Tag Archives: life

Can You Help Save A Life? #amwriting #charity

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Over the weekend I did a writing promideapt ” The Internet is Full of Rants”,  in this post I mentioned a charitable cause that’s close to my heart here in the UK, it’s called Shelter. 

Today, my publisher informed it’s authors about a cause they are supporting called StandUp2Cancer,  I’ve heard of this we also have the campaign here in the UK. We were asked if we’d like to help raise money for the cause, by writing a short story to include in a book.  All proceeds from the sales will go to cancer research. I’m taking part and will submit a short story to help raise money. The stories will be published February 2017.

I’d like to reach out to you all and let you know that if you find this cause close to your heart, or you’re just feeling in a good mood you too can help save a life by donating directly to StandUp2Cancer. Details are on the link below.No matter how small the donation, I’m sure it will help someone or something.

Once the book is available to buy (not until February) I’ll let you all know, if you can’t help out now maybe in February you’ll fancy reading a number of wonderful short shorties from myself and some other great authors, and if so, you can purchase the book and help out that way.

 Here you can find out more for now on this cause www.standup2cancer.org

 

 

 

Writing Prompt:The Internet Is Full Of Rants #amwriting #amreading

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ideaIt’s Sunday morning, a nice bright one here in London. I’ll be spending the morning in rather than at the pool with my little boy, our usual Sunday routine is broken as the poor thing has a terrible snotty nose and head cold. But he’s not miserable thank God.

 I just tidied up my kitchen table- come writing desk area where I dump all my books, paperwork, note pads and the like and came across another writing prompt book that I have. It has a prompt for every day of the year!  The prompt under today’s date is very fitting for a Sunday, considering that many feel that Sunday is a day of rest, to give thanks and a holy day. I’m not a religious person, more spiritual then a religion follower- but I do feel that Sunday is a rest and recharge/family day so I’ll use  today’s  prompt and give thanks today. What are you thankful for?

 Writing Prompt: The Internet is full of rants: Help tip the balance today,simply be thankful for something or someone.

I wrote a list of things I’m thankful for and here’s why.

Health: I’m so thankful for my overall good health as without it so many things for me would be impossible, working to provide for my family, looking after not just myself but my family and of course the ability to write and complete novels. I don’t just mean physical overall health I’m  thankful for my mental well being too. Often, we forget about this  to be unwell does not just mean a physical pain, a person can be unhealthy or unwell and you would not know it to look at them, that’s because it can be hidden – in their mental well being.

Last week I read a blog post about a lady who has a husband that’s currently seriously unwell physically, it made me stop and think about how precious life is, and how being health is something to be thankful for, even if you’re broke!

My car: Not in a materialistic sense at all, more practical sense. I laugh as I write this as I can visualise my battered old banger of a car downstairs. But you know what, she’s mine and she has done me so well over the years. And in the winter months she always starts no problems. With a toddler I can’t imagine life without my beloved little car. From food shopping, to day to day nursery school drops and pick ups then I dash off to work, if I never had a car life would be a lot more harder in terms of mobility. Public transport on the whole in London is excellent, but expensive and  when you need to go you need to go! And it’s not always the quickest form of transport when you have a busy day of errands to run  and a two year old that would take about a week to walk to the end of the road LOL.

Home: I mean this is the sense that many many people are homeless in London, well all over the world to be honest not just my home town. That said, the cost of living is so extreme over here I don’t know if there is anywhere that actually compares to it? During the recession we had in 2007, many people lost their jobs and as a result their homes. I can’t not imagine (especially with a child) being homeless or having no where to lay my head at night that is safe , warm and dry. My home truly is a safe heaven for my family and I . I’m thankful for it, I think I’ve just taken it for granted. But when I thought about it as I ran through my list of things to be thankful for if you have a home you’re blessed and lucky, no matter how big or small as many people don’t even have a cardboard box.

I have in the past at Christmas donated to the charity Shelter to help feed those who are homeless at Christmas. I donated the cost of what it would be to feed and offer a bed for a night for one person. I felt good about doing this, one year I’d like to maybe help out serving food for those who visit the shelter during the festive season. Home is precious don’t take it for granted. Just keep it tidy. 🙂

Son: My life changed the day I have birth to that little munchin! For the better and I would not change a thing. There’s not much for me to say here apart from children are a blessing, motherhood is a joy.

Ability to read and education: This is another thing that I think many take for granted, the ability to read and write. I thought about the little girls who were snatched away in Nigeria as they were learning to read/being educated. From what I remember when this was all over the news, this is not something that’s approved of in their community for whatever reason for females to be educated. It’s sad, not just because they are little girls or females it’s sad that anyone is denied the chance to learn, read and write. I tried to imagine life without being able to read. I had a hard time ! Life would be so difficult without this ability. Or the right to freely learn. In the UK education is free up until the age of 19, as a qualified teacher year after year I see so many youngsters waste this great opportunity and mess about in class. I tell them in a no nonsense way in many countries education is restricted and not free, finance depends on how far you go within education.  I don’t personally believe the two should be linked, I guess I’m thankful for our system in the UK when it comes to education.

