Number 29

I started to put money into a bottle today (number 29 on my list)  and when its full I'm going to find a charity and give it to them. When I came up with this idea it seemed so simple but it isn't. Apart from a milk bottle (can you still get them?) it is really hard to find a bottle where the top is wide enough to get through. The first two bottles I found were way too small but then I found this one.



Sadly though for the poor so and so that has to count them when its full you can only fit 1p's and 5p's in it.



Beyond excited

As stated in the title, I am beyond excited with w recent acquisition.
I have said on many an occasion that one of my favourite authors is Ed McBain a.k.a. Evan Hunter. My love of Mr McBain started after I read "Ghosts"  many years ago. Its a book set in a fictional city about a group of detectives that work there. What sets these books apart for me is the dialogue. Ed wrote great dialogue. Coming across Ed McBain books is an easy enough thing to do especially for someone who works in the charity retail sector and I have a large collection of them. However books written as Evan Hunter is a different kettle of fish entirely. There aren't many of them and they are not so easy to find and in the 12 years I've been doing the job we've only had a few pass through our hands. They are completely different to the books written by his alto ego but the two I have read in the past have been compelling reading. Santa brought me a third which I haven't read yet and yesterday Himself found me another two one of which is "The Blackboard Jungle." I cannot describe how happy I was.
I was going to try to read "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (again) after I've finished reading the book after the one I'm reading at the moment but that may have been postponed a week or two.

Coming home

I don't know why I did it but I did but now I've changed my mind so I've stopped it. How many of you read that sentence more than once before you made sense of it?
Basically as I have mentioned more than once I have a Fifty50 plan i.e. a list of 50 things that I want to do in my 50th year and I was blogging about it in a different place. However I never really felt the love for that other place. This is my blog. This is where I feel comfortable. So from now on I'll tell you about everything "me" (be it Fifty50 related or not) here.
The first 13 days are recorded on the link at the top of the page but anything new will be here on my blogging home.
Oh and the list, you know "the list"  can be viewed on the link by the same name at the top of the page and the ones in red are the things that I have done. Okay, I'm over explaining now so I'm going to shut up.

Experimental relaxation.

I've ticked another thing off my Fifty50 list so I'm feeling good about that.  I've also tackled a but more of BTL so that's good too. Thought I'd mention it here because I appear to be talking to myself over there but that's okay because it won't be the first time.
I made an experimental (for me) cake today - Sultana and apple. It was actually delicious actually much to Zac's annoyance. He's partial to a bit of cake but he's due at the vets for his annual check up in the next week or so he's watching what he eats. Well no to be honest he'd eat cake for breakfast dinner and tea but we are watching what he eats. When we got him as a emaciated one year old who had lived off scraps from a pub we soon discovered how much he loved bread and cakes and five years later he's still the same.
I love to bake on my day off - it is so relaxing.

WN?

I'm just checking. Was it May that Jill from WN said that she'd be accepting new submissions from? I have a couple outstanding with her but I've given up on them - I fear that the rejections may have gone to my spam folder when I was having trouble with my email - but I have another one that I think might interest her.
Would appreciate the any help.

Not again!

One of the things on my list for this year is to "find a publisher for BTL even if its me" or words to that effect. Now as many of you will know BTL and I have enjoyed or is it endured a long relationship which has involved, amongst other things, more than one re-write. Well whatever is going to happen to it, it needs to be gone through one more time and I chose today to start that task. But the thought of reading through those first few chapters filled me with dread. I've read them a thousand times.
I started this task a couple of months ago but became a bit side tracked when the Paris trip came over the horizon. I had changed the MC's "voice" a little so I knew that I would have to go through it again just to get a feel for what I had changed but I wasn't looking forward to it.
I know that when I get past the first few chapters it'll be okay because they are the chapters that I know so well having almost polished them to death but once I get further into the book I think that it will be like reading a new book because while I remember how it ends I don't remember exactly how we got there.
I'm looking forward to that.

Unexpected find.

I decided to do a bit of de-cluttering while I was running the bath and tidy up a corner of the bedroom. There, amongst the birthday cards that I've bought in advance and want to keep and the junk that needed throwing away I came across an article that I wrote God knows when. It reads a bit like an advert if I'm honest but I think that I can probably do something with it after a bit of tweaking.
Result.

