Category Archives: gardening

Getting Stuck In

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This week has been all about getting stuck in and getting jobs done. Writing, editing, tidying, cleaning, gardening, you name it, I probably did it.

I’ve been writing in the mornings before work again, which has been good. I have to keep reminding myself that I haven’t written myself into a corner, because I know where I want the story to go, it’s just that I seem to keep going off in tangents. I’m hoping to get myself out of that thought pattern tomorrow.

Editing has been a bit slower, I haven’t finished my skim reading, because everytime I start, I actually read through the chapter, which isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m hoping to get into the full edits this week.

I’ve also started cooking Japanese food, Udon soups, ramen meals, rice dishes, I’ve been making them all, and even had a go at crispy pork. Strangely you don’t seem to need as much food when eating Japanese. I’ve also been looking into some of their philosophy, and I’ve been trying to follow some of them, like cleaning every day. I try and clean every day, and following this theory is actually refreshing.

Work has been all about catching up on the small jobs that tend to get left and become big jobs. Getting in and finishing a big job makes me feel good and I like feeling good about my work. At home, I pruned my roses this weekend, so again, feeling like I’ve accomplished something.

How was your week?

Peace and Quiet

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It was all go until 31 May, now it is quiet. And tomorrow is King’s Birthday weekend, so a long weekend to relax.

I’ve finished my assignments and handed them all in.

Second-Hand Daughter has launched.

And I have so many things I could be doing, and I really don’t feel like doing much. I’ve spent time in the garden weeding, planting and trimming, and napping.

I haven’t written much or edited. I’m just enjoying having some quiet time after a busy few months. It doesn’t mean I’ve given up on writing, or crafting, it just means that I’m having a week holiday. I will back into editing this week, with Compromised Positions being the next up, and that will be released later this year! So excited about that.

But in the meantime, I’m relaxing and taking some me-time.

Winding down for the Year

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Thank goodness I didn’t do National Novel in a Month Competition, I think I would be pulling my hair out by now.

I got my assignments done and submitted for my organics course, and with a couple of resubmits, I passed. I’ve decided to do the final course in February, it gives me some time to get back into the rhythm of work and stuff like that.

And I should have been editing Secondhand Daughter, but I haven’t. And I am putting it down to a super-secret project that I’ve been working on, and it was such a success, that I’m thinking of extending the super-secret project. I’ll only be able to tell you after Christmas what I’ve done, because they are Christmas pressies. I’m so proud of them.

I did do one chapter of edits, but things are about to go haywire at work. We’ve taken over the mowing at one of the lifestyle villages, and to say I’m rather unenthusiastic is actually an understatement. There was a reason I went to work for my current employer – they contracted out the mowing to my previous employer.

Anyway, enough of that. Now is the time of year that I start getting organised for Christmas. I used to avoid it as much as possible, but having left a relationship that made Christmas hell, and being with someone who loves Christmas and spending time with his family has really made it more enjoyable. Plus, there is less stress, not big fussy meals, no full on ‘visiting everyone in the family’. We’ve got it all sorted now, we have Christmas here, with his kids, then I head over to Wineborough with my son – and sometimes my partner, and have Boxing day with my family, as Mum, my brother and his family, and my Dad and StepMum all live in that area. It means two lots of fun family time (the second one is more funny haha though, watching Mum ignore Dad while Dad is trying to get Mum to talk to him.)

Anyway, I hope your week has been more productive.

Take care, Kia Kaha

Catherine

Every Little Bit Counts

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Some of my writer friends have been struggling to write lately, and they keep asking me what I am doing. I tell them, ten to fifteen minutes a day is all I do, but in that time, I can write between 400 and 1000 words, depending on how the words are flowing, and lately they have been flowing.

Because a little bit can add up. I write all of my daily totals down in a diary and while 400 and 500 words might not seem like a lot, by the end of the week, I have maybe 2,500 to 3,000 words.

And most days I only get anywhere between ten minutes and half an hour to write, and that is in the morning, before I head to work. I write best in the morning and if I get some writing done, I always feel better about my day.

While I would love to be a fulltime writer, I currently need an income to pay the bills, so I work as a gardener. And I love it. I love it so much that during summer, I come home from work and work in my own garden. There’s something rather grounding about working with the soil. And I’m currently studying organic gardening through the Open Polytechnic, which means I am even more invested in what goes into my soil.

And sometimes gardening is all about little bits. Doing little jobs can add up. We live on a large section, so I can’t always weed it all in one day, so it’s to easier to break it down into little jobs. I have the front garden, the front house garden, the side garden and the shed garden, plus my vegetable garden. I enjoy breaking it up and having small jobs to do, rather than spending an entire weekend in the garden.

Have I ever combined my love of gardening with writing? Yes, I have. “Compromising Positions”, which was originally called “The Gardener”. I wanted to write about a woman who was a gardener, and this story, which I originally started many years ago, I finished earlier this year. I hope to have this published next year.

What things do you enjoy doing?

Hope you have a great week

Catherine