G is for Gratitude.
This week I’m grateful for friendship. I’ve been so busy with life, work and publishing my third novel in the past few months that I had forgotten about the joys of spending a whole evening with one of my best friends, Marta, who is also a neighbor and colleague (she’s also an English teacher, but works in another school).
We walked the dog, chatted about life in general and how we felt, exchanged news about family, discussed work-related matters, had a beer and a salad, laughed, and generally had a smashing time!
When I got home, well after midnight, I felt exhilarated and grateful that I had a friend to cheer me up and make me feel valued, even though we hadn’t seen each other for months.
I also made a mental note not to do that again, and to call up other friends I never seem to have time to call.
Sorry we didn’t take any pictures, but I’m sure she’ll crop up again in my Gapp_Weeks, and I’ll make sure you all see what she looks like and how much we laugh when we’re together.
A is for Achievements.
I’ve achieved order in my life. I’ve moved, tidied and organized my study. It was a daunting task, because for the last few months I’ve been piling papers and notes and stuff in general haphazardly, and it wasn’t doing me any good. I had my reasons, end of term, book release and promotion… But it had to stop and fortunately, it has.
According to Feng shui, clutter creates an obstruction and stops the flow of positive energy, so they say. I’m no expert, but I can tell you I feel amazingly pleased and satisfied with my tidiness, and I’m sure clearing the clutter (and there was literally bags of it) makes me feel at peace.
I’ve also been uncluttering other rooms in my house and the front garden, and I’m feeling much lighter, as in unburdened and with a clearer mind, so it’s obviously a good idea!
P: What I’m proud of doing for others.
I’ve written three overdue reviews for three very different books. We all know how wonderful it is to read a novel and how hard it is to write a ‘proper’ review, which says more than ‘I loved it’. There’s nothing wrong with a few words, but I always try to make my reviews longer and more informative which takes time and thought, but as we also know it’s invaluable for authors and very helpful for potential readers.
Here they are: There’s a link to my review on the covers.
A contemporary family drama:
An erotic romance set in London.
A touching memoir.
I’ll be posting more about these books and the authors soon.
I just thought I’d remind you about another post I wrote about why writers should read all sorts of novels including those and out of their comfort zone.
I’ve done lots of ‘little’ favours such as helping colleagues with an exam, another with a CV, posting a promotional post for a fellow writer, supporting other authors on Lucy Shares Lovely Books, (A Facebook page I manage and use to promote other authors), and retweeting motivational tweets and other authors’ work. But as always, I’ve recieved much more back from so many nice people I interact with in the real and virtual world 🙂
P: My Plans for next week:
Only one, and it’s the same as last week’s: I need to finish proof-reading the print copy of my third novel… Here I am with the proof copy.
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Do you want to join in?
RULES (short version, longer explanation above):
Few rules. Life has enough of them!
1- Tell us about your GAPP_Week.
- What are you GRATEFUL for? Beautiful yet simple things which make life wonderful.
- What have you ACHIEVED? Things that you’ve done for yourself .
- What are you PROUD of? Things you’ve done for others.
- What are your PLANS for next week? Doable and simple, realistic steps towards your goals.
2- Pingback to Lucy’s GAPP_Week weekly post on my blog.
3- Add #GAPP_Week to your post title.
If you like, you can:
- Write four sentences, 400 words, or 4,000 words!
- Add pictures.
- Join in every week, or whenever you like.
- Write your post on Monday, or any other day of the week.
- Check out other posts.
- Add the logo to your post or to your page (when it’s available. I’m working on that!)
- Retweet as much as you like!
Are you joining in?
Any suggestions?
Rereading Jane Eyre 