If I got meself arrested...

Apparently...

We've just had a couple of men from the council wanting to put a 1 hour waiting sign up against our house.

That's all well and good, but there are 13 houses in the street and it's frequently used by hospital staff and shoppers as somewhere free to park so the council just want to get more money from people who park in the street for longer than the hour.

What are the house owners in the street supposed to do though?  It's bad enough that it's usually difficult enough to find a space in the street, so by reducing how long we can park outside our own house for, just so that the council can get more money is just stupid!

That was a disaster then!

I've just tried to change the lightbulb in the living room.

Got 2 steps up and gave up because of how unsteady and shaky I was getting!

Steve said he's going to ask his carer to do it on Saturday, like he was going to ask Marie to do it on Monday.

At least I tried but we both know now that I can't do it!

Rawhide - please, please, PLEASE keep it away from your dog

I know you've prolly all seen the information about rawhide getting stuck in your dogs throats and killing them.

I also know that you prolly thought, like me until half an hour ago, that it'll never happen to your dog.

Thing is though, it really can!

Mitzi got a bit of one of her rawhide bone stuck in her throat this morning, and if I hadn't been a couple of metres away from her and hooked the rawhide out with my finger, she would have been another statistic!

There is no way I'd have been able to cope with that!

Please learn from my experience and bin all your rawhide chews then replace them with raw carrots 'cos it's the doggy equivalent of giving a toddler a mouthful of chewing gum!

Happy anniversary, Steve!

Love you so so much!

At last!

An email that has been sitting in my outbox for almost 24 hours has finally gone!  Means I can relax tomorrow now and maybe email Melanie to see if she writes for children, if she's got a MG or YA MS ready to be published by Blanket Press that she might want to query.

Wanna find more queryable agents too!

That's the laptop gone... just waiting for the publisher email to go now!

The laptop has just gone but I'm still waiting for the flippin' email to the publisher to go now!

Just heard back from one of the agents

Just got a reply to the query I sent to four agents yesterday morning.  They will let me know if I'm right for them in 8-12 weeks.  That's the first reply I've had and its only just over 24 hours ago that I sent the query email!

Something from Facebook

Still waiting for the publisher email to send!

My laptop seems to be on a go-slow 'cos last night's email to the publisher to send!  *sigh*

Just waiting for my Secrets query to send

Just queried Blanket Press in the hope that they request at least the first 3 chapters, if not the whole manuscript!

Wish me luck!

Just changed my laptop password...

hope I can remember it next time the lock screen comes up!

Just submitted to the first 4 agents on my spreadsheet

Already heard back from 3 of them... the first and second ones are out of the office atm and the third is going to have a read of my MSs and get back to me in the next 8 weeks or so.

Just got to look for more agents to query now, just in case!

Just opened up, for the very first time...

a laptop!

I didn't need it any more so it didn't matter if I screwed up with something and I've just put it on Freegle so hopefully someone will continue to get use out of it when they've fixed it!

Just set meself up with a Twitter account

I'm @Amanda_George77 if anyone wants to follow me!

That's everything done ready for tomorrow now :-)

Just written out the two synopsis' for the ERs, taken the synopsis off the PBs and I'm all ready for my first round of querying tomorrow now!  Yay!

So tired!

Took the pup out for her walk and I'm totally wiped out now!

Gotta write the synopsis for both my Early Readers today!

Just moved £400 from...

Just moved £400 from my savings account and put it into my current account to cover bills and stuff at the start of July to make sure I don't go overdrawn. 

I was going to use it to pay off my credit cards, but I'll use it for the shopping until Steve gets a job!

Ho hum!

That's all the synopseeeeees written,

just need to work on two more for my two early readers then I'm done!

The UK has voted to...

...leave the EU!  Only by 4% though!

Happy birthday Mum!

Happy birthday Mum!  I hope you have a great day today and enjoy your gift!

That was erm...

...interesting!

I was fast asleep at 3.45am until I heard a bump and bang.

Then Steve called up to me.

He'd come acroper on the kitchen floor and couldn't get up!

Yours truly had to call the NHS 111 service to come and get him up.

That's two days this week I've had less than 5 hours sleep!

That's the synopsis written

Just written a one page synopsis for my novella... just waiting to find out if I can use this website to re-write my other MSs synopsis now!

That's the sci-fi novella finished!

Just put the final sentence into the novella so it's finished now and I can have a break from writing until the weekend then I'll start querying agents on Monday!

525 MSs by the end of the open submission!

Just heard that there were 525 MSs submitted by the end of the open submission deadline... that's a lot of pages to read!

I hope I'm taken on!

Gonna finish RR4RRYYA today then have a break until the weekend so that I can get out of Bobby's head, then start querying agents on Monday while I'm waiting to hear back from Pushkin!

