So proud of myself!

Just got back from having me smear test and it was the very first time since I started having them I didn't scream or cry!

It was painful because I was nervous but far from the most painful it's ever been!

The nurse had to use a longer but thinner speculum on me but after she found my cervix and scraped what she needed to get out of me it was all sorted for another 3 years.

So, so, SO very proud of myself!

Just bought meself...

...a digital watch from a new place.  It'll be here in 1-2 working days so when it arrives, I'll pull out the thing on this watch until the battery on the new watch dies, then I'll reset the time and wear my current watch until I get the digital watch battery replaced then take out the dial thing again and repeat!

Means I'll always have a watch to wear so I won't feel naked!

Up to chapter 39 with 5k words left to write now

Written 2 chapters and 2k words today so I'm up to chapter 39 now and I've got about 5k words left to write in the first novel of my Toni trilogy.

I'll write another 1k words tomorrow then the other 2k words a day on Wednesday and Thursday to take the whole MS up to 40k words.

Wish me luck!

The recyclers were good to me today!

I put out 2 kerbside recycling boxes and our waste food caddy.

Same as every week.

Usually they put the 2 boxes inside each other, put the lids behind them and the caddy on top of the black bin.

Last week they just threw the boxes, lids and caddy all over the pavement.

Today they put it all together like I do each week so that all I had to do was pick it up and take it through to the kitchen!

I could get used to their spoiling me like that!  lol

Back to walking the pup on me own today, because...

...Steve's knees are aching.

He's done more exercise in the last 3 days than he has done for a long time though, so I think I can forgive him.

Steve said it'll be back to him walking the pup again tomorrow, he just needs a day off is all.

That's the same as I did when I first started walking her though, so I totally understand where he's coming from and I don't want to pressure him, so I'll take the pup for her walk today while Steve rests up.

Steve's obese so any exercise will help and the last three days have been a great start, he's just got to keep on keeping on now!

I've decided on getting...

...a wet 'n' dry Vax steam mop from Amazon.

It's under £40 and it's an upright as well as a handheld thing, so I'm thinking it'll be great to do a fortnightly deep clean of all the floors then do a weekly vacuuming to pick up dust, dog hair, dropped food etc etc.

I've just asked Steve to get it for me for our anniversary!

Just over 32k words written in 35 chapters ain't so bad for a day's writing!

Just finished writing chapter 35 which is 12k written since the start of last week.  Not so bad even if I say so meself  ;-)

I'm the only one in the house that's...

... awake right now!

The pup is totally zonked.

Steve's snoring like a good 'un.

The TV is playing away with no-one watching it and I'm trying to write more of the first book of my Toni trilogy!  lol

We've been quite house-proud this week!

As well as our usual rubbish, we've cleared out the kitchen bin and my rubbish in the living room, I've cleared up Mitzi's poo and Steve cleared up his rubbish at the end of the sofa!

We are getting a lot more house-proud than we used to be and Steve's getting healthier from walking Mitzi too!

We is ace we is!

Just cleared up...

...1.5 bags of poo in the back yard.

She's only small put she produces a lot of wee and even more poo! lol

Leaving the back door open today 'cos it's a beautiful day out there so I want to make the most of it!

Just got back from walking the pup...

...and Steve did it all today!

One and a bit lengths of the street before he had to come home because his legs ached but last Thursday he didn't do any of it!

I've suggested that he slowly builds up the amount he walks the pup so starting tomorrow just do one length of the street every day then the week after a length and a half, then 2 lengths then 2 and a half lengths etc.

I reckon he's trying to push himself too far, too fast is all. 

Keep at it Steve, you're doing really well!

Didn't get to sleep until gone 1am this morning!

I went to bed at 11.15pm last night and was still wide awake at 1am so I could have used the time to write another chapter in my Toni trilogy in that time!  *sigh*

I woke up at just gone 7am so I've got an early start on writing today even though I only had 6 hours sleep!

Ho hum!

Totally edited and up to chapter 33 written today

I started editing chapters 27 to 30 but it was only just over half the length that a MG MS should be so I'm writing another 12 chapters to take it up to 40k words then I'll start on the editing of the second book in the trilogy by next weekend, spend the week after editing the second MS which meets the MG word count so it'll just be editing with the odd word added in or taken out.

