Update

So I’m sorry about my last entry, I had a lot of catching up to do and a lot of it was stressful. I’m happy to say I’m feeling a lot better this time and still looking forward to starting the new job on Monday. I’m already looking at writing groups and opportunities in central London and thinking about getting my group going again. I got some advice from a lady who runs a group about venues so I’ll need to make some queries as finding a venue that didn’t charge a fortune was a real problem last time. It’ll be good to get it going again.

I got some more work done on the book, I’m still lagging but I think I’ll be ok once I get these last new chapters done. I’ll be taking my notepads to work again tomorrow and I’ll do my best to get them finished.

I can’t tell you how desperate I am to get this thing finished. It’s been such a long time since I started it and I really want to start on something new. I know it’s going to be a little while yet though as I’ll have to go through it all again before I can think about publishing it online. I think that’s the way to go, I’ve tried sending it out in various states before and I haven’t had any success so at least if I put it online then it’s out there and I can move on. There’s a lot that I want to do. This new job could be a real blessing actually as I can start writing new material longhand on the way to work.

It’s my last day at my one day a week gig tomorrow and so I’ll need to pick up some chocolates or something on the way in. I talked to some people last week and there should be something in place so that when I’m gone, the patients will still be able to have opportunities to learn and get support with their learning. I’m really pleased about that.

I’m waiting to hear back about those evening classes that I’ll hopefully be teaching from late September onwards, I need to find out how the numbers are. It’ll be nice to teach some classes in the adult and community sector again, it’s been a long time.

I’ve put my interest in reading some of my stuff at a couple of writing groups and possibly at an event that my friend is running. It’ll be good to get some feedback and maybe some interest. I find that it’s important to get as much feedback on your work as possible, but you have to take it to places where people aren’t afraid to be critical and you have to be prepared for it. Positive encouragement is all well and good but it’s not always helpful. I ask people to be as ruthless as possible so that I can walk away with a few pages of notes and a lot to think about. Also the best kind of feedback can often come from people who aren’t fans of the genre that you’re writing in, maybe even hate it, because they can point out things that other people might not draw attention to.

Anyway, I need to get my stuff ready for my last day so I’ll say goodnight, hoping that next time I write you I’ll have finished a lot more and will have started the final run through.