Mum: she’s just the best! Truly she is. I can’t say much more. Thanks mama.

The internet: What the hell were we all doing before the internet came around? I can’t even imagine life now without it. I’m old enough to remember when it first came in, my mum ( like everyone else) had the dial up internet and an old style desktop PC. But I’m thankful for the internet as without it, my weekly shop might be a struggle if I don’t have time to get to the supermarket,  I’d not be able to connect with all you wonderful people, I’d not have met my wonderful snail mail pals who are miles away from me in different time zones, my career as a writer would not have kicked off with a publisher that’s in another country. Research for writing would mean a lot more leg work. So many things would be different without this wonderful creation. It has it’s usefulness, even if sometimes you do read a lot of crap on it. Let’s use it today to be thankful with our internet usage and ”tip the balance” as this writing prompt prompts us to. What are you thankful for? Let me know I’d love to hear your list let’s not rant today, let’s give thanks today.

Happy Sunday, have a restful, peaceful and family centred day.

Thankful

Word Prompt Response: Companion A Romance Writer’s Honest View!

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Companion

Ah what a word for today’s writing prompt nice one WordPress! As a romance writer, this word is a word I think about a lot when creating some kind of story based on romance, that’s  wrapped up with a bit of suspense/mystery. When writing it’s fun and sometimes easy to get lost in your own world conjuring up a handsome, physically eye popping  hero/ companion for my female heroine character, and vise versa. Also  to highlight their personality, whether that be a  powerful business man/women  or bad boy/girl, which allure the heroine and hero  resulting in some kind of happy ever after.

In real life it’s not always  as nice as  pie,  and that simple though is it? What we read in romance novels  around companionship  in real life is never that straight forward. Hence why I do, also try to keep an element of realism to my stories; relationships can be extremely testing in real life so I try to reflect that.

The other day, I read a blog post asking what makes 2 people compatible, I did respond and my response relates to this word prompt. In my view companionship is beautiful when you find it, forget the physical attraction (this is me speaking as a normal women not a romance writer!) as attraction is not what makes 2 people compatible/great companions or even should be what a companionship is based on that shit fades! Like I’m really going to look the same in 30-40 year’s time….. even with botox

  I feel, (personally speaking again) that in REAL LIFE  if 2 people have the same vision and direction this  is what makes a great companion. Or even if you don’t, the ability to support your partner with their vision, and meet in kind of some middle ground this makes a great companionship. If not there will always be push and pull in different directions, that ultimately add strain; and sadly can end a companionship.

A similar  outlook on life and how you go through it as an individual also is what makes a great companion I’ve learned this, for example are you a list maker, go geter, climb the top of a mountain, set goals kinda person in life? Is this how you  keep yourself motivated and achieve? If so then a sit back and let life happen to you, laid back to the point of little care about your future kind of personality is NOT going to make a great companion; you have 2  different outlooks on how you wish to live life. I call this personality type A and personality type B.

Now when you think about things like this, when seeking companionship in real life how often do we FIRST look at a person’s outlook on life, how they live it and their future goals  when it comes to selecting a partner or companion ? We focus on the physical, the sex, the dates, the money, whatever! Anything BUT does this person have the same outlook on life as me? And how they wish to live it? I’m not talking about oh, yeah we get on really well so therefore we have a similar out look on life, this is different; this is just ability to chill with someone or have fun not spend the rest of your life with them necessarily.  Really looking for the right personality type in a companion is deeper- and if we all did this we may not make the same mistake twice, and might be more likely to end up with our true compatible companion. Rather than someone we get on with and can have fun or chill with.Now this is me, the human, the women not the romance fiction writer who creates a whirlwind of romance and companionship based on  things outside of what I would look for, or try to look for in real life when I think of the word companion.

When I think of the word companion, and compatibility like this in a deeper way, it shows me that things like age, race, looks are really in some ways irrelevant if you focus on compatibility  and outlook  as a judgement on what or whom would make a great companion. Makes me wonder if these things or preferences maybe even barriers that one may put up,  by just seeking out a certain age, race, look etc  are just things which over complicate love! Put us off track, as our focus is shifted and we seek maybe not what is key, important and essential to finding and keeping the right companion (with he right outlook and personality first and foremost) so you have a higher chance of growing together,  the months turn to years, they turn to decades of companionship. ……. hummm just a thought, as a women, human being taking off my romance writer hat.

 

 

 

Word Prompt Response: Dream

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Dream                                               

From writer to author that’s the dream for many right?… Right, for me now it is, believe it or not I actually didn’t  imagine myself as a published author, I just wrote stuff as I love it it’s how I express myself just like painting my nails every week  or putting on some make-up in the morning. Me a published author? Nah! Not until a publishing deal was put in front of me did I ever dare to dream that big. Even  when I answered a publisher’s call and it happened  I still  found it then and now  hard to imagine that this dream, so many writers have is about to come true. 

Secretly, I guess I imagined my love for creative writing would come to something even if all it meant was just moving out of my current day job as a teacher, to being paid to write content for a magazine or website on subjects I enjoy and mean a lot to me; whether that be human civil rights, women’s and racial  issues, make-up and fashion etc.

