I absolutely hate it when I fall behind on blog posts on this site, but unfortunately sometimes life gets in the way! I’ll blog and I’ll blog, and then one thing leads to another and I stop again. This time around, I’ve had a genuine excuse, though – things have been mad busy. So for now I thought I’d write a quick update on what’s been going on and I shall be resume blogging responsibilities very soon!

NaNoWriMo

The main reason I’ve been absent this month is NaNoWriMo – or, National Novel Writing Month to those of you who have no idea what it is! In short, you pledge to write 50k words of your novel in a month along with thousands of other writers. I’ve been meaning to take part for years now, so when it came round this time I knew I just had to go for it.

And the short conclusion? I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve wanted to write a work of fiction for, well, ever, so to finally have faced the blank page and to have managed to get all those words down on paper makes me feel fantastic. NaNoWriMo itself is such an amazing event and I recommend it to all writers – both published and otherwise. The support your receive is phenomenal, and the different events they arrange (virtual write-ins, word sprints on Twitter etc) make you feel part of the community and inspire you to carry on writing.

Tomorrow is the last day and I have 6k words to go. Hence, today will be another busy day. I plan on writing a blog post on my experience very soon so keep your eyes peeled for that one.

Work

Work has been flowing in, which, of course, makes me happy (but gives me less time to blog!). I’ve been commissioned so many fantastic articles – ones that I’m really enjoying working on – which has reminded me of why I love this profession so much. Making a living from writing is a blessing to me, as I know that not many people get to turn what they love doing into a profession. It’s good to remind yourself of these things and to be grateful for everything that you have – and this is something I’m certainly very grateful for.

You can check out my latest article for Aquarius magazine here!

Self-inflicted Facebook ban

I’m writing an article for Friday magazine in Dubai on whether increased Facebook usage makes us miserable. As part of the article, I volunteered to quit the social media network for a week! Anyone who knows me will know that I unfortunately can be guilty of ‘living’ on Facebook, so I think many had doubts I’d be able to manage it. I’m on day five, however, and I can hand on heart say I haven’t missed the damn thing. If anything, it’s made me more aware of how much time I waste on it. I’ve become so much more productive these last few days!

The other thing I’ve recently realised is that a) most of my newsfeed is now full of page posts instead of updates from friends and b) Facebook offers a distorted view of reality. No one writes about the crappy things that are going on in their lives; everything is edited/airbrushed to perfection. So yes, while that photo of you posing with a glass of bubbly in front of your Christmas tree is marvellous, why not also talk about the fact that the tree fell on your head three times while you were trying to decorate it, the dog chewed on the baubles, and the baby was screaming in the corner? 🙂

So, while I will be able to start using it again on Tuesday, I’m going to limit myself. I’m uninstalling the app on my phone, too! #smug

Travel 

A week today I’ll be getting ready to leave for the airport – hello, MUNICH! For those of you who aren’t up to date via Scribble, Snap, Travel (shame on you!), I’ll be in Munich for four days soaking up all the Christmas cheer at the Christmas markets, followed by three days in Salzburg doing, well, pretty much the same! I cannot wait to see my good friend Katja, whom I will be travelling with. I have not seen her since she left Dubai and when we’re together we pretty much moan about everything in our usual sarcastic tone. BEST COMPANY EVER!

That’s all, folks. The summary is: all is well, all is good, and I’m looking forward to Christmas. I have some big announcements coming up in the near future, too, but I’ll save those for later. For now I send you all love and light, and all things bubbly! 

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