I know, I know - it's been a while

 Well, almost a year if I'm honest.

It's been quite a full on time and that hasn't abated yet, but it's time to grasp the nettle and just write...

It's a weird kind of coincidence that I started thinking about getting back to this blog and musing about what to write on Saturday morning during ParkRun. Having just opened my blog I see that it's virtually the last thing I wrote about before disappearing without trace on here.

I have been struggling to find time to write especially as I wanted to keep my SubStack going. So, I've decided on a plan... Great what running along the beachfront can do once your lungs get fresh air and the sun hits tour back...

I've been diving off in so many directions that I can't keep up with myself.... So I'm going to simplify things to make life easier and the writing under control.

The SubStack writing was going haywire, with too many different strands. I felt good about getting something written each week, but the stress of juggling with topics and voices was too much. In order to keep it managable I've reverted to writing about just one thing each week. It needed to be something with a common theme where I already had some draft material to fall back on when life gets in the way.

So, I've gone right back to the beginning of the writing I did on this blog about eating the tidying/finances elephant one bite at a time. It's serving more than one purpose in that it's keeping me writing to a schedule so that that get it out there muscle doesn't slacken off. In addition it's keeping the SubStack going, even though I think it's only my loyal family reading it along with a couple of others. This way if I approach growing the membership in a more structured way, the material will already be building up in an archive. Finally, it's making me re-read and re-structure the work so that it's easier to convert into an e-book when I'm done.

It was always my intention to try and collate the ideas into a book. This way I'm writing it, ready for editing and polishing in small steps - one bite at a time you might say!

Now my BIG project is that I want to start a business. Don't know why and don't know why now! The problem is I've got so many different ideas that I'm not sure where to go with it, or even what type of business it's going to be. I'm going to record my progress with it here so that in the same way as the Elephant book, it can grow into another ebook once I've got to the end to see if it was a daft idea or not.

A while ago I did some ghost writing for an organising website which I enjoyed immensely until the owner of the website decided to go all AI and disposed of her human writers. The website is American and so it could be that a UK version would be good. It would allow me to use all the draft material and ideas that I built up as well as organised the content ready for publication. But would it be for subscribers only, or in a newsletter, or as an ebook, or supported by paid for printables? Hmmm...

Then I have a whole lot of '10 Things to Do with/Ways to...' that are in the same saved folder. They could be a good resource, especially if they came with downloadable printables too...

Or perhaps I ought to write some more Phonics materials with downloads for practise or video content to help with early readers....

Then there's the possibility of creating courses in some of the things I've delivered as a schools' consultant or advice on...

You see my dilemma...

I need to do this properly as dabbling about all over the place has only led me to confusion and lots of saved files and folders with valuable, but muddled content. This will mean some research and learning. Time spent now on deciding on platforms, selling, marketing and so on - even though I have no product yet - can only pay off.

There's also all the decluttered stuff from the loft (and if truth be known a lot of the rest of the family's throw outs), waiting to be repurposed and reworked. That would produce a physical product as well as material on making various creations - again with instructions, downloads, patterns, videos.. Ooooh - where to start.

While I'm making these first decisions I need to carry on clearing. Lots of things are selling online through platforms that make the job easy. I've also been listing some of the things I've made perticularly for craft fairs that are just lurking in the loft. I just haven't got around to going to many or organising the stock effectively. Interestingly enough the bags that I've listed online are selling quickly with some people asking if I have more.. perhaps that's a good place to start.

So, enough rambling. Plan of action.

Number One - I need to sit myself down and design a work schedule with set times for concentrating on the start up. Once I've carved up that time I need to go through all the multifarious emails and webpages I've been saving up to read and work from.

Then I'm going to list all the possible businesses and decide which one to pursue. At least with a list, if one doesn't come off I'll have already done the thinking about other ideas to start with something else.

That to me seems a sensible starting point, so on that note, I'll stop rabbitting on and get my head down to some serious planning..

I'll let you know how it goes!

Getting it Sorted - Healthwise!

 Okay, it's been a while - there's reasons for that  - I won't go into all of them. suffice to say that just when I thought I was back on track and ready to go into what the doctor has agreed to (no pills for a while - hooray!) I got shingles so was derailed a bit.

Anyway, I've only got a short (3 month) window to get my blood pressure and cholesterol in check or I've got to seriously consider the doctor's request to take medication. 

It's easier said and done as stress is apparently playing a big role, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

Obviously the first port of call is my weight. Don't get me wrong. I'm not humungously (is that a word) in trouble here. I had been doing well, dropping a stone and a half, when the doctor first put me onto blood pressure tablets. The weight then stopped dead and exercising got more and more difficult due to the side effects of the two tablets we tried! Now I'm off them it's time to really concentrate on slimming down.

Exercise has always done it for me. Particularly running!

Sadly, due to work on our seawall my regular ParkRun exploits sort of ground to a halt as my knees object to running on sand. Along with some time pressures it all got put to one side. Luckily the ParkRun is back to it's usual route, my shingles (let's not go there) have gone and I can grab back my Saturday mornings for this week!

I still get to tennis, but the doctor also wants more strength training. I used to go to dance and martial arts fitness at our local sports club. The class times no longer fit in with what I can do so I was in a bit of limbo. I haven't renewed my membership till I work out if it's worth it just to use the swimming pool - time has been my enemy again there. So, as I had a good time during the pandemic with online classes I've decided to restart those. The package I've picked also has some quick start programmes to try to get you into the swing of it quickly. I did start the initial one until the shingles got in the way. The plan is to begin again at the end of this week when the diary is a bit clearer.

I'll report back on this first element next time - along with my eating plans - I'm still working that one out as the summer is a really busy time for family birthdays and there's just far too many temptations for success. Next week will be a good time to examine how to adjust my willpower there!!!

The other thing that's well and truly slipped has been my making. I haven't got to my spinning group in ages and I've been too tired to concentrate in the evenings. I did manage one or two bits though...

Birthdays mean cards and mini presents so that gave me the kick I needed to get these done...

 

I've also managed to keep up my SubStack contributions. I did think that was going to sink without trace as well as so much other 'stuff'. Then I thought I could keep my weekly posting going by being a bit kinder to myself and readjusting my expectations. For August I'm sticking to a photo and a quick message to go with it to give myself a rest from the pressure of regular longform writing till September.

How's that?

Now I've written it all down I feel like more's been moving forward than I originally thought - hooray!

I'll let you know how it all goes.....