This week has been full of celebrations and it’s just the start of more to come.
Guy Fawkes Night
Every year, in the UK, on 5 November we celebrate Guy Fawkes night. Often, the fireworks take place on the closest weekend to enable people to attend.
Traditionally, people create a ‘guy’. This is like a scarecrow and will be thrown onto the bonfire. Then fireworks are set off.
This was Aria’s first firework display and I was so pleased that she loves them as much as the rest of the family.
The story behind this celebration is a little odd. Guy Fawkes was a Catholic that was trying to blow up Parliament and the King in hopes that a new Catholic leader would take the throne. His plot was discovered and Guy Fawkes and his accomplices were tortured and killed. It’s rather strange that this has become an annual celebration.
My birthday
My birthday is on 7th. This year, we didn’t really do much to celebrate. It wasn’t a special birthday and there is so much going on at the moment it doesn’t feel important.
I was happy to get a cake and some flowers. My husband bought me a lovely warm coat which is exactly what I wanted. Some people sent me money, so I shall try and treat myself to something nice.
Festival of Light – Diwali
Noah has been learning about India and Diwali at school. We went to the Library to borrow a book about festivals and we searched the internet. He drew the flag, traditional Indian dress, we looked at animals like tigers and elephants. He made an elephant out of a milk bottle.
I got to visit Noah at school and saw all the activities they were doing in celebration of the festival which is all about light over coming darkness, and good over evil. It also involves fireworks.
Diwali has a much better story than Guy Fawkes Night but the date shifts each year depending on the Hindu Lunar calendar. This year it was on 7 November, although it is celebrated for 5 days.
I decided Diwali was a good excuse to treat myself to a nice candle. I got the Neom Travel size in Complete Bliss for £16.00.
Although, it is described as being travel size, I think it is a decent size candle. It filled the room with a gorgeous scent even before it had been lit. I love this candle and I shall look forward to using it all winter. I’m now tempted to buy more by Neom – their products are a high quality and never disappoint.
The little one had me up bright and early but thankfully has breast fed. I probably should have tried making a start on NaNo even if it was just writing on my phone, instead I played Dragon Mania. There is still plenty more time today after the school run and house work… We’ll see…
10:22pm
Day one and I typed 939 words (daily goal is 834 words). I didn’t get to work on my manuscript until the kids were in bed. Plus, the hubby was out tonight so it was first time since Aria was born that I’ve I done it without help.
As I never found time to prepare, I also crammed in some character development and outlined the first three chapters. I wish I had a full novel outline but something is better than nothing.
I’m pretty impressed with myself. Today has been a good day.
Friday, 2nd November 2018
11:00pm
My husband was put this evening so I bathed and got the little ones ready for bed before I could make a start on my writing at 9:30pm. I’m pleased with the progress I made as I beat my daily goal of 830, with 1,326 words.
I am really enjoying writing it and could keep going if I didn’t have responsibilities. I need my sleep so I can keep up with the little ones tomorrow so that’s me done for today but I’m looking forward to writing more tomorrow.
Saturday, 3rd November 2018
10:00pm
Today has been a busy day. We visited family in the morning. Then, in the afternoon I got Aria to sleep and was able to support Noah with his homework (researching India and the Festival of Light). Then we visited more family and returned home late.
Aria has only just gone to sleep and I can barely keep my eyes open. I’m frustrated I did not get to write today but we did a lot of family stuff today which is good for the soul.
Sunday, 4th November 2018
10:00pm
Today has been a great day. Not only did I get some time to write this afternoon but I also got to write more this evening. I managed to add 2,276 words to my manuscript.
Not only that, but we also watched the fireworks together as a family. It’s been a great day!
Monday, 5th November 2018
11:57am
I’ve had a busy morning with Aria. We went to a group and I got her weighed. She is now nodding off so I can get some lunch. I’m hoping to beat my word count from yesterday so if I get a chance to write before the school run, I will.
9:00pm
Famous last words… After, I typed the above, Aria woke up and went on a mad feeding frenzy where she kept emptying her bottles and crying for more. How could I say no when I’ve been desperate for her to get an appetite.
