés all day, feeling like it’s taking over your entire life, and justifying your career choice – not from the perspective of being a blogger, but from the view of being self-employed within the publishing industry. Beth’s really, wonderfully honest and upfront about the challenges of being a full time blogger in this piece, and it’s really kinda eye-opening in some ways.

• ‘Character Profiles in a nutshell’ – A Quintillion Words

I’ve just discovered this blog and I’m obsessed. This post has been particularly relevant to me this week, both in my own work and others. Character, character, character! So important and yet so often overlooked. I absolutely need to sit and write my character profiles for my book. It’s the thing you automatically think will turn out fine, but I know I’ll go back to edit and hate myself or not having done it. This post is a great guide about where to begin, plus it’s fun too, which is always a winner!