As the Bird flies http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/ Travel, Writing & Other Journeys en-GB http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/let-love-rule-spicy-extract Let Love Rule: Bonus (Spicy) Extract <p><em>Below you can read a spicy extract from my romance <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook">Let Love Rule</a>, a spicy work rivals to lovers with fake-dating and grumpy(her)/sunshine(him). This is actually the first time that Mina and Charlie have some "fun" together and they do so while hiding in a cloakroom at his mother's 70th birthday party. Oops. So, yes, it's spicy and therefore contains explicit language so with this in mind maybe don't read at work or in public!</em></p><p><em>And you can read the rest of the scene and the story in <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Let Love Rule, available on Amazon</a>.</em></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/pexels-lalesh-aldarwish-147634_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/pexels-lalesh-aldarwish-147634_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>It’s only when my jaw starts to ache and I can no longer ignore the thick ridge of his erection against my stomach that I stop kissing Charlie and look down between us. My hands rush to the belt he’s wearing but I get nowhere before he’s covering my fingers with his.</p><p>“No,” he says and he sounds as out of breath as I am, my chest heaving.</p><p>“What do you mean, no?”</p><p>“I mean, you first.”</p><p>I keep my fingers tucked into his belt as I pull back further so he can see my expression, or rather, my deep and pouty scowl.</p><p>“I don’t think you know how this happens with me,” I say. “I like to stay in charge.”</p><p>Charlie gives me another head-tilted-to-the-side curious puppy look. “Is that right?”</p><p>“Yes, very much so.” I feel my jaw tense. He better not fight me on this. I always stay in charge with sex.</p><p>Charlie’s questioning look lingers for a second or two longer but then it disappears completely and a more thoughtful, possibly scheming expression is there. He is a bit firmer now when his hands try to move mine away from his belt and because I don’t expect it, I’m not quick enough to stop him. I’m also stunned once he starts speaking.</p><p>“Then tell me to drop to my knees. Tell me to push your dress up to your hips. Tell me to pull your tights and underwear down, and to worship your pussy with my mouth.”</p><p><em>Jesus fucking Christ and all his fucking disciples.</em></p><p>Charlie Atkinson has a filthy mouth, and I don’t know if it’s that discovery or the words themselves, but the ache between my legs intensifies and it completely eclipses any desire I had to make Charlie see stars with my hand or my mouth.</p><p>I also want to see if he’s as dirty as the words he just spoke. And furthermore, I need him to know that two can play this game.</p><p>“Fine.” I sound grumpy about it even though I am anything but. I take my hands away from his and place them on his shoulders. “On your knees, Charlie,” I say, applying a little pressure.</p><p>He doesn’t just go down, he drops, like gravity has just increased tenfold, and he does so with a smile. The same smile he has in a meeting when someone asks him a question. The same smile he has when one of his team cracks an invariably terrible joke. The same smile he has when he’s handing out cups of tea from the round he just made. All that is to say, Charlie is happily falling to his knees for me.</p><p>And as I stare down at him, watching his pupils dilate and darken his azure eyes, I am feeling very happy to have him there.</p><p>“Pull my dress up,” I order and he does. But it’s not a perfunctory action, instead his hands are practically languid in their motion, starting at my knees and sliding up the front of my legs until he reaches the hem of my dress. Then his palms glide up the inside of my thighs, caressing the sensitive skin there until his fingers touch my suspenders and they freeze.</p><p>“Wait a minute…” he says and drops his head to look at where his hands are. “No fucking way.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You’re wearing stockings.” He pulls my dress up further to reveal what I, of course, already know.</p><p>“Yes,” I say slowly, a little sardonically.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I’m just going to stare at these for a minute or two because they are so fucking sexy.”</p><p>“You like stockings?”</p><p>“It’s the suspenders really, but fuck, yes, I do.” One of his hands falls to grip his erection which is making a tent of his trousers. Never in a million years did I think I would find watching Charlie manhandle his hard-on sexy, but here I am, wanting it to be my hand gripping his length.</p><p>“These stay on,” he says decisively.</p><p>I huff out a short laugh, but then fall very silent when his hands continue their ascent up my legs, meandering side to side on each leg as if they want to touch every square inch of my skin.</p><p>“Hurry up,” I demand, impatiently and it comes out so snappily, I almost feel guilty but then I feel his mouth, his warm, wet mouth, give my inner thigh a long, lingering kiss and I have to focus on my knees not buckling completely.</p><p>“Want. To. Take. My. Time,” he says in between more travelling kisses.</p><p>I glance at the door. “Someone could come knocking at any moment,” I tell him, although it’s not the real reason I’m urging him on.</p><p>“Fuck ‘em,” he says but it’s muffled as his mouth is pressed into the giving flesh of my inner thigh, mere centimetres away from where I really want him.</p><p>“Charlie,” I say and my tone is stern enough that he lifts his head and looks up at me. “Fuck me with your mouth already.”</p><p>His eyes are astonishingly dark now as he holds my dress up with one hand and then traces the outline of my underwear with the fingers of his other hand.</p><p>“Push my knickers to the side,” I tell him.</p><p>He does.</p><p>“Do you see how wet I am already?” I ask.</p><p>He swallows before answering, “Yes.”</p><p>“That’s where I want you. That’s where I want your tongue.”</p><p>“Yes,” he hisses again.</p><p>I look down at him and decide to help out by holding my dress up for him. “So, what are you waiting for?”</p><p>Charlie drops his gaze and seems to stare at my pussy for a few seconds. I’m about to grab his head and pull it to my cunt, but he finally does it by himself.</p><p>His tongue is tentative as it finds the tip of my clit which I know is swollen and peeking out of my outer labia, ready and needy for attention. Eventually, his licks have a bit more pressure and alternate in their movement, but he’s still hesitant and hasn’t found a rhythm that is working for me. Nor do I believe it’s working for him.