1st May 2020

News to catch up on from the first day of May.

What’s been happening? Much of the same, sadly. But, we have now apparently passed the peak and deaths should now be on the decline.

Let’s hope so.

In the last few days Natasha and I have kept up with our keep fit routine with a Salsa Type dance workout in the garden and a yoga one too. Both were such fun! I’d love to do them again.

Good news yesterday – mum got her mince! She was missing some from her recent food box. This time she was able to make beefburgers.

And cheery news! A new review for Mr Sagittarius from Author Adele Marie Park:

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5.0 out of 5 stars A poetic journey through life Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2020 Verified Purchase Shaped with poems and beautiful pictures this book is a must-read and keep. This novel is the kind you will go back to again and again to dip into and read your favourites. A fantastic book, the author has delivered with engaging characters and beautiful prose. Well done.

Available for free on kindle unlimited and to buy in kindle and paperback: http://mybook.to/MrSagittarius

I tuned into Heena Rathore Pardesi’s webinar yesterday. She was sharing creative writing tips. Here’s the link to the Facebook Live link:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=303009274015853&ref=watch_permalink

It inspired me – which is just what I need right now as my eldest daughter has finished beta editing the second book in my Curse of Time series. Even so, I am struggling with motivation. Fortunately, some of Heena’s ideas really spoke to me. Particularly, the one about trying new fonts , using a notebook, or other inspiring ways to motivate yourself. This is particularly true if like me you have a huge, daunting project ahead of you. The second in a series is so hard to write.

Heena’s blog links:

https://crazycatwriter.com/blog/

https://thereadingbud.com/

I thought that perhaps I should find a writing quote to inspire me before I start editing. I opened my little book which is called Inspiration For Writers and opened it at a random page.

This is what greeted me:;

^{I am only really alive when I am writing – Tennessee Williams.}

Wow, that quote couldn’t be more appropriate!

Who did I feature next in my Isolation for Writers Series?

Fiona Philips: https://mjmallon.com/2020/05/01/isolation-for-writers-guest-post-fiona-phillips-coronavirus-covid19-isolation-writers/

In her words Fiona is: ‘an author, playwright and copywriter living in North Wales, just over the border from Chester. For years I worked in an office environment until motherhood and my husband’s career moves tugged me into self-employment, dumped me onto a new creative path, and turned my dream career into a reality. My debut fantasy novel, Haven Wakes, was published by Burning Chair in 2019 and I’m currently working on the follow-up, as yet untitled novel due to be published in 2020.’

2^nd May

Today, would have been Deepings Literary Festival Read Dating event. Sadly, it was cancelled due to Coronavirus. Linda Hill kindly shared a blog post about all the authors who would have attended this event, including yours truly.

https://lindasbookbag.com/2020/05/02/not-the-deepings-literary-festival-read-dating-2nd-may-2020/

That was really thoughtful of her.

I shared a poem for Colleen’s poetry challenge.

https://mjmallon.com/2020/05/01/colleens-2020-weekly-tanka-tuesday-poetry-challenge-no-175-themeprompt-shadorma-covid19-coronavirus/

I wrote two Shadorma inspired by our experience during COVID19. They reflect my growing sense of sadness and unease at the magnitude of deaths throughout the world. It’s so sad and frightening. In the UK alone over 26,000 people have died to date. And all the while here in Cambridge the sun has shone practically every single day of Lockdown. A couple days ago, we had some rain and even a short burst of thunder and lightning. And yet, immediately the sun returned.

How strange. Life goes on, sunshine, showers and thunderstorms but such tragedy remains.

Every now and then Gina pops downstairs to ask me to take her photo for her Instagram page. Today, we did a photo shoot with her new ponytail hair piece! It turned out great, will share that soon.

We went for a walk with hubby and Tasha down by the river in the evening. A car speeded past then turned tail and went past us again. Bit strange, we were glad to have a 6 foot bloke with us – hubby! Two trains sped past too. We talked about how we should walk in nature more often. There were such beautiful views. But I didn’t bring my camera, or phone. Sometimes, it is nice just to experience life without any interruptions.

On the way back, bats were following us down the pathway. Tasha and I were screeching, hubby didn’t blink an eyelid. He didn’t mind them. In fact, I swear he likes them!

We survived. Lol.

Hope you are surviving lockdown too.

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