Hiya!

Well… Whats been happening this month?

Well… COUNTING CORVIDS is on Amazon… Click here for the link … Please get yourself a copy!! This is the complete collection of Counting Corvids; the chapters and the cheeky extras all in one place… Yay!

I am still learning guitar, its three and a half months in and I bet you are rolling your eyes right now. So I will tell you what I have learned this month!

I’ve been learning “Love yourself” and I am still struggling with “World of Chances”. But I am determined to get better. It’s a divide between finger plucking vs strumming between the two songs. Oh and I am learning “Cake By the Ocean” too! So this month has been an attempt at three songs and little progress but getting there. Slowly.

So next month begins something special… Something I have been working on and boy have I been excited. There are a few extracts of truth here and there in the new project. But it is a project that I have found myself falling in love with. It really is quite fun to write so I hope it is as much fun to read. I have surprisingly found this project quite cathartic and invigorating. So I hope that translates to you all. So the very first chance to see the story emerge is in October. I am still writing it and working on it, its always ever evolving so I cant wait to see what happens and how it ends.

I am so excited. I feel like I am finally getting more productive. The frequent days of unproductive feel like they are shrinking. The urge to write more is underway. So who knows what I might get done by the end of the year. I have hopes and plans, but who knows.

Being mad isn’t a bad thing as long as you want to find that better feeling thought. I’m ready to forgive and move on. The past wont change. The past can’t change. It is what happens next that matters. That new project I wrote as I felt it, as it felt appropriate in that moment to write so I did. It made me feel better. I feel better for having written the next story for here that comes out next month. I feel better for knowing what I want. What I want is to keep feeling better and happier. Regardless. That is my personal internal project and oh boy is it hard.

Another writing thing that I know I haven’t sorted that out, I haven’t done the big edit project this month, at all. I am trying to be ok with that. I am trying to be ok with putting it off for a little while.

This month has been organizing the project that hits here next month. It’s been a while in the writing of it. But the last bits of tidying up a loose end or two have been done. Very curious about what happens next in the story. Very interesting.

I seem to have stumbled onto more bits and bobs. Had a few unexpected turns. An olive branch.

A wonderful late night chat or two with a friend who always puts a smile on my face.

I love that I know everything is always working out for me, it is so enjoyable. Especially on days where I write over 4000 words then the next day maybe significantly less. I like writing I am sure you have guessed that. Writing is enjoyable. Plus lets face it, it keeps me sane….

I just want to remind you that there are books that are open, and available to you. So here is the link to my amazon author page, why not see if something takes your fancy.

May luck and adventure be on your side!

ARA xxx

Hiya!

Well… Whats been happening this month?

Well… COUNTING CORVIDS has now been released on Amazon… Click here for the link … Please get yourself a copy! Yay!!!! This is your chance to get an advanced view on the last few chapters… Yay! So go find out ahead, the kindle book contains both the story chapters and those cheeky extra’s.

I am still learning guitar, its two and a half months in and I bet you are rolling your eyes right now. Yep I do want to tell you all that I have learned this month! Well we finished learning Get Back by Demi Lovato, we are now learning World of Chances by Demi Lovato. I am finding that one much harder, its a tricky rhythm to match the chord changes to. But I am determined to one day be able to completely play it competently and confidently.

Ok, so I know last month I was very vague on the details of what happened with my friend in my last Author Update. There is a reason for that I assure you. I wanted to keep it very private because it was such a big issue that we disagreed on, emotionally abusive relationships. Those of you that know me very well will know that, that particular topic is one that I am very driven about. I discuss the ideas and subtleties in my writing or characters or stories. I have a few topics that really tend to agitate me; body shaming, slut shaming, rape culture and abusive relationships (physical or emotional). So of course I tend to make it something I want to increase awareness of in my writing.

That being said I have had to consider things very carefully, because this is something I am passionate about, but I am also very certain that it is not only private to me but to her as well. While there have been times when I have revealed things to the reader that I wouldn’t normally, there has been an occasion where I have bared the truth of situations. A good example of that is Breathing Smog, I don’t always want to share the most intimate thoughts and feelings, but on the occasion I do, it means a huge deal to me.

So yes in time I probably will use this incident, extracted and given a degree of anonymity, there will one day be a day where I can say exactly what happened without worrying about protecting the involved parties. But until then, it will remain a closed book.

But there are books that are open, and available to you. So here is the link to my amazon author page, why not see if something takes your fancy.

Ohh and yeah I’ve been a grumpy thing thanks to being in a bit of pain on the old ribs… might have to abandon them somewhere 😛

May luck and adventure be on your side!

ARA xxx

Hiya!

So there won’t be much focus on this post today, I’m a bit distracted writing this, but here goes…

There are a few quotes about writing that I both like and struggle with…

“You own everything that ever happened to you.”

“If people wanted to be written warmly about they should have behaved better.”

“Never wrong a writer, they get their revenge in print.”

All superb quotes. All very hard to live by. Writing is challenging, it can make you vulnerable.

Life makes you vulnerable.

This month has been riddled with procrastination at its best. I’ve been procrastinating even though the editing has been strenuous. I am learning guitar (a month and a half in)! Which is hard but fun and my left hand fingers look gross at the finger tips.

And the worst part. I lost a friend. Not like she died. But that she chose to keep her life in a toxic place and I couldn’t think of any way to try to help her (I’ve tried so many times, so many ways) so I tried to shock her into taking action (about her happiness) and it didn’t work how it hoped it would have. I gave her an ultimatum. But she then made things worse by choosing to see how it goes with the toxic side of her life rather than try to fix the rift. So of course when I walked away from the situation she decided to make herself look like a victim in the situation at my hands rather than keep it amicable and clean as a friendship break up. She went from talking about me on social media to actively messaging and calling people to say how I am rubbish.

It is sad that it had to go that way. This is the only place I have and will make a comment on it, the breakdown sucks. But there is little I can do when someone has made their choice twice.

I just want her to know I hope that she gets what she needs, truly gets what is needed. I hope she has a happy life.

That aside. I know mentioned I am editing, yup, I sure am. I am hoping to find an agent or publisher to be able to get this story onto some tangible paper!

I am getting ready to prepare something exciting on here too so don’t worry something new and exciting is coming… keep popping in and I might tell a little more next time.

I have spent hours trying to avoid procrastination by writing. I am sure I am not the only one who finds procrastination something that writers would get an olympic gold for. I’ll collect my medal later.

So its been just over a month and a half since I started to learn guitar… So I am sure that there is a little curiosity. I know and can execute the 9 major chords (A, C, D, G, E, E minor, A minor, D minor) as well as a couple of others. What songs have I been learning in my beginner-ness? Get Back- Demi Lovato, Nightingale- Demi Lovato, Slow Down- Selena Gomez, Halo- Beyonce, and the tabs for Shouldn’t Come Back- Demi Lovato.

So while it has been a weird suckish month in some aspects, in others, my god its been wonderful!

I went to a concert with my bro Harry recently- It was awesome! We went to Hyde Park, we saw Pharrell Williams perform and Stevie wonder. The food was good. The freebies = awesome. The atmosphere was the best thing about it, there was such a great vibe going on!  I have learned something by saying yes to going, just follow a good vibe and impulse. It has been awesome to hang out with such positive people.

It is always important to hang around positive energies for certain.

So I want to keep doing more impulse yes moments!

May luck and adventure be on your side!

ARA xxx