</p><p>I’m about to grip his head and guide him to where I really want him but he pulls back, rests on his heels and starts talking, his hands held up.</p><p>“So, here’s the thing,” he begins.</p><p>“What?” I ask and I feel my eyes widening in a questioning glare.</p><p>“It’s been a long time since I’ve done this.”</p><p>“Gave head?”</p><p>“No, but rather head that doesn’t have a literal head.” He offers me a wonky grin that would almost be adorable if I wasn’t standing here with my pussy hanging out and my desire beginning to waver.</p><p>“Ah.”</p><p>“And I was feeling so enthusiastic a moment ago. I really, really wanted to go down on you. I still do, <em>really</em> want to, but I am… struggling a bit with what to actually do now I’m… here.” His lips are still glistening with me and I see the sparkle in his eyes. I can’t be angry about this interruption. He’s effectively asking me to help him pleasure me.</p><p>Trying my hardest to stop glowering at him, I force a quick smile and decide to spin this situation in a way that could work for us both.</p><p>“Do you want me to tell you what to do, Charlie?” I bring my hand down and comb my fingers through his hair. Its silkiness surprises me.</p><p>“Yes,” he says, an eager look on his face as he rises again on his knees. “Please.”</p><p>And for once I don’t hate his eagerness, his puppy dog expression, or the way he licks his lips despite them being stretched into a smile.</p><p>“Do you see my clit, Charlie?”</p><p>“Yes, I think so.”</p><p>“Lick it. Lick it slowly, like it’s an ice cream.”</p><p>“I do like ice cream,” he says, because of course he does.</p><p>“Do it, Charlie. Make me feel good.”</p><p>That snaps him out of making silly comments. He brings his mouth to my pussy and licks at the tip of my clitoris, once, twice and then again and again. It resuscitates my arousal and I am pleased that he is doing exactly what I asked, but still, I need more.</p><p>“That’s good, Charlie, really good,” I say and his hum at the praise is something that I mentally store away somewhere, not least because of how good the vibration of the noise feels on my clit. “Now use your tongue to explore more of me. And use your hands to pull my lips apart. Look at me.”</p><p>“You’re beautiful,” he says after I feel him stretch me open. I flinch hearing the compliment, like I always do. I’m normally the one dishing out praise and flattery.</p><p>“Get back to work, Charlie.” I place my hand on the back of his head and push him closer, lower.</p><p>Still using long, liberal licks, his tongue probes my inner labia and then my entrance, I feel myself clench involuntarily. “Put your tongue inside me. I want to feel you there.”</p><p>“Fuck, you taste so good,” he tells me before quickly complying.</p><p>I am maybe even more surprised than him that I don’t have a reply. What I do have is warmth in my cheeks and the feeling that my insides are melting, and it’s not because he is somehow managing to curl his tongue up and get so close, so, so close to my G spot.</p><p>“Your tongue feels so good inside me,” I say rather than acknowledge the praise he gave me. If Charlie was someone I saw myself having more than a night of fun with, I would tell him that I don’t like that, that I prefer to be the one to dish out compliments. But this is not something we are going to ever do again so there’s no need to be pedantic.</p><p>He mumbles an incomprehensible reply and I grip the back of his head with a bit more force. His hair really is so silky smooth and soft; I wonder what shampoo he uses.</p><p>“That’s good,” I tell him as he pierces me again with his tongue, the nub of his nose rubbing against my clit. “So good, Charlie, stay there a bit longer.”</p><p>It doesn’t surprise me that he obeys that order just as quickly and diligently as he did each one before. I wasn’t lying when I said I like to be in control in bed, and I know it really, really shouldn’t be the case but there is something especially invigorating and empowering that I am dishing out orders to a man and that it’s a man that is working so hard to please me.</p><p>“Back to my clit, Charlie,” I say and my voice doesn’t sound as level as it did a moment ago, but he doesn’t seem to notice as he wastes no time moving up to take my clit in his mouth.</p><p>“Suck on it,” I say and my knees buckle when he does. It seems to shock him because he comes off me, right when I really don’t want him to.</p><p>“Are you okay?” he asks looking up at me. His hair is a mess because of the way my hands have been clawing through it and his lips still glisten with my arousal. I nod at him as I bring a finger to his mouth and trace the length of his bottom lip from left to right.</p><p>“I’m fine,” I say and then holding his eye contact I suck that finger into my mouth and close my eyes as I taste myself. When my eyes open, he’s palming himself through the material of his trousers again.</p><p>“Want me to take care of that?” I ask him.</p><p>He looks down. “No, I want you to come. I want to feel you come on my mouth.”</p><p><em>Fuck. Such a pretty, dirty mouth.</em></p><p>“Then back to it. Suck on my clit again, then lick it. Lick all around it too. Up and down. Side to side. Swirl your clever little tongue all around it.”</p><p>I’m rewarded by another vibrating noise by Charlie, this time it’s more like a groan and I look down and see while his eyes are closed, eyelashes fluttering, his hand is now rubbing up and down his erection with a steady rhythm. I kick my foot to knock his hand off himself.</p><p>“What the—” He pulls back again.</p><p>“I’ll look after that later,” I say with a serious voice. Then I open my legs a little wider and rock my hips forward. “I need you to focus on making me come, Charlie.”</p><p>When I act like this in bed, especially with a new lover, it’s always a risk. A risk that they’ll not want to be bossed around. A risk that they will not take kindly to being deprived their own pleasure or orgasm. A risk that they will feel less motivated to follow my orders. But if Charlie feels any of these things, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he grips my hips and yanks my pussy to his face.</p><p>“Yes, Charlie,” I say when he finds my clit again with his tongue. “More, Charlie.” I gasp as he licks lower and sticks his tongue in my entrance where I squeeze him. “Such a good boy, Charlie,” I tell him when he goes back to my clit again and uses his tongue to circle it in a steady rhythm that takes me so, so, so close…</p><p>“Put two fingers inside me,” I order and while there’s a little fumbling as he does so, once they’re inside me I don’t even have to tell him to curl them towards my front wall. And when they’re there, stroking my clit from the inside, I finally cross that bridge that takes me to my inevitable orgasm. Now it’s not a question of if, it’s a matter of when.