Wish me luck!

Pushkin had almost 400 MSs by yesterday evening!

I've just read on SCBWI that Pushkin had almost 400 manuscripts to read through by yesterday evening so I reckon they must have had around 500 by the time they closed the open submission window so it'll be months before they finish reading through all those!

I'm going to work on finishing the sci-fi novella then start querying agents to see if anyone wants to take me on.

Wish me luck!

The virus scan has just finished, and...

...it found and removed 3 viruses for me.

Can someone remind me to do a virus scan every month please?  It takes 24 hours to scan my whole laptop and it will hopefully mean that I'm not spammed or spamming from any of my domain names any more!

Sorted in less than 5 minutes!

I've just heard back from Namehog (my hosts) less than 5 minutes after I created the support ticket and they've added an SPF to the domain now which will hopefully stop spammers using my domain from now on.

I love Namehog!

Just had another spam message on my domain, so...

I've emailed my webhosts and asked them to clear the cache on the server.

This spam message came from their server and last time that happened it was sorted within seconds of them clearing the cache!

Litha

I hope any Pagan readers out there have a peaceful and blessed Litha today!

The last 24 hours

In the last 24 hours I've achieved so much!

Waking up (always a good start!  lol)
Walking the pup
Feeding her
Checked my emails, newsgroups and forums
Wrote 7 chapters (7k words) in my Novella
Sent off the first 20 pages to Pushkin
Slept for 4 hours
Had a bath
Got dressed

Just about to take the pup for her walk, let Steve's carer in, then I'll write another chapter in the Novella, meet up with C, finish off Novella, help M with the shopping and go to bed... busy day today!

OK, so this is what I'm going to do today

I'm going to hopefully write 4k words in my newest MS
Then have a celebratory J2O
Then go to sleep for a few hours in preparation for just gone midnight
Then have something to eat
Then have a bath
Then send off Disability Roolz
Then go to bed at last!

Won't work like that though... I can almost guarantee it!  lol

Tomorrow is going to be a looong day!

I'll wake up at about 8.30am
Take the pup for her walk
Feed the pup
Work on my newest MS
Have a long relaxing bath
Do a final check of Disability Roolz and the synopsis
At 12.01am I'll send off the synopsis and first 20 pages of the DR MS
Then I can finally go to bed!

2k written today...

I've just put my 2,000th word in my first ever sci-fi novel and I'm hoping to at least double it tomorrow (to make at least 6k words) because I'm not meeting up with C or H and now that I've got it started, hopefully the other words will just flow now... it's always starting it that's the hardest bit for me and there's only 11k words in it so hopefully it'll be finished by the middle of the week!

I'll be paid on Monday, which means...

...I can move another £100 into each of my savings accounts and still have enough left by Tuesday to cover July's bills, then I'll be able to move another hundred into each of my savings accounts every fortnight after that!

I've got another couple of domain name and hosting payments to come out at the beginning of July, so I'll just move over £50 in July, but other than that, I'm back on track again!  Yay!

A total groaner from Facebook

Just had a look at the newest spam message header and...

...not only will I report the spammer to their ISP, but I'll make their IP address and domain name public.  I'll make a video report to put on my blog then I'll take a screenshot of the headers and put those in the blog post too.

Again, this is not a threat it's a promise.

To the spammer using my domain name to spam people...

...I don't know how you manage to do it, but you've got until 10am on Monday to stop using my domain name to stop spamming people or I'll report you to your ISP.

That's not a threat, it's a promise!

I know how to read headers and I've got all the time in the world to do it, so you've got 2 days to stop or I'll report you to your ISP as soon as I see you've sent another spam email.

Up to you!  *shrug*

Ideas for things to review please!

I know I've already put a couple of short video reviews on my blog, but I want to know what you all want me to review too!

I'm thinking I'll do semi vegan stuff because I'm a vegetarian who's allergic to dairy and things like that, but what else?  Magasines?  Books?  Clothes?  Shoes?

Leave your ideas for me in the comments bit and I will definitely consider doing them when I can afford to!  :-)

Puberty

We're all taught in secondary school about puberty yeah?  About how you stop growing taller at the end of puberty and girls are told that their boobs stop growing at the end of puberty.

So please explain to me why I've grown an inch taller and my boobs have gone from DD at the end of puberty to GG now?

I haven't had cosmetic surgery or anything and puberty came to an end for me 25 years ago, so why am I still growing?

4 people read one of my blog posts yesterday

4 people read my "equal rights" blog post yesterday.

I know who 1 of them prolly was, but who were the other 3?

I'd love to know, but totally respect their privacy and anonymity (sp?)!

Jo Cox MP

A few hours ago, Jo Cox MP was attacked during her public duty in her constituency.

