For the whole of last week, I had the house to myself. Woohoo! Having lived with people/a person my entire life, a week of solitude is an absolute treat. The effect it has comes in distinct stages. What's that? You want to know what they are? Well, if you absolutely insist, here we go...
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| The Giddy Stage |
- Firstly there's the giddy stage. It's marked by a feeling of 'woohoo, I can do anything I want'. It's akin to being a teenager whose parents go on holiday and leave you in charge of the house. This is, clearly, a mad response to have as a mortgage-owning adult but it's still the first one I have.
- Then there's the pampering stage. I gather my best PJs, any nice toiletries left from my birthday, and dust off my yoga mat. The week will herald the start of a whole new me. One that'll last thirty-six hours top.
- The binge-watching stage comes next. The lack of needing to compromise is a heady drug. No one's sitting at the end of the sofa saying, 'naaah,' at the streaming menu when I spot something that looks good. I realise I can watch anything I like, so I do. The liberation is intense! I hoover up all the TV shows I've wanted to watch for ages.
- Then it's the feral stage. Forget mealtimes, I eat when I'm hungry. At my desk, in my car, or most excitingly, in bed. There are crumbs and spills all over the place, but this is why I chose a colourfully patterned duvet cover.
- Finally and most excitingly is the home improvement stage. The solitude is coming to an end and you'll be back to compromising yourself silly in no time. This is when it's time to mark the experience. I like to make small but clear changes to the home. This time, for example, I got round to putting photos of my nieces and nephs into matching frames. They're impractically lined up on the kitchen island, making it impossible to use the surface for food preparation or eating, but still, I've made my mark. I've also, in slightly bigger interior design news, bought a chair for the bedroom. I've been meaning to do it for ages and now it's done. Without the alone time, it'd still be on a vague 'To Do But Probably Won't list.
So my lovely week of solitude is over. But it wasn't all photo frames, feral eating, and nightly boxsets. Oh no, get a load of this...
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| Bulging and robust |
Isn't great when you don't have to force yourself to write? When you sit at your desk and every single excellent idea falls out of your brain and onto the page? I reckon 99.99% of the time, that is NOT the case. But last week? Yeah, last week was amazing. It was DEFINITELY because I had the house to myself. I could devote all my time to my new WIP without distractions like convos, shared meals, or having to attend to basic cleanliness. The upshot is I now have a bulging and robust planning notebook, filled with brilliant ideas. Book Five, or Leeza McAuliffe Book Three, is taking shape. I've also - and this is hot off the press because it literally just happened - started Chapter One! Can you believe it? I'm having a ball right now. You see, this is the fun part. The bit where there are no wrong answers and all the stress is months away. I've laid the foundations and am building the first layer of bricks above the ground. What an absolute thrill!
Shirley on Netflix is a decent use of your time. Telling the story of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and subsequently the first woman to run for President, it's a pacy biopic that depicts her journey well. All sorts of modern day parallels can be made, natch, but it's a compelling story nonetheless. In binge-watching news, I hoovered up the first two series of Loot, on Apple TV. Maya Rudolph plays the ex-wife of a billionaire tech-bro (lolz) who has to work in the real world after her divorce. Funny, funny funny, and real-life parallels once again. Finally, I've started reading Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron. It's a YA murder mystery, and I'm loving it. As a YA writer, I know that the Young Adult tag should never put Old Adults off. This book is sarky and smart, and so far, full of intrigue and suspense. It's a hard recommend from me.
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| Hello Lover! Nuts and seeds, bound together with sticky stuff, with chocolate on top. |
Once again, my eating habits are heavily influenced by Insta. Being a woman my age, means I'm bombarded with posts about collagen, bone-health, and supplements. I'm also shown a lot of recipes involving nuts. Well, I'm not made of stone so last week I succumbed. I mixed cashews, whole almonds, flaked almonds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds, with maple syrup. (Well the recipe said maple syrup but I used agave syrup. To-may-toes/to-mah-toes.) I mixed all that together, spread it in a compact chunky sheet on a baking tray, and baked for thirty minutes. When it was cool, l sliced it into slabs and drizzled them with melted dark chocolate. It was as easy as anything and properly nice. Kind of sneakily healthy - which we all know is the best kind of healthy. The recipe is here if you're on Insta.
Out and About
It's been a week of hibernation, to be honest. A walk first thing, up to my desk to bash on the keys, then my nightly feed of boxset brilliance. I did pick up my brother from the station. And there was an Asda shop too. That's been about it. When I'm full of the joys of writing, and filling my head with the fictional world I've created, I'm not bothered in the slightest about being anywhere else. Imaginations are great, aren't they?!
Have a lovely week, folks.
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