 So anyway, now that I have completed my first novel and working hard towards my submission deadline on editing it, before I submit for the 31st July. You can read all about the challenge I’ve set for myself here  , I’m now (I think) living the dream of an average Jo (or Joanne) making the exciting but challenging journey….. fulfilling a dream  from writer to author.

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes,  with regard to me writing  I have a small one now  I’m  on this journey… I hope and dream that my book does well! Like every soon to be published author. In my mind I have no idea how I quantify ” does well”,  all I know is that I hope that my romance suspense story touches a few hearts and starts a fire in each reader’s heart for the  romance/suspense genre, makes a few people laugh, sit on the edge of their seat turning pages unable to say  that’s it I’m off to bed, work, the gym, to make dinner as they are engrossed in the story line. I hope that  my book is loved by readers internationally and they connect with it as it is set in 3 different locations which may be 100% foreign to them  (France, London and the English coast). Most of all I hope and dream that this is one of many books I get to author, and further opportunities to write come my way.

I’ve got the writing bug even more than I had it  before, my creativity is probably the sharpest it’s been these last few months ! I hope the Universe brings my  hopes and dream to life. Not just for me but so I can leave a legacy for my baby boy to be proud of. I hope and dream that he can start school in a few years and say ” yeah my mama she’s a bad ass writer” when asked what his mama does 🙂 ” … OK may be not quite like that as a toddler but you know what I mean, as he grows up he can be proud of the legacy that I hope and dream to leave for him to discover.

Happy dreaming readers! I hope your hopes and dreams come true also, whatever they are.

xoxo

 

 

 

Reflection #1

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It’s after midnight and I don’t even know why I’m still up, I have a 5am wake up! As I do Monday- Friday to get myself ready for the ”day job”, that would be teaching and my bundle of joy baby boy ready for nursery. 

As I stood by my kitchen window just now, having a very cheeky cigarette ( yes I am trying to quit I don’t even know why I started again after giving birth), I started reflecting really deeply which I normally do but this time it just felt different. All kinds of things were going through my mind and I felt, pumped with ”good vibes” as my mum would call it, I felt and still do feel so grateful for everything I have right now that is non materialistic or worth money. So instead of taking a shower removing my make-up and getting into bed I pulled out the lap top, boiled the kettle and started to write- or ramble  you decide about gratefulness, I promised I would blog about my journey to my book release and just general life so don’t say I don’t keep my promises.

I don’t know about you reader but I seriously believe in the Law of Attraction, The Secret, a higher being or Universe that protects and guides us, I’m not a religious person or follow faith. (But I highly respect it and like to learn about it, why I am not religious or follow a faith is a whole new blog ramble). Where was I? Yes, so I believe in all that positive good stuff if you put out to ” The Universe” what it is you seek, you shall find or it will come knocking at your door. Don’t get me wrong, hard work and hustle for it is involved also; it does not just land on your lap…. but if you show the Universe what you want, tell it and hustle for it you’ll get it. But you also have to be grateful too.

That said, I’m putting out there to the Universe literally as in the whole of Twitter LOL and the actual Universe that I believe protects and guides us all, if we believe in it, that I’m grateful;so that I can continue to be grateful, learn, have life experiences and do things I have sat back and thought, yeah that might be cool to do and then later made baby steps to achieve it- even when it seems impossible at the time, for whatever reason, money, time, motherhood whatever. That said, I have learned that motherhood does not stop you from achieving anything, it may stop you from going out drinking as often as you used to, but it does not stop you from working towards anything.

 Please, don’t sit there and think gosh she is just on cloud 9 because she’s  about to be a published author- no I’m on cloud 9 because I have good health, a beautiful baby boy who is developing into such a wonderful human being, I’m  LOVING motherhood with all my heart and each day that love just grows; it really has made me I think as a person and women. Hard work but such fun… have you ever done the chicken dance with a 2 year old? It really is  a laugh.  I’m grateful for all opportunities put in front of me so far which allow me to provide for him, I mean  ”day job” opportunities. I’m grateful for each day and the thought of what it may hold, I am grateful for a handful of girlfriends who have just been a god send at times when I have needed them they know who they are, and my girlfriends abroad in  the UK Conwell, America, Canada, France, Germany, Austria and Australia  (my pen pals) y’all my girlfriends too no matter what ocean and time zone separates us I love catching up with you via letter, I’m grateful for all the challenges life has presented me over say the last 6 years, as those challenges have given me heart, hustle and a strong work ethic. So Universe at times thanks for being a b*tch to me I learned a lot LOL…. and the big one I am super grateful for the publisher who took a chance on my 3 chapters submitted in the USA, and sent me a contract for my work to be published later this year. Oh! I am just super grateful as this one I put out to the Universe literally on my visualisation/goals board just before Christmas and did not expect to achieve this any time soon, especially not on my first ever submission. Mind blowing!

So that’s my reflection for today reflection, #1 gratefulness, practice it yourself if you don’t already just reflect for a few moments what have you got non materialistic that you are happy for? Tweet me it, comment below let me and the Universe know.

Catch you all soon

Kim