Now, she has finally fallen asleep, I can barely keep my eyes open. It’s an early night for me – sorry NaNo.
Tuesday, 6th November 2018
10:08pm
Today, has been nonstop but since my husband returned from work I have managed to have a bath and add 1,141 words to my project.
Wednesday, 7th November 2018 (My birthday)
1:00pm
It’s my birthday, although I’m not really celebrating it. This morning, I managed to hit my daily word count before lunch.
9:40pm
After my husband cooking me one of my favourite meals, eating cake and opening presents, we got the kids to bed and now I am back to writing and what a great way to end week one with 2,003 words.
Reflecting on week 1
7 days in and I’ve already written a total of 7,790 words. I am really pleased with the start I have made towards my target of 25,000. If I continue like this, I can easily achieve my goal.
In fact, I am only 3,876 words behind in achieving the NaNo goal of 50,000 words. To achieve that I need to write 1,759 words per day which I’ve proven I can do…
If you like this post, then you might like this one about the project I am working on for NaNoWriMo November 2018 or my NaNoWriMo diary post for Week Two.
Facebook suggested that I could nominate a charity for my birthday and they would donate £2. I can then share it with friends and family on Facebook.
One of my best friends did this in September and I thought it was a great idea. As we’ve grown older we’ve stopped celebrating our birthdays or asking for gifts so I couldn’t see the harm in supporting a charity.
I don’t know if anyone will donate as I have never done anything like this before but I chose Save The Orangutans as my charity as I think it is so sad that their homes are being destroyed for palm oil and that they are now an endangered species.
Earlier this year, I wrote an article on Organgutans for Ginger Parrot. You can click here to read it. I want to write for them again but life has been a little crazy since then.
We ended September by attending a Christening. I couldn’t stay past dinner time as Aria suffers with bad colic roughly between 5pm and 9pm. I was just starting to get a good handle on it and I was going to write an article to share my tips on how to tackle colic based on what worked for us. However, the post never got finished as we faced a new challenge in October.
On Monday, 1st October, I took Aria for her 8 week vaccinations but the nurse wouldn’t give her the jab. She insisted Aria see a GP and made her an appointment for suspected jaundice. That was the beginning of a number of appointments leading to her being placed under Pediatric Assessment.
To this day, I am still unable to see the yellow that all the professionals can identify in her left eye. It resulted in a number of tests and hospital visits which I will write about soon. It has been a very testing time. I’m just thankful that it was never serious enough to be sent to another hospital or to require an overnight stay (yet). We have still not had a diagnosis and are waiting for several results. Her next assessment is mid November.
NaNoWriMo Preparation
As a result of the above, I am not full of confidence for NaNo. I barely managed to write my plot outline. I feel like life is fighting against my will to write. But, my children will always come first, especially concerning their health.
As always, I’ll give it a go because I strongly believe any progress, no matter how small, is better than no progress at all.
My wishes for November
I hope that Noah has a lovely birthday party. That Aria starts gaining weight and feeding better. I’d love to achieve NaNo. Most of all, I wish for good health for my family. And, it would be nice to go to a firework display.
It stands for National Novel Writing Month. The event started with a November challenge to write 50k words in 30 days.
Now, the event runs on other months of the year and you can set different word count goals.
How to get started
Firstly, you will need to create an account on NaNoWriMo. Here you can record your progress and if you complete the challenge you get a certificate. There are also other benefits (keep reading to find out more).
One benefit are the free participant images that you can use to show you are taking part on social media.
Story idea
It’s best to have an idea of what story you will be working on before you start. Coming up with ideas is never a problem for me. Staying focussed on one is where I struggle – I’m confident NaNo will help fix that.
I asked Instagram and Twitter which project they thought I should work on as I was couldn’t decide.
Set it in stone
Update your NaNo account with details about the project you have chosen.
Write a blurb (the text on the back of a book) and, if you have already started the project, include a sample (I.e. first chapter). You can update this at any point during/after the challenge.
I like to use Canva to quickly make a simple book cover image. It’s also great for making social media pictures.
