updates Archives - Harriet Mills

I’m chuckling to myself at how particular I am. I must tell you this before I begin. With everything from timings to activities and how I undertake them, I have to have everything just so. Maybe something is wrong with me? I don’t really care.

Granted I have work at 10 so my free time is restricted and therefore setting my alarm for a series of time slots in which I can get different things done is a necessity. However, it does make me laugh. NEVER HAVE ENOUGH TIME!

NB: This was Monday morning, not today.

7am – I woke up. Allowed half an hour to enjoy a hot cup of coffee (a rarity) before reading under the light of my bedside lamp for just over half an hour. Subconsciously, I got up, turned my bedside lamp off and big light on, window open to hear the birds and the breeze, another coffee and a flapjack for fuel and then it was writing time!

My writing…

My writing has been going ok lately despite everything that is happening. I am behind with the constant that is my second novel and also the plans for a third, lock down novel, but I am managing to keep up with prioritising.

My second proof came first and that has been sent off. Hoorah! My blog must continue, so here I am. This week’s to-do list includes more work on my two novels as well as reading up to date my writing magazines which have been somewhat neglected. Oops. It is crazy how much I used to fit onto my to-do list (and complete) each week pre-covid19.

My social life even nudged me to stay awake and out past 10:30pm on a Saturday night this weekend! I visited friends in a town about half an hour from where I live and it’s the furthest I’ve been since 23rd March. It felt good to drive and blast out the tunes and it was only the forth time I’ve left my village in this debarcle.

I even incorporated a drive-through dinner into this trip which was both bloody brilliant and bloody awful. I arrived glancing at the queue for McDonald’s and KFC to find them both very similar in hugeness. My friend asked for Popcorn chicken so I committed to KFC. Seconds later, the McDonald’s queue moved rapidly on to the point that hardly anyone was in it so I immediately regretted my decision but I’d committed so I had to wait it out.

The rain hammered onto my windscreen as we all edged along slowly nearing the entrance. I read the sign saying that there was a reduced menu and steam starting coming out of my ears when I imagined the result if Popcorn chicken wasn’t on this reduced menu. It was. Thankfully. All was ok. Half an hour later I left for the road.

I also experienced Tesco for the first time since lock down, in fact my first supermarket experience, or one of queuing outside a store that you’d, pre-covid19, have walked happily in to. It wasn’t so bad. Apparently restrictions have eased so I can’t imagine how it once was.

Work…

Work continues to drain us of energy and come 5pm only beer will get us through, but it’s all fun and games right? We’ll look back one day and be proud.

But it’s all good…

The birds continue to sing, nature still impresses and good things are everywhere admist the worry of the future.

You just gotta keep on keeping on…as they say…

For links to all of my writing related stuff, my link tree is below. You can also find published work in my portfolio. My debut novel, Dear Brannagh, is available on Amazon along with the sequel Don’t Tell Jack. If you enjoy what you’re seeing here and are interested in following me on my writing journey, then please subscribe to my newsletter by dropping your name and email. There will be plenty of giveaways, news hot off the press and an honest insight into life as an author. Thank you x

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Lock down – an update

I only left to get my MOT!

Having waited patiently in an empty reception at the garage, nothing seemed too different to before. Besides, my life hasn’t changed much during this in terms of routine. Of course, it is busier than ever and I am more tired than ever, but in terms of my daily schedule it is much the same. Wake up, go to work, drink too much wine, fall asleep and do it all over again.

I’ve seen people. I’ve witnessed social distancing but not to the level of supermarkets and hour long queues to get into a bank. I don’t intent to experience that either. No thank you.

So, having enjoyed an hour to myself reading my book while waiting to see if my car was broken or not, I upped and left. My car wasn’t broken. Hoorah!

I decided to make a trip of it and fill up with petrol too (I know how to live) so I pulled up into the garage next door. Well, I didn’t expect to find it so bizarre entering the first building that wasn’t my work in ten weeks. I felt like I was in an apocalyptic film, the only person left on earth, trying to survive. An essential purchase of a packet of Jammie Dodger biscuits, my petrol and I left.

Writing during lock down…

In terms of writing during lock down I am having mixed experiences. Last weekend was a bank holiday weekend. It was also the first weekend which I didn’t have to go to work for any amount of time so I made the most of it. I wrote two chapters of my second novel and was very chuffed with them.

This morning I have organised myself a bit in terms of my blog and general laptoppy admin duties so I feel good about that. This week I finished a great book (Lucinda Riley is now a favorite author of mine).

However, there are many many times when I get overwhelmed by the little amount of time I have during Corona-life in which to write. There have been some weeks where I’ve hardly written at all. There have been weeks where I couldn’t remember the last time I sat down to read. It really gets me stressed.

Trying to juggle is a skill I am usually good at but have not yet mastered and giving myself a break from the pressure is something I mostly fail at. Yet I am understanding that it is only me who feels stressed after a week of no writing. Also, writing is a long process and one that often produces many drafts before quality work so bad days can certainly be accepted.

My blog and lock down…

I am going to change the arrangement of my blog slightly for now and aim for two posts per week. I was bogging myself down with content and figured that good content is better than lots of it.

Therefore, I will provide you good people with one post much like this one per week. An update, a personal experience, a ditty, a good story – whatever it may be. And I will then post a fictional snippet of things I am working on. A bit of lighter reading at the weekend. A short story for competition, a section of my novel, a random piece of prose for inspiration.

Thank you…

As always I thank you all for your time in visiting my blog. I really hope my work leaves you with a smile on your face.

H x