Being Thankful, No Matter the Situation

Camping at Lowburn reminded me of some of our camps around Australia.

I’m so thankful for this lifestyle.

“Use your smile to change the world. Don’t let the world change your smile.” – Unknown

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Holiday Ends and Friendship Beginnings Continue

Chilled out and relaxed. Stretched and challenged. Books read. Days sitting in the sun. Tanned and burnt bodies. Sand between the toes. And one little dog with separation anxiety.

The excitement and thrill of going away on holiday is beginning to fade as thoughts of returning home begin to surface.

I’m luckier than most. I take my home on holiday with me because I live in my motorhome. But for two weeks I’ve been able to travel and explore with new friends Sharon and Adrienne. Two years ago we didn’t know each other.

What we have in common is a love of travel, and travel in motorhomes in particular. We each have our own motorhome and fix our own meals (or go out). We plan our tomorrow over a few wines.

We’ve had lots of laughs and a few honest tears. And in two days time we will go our separate ways again. But we’ll meet up again at the end of January. It turns out we’re all going to the same festival.

It’s so cool when begin a new friendship and find out what you have in common.

Writing
I took a break for a couple of days from writing, but the new year has begun with a new book.
I rolled over in that half sleep, half wake state, to hold my I hubby’s hand as we used to do in the night when we lay and listened to the surf.
He’d passed away in July 2020. And I realised a small book needed to be written.

Background Photo
The end of State Highway 67 is at the Kohaihai DOC Camp. The start/end of the Heaphy Track. Home of a pretty lagoon and beach with rolling sea.

The Best Use of My Time

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot” – Michael Altshuler

The end of year is looming at break kneck speed. Smell the roses? Put up a Christmas tree? Hurrying past the people in our lives, all but yelling “get out of my way”. Don’t these people know how busy we are?

And yet…

Once it was important to make time for family and friends. Not to rush to the next place. The next job. The next…whatever has our attention.

At the start of each year, do you set goals? Possible covering all the important areas of life:

Career and business
Finances
Education
Relationships
Health and fitness
Personal growth
Spiritual growth

When was the last time these were reviewed?
How are these goals tracking?

What if we squeezed ten minutes to take a look, now.

Celebrate the wins.

What if the order of these goals were reversed?

My goals have been partially realised, but I’ve been wondering what the outcome would have been if I’d begun with spirituality, personal growth etc.

A long time ago, we decided to get ready for Christmas a week early. And go camping.
Hardly anyone else was wherever we went. They were jostling shoulders with the maddening crowds while we soaked in the sun, read a book, played board games and splashed in the water, enjoy a campfire. Carefree. No hustle. No hassle. We returned home relaxed and ready to enjoy Christmas and our Christmas traditions.

Take time to chill out and celebrate this year’s wins. Its been a tough one very few people would have known to plan for. That makes all you have achieved special.

Go you!

Keep Going. Never Quit. You’ve Got This

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” — Richard Bach

Nanowrimo is done and dusted for another year. How did you go?

This year is the first time I didn’t complete my goal and I’ve been feeling a bit down and cross with myself.

Then I looked at what I had accomplished. A manuscript that needs work. Thirty thousand plus words. But thirty thousand words more than if I hadn’t worked on the script when I could.

Life happens.

I’m looking at what I do have and what I can do with it. So I continue to write. Showing up each planned writing day to write 500 plus words (Fast 500).

Build on the habit you began with Nanowrimo. Write each day, in whatever time you have.

If your in the same boat, you’re not alone. Work on consistently adding words, until there is a manuscript to edit.

Be an amateur who doesn’t quit. You’ve got this, my writing friend. Have a fabulous day.

Background photo is one of the beautiful sunsets we had while the Motorhome Babes gathered near Oxford, New Zealand.

Picked up the Key To The Door

Moved into my new home on wheels and I am Loving it. Thank you Karon and the team at RV Supercenter, Christchurch

Its been a stressful week getting it sorted and I keep reminding myself how fortunate I am. It will seem so easy when viewd in a tear from now.

I haven’t been getting many words written, and keep going off on a tangent. My mind wouldn’t settle. It was most likely stress. Or, was I allowing myself an excuse to procrastinate?

Homeless

My dear friends Gerard and Femmy, I’m so grateful for your hospitality while I was homeless. Even havong to share your company with an Irishman turned out to be fun. He happened to be on his way from a MMM project in the top of the south to Karitane near the bottom of the south.

MMM

MMM refurbish and help maintain Christian churches, camps and schools. Check them out on mmm dot org if your interested in volunteering your skills, or seeking their help.

Road Trip

A group of motorhome Babes are getting together tomorrow to plan a North Island tour. How awesome is that? Yep, I’m going. We’re departing the South Island the last weekend in January ’22.