Outline
NaNo can be intense and it can really help if you know where your story is going. An outline is a brief overall plot for your story and helps you stay on track. It can also be useful at the end for writing your synopsis.
I shall be using the snowflake tool in Wavemaker to do this.
Character Development
It can help to know who your main characters are and their names. Especially, if like me, naming your characters takes time.
Wherever your story is set there will be an element of world building. You need to consider where they live, the type of homes and people, jobs, education and how it is run.
If you are creating a new world then this will need more thought as you will need to consider everything from species to habitats and vegetation.
My story is set in a post-apocalyptic environment and therefore needs a lot of world building as the nature of our current state has changed drastically.
The setting of your story can be as vivid and diverse as any character. Places have history and can change a lot over time.
Software
By signing up on NaNo you will gain access to some great deals just for writers and some of these are for writing software.
This year, I have chosen to use Dabble Writer again as I love how easy it is to use and it keeps track of my word count so updating NaNo is a breeze.
Click here for my review of this product. I’ll review it again at the end of NaNo as I understand it’s even better now. It is free to trial during November for NaNo!
Writing Buddies/Camp NaNo
Sometimes they run a There are online camps for NaNo participants. It will group you with people that have similar goals or projects. Then you keep each other motivated as the challenge isn’t easy. I loved this during the July challenge but sadly it looks as if camp is running for November.
If you get a group that’s not very active, share how you are doing on social media. Writing doesn’t have to be a lonely business. Connect. Other writers are out there and want to see you succeed. You can do it.
Write
The charm of NaNo is that it gets you in the habit of writing. Try to write every day. Every bit you do is progress.
If you don’t hit your goal, keep writing. If you only achieve 20k, that’s still 20k more than when you started. Don’t quit. Writers don’t quit.
November is notoriously a busy month for me and if it wasn’t for NaNo I’d likely not get any writing done. I never shy away from the challenge and one year I will achieve… maybe, this year.
Good luck
Let me know if you are taking the challenge and wish to be NaNo buddies.
Links to articles regarding my previous attempt are:
I love makeup and could spend a small fortune if I had money to burn. Here are some beauty products I am lusting after that have a Halloween vibe:
Lily Lolo
I’ve lusted after Lily Lolo’s black mineral eye shadow called WitchyPoo for years but never got around to buying it. With a name like that, it has to be the Halloween feels winner! RRP £6.50
This natural beauty brand is proud to be chemical free and cruelty free.
Medusa makeup
I love their Witch Lash mascara, RRP $12.00, but if you look through their site you’ll find plenty of Halloween theme names for their products, like Kiss Me Deadly lip gloss or Blue Moon lipstick.
This brand with it’s bold colours is vegan and cruelty free.
Vapour Beauty
The highlighters have a Halloween feel to their names like Halo or best of all Trick Stick. RRP $20.00. I already love their Atmosphere foundation and Illusionist concealer.
This brand delivers high performance and quality organic products.
Jane Iredale
I choose this one not for the products name but for what it does. Just Kissed – Lip and Cheek Stain comes in three shades. This lip stain magically transform into a unique shade just for you (without harmful chemicals). Choose pink, peach or red.
This brand is clean, green and cruelty free organic brand.
My Halloween makeup
I think together they’d make a great evening look. Perhaps, by next year, I’ll have bought it and be in a position where I am confident to leave the little ones with a baby sitter and go out for the night.
Going green, I was reluctant to try natural deodorants for fear that they might not work. But, I didn’t need to worry as there are some great alternatives to the chemical ridden formulas.
If you want to smell fresh without compromising your health, check out these natural deodorants:
If you would prefer a spray deodorant, I personally love Salt of the Earth. I like the handy travel size bottle for my handbag (and a great way to test the product). I also really like the pink one (Lavender & Vanilla) and the turquoise one (Melon & Cucumber).
When you first spray it, it feels different to mainstream deodorants that tend to coat your armpit in a thick white powder. This spray is wet. It doesn’t take long to dry and it keeps me fresh all day without any harmful ingredients. As you can see it made it into my hospital bag (click here to see what else I packed).
To be more green, you can buy refills for the deodorant and save money – I’ve not done this yet. I love that they’ve thought about how to reduce waste with their product too.
