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Random ramblings that will hopefully benefit my writing somehow |
| I have often been told that a blog or diary is one of the greatest assets to a writer, enabling them to note down any random thoughts or ideas that may eventually serve to inspire a piece of writing. This blog will be nothing more (or less) than a splurge of happenings in my life, and the opinions and thoughts that go with it. Hopefully it might help someone with their writing. |
| Why had I never realised that an aimless chat is one of the best ways to start a day? I'm sure that will come as no great revelation to a lot of you (particularly any of the more gossipy women!!), but I have obviously always had other things on my mind first thing in the morning. Yesterday, I met up with a friend for our second Friday-morning cofee (or tea, in her case) and a chat. We talked about nothing of significance, but that is somehow refreshing, and it's amazine what can come out of thoroughly 'pointless' conversation. We have both had similar negative experiences at different points, and that means that we can thoroughly understand where each other is coming from. I love relationships where both parties understand the standpoint of the other to such an extent that there are many things that never need to be said. The above friend and I seem to be like that, my partner and I certainly are, and in business, I am lucky enough to share the same thing with my Dad. Someone said: "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." I hope that everyone has people in their lives for whom that is the case, and where the same is true in reverse. There are few things more powerful than sharing an understanding with someone, and also few things as pleasant. My friend, my partner and my Dad are all capable of acting as sounding boards for my ideas, beliefs, and moans. I can offer the same in return, and if I do nothing else in life, to have done that is worth a lifetime. On a completely different note, my friend showed me a piece of work written by one of her friends. It is excellently written, and very funny, and I would love for it to be seen on here. My friend is going to put this woman in touch with me and hopefully I can get her on here, and then I can link her piece into my blog so that you can all read it. *** My partner and I spent today working on our cat run. We live in the flat above the office, which has its positives and negatives. A major positive is the flat itself: the main section of the building was built in 1728, with Victorian and Edwardian extensions, and an acre of walled garden. One of the downsides is the fact that, with an office below, there are daily visits from assorted delivery drivers. These drivers come flying into the driveway, and skid to a halt on the red gravel outside the front of the building (often leaving dusty skid-marks where the gravel has been kicked away from the soil beneath). The door of our flat leads down a flight of stairs and then out through an opening in the front wall directly onto this driveway. We are therefore more than a little nervous about letting our cats out that way. I don't like the thought of what might happen. What is the solution? Build a suspension bridge to take the cats from the study window onto the wall of the walled garden, then build a pen to take them down the other side. Obvious, isn't it? So, anyway, we've built the bridge (yes, we now have a suspension bridge in our garden - 8 metres long and with three-pairs of cables holding it up and another pair bracing it backwards), and now need to build the run. We've already got foundations, roofing struts, and about 2/3 of the walls complete. Today was spent putting up a few more of the wire panels for the walls, and building the cats' 'house' (basically a small cupboard to give them somewhere sheltered to sit if it is particularly disgusting outside). We've also had to visit Wickes (a DIY/hardware store) to pick up panels for the roof. I don't think we'll quite finish the run tomorrow, but it would be nice. I definitely want it finished by next weekend, because we're going away for a couple of days, and I would love to have them out in their run by then. Whether that will happen or not, I don't know, because we've also got the last of the peas to pick, and the whole of the potatoe patch to dig up. I'm guessing that'll be tomorrow's job. Thinking about it, I'd better go to bed, or I'll never be up early enough to get on with it. Night all. Hx |
| Ellen Glasgow said: “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg - not by smashing it.” Anyone who has ever tried to get a new innovation accepted in the marketplace will know just what an abundance of patience you need sometimes in business. Having spent two-and-a-half years and hundreds of thousands of pounds developing and testing a new product, we've certainly needed patience in the past year. This year has been trying - financial worries never very far away, and the bank manager 'checking up on us' on a regular basis. I came into the company last August and while everyone else was having their budgets cut, I seem to have done nothing but spend money. Re-branding, advertising, telemarketing, networking, trade shows... all costly, but something was needed if we were to turn the company around. Finally, it seems that all of my spending is starting to pay off: we're number one on Google for our key search term, with none of our competitors even within the top 100 pages; we've got two trials already in place from my telemarketing campaign, a roll-out starting and some very promising leads on the way. We've also got a pipeline of potentially half-a-million-pounds-worth of business from the telemarketing campaign. Less than ten thousand of investment for that return would be very nice... if it ever happens. We also got our second online sign-up today, and I made my first sale this week - 18 new sites. Dad's away on holiday, and I would love nothing better than to have a nice set of sales lined up for when he returns. The way this week is going, it looks like we might just