Work, work, work, work work, work…

Tell me that you did not sing the title of this blog as you read it, and I will not believe you.
What a crazy couple of weeks it has been! Going back to work in the crazy world we currently live in has proved to be utterly exhausting. It feels great to be back out and living relatively normally again, but getting up at 4.30am again was a complete shock to the system after 4 months of staying in bed until at least 8am. Which is why I have completely failed to keep up with my blog. Almost every day since going back, I have told myself that tonight will be the night when I finally get another post done, and yet here I am, only just posting something today. I have had to battle to keep my eyes open every evening! And despite it taking so long to finally post something, I still have very little to share for obvious reasons (please see the above title).
The exciting news is that the release day for Hunted is drawing closer and I have 3 whole days booked off in the next couple of weeks which are purely dedicated to the preparations of release day. The closer it draws, the more nervous and excited I grow. Squeezing editing time into every spare moment of the day is proving to be challenging but the end result will be well worth the hard work. Already, I can’t wait for the next step in my journey to becoming a best selling author. Plans for a new book with a whole new story are well underway!

Anyway, here are some pictures of what I have managed to get up to in the last couple of weeks…

Let’s kickstart this with a photo of me about to head off for my first day back at work looking like an absolute psychopath in the mask I ordered at the beginning of lockdown.

Last week I managed to take a quick stroll through the Museum Gardens in York before I headed off to work. If you have never been to York then you should absolutely go when the world returns to normal. The gardens are a peaceful little sanctuary in the very heart of York and it really was lovely just to take five minutes out of my day to make friends with the pigeons and enjoy five minutes on my own. I think I would like to make more of an effort to find peaceful places where I can take five minutes and reflect. Lockdown allowed me to take a step back and appreciate how much of life is taken for granted when we are so focussed on work and squeezing everything into our already packed days. Even just a simple five minute stroll through the park can make all the difference, as it did with me on this particular day. I also had the opportunity to meet up with a bestie before work and although we can’t hug (elbow bumps are just not the same!) and we can’t sit in a coffee shop and waste the day, it was really great to see someone I had not seen in over four months. So, despite being at work that day, it was one of my favourite days since going back.

This absolute monster made for an interesting morning at work this week. For those of you who know me, I HATE moths. I cannot stress enough just how much I utterly detest the things. But I am also one of those people who strongly believes that every living thing has the right to live. This moth’s life is no less important than my own, or the life of my cat or the life of the deer I see from the windows of my house, etc. So there was absolutely no doubt that the moth had to be captured and set free. Luckily, one of my lovely receptionists was quite happy to assist, and by assist I mean that she did all of the work while I watched from outside and screamed like a lunatic. We even roped a random workman in to help us free the monster. He is now happily residing in the doorway of a neighbouring shop… the moth, not the workman. I would just like to stress that he was so big that he had to be captured in a bin because he was too big to fit in a pint glass!

In no way do I expect the next two photos to be of any interest to anyone, but I still wanted to share the look on my cat’s face after I told her that she could not claw the absolute s*** out of my hand. The second photo was taken later that night, when she had forgiven me.

While the weather has been pretty rubbish over the last couple of weeks, clouds do make for a great sunset. I realise my neighbours probably think I am a complete weirdo for hanging out of my bedroom window every night to take a photo of the sky but that won’t stop me. Here are a couple of my favourites…

I am still receiving snaps of you guys after buying Gifted and I am loving every one of them! My favourite from this week is from the lovely Lorraine. Here she is…

And I also had my favourite review yet appear on Amazon recently which really made my week. I cannot tell you how much I love reading through the reviews! I may not feel the same way when a bad one shows up but until then, keep them coming! I know that I announced a giveaway a little while back and a winner has not yet been drawn. The prizes are ready and waiting, life has just been a little crazy and I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

This one also made me smile earlier this week on Goodreads. A huge thank you to Oliver!
If you have not yet joined Goodreads, DO IT NOW!

And finally, a little snap I took earlier today. This is Sissy, my rescued furry potato. For a piggy to feel this relaxed while out in the open is something quite rare. This really melted my heart a little today. Please excuse the furry potato magic beans littering their hutch, for those of you who have owned piggies, you will understand the ridiculous amount of poop involved. Just for the record, they were cleaned out yesterday!

While this post was a little rushed, and I really wish I had more time to dedicate to my blog at the moment, it feels great to have finally posted again. I am missing being able to spend so much time promoting the books and writing too, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that life is beginning to return to normal. Eventually, lockdown and the global pandemic will be a thing of the past and we will tell our children’s children of how crazy the world was in 2020. But, until then, carry on being safe and looking out for your friends and family, as we always have.

Love Love xx