It's good to talk

Plans.

Things don’t always work out the way we want. I had planned to work all day today but my ex is out with the woman he met on Match.com and, for some unknown reason, that’s getting to me, and no, I don’t want him back. I’d really like it if he did get into a serous relationship as that way the boundaries of our friendship would be cleaner.  In other words, maybe he’d stop treating my house as an extension of his own.

I’ve come to the conclusion that, at least for a while, feeling better is going to take work. I can’t expect it to be easy. I feel as though I’m still in some kind of a battle to  keep strong.

I gave some feedback on a story sent to me by a lady I met at Swanwick, fished the piece I wrote for Writers Forum (about Swanwick) then had a lovely long chat with a woman I met, guess where – Swanwick. I tweeted that I was feeling lonely and she gave me a call. It was great. I really needed somebody I could discuss things with. I can make decisions, come up with ideas, do most thing son my own, but every now and then, it really does help to have somebody else to bounce thoughts off.

I’d been thinking about the stress involved in moving. Selling Mum’s house and buying the new house would leave me cash strapped until I sell this house and as there’s still no sign of any interest, despite what the estate agent promised, I was starting to wonder if I should pull out completely. Talking to Shirley helped me decide to go ahead with the purchase but to tell the estate agent that I can’t complete until I’ve had an offer on this house. The woman who owns the house I want to buy can put it back on the market to see if anyone else comes along who can complete faster than I can. I’m not sure if I could have reached that decision without the help of that phone call.

I HAVE done some work too. I’ve typed up a first draft of another of the stories I wrote in Scarborough. This one is going to need a bit of thoughts between this draft and the next as it lacks something and I’m not sure what that is yet. That’s the beauty of typing things up then leaving them for a few days. The way to sort out the plot usually turns up on its own without me having to think too much about it.

Next week, I need to concentrate on the short story course I’m teaching at Weetwood Hall in November to make sure I have everything sorted. The people who have signed up have been sending me sample stories to that I can give them feedback as part of the course so I have those to look at too. The closing date for the NAWG competition is on Wednesday. I’ve only been sent 50 entries so far so have no idea how many more will arrive. There’s still time to send an entry (see www.nawg.co.uk\). For an extra £3 you can also have feedback on your work from yours truly. And that’s a bargain if ever there was one.