Inspiration

Today I thought I'd blog about something positive. When you struggle with your mental health it can be all too easy to get caught up in how tough things are, you lose sight in the good things in life. Those shiny little moments that make you feel happy. They can pop up when you least expect them.

I've spent a lot of time reading blogs lately, and it suddenly inspired me to start mine up again. That's one of the little things in life I love; inspiration. When something just clicks in you and you think, I can do that! Then your mind buzzes around excitedly thinking about what you could achieve.

So here I am having another go. Writing was always something that I enjoyed as a child, but then gradually as I got older I stopped and got distracted. Then I almost forgot how to do it.

There was a good post on Neil Gaiman's blog, someone asked him how to get their thoughts out of their head and onto paper, he replied; “Write the ideas down. If they are going to be stories, try and tell the stories you would like to read. Finish the things you start to write. Do it a lot and you will be a writer. The only way to do it is to do it.”

I think that's pretty good advice - thoughtful, daydreamy people like me tend to forget, just get out of your head and DO it. You only become good at something with practice. So that is my plan.

I would like to become a writer, so to achieve this, I will write. One word after another.

To anyone reading this I hope you can find the little moments in life that make you happy, when something inspires you grab hold of it and take action, because who knows what you could achieve!

Salutations

Psst. Psssst!

Hi..

Well it seems to have been well over a year since I last posted on my blog. Which is a bit of a shame, but also related to my chronic lack of confidence. So here I am, giving it another go!

This is going to be very short and sweet, but I'm trying to decide where to go with the blog. What to write about. That's always a good start isn't it!

You see as a social phobe I'm not out there leading a high octane, activity filled life, so writing about the day I went to Lidl just might not cut it. I could write more about mental health in general, what helps me and so on.

Proper posts will start soon for anybody that's interested!

Thanks Neil!

Well hello!

Thanks to a certain blog post by a certain curly-haired author my blog has seen a lot of page views from across the pond.

So that was pretty amazing, I love the internet!

I've been spending my days finising The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and although it was over too quickly I really enjoyed it. I could really relate to the main character surrounding himself with books as a child; it got me thinking about my own childhood.

I loved reading about the adventures of the Famous Five and their dog Timmy - one of my main ambitions back then was to have an exciting adventure! My ultimate favourite though, was The Chronicles of Narnia. I spent a lot of time trying to get there through the back of my grandparents dusty old wardrobe!

Ocean is a fun read, lots of mystical things going on, oh and cats! What's not to like about pulling up a cat from the ground like a carrot? (Bet that sounds odd if you haven't read it yet, you should).

Ever since going to the signing at Ely, I've been feeling a more inspired to write up a story idea I had. Funnily enough as a child I used to love to write, I did it all of the time, but as I've got older it almost feels like I've forgotten how.

The story is about a man who finds a strange coral crown washed up on the sea shore, and a one-eyed raggedy seagull. I'll post it here when I work up the courage to write it, I know it probably won't be that good as a first attempt but I'll give it a go.

Meeting Neil Gaiman at Ely Cathedral!

Well, I'm back in sunny Stoke-on-trent now after a fun weekend of exploring Cambridge and Gaiman-ing in Ely.

The boyfriend and I stayed in Cambridge Central Travelodge (stay classy), and were very happy to see that there was a Nando's AND a Pizza Hut within metres of the hotel.. yay! We both had a great time exploring Cambridge, it's a really picturesque city. It has a cool vibe; there's loads of nice coffee shops and cafes and people cycle everywhere.. very european.

We also had a stroll around St. John's college - which is basically Hogwarts. Here's a fun fact for you, apparently fellows of the college are the only people outside the Royal Family legally allowed to eat unmarked mute swans.. nice!

The swans left long ago..

Next stop was Ely, which I was surprised to find out was actually pronounced eel-y - on account of all of the eel fishing that they did there, makes sense.

We headed on over to Topping and Co book shop, where the very helpful staff gave us our tickets to the signing and informed us that they were expecting around a thousand people to turn up! With a train to catch later on we decided to get in the queue early.

We spent around 2 hours waiting, but it was quite fun to sit and people watch in the sunshine. Got in a bit of reading of Ocean at the End of the Lane too, and was happy to see that there were cats in the story! Before we knew it, it was time to go inside.