When that's done, I'll edit the final MS and hope I don't cry as I say goodbye to Toni for the last time!

Tomorrow, we are going to try...

...the pair of us taking Mitzi out of the door, but Steve walking the pup 100% of the time with me supervising 'just in case' something happens tomorrow, to give him confidence.

He's said he's enjoying his walks with the pup, but his knees and thighs are really feeling it by the second time up and down.

Mine did too, but I just carried on walking and was fine after a few mornings, so hopefully it'll be the same for Steve too!

He's prolly being a paranoid Peter and just needs to slowly build up his confidence 'cos he's only done it for 2 days so far but if he does it every morning he'll slowly build up confidence until he doesn't need me out there then he can slowly build up the number of times he takes her up and down, like I did.

He'll get there in the end!  :-D

Even more proud of Steve this morning!

I took the pup for half of the length of the street but Steve did one and a half lengths with her!

Steve's awesome!

Mitzi is puffing and panting now but I'm so proud of both of them!  It won't be long before Steve's taking her out on his own every day and I just do the wet walks because of Steve's shoes letting in the wet!

So proud of us and our diets!

Just looked in the freezer and I'm rapidly running out of Quorn things - there's only 3 things left and we've had 18 take-aways since the start of the year... it used to be that we had 14 a week and barely even looked in the freezer!

Our tins and jars cupboard is starting to look empty too!

So proud of all three of us today!

Up to Chapter 27 now

Just finished editing for the day and I'm up to Chapter 27 left to edit now!  It might sound strange, but I'm really enjoying the editing and making each chapter better!  Especially on the shorter chapters... going from 325 words to 1002 was great today!

So proud of Steve!

Not only did Steve stand at the door, he took Mitzi's lead and walked her half of her walk too!

The pup isn't used to that so she was panting by the time she came home, but if we do that every day then it'll definitely help all three of us loose some weight!  I'm getting towards being a size 12 again now and the only exercise I've done is walking Mitzi!

If we slowly build up the distance we walk then we'll all have something to be proud of... WTG Steve!

Steve's got his trousers and shoes on now, so...

...hopefully that means he's willing to walk with me and Mitzi today and then take it in turns starting tomorrow!

It's helped me and the pup to loose weight slowly, and keep it off, so I've got no reason to think the same won't happen for Steve!

Wish us luck!  :-)

Steve's just suggested...

...about him joining me every morning when I walk the pup!

He's going to stand at the open front door and watch where we go tomorrow then start joining us on Saturday then maybe walk the pup every other day with me doing it the days he doesn't do it.

It helps all three of us to loose weight and get exercise every day too!

The three of us really can do this!

My new hair cut

I got my hair cut yesterday morning. 

It was down to my shoulder blades before it was cut.

It's now at the bottom of my neck and I haven't got a fringe any more - I'm growing it out.

Simple style that's easy to look after so I'm happy!

Yummy, scrummy, in my tummy!

Just had fried egg and hash browns for me tea... simple, yes, but yummy with it and sometimes the simplest meals taste better than Gordon Black meals, I reckon!

So hot!

Just taken the pup out for her walk then fed and watered her and I'm so very hot now!  :-(

Impressive stuff!

I contacted Quidco support a couple of days ago about downgrading my membership from Premium to Basic and within half an hour it was done for me!

It means that whatever I earn from now on is mine to keep instead of having to keep £5 back a year... awesome stuff.

The Premium is good value, I just use so little of the benefits of it that it seemed pointless to have it for me is all!

I've also decided on the chair I want instead of sitting on a pouffe every day - less than £100 too which is brilliant and it hasn't got arms so we'll still be able to get to the electric switches if we need to as well!

Coffee

I've just drunk a mug full of medium strength coffee and it's not that much stronger than the instant coffee Steve bought for me a few weeks back!

I could get used to drinking coffee!

Just got back from taking the pup for her walk

Mitzi was good on the middle parts of her walk, it was just the bits at either end that she was being a PITA for me!  Tsk!

Do NOT buy...

...Sainsbury's vegetarian soya mince.

It's so horrible that me and 'im binned our platefuls of it because it tasted horrible and fatty.

It's definitely a get what you pay for thing so it's "Quorn or nothing" now according to Steve just now!

The poor pup really doesn't like...

