It’s Sunday morning afternoon, and I’m trying to keep a close eye on the weather outside because we’re meant to be having an afternoon of rain and there’s washing on the line. Actually, we’re meant to be having an entire August of rain here in the UK. According to the Independent (I only read the headline), this last week’s saturation of sudden, miserable downpours, is here to stay for the entire thirty-one days. I only mention this because writing this post might get interrupted by me blitzing outside like a made woman to yank in the majority of my wardrobe before it gets soaked.

Besides the weather turning against me this week, things have been going surprisingly well. I started a new job on the 17th August and it feels like I settling in okay, my writing has been on the upturn, and things around the house seem to be on an even keel. There’s just one thing bugging me, and that’s the fact I’m breaking my own rule when it comes to writing. I’ve been tweaking the novel.

Chapter Twenty-Four has been on my to-do list for the past four months and over the weekend I’ve only managed to get the first six hundred words written. The problem is that I keep wanting to redraft it. Those six hundred words are the third attempt at writing that chapter and I try to avoid doing that. If I’m drafting I want to get the whole draft completed before I go back and start tweaking things, otherwise I end up spending too much time dotting ‘i’s and cross ‘t’s. I get disheartened and I don’t finish the chapter. I don’t even know if this version is any better than the others and I’ve stalled again at the six-hundred word mark. This afternoon’s challenge will be to go back and try to get that chapter finished and filed away. If I can do that then I can get on with writing the rest of the book and worry about editing when it comes to it further down the line.

Blog wise, this week has been pretty successful and I’m really happy with the posts that I’ve been putting out. My poem Drawstrings keeps gathering views and it’s lovely to see so many people taking the time to comment. It’s quite a personal poem and it tackles anxiety so there’s always a bit of apprehension for putting up pieces like that, but I think it’s probably one of the best poems that I’ve written.

I’m also trying to set up a weekly writing prompt. On Friday I launched The Friday Fiction Linkup. The challenge for the first week is to take the opening of a story and carry it on in a post on your own blog. If you don’t want to write the full piece then you can comment a paragraph that carries the story on in the comments section below and leave it up to someone else to add the next bit. There don’t seem to have been any takers yet but I’m hoping we’ll get a few people having a go as we get closer to the deadline next Friday.

As well as poems and new link ups, I’ve tried my hand at putting together a post containing seven things I’ve learned in seven years of blogging. Why Am I Even Doing This? – Tips From Seven Years Of Blogging went up last night and stemmed from my own ponderings about whether or not I’ve actually managed to progress or learn anything since I started this blog. I’ve had some lovely comments on it and it would seem that some people have even found my seven tips somewhat useful.

Aside from blogging this week has been one for relaxing and going back to old joys. The pond in the garden is slowly taking shape. The rain is keeping all the plants in the garden lovely and green, and I’ve managed to fill my free time with books and writing rather than housework. I watched Neil Gaiman and Steven Fry’s talk from Hay Festival on Youtube last night and inspired by Chris Riddle’s live drawing even cracked out the paper and pencils to try my hand at a few doodles. Maybe not my best works but I enjoyed drawing them which was something.

Anyway, that’s enough about my week. The Weekend Coffee Share is about the conversation, so how are you all? Anything new going on or is it same old same old? Let me know in the comments below, you know I always love to hear from you. Have you perhaps kicked off something new on your blog? Are you going back to old favourites as well? Did you write something this week that you’re really proud of and want to share with the whole world? Whatever it is, feel free to tell me about it or even leave a link.

Until next week, all the best!