I bought the Under Arm Deodorant Wipes (see picture above) for my hospital bag. I thought they would enable me to freshen up if I didn’t have access to a bath/shower during my stay. However, I was in and out of the hospital within a few hours of birth (click here for my labour story).
However, after arriving home, I hit a spell where my little one was very fussy and very difficult to put down. I found I couldn’t get even five minutes to jump in the shower. The deodorant wipes gave me a chance to freshen up first thing so I could leave having a shower until later when she was more settled.
Grumpy Skin is one of my favourite bloggers as she is so honest when she reviews products. Below is a link to her article on how she got on using Funkless Deodorant. I think you will enjoy how she tells it like it is.
Check out the link below to find out if this product was a winner or a loser… and subscribe to her blog for more frank reviews.
You know the no plastic kick is getting serious when I start buying deodorant that comes in a glass jar. I’m no stranger to ~natural~ deodorants. I jumped on the no aluminum train about ten years ago when I started using the crystal. Now I think that the aluminum fears have pretty shaky evidence. Which […]
Last month I did #PitMad. This Twitter event is where writers tweet a pitch for their book. Interested editors/agents like the tweet to request a submission. Writers then check the submission guidelines and submit if they are interested.Twitters can support writers by retweeting the pitch – but must not like (only agents/editors can like).
The event took place on 6 Sept. Pitches must fit in one tweet and be for a complete and polished manuscript. You can tweet three times for each novel within the 24h period. The tweet can be the same pitch or different. You can pitch more than one novel during the event.
There were loads of amazing pitches. I easily could have given into the voices of doubt in my head and been intimidated. But, if I don’t try new things, I’ll never learn. If I shy away from putting myself out there then I’ll never achieve my dream of being published. It was scary but I’m pleased I did it.
I only joined the event during the final hours. If I were to participate again in future, I’d spread my three tweets out throughout the day.
I noticed many writers compared their book to two titles already in the market. I’ve never done this so it might be good for future thought.
Request
I did get a like! Getting a like was very exciting, I felt as if I had finally made it and my husband had to remind me that although they’ve requested I submit, it doesn’t mean they will sign me.
In fact, turns out, just because they requested my manuscript doesn’t mean I have to submit to them. After looking at their website, I choose not to submit…
Why? The publisher is a new print launching in the Fall. That’s not a problem. Their website was incomplete and their facebook page had only been active for three weeks. I could have ignored all this if I could find out about the agents background in publishing but there is nothing. No history.
My heart sank as I realised, this might not be the big break I had thought it was. I’ll keep my eye on Burchette and Ferguson but until I know more about who is behind the company and what they can offer me, I will leave it for now.
The future
The next #PitMad is on 6 Dec and I’d love to hear your tips so I am better prepared next time. Have you done #PitMad? Can I see your pitch? How do you decide what book is most like yours? Do you think I was right to ignore my request?
I’d like to do more Twitter events. I wish there was somewhere I could go to find out about events taking place. Do you know of such a place?
I’ve had a total of 10 The Pip Boxes! At the end of this blog, you will see links to reviews and first impressions of the content. Each month you are guaranteed 5 full size products from cruelty free brands.
You would be surprised the number of brands that mislead consumers into believing they are cruelty free and are not. I was heartbroken when I discovered that my makeup bag was full of products by brands that invest in testing on animals. I had to replace key items and it wasn’t easy.
Once, I started thinking more about the products I was using, I also started taking an interest in organic products, natural ingredients and being chemical free – but that’s another post.
Leaping Bunny
Cruelty free brands may have a leaping bunny on their product, however, some brands, will posts a ‘rabbit’ style logo next to the ingredients to make it look cruelty free when actually they are not. If it’s not the trademark leaping bunny, it might not be bunny friendly!
Animal testing by law
Another thing brands do is give a statement like “Our products are cruelty free and never tested on animals, unless required by law.” This basically means, they do test their products on animals as they are selling in a country that requires them to by law. China has a law requiring products to be tested on animals before they can be sold, therefore, if a brand is selling in China, they are selling out on being cruelty free. A lot of well known high street and designer brands are guilty of this.
