Savings: A Penny at a Time

 

I don't have much disposable income. It's a sad but true fact that after paying bills, buying groceries, paying for petrol and the general cost of living, there's not much left over. I know the same is true for a lot of people. Everything is just so expensive. 

The Goal 

My aim is to save a little money.  Not a lot, because there's not much to spare, but if I take it in small steps... Maybe I can save something. It's going to be fairly pathetic. Whatever change I find in my purse, any scrap I can earn. My first instalment is 50p that I got paid for doing a survey. Hey, it's something, right?

Reach the Target 

The target I'm going to start with is £100, and then I'll take it from there. £100. That's the goal. That's the target. I'm saving money 2 Broke Girls style. Scraping together any money I can. Only, I'm not aiming for a cupcake business. 

Let's Do This

Like I said; tiny savings goals for a tiny income, but it's a starting point. I can see where it goes from there. It's going to take a long time to get anything worth calling savings, but I'll keep plugging at it. Right now, though, the first 50p is in the jar. 

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Time to Write

These aren’t the easiest times we're living in right now. Financially, it seems like there are nothing but obstacles. Stability is a goal.

It takes a lot of hours at work just to get by, which can make being a romance writer an extra challenge. I’d love to spend all my free time editing, but I guess the trick is finding free time when I have a burning desire to eat and have a roof over my head.

Priorities

I read somewhere that ‘if it's important to you, you’ll find the time.’ Well, whoever said that wants to take a closer look at the high cost of rent and groceries and car insurance, and they’ll understand why my priorities are the ones that pay.

Except, they’re also kinda right. Being a writer doesn’t pay me much, that’s why I have the day job, but I still manage to find scraps of time to scrawl words on paper.

Even this blog. It's 11pm, my baby is sleeping in his cot beside me, the house is quiet and I’m writing this with my phone. It’s important to me, so I’m finding the time. This week, anyway.  

Day in the Life

A lot of my writing actually gets done this way. In bed with my phone, or a notebook in the kitchen while I prepare food, even in the shower. Whenever I can. It may take me a long time, but I get there in the end, even if it cost me a bit of sleep. Too much sleep. I love sleeping.

Being Vigilant

I do try my hand at time management but it’s never been my strongest skill, and I’m such a fan of procrastination. Organising my bookshelves just seemed so important when it came time to write a synopsis.

I do all the things that are supposed to help. Things like to-do lists and drinking coffee and forcing myself to open the document and not wait for inspiration.

It all comes back to prioritising what’s important, but this is also real life, so there are often times that I open the document and have to abandon it to make dinner, take my dog out, or settle a tired baby.

Someone once asked how I have time to write and the truth is I don’t. But I do it anyway.

I’m a Romance Writer

Maybe I have a little more expendable time than others because I keep my romance fictional. It’s all on the page, and it means my time is mine. These really are hard times though, and it would be nice not to have to work all the time just to stay afloat.

Hey, at least we’re in this together, right? In the words of Brandon Lee in The Crow, ‘ It can’t rain all the time.’

In the meantime, I’ll be working on my next book in bed on my phone.

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Dreams of Distant Places

 And not so distant places. 

I'm a romance writer so a sense of romance is built in me, and I'm not even as romantic as I could be. I don't like weddings, I don't need a path of rose petals, and a room full of candles just makes me wonder how they got them all lit and how long it takes to blow them out.

But I do love the idea of soulmates, of tangled limbs and twisted sheets, of mixed breaths. Even when I'm not romantic, I'm still a dreamer. 

What Do You Daydream About?

I see wet pavements in foreign cities where I sit under cover at a table, drinking wine and eating food I can't get at home. I see myself in a two-piece on the beach, tropical sunshine warming my skin while crystal water laps at my feet. I see airport journeys and ferry trips. Driving on the wrong side of the road. Friendly strangers. New languages. 

Those are daydreams though. Reality is a little different. Reality is day jobs, budgeting money, and cooking dinner. It's responsibility, bills and parenting. And if I want to travel I have to save up to do it. Save up for a long time. 

Even staycations are few and far between. I don't get many trips to the seaside and I haven't even journeyed to London for years and that's my favourite city in Britain.

Writing is a Dream

I find time to write because I'm a romance writer and it's important to me, but imagine being able to do it in the daytime because I earn enough to not need a day job. That's the dream! To let the words flow. To spend as long as I want on a piece of writing without having to stop because my shift starts early in the morning. 

The dream is to have people reading my books and wanting more. For people to care about my characters as much as I do. To not be an echo in a void.

Maybe I'm getting a bit contemplative but it is eleven twenty at night. Almost midnight. The time of dreams.

Reality is Okay Too.

I'm pretty damn happy with things as they are. As unromantic as I am, and as much as I daydream about the future, I feel content with all I have. Sure, I'd like a newer car, a bigger home for my babies and me, and financial security, but saving up for things I want isn't a bad thing. 

