Good evening, it's Sunday again and time for another round of what should I write about this week. This week I decided to focus on doing nothing, well as close to nothing as I can get.
Sometimes doing nothing is good for us.
Taking a complete step back from everything that keeps us busy or that we consider productive, gives us time to just be. We spend much of our lives rushing from one thing to the next, worrying about deadlines, appointments, bus times and schedules. We worry about meeting quotas, fulfilling promises and not falling behind.
Often we are afraid to stop because that space gives us time to think, and if you are a chronic overthinker like me, it can be a daunting prospect to actually create time and space to let those thoughts in. Sometimes, just sometimes, your brain surprises you though and doesn't cram the empty time and space with unnecessary thoughts. It allows you to just be in the moment, to think only about what you are doing or not doing.
I think doing this purposefully is mindfulness.
I don't know if that is what I did over the weekend or whether I just decided enough was enough. I had booked time out in case I needed it after my vaccination so I made the most of it. After the week daughter and I had, it was needed on both sides. So, we baked, we played Minecraft and Roblox, we fussed the dogs and we created characters in our make-believe world, and that was pretty much it for the weekend.
Now it's Sunday evening and I feel relaxed and ready to face a new week with its fresh and reoccurring challenges.
Another theme of this week has been feedback, both giving and receiving. I posted the first chapter of The Scourge of the Demon Hunters on here during the week and received some really positive feedback. I also posted an extract from a chapter on Twitter that I had worked hard on. I gathered some very positive feedback from both and it helped lift my mood and encouraged me to keep going through what had been a trying week. This is especially true when coupled with the excellent and detailed comments and suggestions from my beta/proofreader/editor/friend pgdevlim.
Of course, like many things in life feedback goes both ways. If you are asking people to support and encourage you, it is only fair and right to offer the same support to others. I have been lucky enough to have an opportunity to do that this week.
I'm currently in possession of an advanced reader copy of Bathed in the Blood of Ravens by R L Parker. The idea is to read and provide an honest review on its release date. I'm only a few chapters in but already I'm invested in the story and love the main character. It is certainly one to keep an eye out for (it is released on June 25).
Work on The Scourge of the Demon Hunters continues, and yes, if you follow me on Twitter you would have seen me tearing my hair out over writing a first kiss. It really did take a lot of time and energy to get the scene to where I was happy with it. I can only hope that my readers like it as much as I do.
In the meantime, if you are looking for something to read, I recommend PG Devlim's Vampire's Key or absolutely anything by The Secret Submissive (both are definitely 18+ though). For a taste of my writing head to https://vocal.media/authors/cathylouise-ablett and if you like anything that you read please consider buying me a coffee and helping keep the creativity fuelled for another week.