Yes, you’re right, it’s been a
while and a lot has happened. If you know anything about me, you know the last
couple of years have been a trial, but hopefully, I’m getting back a little of
my life.
I used to write these blog
posts every Monday when I was up extra early seeing my other half off for the
week. Now we are both retired, I tend to stop in bed, not being a morning
person. I’m not the best sleeper, and when I wake up, warm but not too warm,
and snuggled, nothing hurts until I move, and those moments can be pure joy,
then the world and all its realities crash in – ah well.
Anyway,
this morning I woke up and thought I’ll write a blog post. This might be long,
so if you’ve started and don’t get to the end, don’t worry. Let’s start with
writing.
Before I went into hospital January 2021 which turned into a 12 week stay, I’d been determined to finish the last of a three-part story all yet unpublished. I still have half a chapter and an epilogue to go. Since coming out of hospital, I’ve written hardly anything, partly because of physical reasons, and partly because my head hasn’t been in the right place and the words wouldn’t come. Getting them now is still hard. This trilogy has the series title – Found Family. Part one is Half Empty, part two, Half Full, and part three, Brimming Over. It’s the story of David and Jonah (though this name may change) and takes them from meeting through the next two years of their lives. I wanted to go beyond the meet to examine the HEA and what comes next. How do they deal with families, secrets, relationships, work, and the everyday stuff? Total words will reach nearly 250K when I’m done, so there’s a hell of a lot of editing to do. In the background, I’ve a few other stories that have patiently been waiting to be written. There’s the footballer and the care worker set in Knott End, the ecological housebuilder and headteacher set in the Hebridian Islands, and the wlw story of the farmer and the wedding dress shop owner, as well as the started but left hanging, follow up stories to My Highland Cowboy, A String of Lights, and a student story which got to 58K before I panicked about writing an enby MC . I did get something done last year. With the help of Sue Jenkins, I put out a re-edited version of While You See a Chance with 3000 extra words.
Now, in these blogs, I’d usually tell you what I’m reading and watching. Last year, watching was easier than reading. In fact, I didn’t read anything in hospital, and it took me a while to get back into it. Now, I’m up to speed. Among my favourites, I’ve especially enjoyed, Ruby Moone’s Winsford Green series, especially the Christmas story, A L Lester’s, Bradfield Trilogy, Josh Lanyon’s Secrets and Scrabble series, Con Riley’s Learning to Love – looking forward to Luke, Charlie Novak’s Roll for Love books, Olivia Waite’s Feminine Pursuits, and anything by Claire Ashton – The Tell Tale was fabulous. I heartily recommend them all as well as anything by Jordan L Hawk and K J Charles.
On the watching front, there
are so many. When you are basically housebound, watching becomes important. I
will start with Call the Midwife regarded as cosy TV, but in reality
anything but. I love it. Even after 12 series, the finale last week was tense.
The characters change but you find new ones to love. My current favourites are
the wonderful Nurse Phyllis Crane – yes, I did cheer when she arrived in the
last episode, the doctor we would all love to have, Dr Turner, and I’m happy
that the actor who plays him, Stephen McGann is as lovely in real life judging
by his twitter feed, and I’ve a soft spot for the newest nun, Sister Frances.
Each series takes a year as its backdrop - they have just done 1967. It is set
in the East End of London. If you’ve never watched, give it a try. I’m thinking
of doing a rewatch because I’ve only one episode left of what I call my Destiel
rewatch.
For
those who don’t know, Destiel is the ship name of Dean, a hunter and Castiel,
an angel from Supernatural – something of an obsession of mine. I’ve
been watching the Destiel episodes and have the last one left—episode 15/18
titled Despair. Spoilers – in this episode Cas declares his love for Dean then
basically dies, though no one really dies in Supernatural. There are two more
episodes left, but I won’t watch them again. If you want to know my view about
the final finale, I blogged and wrote fix it fanfiction about it. Misha
Collins, who played Castiel, is a hero of mine, rather like another hero, Jorts
the cat and his friend Jean. If you’ve never seen Jorts on twitter, find him,
it will make you smile.
So, current
watches - the once a week bunch.
Monday
night is 911. OK yes, there’s a ship I’ve gone down the rabbit hole for.
This one will also break my heart, I’ve no doubt – Buck and Eddie – known as
Buddie. They are firefighters and there’s also a spin off 911-Lone Star with
Rob Lowe. There are LGBTQ+ characters in both and some rather ridiculous events.
Tuesday
is a new find, The Gilded Age – think Upstairs and Downstairs,
and Downton Abbey set among the fashionable in 1880s New York. Oh the
sets and the frocks.
Wednesday
is This is Going to Hurt. You can see it all but it’s a hard watch at
times. It follows a NHS doctor back in 2006, stars Ben Whishaw as Adam and is
based on the diaries of a real doctor. Adam isn’t particularly likeable at
times, and I wonder if his relationship with his boyfriend survived – his
medical career didn’t.
Thursday
is This is Us. I watched series 1 and 2 then caught up with 3, 4 and the
start of 5 in hospital. S5 is currently out. I have a love hate relationship
with it but I like many of the characters and so I’ll see it through to the end
of the last series. Watching Randall’s story of being a black child adopted by
white parents, has helped with my WIP as this is David’s story, which in turn
was inspired by the story of a biracial athlete who was adopted and had done a
documentary on searching for his birth mother.
Friday
is the cosy mystery series Death in Paradise. I’ve loved these shows for
years and although I sometimes get the murderer, I don’t often get the how. I
love the Agatha Christie style endings getting all the suspects together.
And
finally, the weekend watches are Star Trek-Discovery and the above Call
the Midwife, now finished. I have been a Star Trek fan for years and
although I find Michael annoying, I love the rest.
So,
this is me. I hope you found something of interest. Happy writing, reading and
watching to anyone who made it to the end.
