Author: sandramaggs

This year I mapped out my goals and made a spread sheet to keep me on track. The spread sheet didn’t really work very well because I didn’t really stick to the plan. The only goal which appears to be going to plan was my read 52 books. That one for every week of the year. Well, were not even at the end of October and I’ve reached it. Funny what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it. I wish I could say the same for the other parts of my life which are severely lacking.

Anyway, the books that I’ve read are from all different genres and some of them have surprised me. So I thought I might share them on this site because I’m severely lacking in the blogging area too – in case you didn’t notice. I’m starting with books that you might read this time of year because Halloween is coming up. So watch this space because you’re in for a treat.

It’s 2025, sorry to state the obvious. I don’t have a New Years resolution; they just don’t seem to go the way I plan. What I do have is an excel spreadsheet with a list of achievements for the year. Some are preposterous and some are quite simple. Reading 52 books I can accomplish, it’s the rest of the list which is a concern.

Last year I sought inspiration in everything I did and I’m actually surprised that i found it in the places that you wouldn’t normally expect. I travelled to South East Asia and enjoyed a visit from my son who lives in Australia. I also found a new flat with an extra room for me to use as an office/library and bought a lot of new furniture. So looking back, seeing the things I accomplished, I’m quite please with myself. None of these were resolutions – I guess that’s why.

It’s time to put the past behind me and ease into the future. I’m not making any promises to anyone – including myself, but i think think that this years is going to be just as successful as the last. Here’s hoping anyway!

Well, I found a new place to live after a slightly rushed flat hunt and luckily for me my new home has a second bedroom which I’ve turned into an office/library. It’s like a dream come true and because I finished reading 21 books – which was a goal I set for myself just before Xmas 2023, I’ve bought some more. You can never have too many books, right?

It turned out I had enough money saved to buy a load of new furniture so it’s been a brand new start – almost. A whirlwind visit from my son Brendan who lives in Australia and lots of flat pack has kept me busy for the last few months. Now it’s time to start writing again.

It’s odd where you find inspiration but miraculously, mine came to me via a neighbour when she left a note in my letter box. There entire experience is slightly strange so I’m working on short story, (loosely based on the encounter) for a competition, which is due to close at the end of October. The story is sort of written in my head. So now all I have to do is get it down on paper so I have plenty of time to tweak it enough to engage the reader.

I also have a few DIY projects which I hope to share on here, but for now, it’s time for a well deserved cup of coffee!

And before I knew it May had arrived and was passing me by. Between work, holidays,computer problems, socialising and just enjoying the warmer weather, the year is slowly slipping away. I have no excuse. I could actually add staring at the wall to the list but I don’t really do much of that. All of my plans for the year have slowly come to a grinding halt and no matter how hard I try, there doesn’t appear to be any hope for me.

So, let’s begin again with new plans and a lot of careful time management which I obviously suck at. I guess it’s starts with one of those dreaded lists and the first thing which is right at the top is find a new place to live. That’s right, I’m moving and property hunting is difficult when you have standards. at least there’s just me and my plant. I don’t have to worry about pets, just a load of stuff that I’ve accumulated over the past five years of living here. I can’t believe it’s been that long. I know I can do it because I have before and I’m quite good at the eleventh hour but I don’t want it to get that extreme so I’ve been giving my worldly possessions to charity shops and the more I get rid of, the more I want to get rid of.

Anyway, that’s it for now. There’s loads more going on but I’ll update you another day/month/year?? Hopefully it won’t be the later.

Well, here we are almost at the end of January and although it hasn’t been a hectic month for me I find myself becoming a creature of habit as usual. You would think that being a Libran I would know something about balance – and I don’t mean standing on one leg or walking a tightrope. I mean having the knowledge to understand that life’s all about enjoying lots of different things instead of concentrating on one or two. Don’t get me wrong here, I don’t mean you should spread yourself thin and end up sick because you’re continuously worn out, I mean adding a little variety.

It’s difficult when you have a full time job and you’re trying to read twenty books before you buy another and you have a nasty January cold and you’re planning a volunteering adventure in South East Asia. The list gets longer and when you add the mundane housework into the mix and try to fit in yoga and your friends, well, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. So how do you do it? This is a question I’ve been asking myself for years. How do you maintain a healthy balance in your life?

To be quite honest, I don’t have an answer, but I’m working on it. I made a conscious effort to put everything aside so I could fit a yoga practice in tonight and then, because yoga always inspires me, I sat down to write this post. So just by motivating myself in one way I was motivated to do something else and it’s about time too! This is only my second post for the year and I started this site to promote my writing and myself. So I’m promising myself that I’m not going to have a repeat of last year where I lost interest in just about everything. I did manage a few trips to the seaside though so it wasn’t all bad. This year I’m going to make some big changes in my life but it has to start out small and grow gradually so I achieve my tiny goals and don’t get disheartened. After all, I’m worth it!