I'll take the holidays I want eventually. I'll earn more money. I'll get by. I'm getting pretty good at budgeting, and when it comes to love? Well, I'm a romance writer. I'll write it. 

If you enjoyed this blog then I have plenty of others on this site to read, or for book news, you can visit my website. 

Lifestyle and Romance Writing

 This blog is a bit of a lifestyle post. I’m writing it from a single woman point of view, rather than a romance writer point of view. Or maybe both. I’m a romance author all the time.

To the lifestyle blog of it, here it is. 

Inspired by Lifetime Movies

I’m watching a movie. It’s a daytime movie. One that’s on channel 5 in the afternoons.

I love this kind of movie. They’re dramatic and predictable and easy to watch. Not to mention that crazy characters are hella fun to watch.

In this particular movie, there’s this one scene where the couple are sitting at the restaurant, it’s a pretty patio with twinkling lights, it’s late evening, and they’re on a date. The chick is crazy, but that’s not the point of this. The point is the crazy chick was wearing this cornflower blue dress. It’s low back, it’s v neck with spaghetti straps.

It’s a beautiful dress.

Evenings in London

The point is that it brings me back to nights in London, at the restaurant overlooking Tower Bridge. My favourite moments in my past.

Over the past few years, I’ve become a bit reclusive. Covid hasn’t helped. In some regards, I have improved. I’m more motivated, I’m trying to build my writing career and while I’m not at any risk of earning millions, it is currently the best it’s been.

But… I miss London. I miss wearing a pretty dress and sitting at a restaurant on the outside patio on a warm evening, eating ravioli and drinking wine. I miss having a cocktail and exploring the city.

I want to go again.

The crazy chick in the movie, sitting at the restaurant in the pretty dress, marked the moment I decided I wanted to get off my ass and find my motivation.

Lifestyle Change Please 

Currently, I’m unhealthy, and overweight which makes me lethargic and fatigued. I’m lazy and that doesn’t help the situation. I’m a little bit of a scruff-bag.

I don’t want that to be the case anymore. I don’t want to go to work, come home and never do anything. I want to write short stories and romance novels, and when I’m not writing to go outside.

I want to wear a pretty dress and sit at a restaurant on an outside patio on a warm evening, as I eat ravioli and drink wine. Now, though, I want it to be a dog-friendly one, so my furbaby can be there too.

Romance Writer Leaves the Cave 

My writing cave is super cute. It has a big bed, a big TV and it’s stocked with junk food and booze, but now, I feel like it’s time for me to step out of it. At least every now and then.

Maybe do some exercise. Eat some healthy food. Breathe some outside air. 

I need to be more active than I  have been! 

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New Year... Page One

 

Make goals or wing it?

Another new year begins and I've already decided not to make resolutions, but I haven't decided whether or not to set goals for myself. 

I'm not the best at sticking to them - I have a tendency to get distracted - but I really want to publish my first Accalia book and to finish Martha's story. Then I have all the shorter stories that I want to do. Should I do it by setting missions or should I just take it one story at a time? One page at a time?

Compromise

I guess I'll do both. I'll plot, I'll write. I'll aim to achieve. This is where my weakness in organisation is going to cause me problems. I have a head for chaos and it doesn't bode well for goal planning. I've got a brand-spanking new diary, so I can plan, but the one thing you can't take into accord is the number of words you can write. 

My word count is always random, so I'll plan what I can.

Winter Solstice

 Winter Solstice, or Yule as it’s also known, is one of the oldest winter celebrations and has been celebrated for thousands of years, all around the world, in a wide variety of traditions and rituals.

The Norsemen saw the sun as a wheel that changed the seasons, and in mid-winter they would light bonfires, tell stories and drink sweet ale. Now, the wheel represents the year of sabbats for wiccans, and Yule is deeply rooted in that cycle.

Throughout history, bonfires have been an integral part of the Winter Solstice celebrations as many believed bonfires would work at protecting by keeping dark spirits away. Others thought that firelight would guide the sun back to the sky.

In many traditions, Yule kicks of the wiccan new year. It falls on the shortest day, and during Winter Solstice, darkness reaches its peak, giving the longest night. It usually occurs on the 21^st of December, but it varies depending on location, and on the daily rotation of the Earth. This year it falls on the 21^st at, I think, about 3.58pm in the UK. It’s the sabbat where the Goddess gives birth to the Sun King and this fire festival is strongly linked with fertility and the continuation of life. It’s the time to reflect on the past year, and to think about what you hope for the next. It’s a fresh start. A chance to begin again. Cleansing your home will dust away the negativity of the previous year.

Oaks have been seen as sacred and the mistletoe is a symbol of life. Yule logs were set alight at one end, and it was believed by the Norse that each spark represented a piglet or calf to be born during the next year. Fire festivals, celebrating the rebirth of the Sun, held on the Winter's Solstice can be found throughout the ancient world. In fact, many pagan customs are still followed today, and are used in the Christian celebrations of Christmas.