</p><p>“Deeper, deeper,” I order.</p><p>“Lick slower,” I demand.</p><p>“More pressure, more Charlie.” I moan as I reach behind me for something, anything to support myself, but instead I end up yanking a handful of coats off their hangers and onto the floor.</p><p>“Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop,” I mutter before I come.</p><p>My orgasm starts slowly, leisurely, like it thinks it has all the time in the world and that I am not locked in a cloakroom at a seventieth birthday party. But fuck me, it feels good. I feel it detonate in my clit then expand through my cunt, up through my stomach and down my thighs. I feel it shake my legs and harden my nipples to uncomfortable points inside my lace bra. I feel it flush my cheeks and curl my toes. It washes over me again and again and again until it starts to fade. But even the aftershocks alter my breathing, and have me biting down on my index finger so I don’t make too much noise.</p><p>And Charlie… Charlie follows my orders to a T. Lapping away at my clit, not stopping until I’m gripping his head with one hand and pushing him away because suddenly, I’m so sensitive there, too sensitive.</p><p>“Fuck,” I gasp as my breath starts to come back, my stomach still rising and falling quickly.</p><p>“Good?” he asks, once again resting back on his knees.</p><p>I think about pulling him up and kissing my taste off his lips, mouth and chin. I think about having him stand up and pushing him against the door while I yank his trousers down and take his hard cock all the way down my throat.</p><p>But I don’t do any of that. Instead, I drop to my knees in front of him and reach for his face. I kiss the words I want to say into his mouth. <em>Thank you</em>. And <em>that was incredible</em>. And <em>I haven’t come like that in months</em>. And <em>thank you again</em>. Because I’m not about to say anything like that to him. Besides, I don’t want to talk. I want to see him come just as hard as I did.</p><p>*****</p><p><em>Read the rest of the story in <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Let Love Rule, available on Amazon.</a></em></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/let-love-rule-extract Let Love Rule: Read the First Two Chapters <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/beige-minimal-aesthetic-photo-collage_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/beige-minimal-aesthetic-photo-collage_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>Below is an opening extract from my latest spicy romance, <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook">Let Love Rule</a>. It's a work rivals to lovers, fake-dating romance with grumpy(her)/sunshine(him). The story starts in the creative agency where Mina and Charlie both work and this extract contains references to chronic illness (namely migraine disease), there are some sexist and racist microaggressions and there is swearing throughout. Go gently if any of these things are triggering for you.</p><p>And if you want to read more, <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Let Love Rule is available on Amazon here</a>!</p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Chapter One</strong></span></p><p><strong><em>Bring It On</em></strong></p><p><strong>Mina</strong></p><p>I swear some human beings are walking, talking, breathing migraine attack triggers.</p><p>I mean it. I hand-on-heart believe that if someone in a white coat researched it, they’d find that certain personality types and certain characteristics are guaranteed to induce migraine attacks, and the worst kind. The kind of migraine attacks that come on hard and fast, blurring my vision, stabbing a dagger into one side of my head, and leaving my stomach lurching with the need to empty itself.</p><p>And if some doctors were ever to research this, I would be able to point them to two people who should top their list of likely specimens to prove this theory.</p><p>One of these people, these <em>men</em> - because of course, they’re men - is my boss Garrett Hardcastle, a skinny, white Yorkshireman in his late forties who still believes that British indie music is going to make an imminent and stunning comeback. That’s the only reason I can believe he dresses the way he does with those ball-smuggling skinny jeans and one-size-too-small plaid shirts that cling unflatteringly to a beer belly I’m sure he can’t see in the mirror when he goes to check his spiky mullet that was no doubt ironic in a cool way in 2007, but now it just looks like his hairdresser forgets to cut the back of his hair. But I can’t blame his dated aesthetic for his migraine-inducing skills. No, that’s all down to his voice and the words that voice makes. His tone is more of a drone, like it’s an effort to breathe let alone use that air to form words, and what he says is rarely insightful or inspiring, which is unfortunate considering he’s the Executive Creative Director of HNO, the advertising agency I work at. The only time I ever see him partially animated is when he’s sunken three or more beers and snorted a line or two of cocaine at the after-work drinks that are only officially supposed to happen Friday evenings but are a near-nightly occurrence.</p><p>Some may think I’m being harsh, saying that a man who has a borderline coke addiction and has spent the last fifteen years listening to The Libertines on repeat could cause a migraine attack, but it makes a lot of sense to me. If the beautiful, delicious and life-affirming creations that are cheese and chocolate can cause migraine attacks, then why not a pot-bellied Liam Gallagher lookalike whose voice makes Ringo Starr’s sound invigorating.</p><p>The second human migraine-trigger in this room is much easier to grasp as such. Charlie Atkinson is loud, he’s camp, he’s smiley, he’s chatty and he wears very, very colourful clothes. I’m talking Blue Peter presenter-in-the-Seventies colourful. They are bright and rarely match, and with his blond hair and bright blue eyes he could easily be the token white man in a United Colors of Benneton advert. Furthermore, Charlie perpetually looks and smells like he literally just stepped out of the most refreshing shower, no matter the time of day. He’s all clean and fresh and annoying as fuck. This may not be offensive to others but the shower in my new flat currently doesn’t even have hot water so hell, yes, freshly-showered, sweet-smelling people with pores that are opened and clean are very triggering to me right now.