THE LAST POST

This blog has run its course. The time has come to call it a day. 

Writing this blog has been enormously helpful to me. It’s kept me in touch with the world at times when I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Time and again, I’ve been struck by the kindness of strangers. People’s comments and advice have been truly invaluable and I would like to thank everyone who has sent me messages, left comments, or posted a card. In a way this decision has been triggered by a comment left after yesterdays' post in which I was told, basically, to shut up and get back to work. That was good advice, so thank you.

I started writing this blog  in February 2011; a time when my mother, who was suffering from dementia, was calling me, sometimes dozens of times a day. It’s seen me through the very bad times connected with her care and the legal profession and was there to keep me going when she died and the whole can of worms erupted.

Since then, it’s kept me on the right track, again thanks to the people out there, mostly people I’ve never met who’ve shown me that there is hope and love and consideration and sympathy in the world at a time when I couldn’t have seen that even if it had bitten me on the backside.  It’s taken me a lot longer to get over my mother’s death than I ever expected and I’m not completely there yet, but I’m on the way. Now it’s time to clear the decks. Rather than writing thousands of words for the Writers Bureau or this blog, I want to write thousands of words of other stuff – not sure exactly what yet but it’s early days.

One thing I will be doing, asap, is updating my woefully neglected web site (www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com). At the moment, it’s so out of date, it doesn’t even have details of my latest writers guide – 100 GREAT FIRST LINES so if you’re interested in details, or want to buy a copy, drop me a line at kinghenryfan@yahoo.co.uk or send a cheque to Linda Lewis care of 71 Manston Gardens, Leeds, LS15 8HA.  You can have a look at the ebook on Amazon where it’s listed as 100 FIRST LINES THAT WORK

I can still be followed on twitter  @writingiseasy .

Writing this last post is both exciting and scary. Cutting myself off from the Writers Bureau was scary too but sometimes in life you have to take a risk or suffer the consequences. Stuck to my office  wall, I have these quotes from HEYFRANCIS.TUMBLER.COM  

‘If you do not go after what you want, you’ll never have it.

If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.

If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place. ‘

Another poster reads – Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.

And finally, from Charlotte Joko Beck  -

‘Life always gives us exactly the teacher we need at every moment, that includes every mosquito, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor (or employee), every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every breath.

Every moment is the guru.’

As far as I’m concerned that’s pretty much bang on and a great advertisement for mindfulness.

I don’t know what my next steps will be, but what I do know is this – I want things to be different.  For that to happen, I have to make room in my life for new people and new activities.

So that’s about it. The last post has sounded and it’s time to, finally, call it a day.

Once again, thanks everyone!  I couldn’t have made it without you.