Tag Archives: life

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

When it Rains it drizzles…

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So, I thought I had over three weeks to get my assignments for my Organics course done. But no. I don’t.

You see, when you log on, it tells you that the assignments are due on 26th November. Which is fine, I try and aim to have them in about a week before hand.

But I logged in on last Sunday, and they’d changed the date to the 9th of November, which was ten days away. I swore and cursed a little, and then had to knuckle down and get through the study notes to get one assignment finished. The second one is due on the 9th too, but it is only one chapter of the course material, so I can get that bowled out before Thursday.

But it’s annoying, and it’s the second time they’ve done it. I am considering laying a complaint, because it’s not fair to move the goal posts when I work full time and only have evenings to do my study. If I was unemployed, it would be my own silly mistake to be so far behind.

It also means that I haven’t done any editing this week, which is frustrating, because I want to get some done. I did however manage to get some done yesterday when I caught up with the fabulous LaVerne Clark and had a coffee together. We’ve started meeting up to encourage each other with our writing. She’s such an amazing author, and I can’t wait to see what she brings out next year. We’ve been discussing goals for next year, so watch this space.

I hope you had a better week than me.

Kia kaha

Catherine

Work, work, work, work, write.

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After last week’s epic dental visit, I can confirm that all stitches have fallen out (they were dissolvable, as I later found out) and everything is healing nicely. I have graduated from soft food to slightly more textured food. Now I know how a baby feels!

So, I thought I would take you through my writing process. I work fulltime, so every morning I get up, have breakfast, clean up and then sit down and write for ten to thirty minutes (sometimes longer, but not always). I often get between 200 and 1000 words written in that time.

Then I head off to my day job, and garden. All day. Then I get home, shower, watch some videos and hopefully do some study, because I’m studying organic gardening.

And that is my day. Sometimes I might write at night, but not often. My best thoughts flow in the morning, and during the day, my mind is busy thinking about what I can write the following day.

At present I’m writing Carols Christmas, a modern version of the Christmas Carol. I’m loving this story, but it isn’t going to be novel length (50,000 words plus), probably more of a novella (35 to 50k). I honestly don’t mind, as it is going to be for release next Christmas. It’s a christmas story, but to be honest, it would fit any time of year. The whole thing happens over one calendar year, but it has elements of Christmas Past, present and future in it.

And I have just received the edits back for Whiskey Rose, which is a 1920s mob prohibition romance. This is a novelette – its 27k long. I think this will be a gift to my newsletter members and as a freebie for people who sign up to my newsletter.

On Sunday, I plan my facebook posts for the week, and I started up Why Wednesday, where you can ask me anything about my writing. Last week I started with when did I start, this week I’m going to tell you why I write.

Anyhoo, hope you guys have a good week, and see you next week.

Kia kaha

Catherine x

The Journey Continues

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Last month I started my dental journey, getting my teeth fixed after years of neglect. On Friday, I had the biggest procedure yet. Eleven (yes, 11) teeth removed.

I went into this feeling very uneasy, as I had opted for sedation. And they use Hypnovel, it keeps you conscious during the procedure, but you don’t remember it. I also given local anesthetic to numb my mouth.

During the procedure I remember a lot of tugging and pulling. And I recall the tying of the stitches (I think I have four). And there was a bizarre conversation about naming kids, and how the trend while Game of Thrones was popular to call your daughters Daenerys, and how she went mad at the end of the program, and how parents are probably regretting that name choice now.

Three days later, I am doing okay. I haven’t had any painkillers since Saturday night, and while I’m still on liquified food, I’m enjoying that. Soup, Up and Go, yoghurt, icecream and Dahl are my go-to food options at the moment. Trying to make sure I have kiwifruit twice a day as well, as I need the fibre, and protein options (my yoghurt) with each meal.

I have two more procedures to go, both fillings, but I’m not as stressed about that. I’ve done the fillings; I can cope with that. I just need to start selling books or take on extra work to pay for a plate so I can chew my food properly again.

Here’s to being able to smile properly again.

Catherine

Making Time to Slow down

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Its been a hectic couple of weeks. Things are quiet at work, but we’ve had a big job that we’re doing at the moment, one day a week which isn’t working at a rest home.

My Mum was over from Wineborough last weekend, and I was over her way this weekend for my Dad’s 80th Birthday. It was nice to catch up with my dad, Step mum, and my uncle that I haven’t seen in a long time. So long in fact, that we think it was when my son was about 18 months old, and at a funeral. It was nice to see the family at an event other than a funeral. He also got to meet my son officially and catch up with my brother that he hadn’t seen since my bro was 11.

And next Friday, I have the dreaded dentist, and a massive appointment to remove eleven teeth from my mouth. So I am planning for next weekend to be very quiet, and peaceful.

So how do I make time to slow down? In the evenings. I generally write in the mornings before work, and for about half an hour in the weekend mornings (or evenings). Then the evenings are free for me to study, or gather information for my other writing projects, or researching my markets. This might sound like I’m still busy, but it is considered my downtime. I also go to a stretch (yoga) class and a pole class once a week. These are my relaxing times, time for spending with the girls and having a laugh. Downtime for me is spending time doing things I enjoy doing. And when daylight savings kicks in next weekend, I’ll be able to spend some evenings out in the garden.

I’ve been quietly ticking along with Carol’s Christmas and have reached 21k, and I’m about halfway through the book. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but I’m also aware that I am leaving a lot out at the moment, but that’s okay, because that is what the editing process is for.