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “The thing about this campaign, right…” Garrett drones on, “is that we missed our chance with them two years ago. Okay? We fucked it. Totally fucked it. Wasn’t my doing, of course,” he holds his hands up but it’s so slow it’s like they each weigh ten kilograms, which I know isn’t true because that retro 80s Casio watch with a calculator keyboard is no Rolex. “I wasn’t on the pitch. But I know about it. <em>Everybody</em> knows about it. It’s a HNO Hall of Shame legend. This is why we have to get the fuckers next week.”</p><p>The fuckers he’s talking about are our new potential clients, Status Hotel &amp; Venues, a luxury hotel brand famous for their period properties and design hotels. I assume we won’t be calling them “the fuckers” to their faces when we pitch to them next week.</p><p><em>Shit. Next week.</em></p><p>“Next week?” I ask to confirm it, but I know my voice betrays the panic and dismay I feel at the prospect of pulling a pitch together so quickly, on top of all the other work I already have. I press my lips together as if that will undo the question and the emotions it conveys. There’s a reason my nickname in the office is Moana – and no, it’s not pronounced like the Disney film - and while I don’t care, really I don’t, I do try to avoid feeding the beasts who call me that.</p><p>“Next week. Friday,” Garrett confirms, his voice low and dull. He picks up his phone and starts tapping and scrolling with a deep sigh. “The good news is our tissue meeting was a big success, they’ve already done the target audience research for us and that plus the sales and brand goals that Jessica put together are heading to your Inboxes right now.”</p><p>Right on cue, my phone buzzes in my pocket.</p><p>“Should be totally doable,” Charlie says. After I offer the ceiling a quick eye roll, I glare at him. Clearly having a very different reaction, he leans forward in his chair, elbows on the table, and clasps his hands together as if watching Garrett scrolling on his phone is the most interesting thing in the world. “I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”</p><p>“When have you ever done it before?” I challenge Charlie.</p><p>“Remember that Herbal Essences pitch last summer? Wasn’t that done in less than a week?”</p><p>I can’t stop my top lip curling. “No. You had a month for that.”</p><p>“Really?” Charlie’s head tilts to the side, like a puppy who thinks he just heard the word “walkies”.</p><p>I nod as I recall exactly what Charlie is referring to. “Yes, you had a month, but you were away for three weeks of it, so it felt like only a week to you.”</p><p>“Oh, yes, my Greek-island-hopping adventure. That was a wonderful holiday.” Charlie’s eyes gloss over as he reminisces, and I grip my pen a little harder. I haven’t had a holiday in four years, but who’s counting?</p><p>Garrett looks up from his phone at this and eyes us both in turn. “Am I speaking Swahili or something?”</p><p>My spine straightens and I don’t miss how Garrett’s eyes linger on me a little longer. I wonder if it’s because he thinks he just said something racist or if he is asking me a serious question.</p><p>“Just because I’m brown, doesn’t mean I speak Swahili,” I say before muttering under my breath. “For fuck’s sake.”</p><p>“I think Garrett was being sarcastic.” Charlie leans towards me. “Although I agree he could have picked his words better.”</p><p>“Was what I just said racist?” Garrett raises his eyebrows and I see exactly what direction this is going in now. He’s going to play dumb. He’s going to put the burden on me to explain his faux pas rather than just acknowledging and apologising for it. Like every other time a microaggression slips out of someone’s mouth in this godforsaken place.</p><p>“Was what I said racist, Charlie?” he asks the other white man in the room because of course he does.</p><p>I wave my hands around and the noise of my silver bangles and bracelets chiming together fills the room. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s focus on the work we have to do and fast. Who’s going to be the Creative Team managing it? And who will be the project lead?” I ask, which is what I really want to know. I see Charlie lean forward a little more, I know he’s wondering exactly the same. If I’m made project lead, that will actually make this worth doing. I’ve only been waiting the last two years for it and the timing would be perfect considering the mess that is my personal life. Yes, being project lead would give me something good to focus on.</p><p>“You’ve got to <em>get</em> the project first,” Garrett mumbles as he goes back to his phone. “And isn’t it obvious who will be the Creative Team?”</p><p>I shake my head.</p><p>“The two of you, of course,” Garrett points to us in turn, again with heavy hands.</p><p>“Me <em>and</em> Charlie?” I ask. “But Charlie is already in a team with Sasha.”</p><p>“My work wife,” Charlie says a little smugly and I ignore him.</p><p>“Well, it’s not like you have an established team,” Garrett points out and I flinch at the accusation, because it’s true. I’ve managed to avoid becoming one half of a Creative Team since joining HNO seven years ago and I like it that way. It’s a little unorthodox, I accept, but the thought of working with only one copywriter on every single project turns my stomach. That said, I know it’s held me back. I know that if I maybe had a few more team awards under my belt I would be in with a shot of becoming Creative Director, a role that hasn’t yet been filled since last month when the last one left claiming burnout but a week later photos of him surfing in Bali emerged on his Instagram. My brain kicks in as I start to think how I can use this to my advantage.</p><p>“But we should have a project lead now so we can really hit the ground running and maximise our time.” I sit forward myself now. “My direct reports should be able to take on a decent chunk of my outstanding work and I can easily clear my schedule for the rest of the week—”</p><p>“As can I,” Charlie interjects. “Faith is more than capable of leading my other campaigns for a week, and Hassan is whizzing through both the Cadburys and British Airways copy.”</p><p>The way he name-drops his team’s star players prompts another micro-eye roll from me, but not before I go on to do exactly the same thing. “Well, Toby has already delivered Heinz’s proofs and I sent you the concepts Kwazi and Olivia came up with for Interflora, didn’t I?”</p><p>“You did,” Garrett drawls with a nod, his eyes half-closed, but I’ll take it. I give Charlie the quickest but most conceited grin.</p><p>He reacts by stretching even more towards Garrett. He must have exceptional core muscles to stop him toppling forward. “You know, Garrett, I really think Faith’s ready to take the lead on Cadbury’s. She’s been here as long as I have, which is a fair few years longer than Mina,” he shrugs at me. “I’m sorry, but it's true.”