Ely cathedral is a beautfiul old building and a great atmosphere for the signing, complete with bats flitting around! Neil came out and answered some questions put to him by the audience, he was really funny and interesting to listen to. Someone asked what he thought about people thinking he was odd, and he said that he sees himself as normal and the rest of the world as odd! He did a reading of Ocean, and his new children's book Fortunately, the Milk and was really good at bringing the stories to life, doing different accents and everything.

Afterwards as we were in the first 100 people we got to meet him pretty quickly. As we were waiting we had to write down our names, and what we wanted our signed dedications to be and I went with "something about cats!"

Was really nervous but Neil was very friendly and made the effort to chat to everyone. Kudos to him as I think he was there pretty late "signing until my hand falls off." I said that I liked cats, so he drew me a "bat-cat" which was pretty awesome!

My boyfriend is a writer, and Neil remembered reading one of his stories on twitter and even shook his hand. We were really chuffed at the end of it all, and it was a brilliant end to our trip.

Back again!

So, I'm going to try and be more regular with my blog posts.. pwomise!

These things just tend to run away from me, but I'm feeling more motivated at the moment. I'm going to be spending my days learning, cbt-ing (cognitive behavioural therapy for the brainwrongs) and trying to get out and do more.

Heading to Cambridge for a couple of days soon as the bf and I are going to a Neil Gaiman book signing at Ely Cathedral, how very grand and exciting! It's going to be his last ever signing tour so we knew we couldn't miss it; I have no idea what we're going to say to him... he must have heard it all before so many times "I love your work LOL"

The curly haired one!

Recently dyed my hair an orangey colour and realised it makes me look a little like Delirium from The Sandman graphic novel, one of my favourite characters of all time. I need to get me a fishie now. Also I don't know why I keep mentioning hair, there's a conversation topic ha.

Will report on how it all goes!

Self improvement

Ohai! Sorry for the lack of updates.. if anyone really cares!

I haven't been feeling so good for the past few weeks, had some minor health niggles so I suppose I haven't been feeling very productive.

I'm starting to tackle my anxiety pretty soon, which is scary but neccessary. It's going to involve going into new situations and doing a lot of new things.. who I am I kidding I am dreading it but I REALLY need to improve, so shuddup brain and get on with it.

Re health niggles, the doctor thinks I have IBS, so that's just great. Looking into modifying my diet as I'm sick of being bloated and generally icky. Think I'm going to have to give up wheat-y bread for a while so looking into rye bread alternatives, probably going to start eating rice cakes and oatcake type of things too. So less of the processed foods and more of the good stuff.. enter Becki the health fiend!


I'm off to argos soon to go and argue with the staff to give me a replacement on my sewing machine, I've only had it for just under a year and it keeps missing stitches and getting jammed. Hopefully all will go smoothly and I can start doing more crafty things and making a bit of dollar.

That's it for now, and in the words of the wulfrunians, tarar-abit!

It's been a while

So.. *looks awkwardly at the ground, I was all like yeah let's start a blog, awesome! Then the internet gets cut off and I can't update said blog.
What happened was we contacted the lovely people at orange internets, to say we would like it to cut off at the end of the month, when we were supposed to be moving to a new provider. So, naturally they decide to cut it off the next day with no warning leaving us with no internet. Well done.

So anyway that all took a while to get sorted; and now regular updates shall commence.


I've been feeling a little melancholy lately, sorting through some old things looking at old photographs; it's funny how time changes you. Been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.
Was considering going back to uni to do a biology course, I feel a little stuck in a rut and want to achieve more; but there's the whole debt issue, and whether I'll even be able to get a decent job at the end of it.


The other option I was thinking of is veterinary nursing, being around animals makes me happy and people say you should follow your passions in life. I'm leaning towards this option, I just wish I didn't have the anxiety holding me back.

So my goals for now are:

• Job
• Driving lessons
• Voluntary animal work
• Vet nursing

I think it's important to have goals and plans for the future, makes me feel less hopeless when things get me down. That's so cheerful!


Anyway, if anyone ever reads this, I'd be interested to hear what your goals are :)

Bye for now.