Reality calling

My other blog seems to be taking its time inspiring anyone to visit it on a regular basis but at least over here I know for the most part that I'm not talking to myself so here goes.
Arrgghh!
As I have said many times before I treat this blog as a conversation and when something has been said it can't be unsaid but please ignore that first sentence and the wallowing that it involved.
I have to go back to the real world tomorrow after a wonderful week celebrating my 50th birthday (don't know but I might have mentioned that before) and to be honest I'm not looking forward to it. I have enjoyed a week of complete wonderfulness and to be honest the mundane just isn't so appealing.
The worst part of my day job is wondering what I am going back to after a week off. Hopefully things will have gone according to the plan I left but that's not always the case.
One of the things on that list in the other place is to get the pink pen out more and I did come up with a title last night. Not quite sure what or where I could apply it yet but I'll give it some thought. I don't need to tell any of you how weird it is when something, an idea just pops into your head. I still find it weird though. Where do they come from?
The weather's not so nice today not that that stops Zac from wanting go for a walk so that'll be on the agenda for this morning. In fact here is a picture of the lovely Zac for no other reason than he is lovely.

 

That particular Frisbee is long gone but he does have a fine collection so maybe we'll take one on our walk. After that I have a family lunch to cook, I mean Sunday is Sunday after all and there has to be a roast. Maybe after that I'll fit in a bubble bath and probably manage to choke down a bottle of wine tonight. Not a bad way to spend the last day away from reality.

Actually by 10 o'clock tomorrow I know I'll be fine but its just the thought of it that makes me squirm.

Sorry for the moan and thanks for listening.

Officially 50

Okay so I am officially 50 and do you know what it feels great. You can read all about what I was bursting about if you click on the Fifty50 link at the top of this page which will take you to my other blog. I'll give you a clue though.

However now that I am back I feel focused and raring to go.

Almost at bursting point

I am bursting with excitement because Himself has come up with a wonderful way to celebrate that big birthday that I have tomorrow. I'm not going to mention it here because I don't want to hex it but needless to say more will follow here and in that other place that you can access should you wish to via the Fifty50 link at the top of the page. Incidentally I haven't provided that link yet so I hope I can do it. Okay I'm gabbling now and that is because of my excitement so I'm going to go before I burst and make a mess of the screen.
See you all in a few days.

Lists, boots and Spring on the way.

First things first, my Fifty50 list i.e. the 50 things that I want to do in when I'm 50 is ready and if you want to you can view it here.
And now onto things pink pen related. It occurred to me today that one of the first things that I ever tried to get published was a children's story. This was about 35 years ago and the editor said that it was a lovely story that was written well but that it lacked danger and children liked danger. It was a story about a plastic duck as I recall. I have always hankered after writing children's stories because I think its important that they read although to be honest the stuff that I write is aimed more at the being read to at bedtime market. Anyway nothing ever did come of that story but I'm sure if I look hard enough I'll still have a copy somewhere (reference the list about hoarding). Then I started thinking about a children's story that I wrote a couple of years ago which when I sent to editors was met with a similar response. Editors said that they liked the writing but didn't take it on. The trouble wasn't that this one lacked danger but that its length didn't fit into the right slot. I've been thinking a lot about that story and maybe I'll see if I can do anything with it. If they were ever to be published I would want to use the name Sarah Maye which was my paternal grandmother's name and I love it so it would be great to see it sitting on a book shelf.
Other than that I wore a pair of shoes to work for the first time since September which was a pleasure. Not that I've been going barefoot because I haven't, no that would be silly, it has been boot weather since then both because of the cold and the snow. Today however it looked like Spring might be on the way. Hoorah!!!

A lovely day.

I have had a truly lovely day and as its to do with my Fifty50 project you can read all about it here. I have to be honest, I'm not doing much writing at the moment but I will get down to some in a couple of weeks time.

Cats, pheasants and the return of the pen.