</p><p>I narrow my eyes at Charlie. I’m about to open my mouth and tell him that strictly speaking, I am at a higher level than Faith but then a thought crosses my mind. Is he pitching me against Faith, because she’s also a woman of colour? That’s low. And actually, not at all like him. He’s annoying in any number of over-the-top ways – he’s too cheerful and chatty, and his campness knows no bounds – but he’s not a bitch. Until today, apparently.</p><p>“Well, I’m sorry I joined the company many years after you and yet you’re still at the same level I am,” I say directly to Charlie and my words twist with sarcasm.</p><p>“But with a much bigger team. An <em>award</em>-winning team,” he says back quickly and with emphasis.</p><p>“We’ve won awards too!” I point out.</p><p>“No, Mina, <em>you’ve</em> won awards. Not your team, which I know you can’t always blame on the leader but…” Charlie trails off, his unsaid words as intentional as those he speaks.</p><p>I roll my eyes and look away. Whatever it is that’s got his knickers in a twist, and I’m not altogether joking when I refer to Charlie’s underwear as knickers, I have no time for it. Not today. Not after the weekend I’ve just had. A weekend that involved me moving all my stuff out of my ex-girlfriend’s flat into the dingiest bedsit, an overpriced one-room studio flat that was the only thing available at such short notice. Because I couldn’t stay there a day longer with Hannah. Not one more day.</p><p>I shake my head a few times to refocus my attention on the conversation, to stake my claim on being the lead. I look at my boss whose eyelids have fallen so low I could question if he’s still conscious. “Status is a modern hotel and events brand. They’re visual. They’re all about aesthetic and design. It makes sense that they have a design lead, Garrett. I speak their language and—”</p><p>Garrett holds his hands up in an unusually fast action and that silences me. “Alright, alright, I get what you’re both doing. You’re peacocking. I know you both want the lead on this campaign, and you’re both more than qualified. But frankly, I don’t have time to pick a lead now. Besides, I want to see how well you work on the pitch together.”</p><p>“Together?” I repeat.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re a Creative Team now,” he says with a yawn.</p><p>“But then we’re both taking time away from our existing campaigns and pitches,” Charlie points out with a sunshine smile that doesn’t match what he’s saying or the slightly jittery tone of his voice. “And I’m already in a Creative Team with Sasha.”</p><p>“Are you saying I don’t know how to run my own creative department?” Garrett stares at Charlie from under a heavy brow.</p><p>A snort of a laugh wants to roll itself up my throat and out of my mouth, but I manage to hold it back. Charlie never pisses people off, even Garrett. That’s typically my job.</p><p>“No, Garrett, God no.” Charlie holds his palms up in defeat, that smile only slightly slipping. “Not at all. You’re excellent at what you do.”</p><p>I find myself shuffling in my chair and needing to cough rather than say the words that are at the tip of my tongue, because what the fuck, <em>kiss arse</em>.</p><p>“Then you’ll crack on then, won’t you? This campaign will be worth a fuck ton of money and some of that will trickle down to you both. So, you can buy some more stripey polo shirts, Charles, and you, Mina, you can go and get the inside of your eyeballs tattooed because it seems you’ve run out of space anywhere else.”</p><p>I resist the urge to pull my shoulders in and cross my arms over my chest, to hide my heavily-inked body from his gaze and his words. Once again, it’s a passing comment, an indirect remark that would be hard to explain to HR why it feels so inappropriate, so wrong. Especially because HR at HNO is made up of white twenty-something straight women who rely on Garrett to get their bumps during after-work drinks.</p><p>“You can count on us,” Charlie says, his hands clasped together again, but now it looks more like he’s praying than gripping them together in delight.</p><p>“Mina?” Garrett says as he stands, putting his tightly denim-clad crotch far too close to my eye level.</p><p>“Sure, yeah, whatever,” I mutter, glancing away. I spread my hands flat on the table as if to steady myself, because suddenly the ground doesn’t feel so sturdy. In fact, one of these human migraine attack triggers could be having some success with me as I feel the sudden sting of my nearly ever-present headache sharpen a little above my left eye.</p><p><em>It will pass. It will pass. It will pass,</em> I tell myself as I focus my eyes on a spot on the table. I’m still sitting there motionless as Charlie practically leaps up to stand and nod goodbye to Garrett who leaves the meeting room with a long and unnecessarily dramatic sigh.</p><p>“Shit,” I say as the pain sharpens, but it doesn’t spread, and so far, I am still seeing one of everything.</p><p><em>It will pass. It will pass. It will pass.</em></p><p>“You could say that,” Charlie says jovially as he flops back in the chair next to me.</p><p>I stay silent, hoping he’ll take that as an invitation to leave me alone. Not that I’d be alone. I am never completely alone when I have the threat of a migraine attack hanging over me. Indeed, it feels like having your worst enemy peering over your shoulder waiting for you to trip up only for them to then push their foot down on your back as you try to get up again.</p><p><em>It will pass. It will pass. It will pass.</em></p><p>Charlie shifts in his chair to face me, but still, I don’t look up from the table. I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up. Stress is my number one trigger and I was already feeling crappy and tired after moving all my stuff out at the weekend. I let this meeting get to me. I let those stupid things that Garrett said crawl under my skin and stress me out. I let the pressure of needing to prove myself, to be the lead for my first big campaign, the chance to prove myself as the right choice to be Creative Director cause me to get a fucking migraine attack. How could I be so stupid?</p><p><em>No.</em></p><p><em>It will pass. It will pass. It will pass.</em></p><p>“Listen, Mina. I know this is less than ideal,” Charlie says and his tone is less affected now Garrett has left the room. That said, it’s still annoyingly cheerful. “But I think we’d make a pretty good Creative Team, and hey, I guess with such limited time, two brains may well be better than one.”</p><p>“Even if one of those brains is yours?” I deadpan, still not looking at him.