I've just seen that she's now passed away.

She was younger than Steve so I'll keep her friends and family in my thoughts - I can't even begin to imagine what they must all be going through right now.

They are all in my thoughts.

This is how I feel

Another one from Facebook

Kindness

Equal rights

Just edited chapter 4

Just finished editing chapter 4 so I'm happy with everything I've written now and can start submitting to Agents on Monday after submitting to Pushkin at a minute past midnight!  lol

Editerama today!

Going to spend today editing my Toni trilogy... I'm really in the mood for it after yesterday's editing!  lol

That's chapters 2 and 3 edited into submission!

Just finished editing the first 3 chapters in my Toni trilogy, working on finding a query letter for publisher now!

Assuming all my bills come out today...

I'll have a grand total of £3 left in my bank account until Monday!  lol

Chapters 2 and 3 tomorrow

Just got some really helpful feedback on the first 3 chapters of my Toni trilogy so I'm going to spend tomorrow just on that to get it accepted by an agent.

Wish me luck!

Editing Disability Roolz today

I'm editing my Disability Roolz novel today in preparation for sending the 20 pages out on Monday... wish me luck, please?

Yay!

Just written the final paragraph in the middle novel in my Toni trilogy!

Yaaay!

Shaking like a leaf now!

Just cleared up the pup's poo, got trapped behind a bin bag, called for Steve to come and help me and he didn't move.

Didn't even reply.

If M comes tonight and says I don't do anything, I'll email her my diary of things I did in October, tell her that I take the pup for her walk every morning, feed and water the pup, clear up her poo as well as taking the rubbish and recycling out whenever it needs to be done and answering the door to her and Steve's carer every day, answer the door whenever someone comes to it and taking Steve's dressings through to the kitchen.

If she continues to say I don't do anything, I'll say that Steve won't mind taking my place for a week if I don't do anything.  Then I can just sleep and have control of the telly every day and he can take my place.

Steve can then whine to M about how much I've forced him to do and we'll swap back again with M knowing that I do more than Steve every day so she can stop having a go at me about it!

4 chapters left to go...

I'm just over 47k words atm and it's 750 words per chapter which means I'll have finished by this time on Tuesday! 

Yay!

Running my laptop battery down for the next few hours

Got an amber power light showing up on my laptop so Steve said to run the battery down then plug it in to charge to see if that helps...

Wish me luck!

That's another couple of chapters written today, so...

I'll hopefully have the 50k words written by the middle of next week!  Yay!

Got an ultrasound scan on 13th July

Opened a letter last night with my ultrasound appointment in it.

I've got to drink a litre of water an hour before the appointment and have a full bladder for the scan.

I have problems with holding my wee inside me for more than 5 minutes so I don't know how I'm going to cope with holding it for an hour!

Just written chapter 61, so...

...I've written 3k words in 4 chapters today.  Not bad, but I'm going to stop writing now and have me tea and an early night for a change.

That's another chapter written

Just written chapter 59 and I'm at 41,800 words now so only 8,200 words to go now and I'm about to give Toni and co. the nicknames they use at Havversford then in the next chapter Marcu will get a mobile phone, then I'll tie up loose ends.  Then I'll try and think up a title for the sci-fi novel and that'll be it so that I can submit Disability Roolz to the publisher on the 20th then plan out my sci-fi novel ready for writing it in the lead up to NaNo in November!

Busy, busy, busy!  lol

Written one and a bit chapters so far...

After discovering that I needed to write another 10k words in the middle of the trilogy, I remembered to turn me laptop on as soon as I came back with the pup this morning and I've already written one and a bit chapters, so I'm hoping to write the other 12 chapters between now and Sunday evening, then plan out the sci-fi novel on Monday and just carry on from there.

D'oheth!

I've got to write another 10k in the middle novel in the trilogy because it's just over 40k and Toni hasn't even visited Havversford yet, let alone started there!

Ho hum!  It'll keep me out of trouble for a few days!  lol

That's the trilogy edited, just got to...

...plan out my sci-fi novel in yWriter5 then edit the two picture books and early reader then have a break from writing for a week or so before challenging myself to write my first ever sci-fi novel in less than a month, in preparation for NaNo in November!

So hot out there!

I've just got back from taking the pup for her walk.

It's so hot outside!

Snap out of it

Wow!

This is an incredible video!

I love you Mum!

Big Brother is back

I went to bed after the first 3 housemates went in and I haven't got a clue what the "others" are about yet.

Stay tuned!

Depression and spirituality

On behalf of all the authors out there, who...

...are struggling to make ends meet every day, this says it all!

At times this is so true for me!

Blog post that I've just read and whole-heartedly agree with!

