Dear Diary,
The outside reminds me of a scene from a Gothic novel. It is still relatively dark, for it is not 7am yet (even if, because I have been up since 5:10am, I feel entitled to daylight by now!). However, one must be a blind man to miss the thick fog, gathered at the invisible line; the spot where the field stops and makes way for a row of some fifty, sixty, seventy trees. Their branches, pointy and preachy, are bare, and could easily be mistaken for bayonets. Trees: the forever guardians of this planet. N.B. The ‘Dear Diary’ posts go up in the afternoon, but I start writing (and aim to finish) them in the morning.
In other news, we are now officially less than a week away from March. When did that happen? Time lord, if you exist, please be merciful. Grant humankind a greater amount of time. I cannot teach you how and, anyway, I have no doubt you are limitlessly powerful. Alternatively, press the Pause button for, what to you, would only be a mere second but to us may be eternity. Thinking about the inevitable and fast approaching end of the first quarter of this year is a scary business. Therefore, I suppress that urge and fight the army of questions and deadlines that threaten my sanity. They are throwing rocks at me and nagging. “Me! Look at me. Hello! Hi there…Me! You are supposed to be caring for me, remember? Gosh.”.
Related to 1st March peeking around the corner, I have now seen the first signs of spring. This renders мартениците (more on that in next week’s ‘Dear Diary’), which my mum had sent me and I received earlier in the week, somewhat obsolete. But wear them I will. May. I should aim to remove them from my hand in May. Before we know it, the clocks will also be going forward, springing us into action or towards the Easter Egg Hunts seeing as Easter is in the fourth week of March. Easter chocolate will be everywhere we turn, and with that, many people’s hopes of shedding the extra padding of winter gone. Poof! But we live once! Keep that in mind … (and the Time Lord may dismiss my prayers!)
The Week’s Round-Up
The first Module of my Creative Writing Course is now finished, including Assignment One which will be read by the tutor, with feedback to be provided hopefully by next weekend. It is the shortest assignment that we will have throughout the three months, but it was ages before I was ready yesterday (not simply due to the fact that I went over the word limit…). I suspect the majority of you have completed a Creative Writing Course, so I will not flood you with my novice impressions, but it suffices to say it has been wonderful to meet other like-minded people, share one’s own work and read other people’s, and have a community of writers to converse with.
The positive trend continued in Writing Club this Friday where, perhaps due to the fact we did not do any poetry, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I even plucked up the courage to ask fellow writers to read two pieces of Flash Fiction I did last year and give me feedback. The writing prompts were on point, and we had a right laugh at the outcomes!
I visited the local bookshop and had a chat with the lovely owner. I self-imposed a book buying ban in December 2021 to make a dent in the collection of unread books on my shelves during 2022; this meant no books from the small shop on the High Street. I succeeded to an extent, but 2023 was horrific and rapidly ensured I counterbalanced any progress from 2022 with, well, zero progress. I decided I had to see the lady again and, on the one hand, add to my library and, on the other, help her out financially.
To wrap up this rather busy week (I was on holiday, hence the ‘extra’ opportunities to do stuff!), I went out for a birthday meal. The food was great, and the staff were generous with their attention. I might have indulged in the red grape juice a little too keenly…
The Little Things
The young man, who leads Writing Club, surprised us on Friday by bringing us pocket-sized notebooks to choose from and take with us. Who can resist purple and, to go with the scenery further below, I had to get my hands on yellow, too!
The rain let up yesterday (hallelujah!) – for how long no one knows, even the weather people, however hard they try to convince us otherwise, but we will enjoy it regardless – and a timid sunshine wrestled with the fluffy white cloud for a taste of glory!