In for a penny in for a pound.

What the heck does this mean?  It's an English colloquium, which tumbles out of our mouth from time to time.  It sums up what I hope to do in the coming year.  For example, over many years I have ‘tinkled’ at being a writer.  I self-published a children’s religious book some 30+ years ago and have stored somewhere a series of ‘toys coming to life’ stories that were sent to various publishers but never made the grade.  Since then ‘life’ got in the way of my becoming an author but the desire to write and be published has never left me.  Over that time I have used a journal to vent frustrations, to record significant events, to jot down new learnings, to write anything and everything that my pen leads me to write – some of it, no doubt, neither use nor ornament (another colloquium – meaning rubbish!).

Also during that time, I wrote articles for the local church magazine, entered writing competitions, attended writing workshops, had articles published in a magazine for professional counsellors, and won a prize for a ‘letter to the editor’ of a health magazine.  In 2001-2003 I was a founder member of the Paphos Writers Group, Cyprus and a booklet of our work entitled ‘Write On’ was published in aid of the local Children’s hospital raising over £500.  In 2004-2006 I was a member of the Association of Christian Writers group situated in the Lake District, UK and from 2010 I formed the ‘Writer’s Block’ group in Staffordshire, which gets together in blocks of six fortnightly sessions in the spring and autumn each year.  These groups have been invaluable in keeping up with something that seems to be a natural part of who I am.  Writing exercises and seeing your work in print encourages you to keep doing more - learning new words, punctuation, requirements of competition organisers or publishers, talking the talk of the writing business.  It can be a bit of an obsession rather than a hobby which I experienced during my recent ’60 day challenge’ blog, but the enthusiasm grows and grows so I guess eventually it must blossom or bear fruit.  Where we put our positive energies, so shall our rewards be. 

I started blogging two years ago, I’m not really a ‘techie’ but like to try to keep up to date with all the younger folk – texting, Facebook, twitter, blogs etc.  Being a secretary in my earlier life I find typing is still very much also a part of who I am and what I am able to do comfortably.  Using my faithful laptop is the only time I get to whiz words out on a ‘qwerty’ keyboard as iPads/tablets don’t cut mustard really (3^rd colloquium – means not as good as).

So, NOW is the time for (this) brown fox to jump over the lazy dog.  (For those of you who are not typists – that sentence has every letter of the alphabet in).  Now I have reached retirement I will pursue my writing career more keenly.  I will continue to blog, enter short story competitions, be a member of Writer’s Block group, attend workshops and conferences and, best of all, allow myself the dream that has followed me for so very long – to go to Skyros, a Greek island, for a Writer’s holiday. 

Having written 27 thousand words of a novel some years back, it is time for this to be aired, readjusted, added to, completed, edited etc. ready to present to publishers.  If anyone out there has connections with other authors please do ask them to be in touch so that I can glean inspiration and direction.  If you don’t hear from me for some time, do contact me to see if I’m still working on it and not just sitting at the computer staring into space!  I am clearing the decks of commitments and pairing down my coffee shop visits in order to be - in for a penny in for a pound.