I was thinking earlier on (hence the headache) and trying to work out what has gone wrong so to speak. As I mentioned in a previous post I have had nothing published in the last 12 months and I wondered why. I've never been a prolific writer in terms of what I've had published but there's usually the odd thing to my name, so why not last year?
Well the simple truth is that I didn't write a lot which will explain it. But I think the problem for me has been that what I did write I wrote without the aid of the pink pen - I typed it straight onto my laptop. Maybe that has contributed to my downfall though actually I wasn't very far up the ladder so it hasn't been much of a descent. Before I always wrote in long hand with my pink pen and then used the typing process as an editing stage to change things along the way and it worked for me. I can't remember why I changed that habit but I shall try adopting it again. In fact, I already have. I got the pink pen and a pad out this morning and jotted down 100 words or so as I was having tea and toast for breakfast. Its the start of a Christmas story. Yes I know its only April (already?)but these things have to be submitted well in advance and to be fair it is so cold and even still a bit snowy here that it feels a bit like Christmas anyway.
On a different note I saw a dead cat when I went for milk this morning and it was horrible. It was in  the side of the road and I tried ringing the council who are apparently the people to ring in this situation but it being Easter Monday there was no one there. I thought if taking it to a vet but it was way beyond a vet's help and to be honest I don't think I could have scooped it all up. Poor kitty. And if that wasn't bad enough a few hundred yards further down the road a flamin' pheasant wandered into the road. Luckily (for both of us) it wasn't on my side of the road and I had seen it well in advance which gave me a chance to slow down and stop to wait for it tp make up its mind what it was going to do. The bloke behind me wasn't happy though - I thought his hand was stuck on the horn.
Oh well back to pen and paper. I guess I'm old fashioned but I make no apology for that.

Bring on the sun.

I don't know if its the weather, my age, the pressure of the day job or maybe a combination of them all but I feel so lethargic at the moment.
I want to write something new but my daily window of opportunity for writing comes at a time of the day when I am absolutely shattered and I can't think straight. I used to find time to write and it wasn't in the time slot I now have so I'm trying to remember who I did it.
Its not just writing though, everything seems a bit of a chore at the moment.
Maybe it'll be easier when it gets warm again - if it ever does. I am so sick of this weather.

Reality Blog Award

Thanks to Anne for nominating me for this award






The award is lovely as are the rules which are nice and short;

The rules are -  visit the person of the blog who nominated you and link to them on your post. Answer the questions, nominate more bloggers and let them know.

1. If you could change one thing, what would it be?
Men would have to keep their shirts on in the street during the summer - in fact all year round. I know I'd miss out on the odd (very odd) Adonis but at least I'd be spared the sight of rolls upon rolls of tattooed flab.

2. If you could repeat an age, what would it be
My early twenties so that I could relive the days when my sons were small.

3. What one thing really scares you?
Something dreadful happening to my sons.

 

4. If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be?
A first class passenger on the Titanic as long as it was a day between 10th and 13th April 1912. If it was the 14th we would hit the iceberg late at night and if it was the 15th we'd sink in the early hours so I wouldn't fancy either of those days thank you very much.

I'm supposed to nominate people for this award but I always struggle to choose just a few and besides, I know a few of you already have it so without wishing to cop out I nominate anyone who hasn't received it yet.

I give up

I don't mean to sound defeatist because that is not who I am or what I am about but it occurred to me yesterday that I need to give up on the last year.
I tend to work from April to April in writing terms - it's what I do in the day job and it just seems to naturally transfer itself to writing  - and to be honest with April fast approaching I realise that the year 2102/2013 has not been a raging success in fact, being perfectly honest I have had nothing (as in 0) published and I will be almost embarrassed to declare my extra earnings to the taxman. He'll take a look at my meagre royalty payments and feel sorry for me.
To be fair to me though I didn't submit much until about October.
I do still have a few things out there but they are with the editor that I nudged a few weeks ago so I have pretty much given up on those.
But I have had bad days/weeks/years in my day job though and the only way to deal with it is to put it behind you and concentrate on the next one which is what I'm going to do. I think I might have mentioned it before but next year I will have another project that I will be working on but I want to also find time for more writing. Maybe I could combine the two.

Surprise!!! Maybe.