Parent company ethics
Some cruelty free brands, have parent companies that are not cruelty free. If you are against animal testing, you are likely to not want to fund a company that is profiting a company that tests on animals. Sometimes, small cruelty free brands will get bought out to expand their business but at the cost of their ethics.
Why get a The Pip Box subscription?
The Pip Box will only send you products by cruelty free brands – these companies need to be fully compliant in that. Many popular beauty subscription boxes will include brands that are not cruelty free so if this is something you feel strongly about, cancel those subscriptions and subscribe to pip.
If you are ethics are not enough, here are some more reasons:
Donation to charity – 50p from each box goes to an animal friendly charity
Reward points – each subscription or referral earns you reward points which can be traded in for money off your next box
And, discovering new and established brands.
Here are the highlights:
Here are links to my first impressions and reviews of The Pip Box when I was a subscriber. I’ve also tried really hard to choose a favourite product each month.
Most of the items in this box are still waiting to be used (false lashes, tan accelerator, makeup eraser) but I did like the eye pencil by La Ritzy which after a long time not wearing eyeliner it really made an impact. I didn’t get on with the BB powder which was too dark for me.
I loved the toner by Dermadeli and used it up before the end of the month. The travel size was small enough to fit in my purse and during the heat wave (and being heavily pregnant), I used it to freshen up and it felt so good. I also was a fan of the bonus gift – all natural chewing gum by Chewsy. Bonus gifts are added into boxes in addition to the five items promised.
The Spring edit was probably my least favourite as I was so excited about the nail kit but just didn’t get on with it. However, I did love the Bloomtown Botanical infused oil. I use it as a perfume and find it very calming.
Again, I loved all the products in this edit but the item that truly stood out was the hand moisturizer by Balade En Provence which came in a pretty apple shaped pot. It is actually in my daughter’s nursery as I think it looks so pretty. I’m planning on buying it for my son’s teacher at the end of the school year.
For this month’s edit, I love the Dr Botanicals Tropical Invigorating Cream. This cream not only smelt lush but also came in a truly beautiful tube. I was also really pleased with the other products and began wearing the lipstick every day. It also got me to try a foot balm stick which I never would have thought of buying but really loved.
Oh my, I still crave JOM Organic candy today. This stuff was lovely and I almost bought a box full when I was pregnant. It is tricky to buy in the UK unless you want to buy in bulk which is why I’ve not bought this again (yet). I loved all the products in this box.
It has to be Medusa’s Make-up mascara that I loved, however, it isn’t an easy brand to buy in the UK. I loved almost everything in this box – I just wasn’t keen on the body scrub but I’ve never been a major fan of scrubs.
It’s hard to choose my as I used them all up… except the vegan chocolate. The Bloomtown lip balm gave a gorgeous red tint and was very hydrating. I also used the face steam by Freyaluna when I had a cold and it made me feel so much better – I need to repurchase this before flu season hits.
This was my first box and included a green clay mask by one of my top brand’s Akamuti. I now often buy their body oils too. I also really liked all the other products in my box and can honestly say there wasn’t one that didn’t get used up.
B.Forrester is author of The Kingston Chronicles an urban fantasy novel. She believes in magic and mythical beings and often blogs about writing, her projects and poetry.
If you follow my blog you will know that my debut novel (looking for representation) is about a teenager discovering she is a mermaid. I think I have always had a personal love with mermaids ever since going to the cinema and seeing Disney’s Ariel. I was also a water baby, swimming independently from a young age.
When I saw B had written an article on mermaids, I had to read it. I wasn’t disappointed. She has clearly been reading up on the history of mermaids and her article is on Greek Mythology (and includes her poem Siren’s Song). Perhaps this is a teaser of what might be coming in her next published release…
I am always looking for suitable articles to share with my readers. Please check out my post about what I look for and feel free to comment and encourage me to check out your content.
It has been a very testing time. I’m just thankful that it was never serious enough to be sent to another hospital or to require an overnight stay (yet). We have still not had a diagnosis and are waiting for several results. Her next assessment is mid November.