do it too. What a relief it would be to be able to take some of that stress away from him. Wouldn't do me any harm, either - I might actually be able to get home before 6 some nights, and could maybe even start thinking about a holiday. Maybe. I've also found out today that the second biggest player in our industry purchased the fourth-largest earlier this week. That's one more competitor out of the market, but more-to-the-point, its the other company who really gave good customer service. With them now owned by one of the less caring ones, we should have little problem in capturing their old clients. I feel slightly sorry for the bloke whose company it was - having built his company up over almost the same duration that ours has been, I can well imagine what it must feel like to have to let it go. It does, however, open up some nice opportunities for us, so I can't feel that sorry for him! Every good day has its bad points, though, and coming in from the garden tonight to find that one of my cats had pissed on the kitchen floor, wasn't exactly wonderful. Neither was then having a tiff with my partner over what to have for tea. I'm on a diet, and between us we'd screwed up what was left for me to have for tea. I said that I didn't mind if I had to break the diet for tonight and he got in a strop about how it's pointless paying a subscription for something if you're not going to stick to it.... Anyway, we're going to break the diet, and he's just shouted four minutes, so I'd better go and help in the kitchen. Have a good evening everyone. |
| I did it! I actually took an afternoon (or at least part of one) off and got down to working on my writing course. I have successfully read all of the administrative paperwork, and read and re-read the first three modules. My first assignment is to be a piece of basic description to allow the tutors to get a feel for how well (or not) I can write already. I'm actually quite excited about writing it, but I'll need to pull together some material first - haven't decided yet what event to write about. On a completely different subject, I really must stop taking work calls in my kitchen. I live above the office (the flat is provided as part of my job), and there is a switchboard phone in my kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, I was on the phone to a colleague in Stirling, and one of my cats suddenly jumped up onto my back, claws and all. I got such a fright that I shouted "Ow!" loudly straight into the phone - god, was I embarassed! Anyway, today I was on the phone to another colleague, in England this time. Immediately before taking the call, I had been heating the contents of a tin of Ambrosia Rice, and had put the tin down for one of my cats to lick out (I know, I know, he could cut himself on the edges). I was in the middle of discussing how to tackle a couple of our potential customers, when I suddenly realised that Gealbhan (the cat in question) was backing around the kitchen with the tin firmly wedged on his head. I grabbed my mobile and took a photo to send to my partner, but in the photo, Gealbhan looked like he was wearing one of those random African hats: a fez, is it? That just made me laugh even harder than I already was, and my poor colleague was on the other end of the phone saying "what did I say?". One of these days I'm not going to be so lucky, and the cats will do something when I've got a client or potential client on the phone. I don't think that giving our clients the impression that there are cats running around the office would necessarily be the best thing for business: our clients aren't to know that I am actually in my house! On that rather pointless note, I think I'll head to bed, as it's currently after 11pm here, and Jinny (another of the cats) gets grumpy if we're not in bed by half-past. Better get a move-on! |
| Well, here I am. I have never kept a blog before, although many of my friends did, while we were at University. I kept a diary off and on from about age 11 to age 18, and there's certainly lots of potential writing material there, but I think it is perhaps better left until I am more experienced at handling delicate material! It may take me a while to get there, but I am hoping that this blog will eventually turn up something that will be of interest to my writing. Perhaps in noting down events in my life, opinions, feelings, quotes and anything else that pops into my head, I will draw together something worth writing about! People often say that we should write about what we know, and I don't suppose that I know anything better than my own life, but it is often difficult to see anything in our lives worth writing about. I am currently on my lunch break, and should be going back to work shortly, but I'm thinking I might take the afternoon off to start my writing course. I work as the Marketing Manager for our family business, and theoretically work four days a week, doing a Writers' Bureau writing course on the fifth day. I started here a year ago today, and in practice tend to work until at least 18:00 (and sometimes after 21:00) all five days, not counting networking meetings in the evenings and at weekends. Doesn't leave much time for writing, and I haven't even managed to start my course yet - I paid about 18 months ago! One thing that I hope to gain from membership here is the impetus to work on my writing. When I'm busy, I find it awfully easy to put off writing, even though it is what I really want to be doing. Hopefully, by being involved in a community of writers, I might find it easier to keep my writing closer to the forefront. I would love nothing more than to write professionally, but I'm a long way from that at the moment, and if I don't get on with it, I'll never get there. One last point before I go: thanks ever so much to whoever it is that upgraded my membership here. You will obviously know who you are, so if you're reading this, I'd just like you to know how very much your gift is appreciated - you might just make the difference between success and failure for one writer! |
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