And at the end of the month, I’m expecting to receive back the edits for Whisky Rose, a novella I wrote based on 1920’s prohibition and the mob. I’m looking forward to getting these back and seeing what my editor thinks. I hope to have this available by the end of the year, provided all goes well. Not sure whether to make it a sign on gift to my newsletter subscribers, or to put it out on the market. I still need to think on it.

Anyway, what big plans for you have for the week?

Hope you have a good week.

Kia Kaha

Catherine

The Journey Begins

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So, I have started on my scary dentist journey, the first part was having 3 fillings done on the righthand lower jaw. I hate dentists, with a passion, and I think it’s because of all the hassles I had as a kid with my teeth. Every time I turned up at the dentist, I had to have a filling, no matter how much I brushed my teeth. The funny thing was, we weren’t a rich family growing up, so there were never any sweet foods in the house, no lollies or sweet drinks. Mum baked, or we had bought biscuits, and we drank jungle juice, (a cordial) but that was about it.

Then when I was ten, and two days out from being a flowergirl at a wedding, I chipped my front tooth on the metal bar on the side of the pool (which apparently is a very common way for most people to chip their teeth!).

At the time, Mum took me to her dentist who was a stuffy old man, who wanted to file my tooth down, except Mum put her foot down and insisted that it was filled. And so began my hell. He had to put a metal rod up inside my tooth in order to add some composite filling on it. It hurt like bloody hell, because apparently my body doesn’t respond well to local anesthetic, and I remember him telling me off for squirming in the chair. The dentist told us that it was covered by ACC (ACC is Accident Compensation and Rehabilitation Corporation, it’s like public insurance for injuries you suffer as a result of carrying out activities in your normal day).

A year later, a kid managed to push my head into a metal pole, and the composite filling fell out, leaving the metal rod exposed. That kid freaked out, not to mention me, because I had to go back to the bloody dentist.

Over the years, I’ve had dentists work on that tooth, and other teeth which, as an adult, and with regular brushing, I still needed fillings. One dentist took great pleasure in telling me the discolouration of my front tooth was due to a cavity and was extremely annoyed to discover it was the metal rod staining the composite filling. Every time a dentist touched my front tooth, they always said that better technology was coming, and didn’t want to put a crown on it or anything like that as something better might come along.

Now, in the present, after carefully avoiding the dentist for at least ten years (apart from having the occasional tooth pulled out), I decided that I really needed to have a pretty smile again. I have teeth missing when I smile, and it makes me incredibly self-conscious. The first couple of appointments were relatively pain free, a little nerve wracking, but okay. But I found out that the damage to my front tooth had never been registered with ACC, so I now have to fill out a form for a retrospective claim for the damage.

The second appointment was to have a full-face x-ray of my face, and cleaning of my teeth. This enabled the dentist to do a proper quote for what was needed. And I was shocked. $7,885 for fillings and removal of 11 teeth(?!!!) How did I manage to screw up my mouth so badly? Fear of going to the dentist, for precisely that reason, and its bloody expensive in NZ.

Anyway, I have started, as I said, with the first set of fillings. The first injection went in. Tears welled up, and my heart started racing. I thought I was going to pass out. After a few moments, she asked if my lip was numb. Nope. More injection. My hands were shaking at this stage. Lip Numb? not sure. So she starts drilling. Yip, felt that, so more injection. Even the dentist (who is extremely lovely) was surprised how much local she needed. She patted when my shoulder when she finished and told me how proud she was of me!

Next, I have 11 teeth to be removed, through sedation, as I don’t think I could handle having my mouth numbed and teeth pulled while conscious. *Shudders violently* Then there are two more rounds of fillings.

I’ve taken out a personal loan to pay for this part of the treatment, because I don’t have $8000 just sitting in my bank, and I thought about telling people to buy my books to pay for the treatments, but that just feels really corny, and well, desperate. Instead, I will tell everyone of my plight so a) people learn from my mistakes and brush their teeth constantly and b) to annoy the hell out of everyone until they buy my books to shut me up and c) because no one other than my lovely Mum actually reads these blogposts!

So, I have a two-week reprieve until I have the extractions. What are you up to over the upcoming weeks?

Take care everyone.

Catherine.

A D’oh Moment!

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Last week I wrote about having ‘ex syndrome’, whereby I would feel guilty for being on my laptop when the sun was shining outside in the weekend because my ex made me feel that way.

Well, my Mum gave me a pep talk, about changing the record in my head, which kind of worked. I needed to focus on what my current partner would say. (He’s very positive and encouraging of my writing. In fact, he’s proud of the fact that I self-publish my own books.

But then yesterday, while I was wondering what to do, I thought about my procrastination program and why I kept putting off writing in the weekends. Then it hit me. I don’t have to spend all day on the laptop. In fact, I only spend anywhere between 10 – 30 minutes on it writing on any given day.

And you know what…I only have to spend 10 to 30 minutes on it in the weekend too! What a liberating thought.

And how silly was I to think that I’ve been beating myself up so unnecessarily regarding how much time I spent on my laptop on my own days off! And if I got over that phobia, imagine how much words I could get written if I spent an hour or more on the laptop…only problem is, after 10 to 30 minutes, I need a break from it, and the story, to refresh my brain and escape from the world in which I have been for that time. Sometimes it’s a dark place, other times it’s a fun place, but either way, 30 minutes is probably about the limit I can spend writing at a time. But it doesn’t mean I can’t come back and write for another 30-minute interval later in the day.

So yeah, a bit of a D’oh moment for me, feel kind of silly, but pleased at the same time.

Have you had any D’oh moments this week?

Take care everyone.

Kia kaha

Catherine