</p><p>“Haha!” Charlie actually laughs at the insult, laughs out loud. “Very funny. But seriously, you’re super good at what you do, and in many ways, it makes sense to have input from both a copy guy and an art girl on this project from the outset considering how visual a brand they are.”</p><p>I shudder a little at the way he calls me a girl. I’m twenty-nine for fuck’s sake. I <em>hate</em> being called a girl.</p><p>“But Garrett said only one of us will actually get the lead, should the campaign come in.” I remind him. “And we both know leading a project like this will help determine who becomes the new Creative Director.”</p><p>“You want that role?” Charlie blinks at me incredulously, which pushes all my buttons. Does he not think I’m qualified? Does he think just because he’s older, and a man, he has more right to it than me?</p><p>“Yes, I want that role,” I say slowly, enunciating each word.</p><p>“Right,” Charlie drags the word out and because the pain above my eye isn’t worsening, it’s possibly subsiding, in fact, I turn my head towards him to try and ascertain what he meant by that.</p><p>“You know I be a very capable Creative Director,” I tell him forcefully. “Better than you, possibly.”</p><p>Charlie laughs again, and again it sounds genuine if a little less hearty. “I know you could,” he says simply.</p><p>I don’t know what to say to that, so I don’t say anything.</p><p>“Listen, I know you could do it. I just <em>want</em> to it,” Charlie adds.</p><p>“Well, so do I.”</p><p>“No, but I <em>really</em> want it. I have had a shitty few weeks and it would be nice to have a new client, a new campaign and a new role to focus—”</p><p>“Well, I really want it too,” I interrupt with a clenched jaw. “For similar reasons,” I mumble.</p><p>Seriously, does he think I’m just going to give it to him because he really, <em>really</em> wants it? Does he think I’m going to give it to him that easily because everything else comes so easily to him?</p><p>“I see that, so I guess we just have to both work as hard as we can to try and secure the lead and maybe the Creative Director role although I daresay we’ll also have to interview and there will be external candidates too,”</p><p>“Duh,” I cut in and I only regret saying it when it echoes as a childish sound in my ears.</p><p>“But I think the best thing we can do right now is focus on coming up with a winning pitch that impresses Garrett enough that he picks the right man, oops, I mean, person for the job.” Charlie blushes a little as he stumbles over his words and if I was a kind person, I would almost describe it as cute.</p><p>But I’m not a kind person.</p><p>“But that will also mean working together, just us, as a Creative Team,” I remind him. “Don’t tell me you don’t think it will be an absolute nightmare?”</p><p>“I don’t think I’m the one who has the ability to make it a nightmare,” he says and he looks me up and down.</p><p>And I know what Charlie sees. He sees my black lipstick, the ring in my septum piercing and the flash of silver of the barbell through my tongue when I talk. He sees how the light brown skin of my arms and neck and chest are covered in black ink. He sees my sharp shoulder-length bob, my heavy fringe and my dark eyes framed with thick eyeliner hiding beneath it. He sees my perma-scowl and hard jaw. I look like many people’s idea of a nightmare, so yes, I suppose he’s not way off track in what he’s saying, especially when you compare us. Him with his fresh linen smell, clear pale skin, and the baby blue polo shirt that clings to the muscles on his forearms and his narrow waist as it’s tucked into his ridiculous teal-coloured jeans, both of which I bet he ironed last Sunday evening as he planned a week of outfits.</p><p><em>Ugh</em>. I’ve had enough of this. I’ve had enough of him.</p><p>I stand up before giving my response. “Nightmare or not, I’ll do my job and I’ll do it well. It’s up to you to do the same, Charlie.”</p><p>I don’t wait to hear what he has to say with that. Instead, my headache and I leave the room, my chin held high and my thick-soled Doc Marten boots clomping across the carpet.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Chapter Two</strong></span></p><p><strong><em>Are You Gonna Go My Way?</em></strong></p><p><strong>Charlie</strong></p><p>As I lift my bottle of beer to my lips and ignore the chatter that bounces around the group I’m stood with, in the office kitchen area, I sneak a look at the only member of staff still at her desk, still tapping away on her keyboard albeit with a non-alcoholic beer by her side.</p><p>I feel bad. I probably shouldn’t have said half the things I said to her in that meeting earlier. I effectively called her a nightmare. And it’s not even true. She’s frosty, she’s withdrawn, and she doesn’t suffer fools lightly, but she’s not a nightmare. Moana, <em>shit</em>, I mean, Mina is exceptionally good at her job and aside from being one of the most talented artists in the whole company, she has proved over the last year or so how capable she is at managing a team. Admittedly, her management style is completely different to mine – I’ve barely seen her crack a smile in her team meetings meanwhile I have been known to start our weekly briefings with a few minutes of laughing yoga to get everyone loosened up – but she gets the job done. She delivers.</p><p>No, Mina is not a nightmare. She just looks like one.</p><p>Not my nightmare you understand. I actually find her Morticia-meets-Wednesday Addams style endearing in how consistent she is about wearing black or dark shades of purple, green or grey every single day, and I doubt anybody can argue with how striking her dark eyes are with the elaborate cat-eye eyeliner she pulls off. Ever since I first met her, I’ve been wanting to ask Mina how she manages to get those thick flicks so symmetrically identical. I’m dying to know because my own attempts at a similar effect have left me looking like I let a five-year-old at my face with a blunt Sharpie pen.</p><p>Yes, I have been known to wear eyeliner, which would surprise absolutely nobody at HNO. I’m the company’s token over-the-top queer guy. The effeminate man who minces around the office making small talk with anyone and everyone. I’m safe for women to chat with, I’m camp enough to get away with flirting with straight men, and my fellow queer guys love to roll their eyes at me as we have innuendo-offs that I always win.</p><p>The one thing that would surprise all my colleagues is that I’m not actually gay. No, I’m bisexual.</p><p>Sometimes it bothers me that people don’t know this about me, but for so long now, I’ve been what is effectively HNO’s gay mascot that I wouldn’t know where to start to correct these assumptions and I also wouldn’t know how to navigate the questions I would inevitably get when I tell people I’m bi.</p><p><em>But you’re so camp.