It’s been a while but I’m back with gusto. At least I hope I am. I’ve been neglectful and if this website was a child, it would have been taken away by social services long ago. I feel slightly ashamed but I’m hoping for redemption. Not with this one post but with so many yet to come.

2023 was a big year for me. I changed jobs, started a new novel which is just as neglected at this site and tried to spend a lot more time outdoors. The latter clearly stopped me from spending time on the internet but hopefully I can work things out so I don’t repeat the same mistakes.

Anyway, I don’t believe in resolutions, they go by the wayside after about three days but I have made a pledge to myself. I have a growing number of unread novels on my living room floor. I decided a few weeks before Christmas to read at least 20 before I bought any more. Well, my son threw a spanner in the works when he bought me a new book for Christmas so the amount went up by one. The running total at the moment is 18. That’s right, I’ve read three books already and I’m starting the forth tonight. I’m willing to share the titles with you and what I thought of the books but not right now. I’ll space them out to keep me interested in this blog.

For now though, welcome to 2024 and perhaps a more engaged me and I hope the year has started off on a positive note for you.

I’ve always been a reader and I love to read a book that has been used to inspire a movie. I remember years ago I stumbled on something that wasn’t quite right though. I was watching a horror movie that I had already visited in print which had been adapted for television and was surprised at what had been left out of the story. At the end I asked my friends, who had actually seen the movie on the big screen, “what happened to this part?” Apparently that was never in the movie so I began to explore further.

Normally I would pick up the book before watching the movie but there have been the odd occasion when I’ve done the reverse. Sometimes, and this is rare, someone would actually say “that’s not what happened in the book,” and that would inspire me to read the novel. There have been so many stories that are so different to the movies based on them and while I enjoy watching a good film, there’s nothing like the book.

I could give you a list of books that are completely different to the movie inspired by the story but it would be far too long to fit into my humble blog. If you’re like me and you want to explore further, there’s no time like the present. Personally, for me, the book wins out most times but on rare occasions I have preferred the movie – even with the bits missing. So, on this ordinary, rainy Sunday, why not make a start? You might find a new passion or you might think I’m nuts. Either way, you’re going to make the same discovery as me and question, the book or the movie?

Firstly, Happy New Year!

What ever you chose to do last night there’s almost one thing for certain, it involved a resolution. A drunken commitment that was spoken with a slur and went something like, “this year I’m going to bla bla bla……” I don’t think you’re alone. I myself have made many commitments only to fail miserably. You see it all the time. On the first day of the year there are people out jogging in the streets or buying gym memberships or going through their homes searching for stuff they haven’t used because it’s time to get rid of the clutter and maybe even downsize.

I’m one of the guilty who have made countless promises to myself at the beginning of the year and watched them slowly die. Where do all those good intentions go? Is there a place where they all meet in February and debrief? I can picture it now. “I was going to be her healthy eating resolution but she dumped me for a bag of crisps and a bar of chocolate.” It’s really sad.

So, I guess if you’ve already blurted out to your friends what your intentions for 2023 are, it’s going to come back to haunt you over the coming weeks but if you haven’t, now’s the time to ponder what you might like to change in your life. It might be nothing, you might be perfect but if not, before committing, weigh up the difficulties and make sure you can stick it out.

I really don’t have any resolutions. Like I said earlier, I’m a failure. But who knows, I might come up with something such as blogging more or taking up running again. Before I do there’s one thing I’m going to do before I commit and that’s think!

Enjoy 2023.

During lock down I decided to learn some new skills. I had a broken plate and egg cup which I fixed using Kintsugi. I’d never been able to crochet to a pattern before but now I can. I also gilded a mirror which had been on the to do list for about twenty years. I took up painting and watched endless hours of tutorials on YouTube. Now, people actually ask me to paint portraits of their pets. Well, dogs. I haven’t progressed to cats or hamsters but I did paint a nice colourful unicorn for my niece’s daughter. Once someone asked me to paint a portrait of their late father but I didn’t want to insult the family so i had to decline that one. Of course, none of these compare to writing. It’s always been my passion.

Since beginning, I’ve had people ask me to turn them into a character but unless you’re a vampire or you invent time travel, there’s not much hope of getting into anything I write. Occasionally I’ll pull out a story that’s not fantasy but it’s normally a short story for one of the many competitions I’ve never won.

Like everything else in life, all of the hobbies I partake in are a work in progress. Just like this blog. Sometimes I don’t show up for months and then here I am actually writing two posts in a week. But that’s what hobbies are about. They’re something to do in you spare time – if and when you have spare time. Maybe one day I’ll actually be good enough at something to make a real mark out there. Perhaps someone will actually read something and think that it’s not so bad after all. Who knows, but the most important thing with anything you do is to just keep trying and never give up!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.