There's a lot of swearing both in the post and comments so don't follow the link if swearing offends you or there's small eyes about or anything like that.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

24 things women over 30 should wear

I'm over 30 and totally agree with all of the 24 suggestions!

Part 2 of this morning's first vlog review

I'm still not confident talking for more than 20 seconds right now, so for the time being they will all be short reviews but every time I review something, I'll try and make it a little bit longer each time until I'm reviewing each item for about a minute each.

Please bear with me as I slowly increase the time I spend reviewing?  Please?

Full vlog review of a clipboard I bought from Amazon

Steve said he would try on his clothes when he went to get his lunch so I'll finish reviewing them when I've seen them on him.

In the mean time, here's my second review of the clip board that turned up two days before the first expected date.. you get what you pay for with it!

First part of my first vlog review

Just a short one for my first review and it's in 2 parts - this is part 1 and I'll do part 2 as soon as I can!

I'm on about this shop in this review!

That's the second MS in the trilogy edited

Just finished editing the second MS, one more to go then working on my WIPs then I can edit everything again, then start hitting the slush piles again and we're only half way through the year!

Naughty little girl!

Mitzi was such a naughty girl on her walk this morning.

She kept refusing to walk, then kept trying to pull me over, then refusing to turn around and repeat!

Grrr!

Oh dear!

Get your groaning muscles ready... don't say I didn't warn you!

The voting post I made an hour ago

You don't have to leave your name or email address with your vote if  you don't want to... I'd love to know who you are, but if you don't want to leave your name then that's totally OK too!

It's a good job that I...

...bought the colour and black ink cartridges for the printer at the same time, because I printed out a couple of picture book texts in red and got an error message saying that the colour had run out.  I only put the black one in on Friday and haven't printed anything between then and now so I've got 2 full ink cartridges in the printer now which should be OK for a couple of months of printing now!  Yay!

What do you all reckon to me doing...

...reviews on my blog?

I already review children's books on my writing for children site and various things on Amazon so it's nothing new, I'm just thinking it'll be more interesting for you readers to have my opinions on things... not only things I've bought, but websites and stuff too?

If I do it, I won't over-run my blog with reviews, just when I come across something I feel worthy of a review is all!

So, vote time, just put a "yes" or "no" in the comments of this post and I'll take it from there!  It won't cost you any more time than reading the post and only commenting if you want to, I just don't want to bore you is all!

Thank you!

A few from FB that say what I'm feeling every day

Is it me, or...

...is it hot?

I'm sweating and I rarely sweat!

She's a spectacular little girl!

I discovered that the pup now knows "stand up" and has almost got "back up" too!

I haven't deliberately taught her either of them, but I say them most mornings as I put her harness on so maybe she's been picking it up herself?

Whichever it is, she's an amazing little girl!

That's the first edit of the first novel in the trilogy done and dusted

Just finished editing the first novel in the Toni trilogy, so I'm going to have a celebratory bath, down a couple of J2O's then head to bed for another early start tomorrow, meeting Chris for lunch then have a editing free day on Sunday, ready to start editing the second novel on Monday.

Wish me luck!

Just taken the pup for an extra long walk...

...and fed her.  I'm not expecting any deliveries so I can concentrate on writing the final 2 chapters now today ready for having the weekend off and starting to edit again on Monday!

Another chapter just written, so...

...I've only got another 2 chapters to write tomorrow and I'm not expecting any other deliveries to come so I'll be able to crack on with them as soon as I've taken the pup for her walk tomorrow, then I'm meeting up with Chris on Saturday, I'll have Sunday off and start editing the second novel on Monday.

I'm hoping to have the editing totally done by the middle of June then I'll start emailing publishers and agents at the start of July.  Not bad going considering we're only half way through the year!  lol

That's the ink cartridges delivered

Just had the ink cartridges delivered so just waiting for the watch now!

I'm expecting 2 deliveries today

The watch and printer cartridges will be here today!  Yay!

Another one that sums me up to a tee

37k words in 40 chapters now, so...

...I've only got another 3k words left to write then I can work on editing the last two novels in the trilogy, then I'll have a break, do a final check through all the MSs then hopefully check through the Yearbook again, find a list of publishers to go along with my list of agents and start surfing the slush pile again!

Wish me luck!  lol

Just done our monthly electricity reading

After paying literally hundreds for our electricity every month, we decided to do our own meter readings from then on.

We're over £700 in credit with the electricity company, but they still want to increase our monthly fees from £70 to over £100 a month!

Steve's rejected it and will still be paying the £70 a month, but that's how we got so much in credit... we paid the increased amount without checking the metre reading because we thought we had to!

My advice?  Do your own metre reading every month and don't pay the extra even if they ask for it!

Gently does it!

Pinch and punch for the first of the month!