</em></p><p><em>But you only date men.</em></p><p><em>But you’re a bottom, aren’t you?</em></p><p><em>But you have a boyfriend.</em></p><p>Ah. They can’t say that last one now. Not anymore, because as of three weeks ago, I no longer have a boyfriend. Nope, Markus and I are no more.</p><p>I sigh as this realisation kicks me in the gut and I’m even more oblivious to what Faith, Ryan and Hassan are playfully arguing about. I suddenly have no energy for after-work drinks banter, but nor do I want to go home. Home to a flat I used to share with Markus. A flat that is now tauntingly empty, even with my much-loved dog Goldie eagerly ready to give me as many hugs as I need.</p><p>It doesn’t hurt knowing he no longer lives there – breaking up was my decision after all – rather it hurts knowing the flat is empty and will stay that way for the rest of the evening after I get home. And because it’s Friday, I’m also looking at two full days of an empty flat, interrupted only by my mother’s 70<sup>th</sup> birthday party, an event I now have to go to alone.</p><p>I may have decided Markus wasn’t the man for me, and I don’t miss him specifically, at least not in the gut-wrenching way I should had I really been in love with him, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss having <em>someone.</em> Someone to share my flat with, someone to accompany me to family functions, someone to squeeze my hand when my mother says something indirectly but very successfully insulting.</p><p>That’s another reason people are surprised I’m bisexual. My love of having a monogamous relationship with one loving partner is apparently contradictory to having a sexuality that dictates you could potentially be attracted to anyone and everyone. I’m sure there are some biphobic roots to this assumption, but it gives me a headache to even think about pointing this out and trying to prove my loyalty.</p><p>Not in the mood for banter, and not in the mood to leave, I decide I am in the mood to do something that will help ease some of the discomfort I’ve been feeling since our earlier meeting.</p><p>Nodding and smiling my way out of the circle we’re stood in, I go to the fridge where I grab two more bottles of beer, one non-alcoholic, and I use the opener to flip their lids off. I cross the kitchen area quickly, leaving the chatter behind me, and make my way to Mina’s desk.</p><p>“A peace offering,” I say holding out the 0% beer to her.</p><p>She looks at me first before her eyes settle on the beer and I see in that quick glance that the irises of her eyes aren’t as dark as I assumed. They’re actually a warm, almost mahogany shade of brown, very distinct from the black pupils that study my outstretched hand without revealing anything.</p><p>“A free beer from the office fridge.” Her eyebrows lift slightly. “You shouldn’t have.”</p><p>I smile hard enough to bunch up my cheeks. I’m not a vain man despite what many people think, but I know I have what could be described as a dazzling smile so I deploy it hoping it helps melt some of Mina’s frostiness. “Now I’m no expert in Mina-risms, but I do believe that was sarcasm.”</p><p>“Mina-risms,” she says and turns in her seat to snatch the bottle from my hand. “Don’t you mean Moana-risms.”</p><p>My smile shrinks to a stunned pout in half a second. “You know about that name?”</p><p>“I know everything,” she levels at me, and her voice is so earnest, her face so serious it cracks something inside of me. I laugh, loudly.</p><p>“I don’t doubt it.” I chuckle as I take the liberty of resting my backside on the side of her desk. It’s not a large backside. In fact, some women have called it cute and pert, although I highly doubt Moana, I mean, Mina would be one of them, but I’m not going anywhere until I at least try and have a conversation about what happened earlier. I have a strong feeling I know exactly why I behaved the way I did and it’s highly likely she doesn’t give a flying fuck, but it would make me feel better if I could just try and explain it to her. So, I begin, “But listen, I really do want to apologise.”</p><p>“And why is that?” she says and it could sound accusatory, but it could also sound just plain curious. Mina is frustratingly hard to read, what with her empty expressions and intense stares. Stares that just got a bit more intimidating now I know about the warm wild honey colour in her eyes.</p><p>“Because I was a bit of a dick to you earlier,” I say and my shoulders lower a little with the confession.</p><p>“A bit?”</p><p>“Okay, fine, I was a massive throbbing erection of a dick!” I hold my hands up and pull my eyebrows up high on my forehead. When I see one corner of her mouth twitch, it makes me smile.</p><p>“You weren’t <em>that </em>bad,” she concedes.</p><p>“Not a fan of erections?” I ask, probably being far too nosey but the thing is, we have this bet going in our team…</p><p>Mina’s bronze-brown eyes assess me once more and it slows my thoughts, which is a silly thing for her eyes to do. “Will you split the money with me if I tell you?” she asks abruptly.</p><p>“Pardon?”</p><p>“Your bet. About my sexuality.” Mina shrugs like I should keep up.</p><p><em>Wow. She really does know everything.</em></p><p>“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My hands are now on my chest and I know that I doth protest way too much.</p><p>“Half the winnings is still half,” she points out, and she’s not wrong.</p><p>“Fine, I’ll split it with you.”</p><p>“I’m bi, but typically only date women or femme presenting enbies,” Mina informs me like she’s reading out the weather forecast.</p><p>“Oh,” I say, because I don’t believe anyone betted that specific orientation. It was really about whether she was gay or not. And yes, I <em>definitely </em>should have known better than to be so reductive and binary-minded about it.</p><p>“You thought I was a man-hating lesbian, am I right?” She cocks an eyebrow as a coy smile tilts her black lips. It’s possibly the first time I’ve ever seen Mina’s face arrange itself in something that isn’t a disapproving scowl, and it makes me realise how pretty she actually is. In fact, I’m fairly sure her face is a perfect heart shape as I take in her pointed chin, small button nose, and wide-set eyes that are round and big despite their thick frames of eyeliner. Mina has been blessed with a skin tone millions of women – and possibly almost as many men – would spend thousands of pounds on sun beds or fake tanning products to achieve and while most of the ochre-brown skin of her arms, chest and neck are covered with tattoos, her face is free of these interruptions and it’s now I’m looking at her that I see how despite the dark make-up and the frown she normally gives everyone, the skin on her cheeks glows. Mina has a beautiful complexion and the texture of her skin is the kind that begs to be appreciated, admired, touched…</p><p>If she let you, of course.