...men!

When Steve's dad comes over, she cowers in her bed while he's here.

When the electrician came she cowered in her bed while he was here.

She's just met our neighbour on her walk and seemed scared of him even though he's been nothing but friendly to her.

The only man she's not worried about is Steve because he's here all day, every day!

I'm wondering if a man hurt her before she was taken to the Dogs Trust before we re-homed her?

Quidco decision

I'm with Quidco and I love getting cash back for the things I would have bought anyway but it's a fiver a year on Premium for things I don't use, so I've decided that when it comes to the end of October, I'll downgrade to the free version again so that all the money I earn is mine to do what I like with instead of  having to save up a fiver to go to Quidco every year.  I won't be paid as quickly for the things I buy but that's just a very minor point and makes no difference to me!  :-)

When I've paid off all 3 credit cards...

...I'm going to pay for a year's subscription to Pick Me Up, Chat, Chat It's Fate and Take A Break to come through the door weekly so that I've always got something to read at night if I can't sleep!  I'll also do the puzzles if I'm really not tired, but I'm getting the subscription for the articles mainly!

Experimental vlog

This vlog isn't that interesting, just me yabbering on for a minute to see what happens when I upload it is all!

Taking forever to process it!  lol

Just another thing while I think of it, before I forget it again... when we had the electrician out yesterday to fix the kitchen and hall lights, he said we should get LED lights because they last for a yearish.  I found some on the Sainsbury's site last night but they only have 5 or 10 watts instead of the 40 or 60 watts that we're used to... does anyone use them?  If you do, can you leave some feedback about them in the comments bit of this post please?

Thank you!

Instant coffee stain on me t-shirt vlog

If you write or illustrate children's books...

... I definitely recommend SCBWI!

Apparently the only word count limit for MG fiction is what happens in the story and it doesn't seem to matter whether it's 20k words or 70k so all three of my Toni MS's are within that so I can stop worrying about it now!  lol

We now have lights in the hall and kitchen again!

The electrician has just left and fixed the kitchen and hall lights - it was less than half an hour's job for £35 but it's so worth it to be able to see again!

Going to have a week off then start...

...editing my Toni trilogy next Wednesday.

I've edited all the MSs other than those three since Monday so I'm going to have a few days off from editing and edit Toni's MSs in the last part of next week ready for finding a better opening for all the MSs that aren't PBs the week after.

Wish me luck!

My little nephew is now...

...walking alone! 

He's only 13 months old!

WTG little man!

It's at times like this that I'm grateful for my brain damage, 'cos...

...it means that I can edit MSs without remembering the story from the day before!

Yay!

Taken me pills so I'm...

...going to shut down me laptop and head to bed for an early night for a change.

Nite nite orl!

Hair cutting a week tomorrow now

The hair cutting lady, J, can't make it tomorrow after all, so we're having our hair cut next Wednesday instead!

*sigh*

Too many toys! lol

The pup has just tried to decide between her squeaky chicken, her Kong and her donkey, bless her!  lol

Hair cutting on Wednesday, not tomorrow

Steve phoned his mum this morning just to check that we were having our hair cut tomorrow and it's a good job he did, 'cos it's Wednesday we're having our hair cut, not tomorrow!

Mean's I have an extra day to do the editing in!

Friday night must have been serious, because...

...we've just had a police officer at the door asking Steve about what he heard!

!!!

It's not even 1pm yet but I've just had a shower, washed my hair, got dried and dressed!

It's not even lunchtime yet, but...

I've just put a header and footer on every MS other than PBs!

Just taken the recycling out and having my breakfast too!

I've achieved more in 3 hours after taking the multivitamin and B12 than I usually do in an entire day!

Definitely something to keep doing if this is anything to go by!

I've just changed the font, size and line spacing on...

...all the manuscripts from early readers up, too!

It's amazing what a multivitamin and B12 do for me!

Productive morning, so far!

Woke up
Took my vitamins
Brushed my teeth
Took Mitzi for her walk
Fed and watered Mitzi
Logged onto the laptop
Read Facebook
Put this years NaNo novel into yWriter instead of Toni
Checked Email
Wrote this!

It's not even 9.45am yet!  lol

In preparation for after the editing, I've just...