Writing

And finally, we’re down to the truth. I’m settling in to the daily routine in a different way. Cracked my daily goal of 1500 words but didn’t reach my catch up goal of 5k. I’ll keep chipping away at it. There’s two sides to every story. I realised I needed to include the other side. It’s been an interesting insight.

Sleep deprivation and PTSD have both made very interesting research.

Nanowrimo Day 6

Quote for Today (From Nano 2015)

“Begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in editing.” — Will Self

Nanowrimo:
Day 6
Keeping the momentum going. And today there’s a bonus. A wedding. A real live, real life one. And it was beautiful and heartfelt and joyful. Ah, the romantic in me sighs.

The background photo – a pretty rhododendron while on our walk.

Favorite Quote – Nanowrimo Instagram Challenge

Todays challenge is favorite quote, but this would have to be one of the hardest challenges. I LOVE quotes. They often form the basis of what I post. My favorite quote changes as I grow and stretch along my journey.
The quote that I have lived my life by is “And it came to pass.”
No matter what happens in our life, it will either come to pass or the way we look at the challenge will come to pass.
When we change under the pressure of what burdens us, we move forward. I confess, sometimes the pressure was on for sometime before I was able to move forward.

Quote for Today
“And it came to pass.” – ubiquitous biblical quote.

Meditation
Whatever is troubling you, hold it out. Think about the worst scenario. Now think about the best possible outcome. Whatever happens, you will find a way to cope as you accept this thing has happened or, will happen or may happen. Hand it over to God. Stand in his amazing presence. You are not walking alone. It may take time. Acceptance is the first hurdle.

Writing
I have found a name for my fictitious town. Volcano Harbour and the closest city Te Taone (Maori for The City). I’m hoping this will be an acceptable name as Maori give the name of a place as a precious gift.

Nanowrimo is nearly here. Excitement and fear are building among writers. Look at it this way. If you don’t make the fifty thousand word challenge, whatever you do write is more than you started with. One time my story stopped at thirty two thousand words and I discovered it was a novella, not a full blown story. My characters refused to budge, no matter how hard I tried.

The background photo is from a wall of T L Travers Mary Poppins, from when we visited Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.

Character Flaw – Nanowrimo Instagram Challenge

Todays challenge is about truth. We are all flawed and fall short of the person we want to be.
It’s hard for a writer to give their hero flaws. Or to give the villian a save the cat moment (a humane and kind gesture).
But perfect people don’t exist in real life and would be boring to read about.
Thank goodness for The Negative Trait Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

Quote for Today
“Stop trying to ‘fix’ yourself; you’re NOT broken! You are perfectly imperfect and powerful beyond measure.” – Steve Maraboli

Meditation
Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. Eccl 7:20

Writing Today
I woke up with the plot for Book 2 of The Cosy Mystery Trilogy, but it was several hour later when I arrived early for yoga, before I could scribble it down.

Nanowrimo is nearly here. It isn’t too late to think about writing a book. My first book was written with a rough idea, no plot whatsoever.
Authors show no one their first draft. It’s always the 2nd, 3rd or 22nd before its good enough to share.
But you can’t edit a blank page, whether it’s a manuscript or life.

The background photo is of the pretty Azalea’s in the Millbrook Reserve, Christchurch.

Be very kind to you today.

Your Favorite WordNanowrimo Instagram Challenge

Love
Love is one of my favorite words. Wear the garment of love because it goes with everything else you wear.

Love is the answer to so many questions, even the big ones like world peace and caring for our environment.

Todays quote is the essence of every successful love story.

Quote for Today
“I saw that you were perfect and I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more.” – Angelita Lim

Meditation
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. … Love never ends.”

Writing Today
Exploring brother – sister relationships, one I never had the privilege of having.

Nanowrimo is digital for the second year in a row. Prior to that, writing groups met locally.

Overheard dialogue – Nanowrimo Instagram Challenge

To overhear dialogue, one needs to be out and about, listening for ebb and flow. Conversation is interrupted. Laughter begins before the sentence is finished.

Some people have unique things, analogies, old adages said in a modern way. Write them down for later use (carry a notebook or use the one on your phone). Um, it’s a bit creepy to listen in on some conversations. This is for research.

A caveat here. Remember those who listen at keyholes hear nothing good about themselves. Be discerning and wise about what you record.

Quote for Today
“Well done is better than well said.” Old Addage

Write down all your great ideas when they arrive. And then stop talking about writing and actually do it.

Writing Today
Someone is sleeping in the Vicars office at the church. And someone is sleeping in Mrs Browns campervan. We finally find out who.

Todays background photo is blossom springing forth from the tree trunk.

Nanowrimo has volunteers all over the world who support writers in their area. Check their website for your closest local. With COVID everything is online again this year.