I'm almost certain that my volunteers are planning a surprise for that big birthday that's fast approaching. I keep coming across them with their heads together and conversations stop when I come near, bless 'em - though I might not be saying that if there's a banner hanging over the monument when I  drive to work and 50 balloons hanging out the front of the shop.
There's not a lot, well nothing happening on the writing front at the moment though I do promise to knuckle down to some scribbling and editing soon. I haven't sent anything new out for ages and there's no news on what is already out there. I just can't seem to get into the way of it at the moment so its a good job that its not my job or we'd be starving.
I'm still trying to come up with the list of 50 things for that other blog but am currently stuck on number 32. Who would have thought that it would be so difficult? Maybe one of the things should be to tell my everyday friends that I enjoy writing - nah maybe not. I want it to be a list of things that I can do and I'm not sure I could do that one.
Anyway enough of this waffle. I just thought I'd drop by and let you know that I was still here
TTFN

Cosiness returns

I am happy to report that the very nice chappie from British Gas has been and cosiness has been returned to the bedroom. Turns out that a valve had decided to turn itself off for no apparent reason (which is a bit of a worry) but its back where it should be now. So no more random midnight posts as I avoid going to a cold bedroom. Is that a collective sigh of relief I hear?
On a different note I'm finding myself really looking forward to that "BIG" birthday year (the one I'll be blogging about here) in five and a bit weeks time. It feels like a new beginning, like the first 49 years were for learning and the rest are for living or something like that. To be honest I'm not sure that I've learned a whole lot in the first 49 years other than you should never take your happiness for granted because life has a way of kicking you in the teeth. That's just given me an idea for a blog post - what I've learned in the first 49 years.
I finished "Death Comes to Pemberley." today which I thoroughly enjoyed so now we have the major decision of what to read next to contend with.
You'll gather by all of this that news is very thin on the writing front. Still no word from the editor that I nudged a few weeks ago so I think that I can probably give up on those three stories and everything else I have is non fiction so I don't expect to hear about them just yet. I haven't written much recently apart from this and the other blog - too busy trying to come up with a list of 50 things to do next year. I had no idea it would be this hard.
I'm also feeling a bit of a revamp coming on with this blog but that's for another time. Right now there is cannelloni to make.

As promised.

As promised last night when extreme tiredness and a reluctance to go to a radiator less bedroom induced a random post here is the bit of me that I said I would share. This story if you can call it that was written when I was going through my "very" short fiction phase.
Hope you enjoy.

On the Bridge at Dawn

 By

 Colette McCormick

.

Marion stood on the stone bridge and looked over its edge at the deep waters below. How had it come to this? When did it get this bad? There were so many questions but so few answers.

Marion knew what she had to do. She had known for weeks but had lacked the courage until now. Was it courage or was it desperation? Did it really matter?

In her younger days Marion could have hopped on top of the wall at the bridge’s edge with one leap. But that was many years and several stones ago. Now she would need help.

She looked at the wooden box in her hand. She placed it on the floor with deliberation. She knew that it would take her weight. She had tested it last night.

Slowly she climbed on to it.

Damn, she was still too low. She had underestimated the height of the wall.

Her mind raced frantically, desperate to come up with a solution. She had come so far, too far to go back.

Marion hitched up her skirt exposing a knee that was encased in a heavy surgical dressing. Forcing it to bend was a struggle but Marion fought the pain. Physical pain meant nothing to Marion anymore.

She forced the knee on to the top of the wall and looked around for something to pull herself up with. There was nothing.

She put the palms of her hands on the wall and tried to push off from the leg that still stood on the box. Could she support her weight? She would have to.

But she could not.

Wrists weak from arthritis gave way under her bulk, her weight dropping back on to her standing leg. The box underneath that leg slipped under the unusual pressure.

Marion heard a crack as she fell but her knee remained where it was wedged on top of the wall. She felt a needle of pain shoot through her standing leg as it landed on the floor. That knee gave way beneath her.

As the leg crumpled she fell backwards and in the split second that it took for her to fall to the floor she noticed with extreme clarity the beauty of the dawn sky. And after the bang of the head on the cobbles came the darkness.

And after that?

Nothing.

Random waffle to avoid the inevitable

I see I have lost a follower which is very careless of me. Note to self - be more interesting.
I'm thinking of posting something I have written here for no other reason than I think I would like to share something with those of you that are left but I haven't decided what yet.
I could waffle on a bit more but I'm just putting off going to bed. The radiator in our room isn't working and it is frreeeezing. Himself put a little fan heater on in there for me before he went to bed but ... oh its just not the same.
Can't put it off any longer though I have to be up in just over 6 hours.