...made a list of agents who look after authors who write what I write.  Just got to remember to double space each MS and change the font to Times New Roman size 12 now... you watch me forget!  lol

More excitement since bringing the pup back from her walk!

Just taken Mitzi for her walk and within minutes of me sitting on the pouffe thing, Steve said that there were more police in the street!

Whoever they the police are after, they are putting a lot of hours into the investigation!

Apparently...

...there was something going on in the street in the early hours with the police knocking down a door and I slept right through it!  lol

OK, I've decided what to do!

I've worked out what to do with the extra £75 a month after March.

I'll put it into my secondary bank account to save up for whenever I need it and for gifts and stuff I need to buy during the year and in case I need it or whatever.

Basically, between now and March I'll be saving up £400 a month to pay off BC.

That'll free up the £75 every month that I'll put into my secondary account.

By the start of 2018 I'll have paid off all 3 credit cards and have £550 every month.

I'll move £500 into my secondary account every month which will still leave me £50 to play with a month and £6,000 a year in my secondary account as a back up in case I need it at any point in future!

Basically I'll be totally debt free in less than half the time I was thinking!

Yaaaay!

That's a point!

After I've paid off BC, I'll have an extra £75 a month to divide between BC and CO while still saving up the £400 a month too so I'll hopefully be able to pay them off even sooner than I was thinking!

March 2017

I'll be able to totally pay off BC at the end of March 2017, I'll use my April pay days for the webhosting, the May pay days for my PPC and then keep putting £400 aside to pay for CO and SB so that I'll hopefully be debt free at the start of 2018!  Yay!

Great idea by a PCC!

We've just been watching on the news that police have now started wearing video camera's as part of their uniform.  What an awesome idea!  I hope they record audio as well as video and can be used in court as evidence!

The Avon and Somerset PCC (Police and Crime Commissioner) has started rolling it out and I want it seen throughout the country so that the police have extra evidence if they need it, and it's on camera if a complaint is made about the cop or whatever!

WTG to the person who came up with the idea!

Backing up my documents and having grapes for tea

After finishing the first draft of my Toni trilogy yesterday, I'm backing up my documents in case something goes wrong with me laptop.

I've also got a huge punnet of grapes that need to be eaten today, so I'm having those for me tea  lol

I know it sounds strange, but...

...I'm already missing Toni!

That's the Toni trilogy finished now, so...

...I'm taking the rest of the week and all weekend off and starting the editing on Monday morning.

I'm not going to submit to agents until each manuscript has been through two full edits and a crit group at least once, but I'm having a well-deserved break now and for the next few days so that I can get out of Toni's head for the final time until the edits.

Gonna treat myself to a small punnet of sweet blackberries in celebration now!

Last night, I accidentally...

...ripped off an entire toenail!

Oops!

Written 4 chapters today, so...

...I've got 3 chapters left to write tomorrow which means I'll be finished with the first draft by early afternoon, but I've got nothing planned after that!

Don't know what I'm going to do after tomorrow!

I've got 5 chapters left to write which means I'll put the final full stop in the first draft of my first trilogy tomorrow evening and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself after that!

It'll be weird to have finished my Toni trilogy and still have half a week to go before I have anything else planned.

I don't want to start editing the 15 manuscripts on Thursday morning because I'll prolly still be thinking about the trilogy but having nothing else to write will be weird, so I'll be in a sort of void for a few days before I start the editing on Monday, but I can't realistically do it any sooner because my head will still be in the Toni trilogy!

It's a great start to my writing year though!  :-D

3 chapters written today after a late start

Wrote chapters 81-83 today, so if I write another 3 tomorrow and 4 on Wednesday I'll have finished my Toni trilogy!

Then I'll have a few days off before starting to edit all the manuscripts.

The end is in sight!  lol

5 chapters written today, only 10 to go!

Just finished writing chapter 80 so only got 10 more to write.

If I wake up at 6am tomorrow and Tuesday and I get another 5 chapters written each day, I'll be putting the final full stop in the trilogy by Tuesday evening.  If I write 2 chapters a day it'll be done on Friday so I'm going to aim for 3 chapters a day which will mean that I'm finished on Thursday morning and I'll have a long, hot, relaxing bubble bath as a treat, then use the long weekend to get out of Toni's head and start editing next Tuesday until August, then get the emails sent out to agents and hope that I'm taken on ready for November when I'll write my NaNo novel!

