Tag: words

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Adulthood Non-fiction Observations

Help!

Lately I have asked for a lot of it. For things in life where I haven’t a clue and others are experts. For guidance from those more experienced, both young and old. For myself. From myself.

I have asked for help from friends and from strangers. From colleagues and customers at work when I’m trying to do too many things at once.

I’m certainly someone who struggles to accept help. I feel guilty for owing people an invaluable amount. Obviously I thank them but I feel forever I will owe them when you can’t put a price on the guidance they’ve given me.

It is a strange one isn’t it because the nature of my job is helping people. We help the elderly by delivering goods and a bit of conversation/ company along with it. We help the young by giving them jobs. We help those lost in reality by directing them and others lost within their soul by providing a sounding board in times of need.

Whenever I help someone the last thing I think is about how they are going to repay me. It is the last thing on my mind. Yet when someone helps me before they’ve even done so I’m thinking of what extravagant gift I can buy them which won’t come close to how grateful I am.

Claudia Winkleman addresses this in her book, Quite. She says ‘Here’s the thing with help. People want to do it. We get really stuck sometimes and just need to unload, to spill the dirt, to share the burden. Think about you. Do you get grumpy if someone asks for advice, if someone sends you their justgiving.com link, if a friend calls to have a little cry? Do you mind? Of course you don’t. You race round, you donate, you offer services. Help. The more you give the more you get.’

The fact of the matter is I’m so lucky to be surrounded by good people. If you surround yourself with good people then you become better and they are always willing to help.

That’s my thought for today – Happy Tuesday Everyone!

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 at the bottom of any page of my website. 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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Categories
Adulthood Non-fiction Observations Writing

My writing and me

I write for all sorts of reasons.

It might be to get something off my chest; to keep a record of my days; to entertain others; to remember what I need to buy from the supermarket; an idea that turns into a short story and everything in between. Writing is everywhere for me and a very useful tool in so many ways.

I was writing my diary earlier and loved the fact that my words weren’t going to be published anywhere. They weren’t for social media, nor were they to be put in a novel or a blog post. Instead they were just for me. Not that my diary entries are ever secretive, or very interesting for that matter, I just felt free in the fact that my words were for me.

On the flip side of that I love to write for others.

I get a buzz out of people engaging with my posts. I love to hear that I’ve phrased something how someone wanted to put it but couldn’t find the words. Often I feel proud or happy when I read back on a particular blog post that has gained more feedback than usual. There are even some lines in my novel that I can’t believe I wrote!

I always think long and hard about text messages. I find myself on walks feeling appreciative of friends. Then I write a message to put in a card or a text. People always need to know how valued they are and I love to tell them. Sometimes friends thank me for advice and I wonder if I was right in saying what I did. I usually think that the person seeking advice knew already they just liked how I phrased it.

I’ve written a lot of articles lately about the same thing and have welcomed the positive feedback. Articles, of course, referring to my debut novel and I don’t shut up about it! Some readers have said how my writing shows my passion or that it gripped them from the beginning and throughout.

I love and enjoy writing from others as well. Each year I keep cards from my birthday with particularly lovely messages or important notes inside. I have a friend who writes the most lovely labels on birthday presents (from the dogs) and I keep them all. Often I find myself screenshotting words on social media that I think people have put so brilliantly.

I read, LOTS.

Basically I love words. That folks is my writing and me.

For links to all of my writing related stuff, my link tree is below. My debut novel, Dear Brannagh, is OUT NOW 🙂

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Categories
Observations Writing

Sods Law

Whenever you’re in a rush to get anywhere you can guarantee that you’ll not be able to find your keys. Of course you won’t. Why would they be in the place that you have kept them in for the duration of your life.

You’ll get in your car and the fuel gauge will be almost at empty. Of course, who needs fuel anyway? It will probably be just enough to get you there.

The road you travel down will be full of tractors moving slowly along, no sign of speed. Of course, of course. That’s sods law.

Whenever you plan a nice day out, get all the friends together on a particular date and the activity that you decide to do is outside, it will be raining. Of course it will, the weather knew exactly what you’d planned to do.

When you wake up early to get ready for the day, you’ll find the outfit you’d got your heart set on wearing is in the wash, the shoes aren’t appropriate for the conditions outside of your window and you need to wash your hair. Of course, sods law doesn’t consider time management.

Whenever somebody drops by your house unnanounced will be the one time when you’ve left dirty dishes on the coffee table, haven’t wiped the kitchen sides and decided to leave the laundry until that evening. Of course it is, it’s sods law.

Whenever you get a day off, the chance to a luxurious lie in. When you stay in bed feeling ever so more smug knowing that you’d usually be at work. This will be the one day when you wake up happily at 6am and can’t get back to sleep. It’s all thanks to sods law.

Whenever you decide to quickly do something on your laptop adding another completed task to your ever-lengthening list, your computer will crash, low battery – sods law.

Whenever you’re waiting in for a delivery – you know the type, anytime between 8am and 6pm – the doorbell will ring at 5:59pm. Or the five minutes where you decide to nip to the shops will be the five minutes when the courier shows up. Why wouldn’t it be? That’s sods law.

Whenever you go to book a hotel with booking.com and they ask if you have an offer. For example, £10 off when you recommend a friend. You click ‘no’. The next day an offer will arrive in the post as if it is laughing at you just days after you’ve booked it, this is exactly what has just happened to me and it is what has inspired this post. Sods blooming law.

How many times do we find ourselves saying the words in a single day. Sods law knows. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. It’s just life, it’s just sods law.