Wish me luck!

If I keep going like this...

... I'll write the final word in the first draft in the last of my Toni trilogy by the middle of this coming week!

I'm about to write chapter 80 and there are only 90 chapters in the final novel of the trilogy so I've only got 11 chapters (including chapter 80 because I haven't written it yet) then that's the trilogy sorted!

It's only just lunchtime, but...

It's only 12.10pm right now, but I've already written 3 chapters!  Well on my way to writing at least 5 today!

Wish me luck!

Early start to the morning, because...

Steve slipped off the sofa again!

He yelled upstairs to me, I came down, got his shoes, he put them on and hoiked himself back onto the sofa.

I keep saying to him to sit further back but he never listens to me!  lol

Four chapters written today!

Had a really sucessful writing day today... four full chapters written in about 7 hours!

I've started chapter 75 but it's just started thundering so I'm going to leave it be until tomorrow now... just chapters 75 to 90 left to write and the Toni trilogy is finished!

I'll be lost without her when I put that final full stop in!  lol

Less than a minute

Just got back from taking the pup for her walk and if I'd taken her out literally a minute later, she would have pooed on her walk and I would have been harassed by the idiot at the end of the road again.  Steve would have phoned the police and it would all have started again  :-(

15 MSs to edit after Toni

I'm hoping to finish my Toni trilogy by mid-May then I'll get on to editing the 15 manuscripts then I'll write an early reader and take it from there!  Wish me luck!

Another chapter written

Just finished chapter 70 so I've got 20 chapters to go then it's finished!

When it's finished, I'm going to give myself a couple of weeks off, then start editing... wish me luck!

Wrote another 2 chapters yesterday

I'm up to chapter 70 of 90 now, so I'm well on my way to finishing the novel by the end of May!

Yay!

The pup was determined not to move on her walk this morning!

She was fine when we were moving, but when we stopped to turn around she stayed stopped and refused to move!

Not sure if she was sulking or got the scent of something or whatever because she was fine when we were moving and as soon as we got home she was her normal self and she's fine now, but I just want to know she's OK!

This is Mitzi

This is our pup!  She's going to be 7 years old at the end of June... love you Mitzi!

That's everything done and dusted for the day

Steve's just had a call to say the shopping will be here at about 5.45pm so when that's been and gone I can take me pills and head to bed ready for a full writing day tomorrow and the rest of the week!  Yay!

That's two thirds of the Freegle stuff gone...

...just waiting for someone to come and pick up the dog bowl then I really can get back to writing tomorrow!  Yay!

Can anyone describe, please...?

While I was in the bath just now I noticed that it doesn't feel natural for me to smile any more.

That got me to thinking back before I started on my AD and AP... I had a sad expression on my face then so while it's improved, I've still got a way to go.

I can't remember how it feels to not be mentally ill any more either, so could someone describe it for me please?  What does it feel like to be happy and confident and not needing constant support?

Didn't need to be up so early after all!

Steve's carer, Jess, usually comes at about 11am but had to go home because she wasn't feeling well.

The replacement carer isn't coming until 1pm so I could have still been in bed right now!

Poor Jess  :-(

Freegle *sigh*

The lady who was supposed to be coming today is now coming tomorrow instead.

I put Mitzi's bowl on Freegle this afternoon too and the recipient is coming tomorrow after 5pm too.

That'll be 5 days since I last wrote anything!  :-(

Link to the boots I'm now wearing

These are my new boots

That's the boots delivered, so...

...I'm just waiting for the Freegle lady now then I can get on with my writing!

Just taken the pup for her walk

Just taken the pup for her walk and she was a right PITA... I hope that's not an indication for the rest of the day!

That's the busy long weekend out of the way, so...

...I can carry on writing tomorrow now!

Just bought meself a pair of boots on Amazon that'll be here tomorrow and the shopping is being delivered in the evening but other than that, I've got a clear run of writing!  Yay!

Just finished writing another chapter, so...

...I'm going to have an early night in preparation for tomorrow!

Nite nite orl!

My next vlog entry

Just got back from lunch with...

...Chris and Hannah.

Thank you both for your friendship!

Going to write at least another chapter today and if I write at least 2 a day I'll treat myself to a bath each time!