</p><p>“The bet was on whether you were gay or not, yes,” I admit. There’s no point in lying, not when she’s giving me such a knowing look and I think I’m starting to like the copper tinge in her cheeks as she becomes a little bit more animated.</p><p>“How boring of you all.” She curls her upper lip before taking a swig at the new beer she took from me. “Hardly outside of the box thinking, and not really the kind of creativity I would want leading the Status campaign.”</p><p>“Which we haven’t got yet,” I add.</p><p>“But we will,” she says, very matter of fact.</p><p>“Because I’ll make it happen,” I finish for her and puff my chest out a little for effect.</p><p>“Jesus,” Mina mutters as she takes another drink. “So, how much money do I get for settling that bet.”</p><p>“Twenty-five quid.”</p><p>“That’s all I was worth?”</p><p>“No, you were worth fifty quid but we’re splitting it, aren’t we?”</p><p>“Apparently so,” she says. “So why did you act up in the meeting?”</p><p>“Pardon?”</p><p>“Does your apology about calling me a nightmare include an explanation or is it just to cover your arse in case I report you to HR.”</p><p>“You’re going to report me?” I can’t stop my eyes from widening.</p><p>“Wasn’t planning on it.” She shrugs. “But I could. Especially for playing me and Faith off against each other.”</p><p>“You and Faith? Wait… what?” It’s my turn to frown and it’s all from confusion as I try to recall what I said in the meeting.</p><p>“Trying to replace one woman of colour with another?” She offers as a prompt.</p><p>A wave of prickly heat rushes through me, from head to toe, and it leaves me feeling very, very cold once it passes. I did say something along those lines. Oh, Jesus, was that… was I being racist?</p><p>“God, I’m so sorry,” I rush out. “I did say something like that and I know I didn’t mean it at the time but I can see how it looks and well, I shouldn’t have said it and that was foolish and clumsy and, shit, I’m really sorry, Mina.”</p><p>She blinks at me and is silent for a few moments. “Well, thanks. For the apology, I mean,” she says eventually.</p><p>I put my hand not holding my beer in my hair and rub at my scalp, still feeling a little uncomfortable in my own body.</p><p>“Jesus, I knew I was being a dick in the meeting – I’ve had some shit happen in my personal life recently – but I didn’t realise I was being a racist dick.”</p><p>Mina narrows her eyes at me. “I don’t think you were being intentionally dickish, or racist.”</p><p>“I was just so obsessed with getting the lead on the pitch. I kind of need the focus, you see,” I blunder on, “I kind of want a reason to work overtime even.”</p><p>Another slow blink. “Why?”</p><p>“Oh, I don’t want to make excuses for my behaviour. That would cheapen my apology.”</p><p>“No, I’m interested. You said you’ve had some shit happen in your personal life. Unfortunately, I can relate to that.” She sighs, and her shoulders rise and fall with it.</p><p>“Oh, really?” I relax with the change of conversation even if it’s one that means discussing the end of my longest relationship to date. “I’ll tell you my woes if you tell me yours?”</p><p>“Go on then,” she says but I’m not sure if she’s agreeing to my suggestion or prompting me to tell her all.</p><p>“I split up with my boyfriend,” I explain.</p><p>“I split up with my girlfriend,” she blurts out at exactly the same moment.</p><p>“Snap!” I say with possibly a little too much unwarranted excitement.</p><p>“Yeah, we win.” She lifts her beer to me but her voice is anything but celebratory.</p><p>“Did she break it off? Or was it mutual?” I ask.</p><p>“I ended it.” Mina stares straight ahead at her computer screen. “It wasn’t going anywhere. We weren’t getting on and were spending more and more time apart. I just, I don’t know, I thought I fell out of love with her, but now I don’t know if I was ever really in love with her.”</p><p>“Sounds familiar. Markus and I started off as friends and about five years ago we just sort of evolved into this relationship that was super easy and simple but not necessarily all sparks and butterflies. I liked having him around, but I haven’t really missed him since he moved out, you know? Rather I just miss having someone. Someone I guess I am actually in love with, if that makes sense.”</p><p>“Oh, Charlie, you really are as soft as you look.” Mina gives me a wry smile. I pout and put one hand on my hip as if to protest but I realise quickly that only proves her point.</p><p>“I don’t think it’s soft or bad to want to fall in love, I think it’s human,” I say instead and the copywriter in me is impressed with the phrasing.</p><p>Mina doesn’t look anywhere near as impressed. “You know that’s not technically true. There are many aromantic people in this world and other people who are perfectly content and complete without needing to fall in love.”</p><p>“Are you one of them?” I ask because I’m genuinely intrigued, but once the question leaves my mouth I wonder if it’s a bit too personal. I’m about to apologise and take it back, but to my surprise, Mina answers me.</p><p>“Annoyingly, no,” she says in her icy tone, but she doesn’t elaborate.</p><p>“I think that’s why I was all on the defensive or maybe even the offensive in the meeting,” I clarify. “I saw being the lead on the pitch and campaign as a way to fill the coming days and weeks with more work rather than wallow in self-pity.” I jump a little when my phone starts vibrating in my jeans pocket. I pull it out and look at the name on the screen. I sigh as I put the phone back in my pocket unanswered. “It would also give me a good excuse to not answer my mother’s phone calls.”</p><p>Mina arches her eyebrow again and I decide I’m starting to quite like it. “Mummy issues?” she asks.</p><p>I give her a half-smile. “Like you wouldn’t believe. It’s her 70<sup>th</sup> birthday this weekend. She’s having a huge party at her golf club – don’t laugh, I’m aware how white and middle-class this all sounds – and I finally told her a few days ago that Markus and I had split up. Now she is trying to get me to get back with him because ‘he’s the best thing that ever happened to me’ and ‘how dare I show up at her party dateless’ which I didn’t realise was such a crime but apparently at age thirty-four, I should be married off already like my brother was. My brother with his perfect husband, perfect job and perfectly timed nuptials.” I stop myself when I hear how bitter I sound.</p><p>“Hmm, that sounds familiar. In fact, I think I can beat it. My <em>younger</em> sister just got engaged. She’s twenty-six.”</p><p>“Ouch.”</p><p>“Yep, and it gets worse. Guess who my sister’s best friend is?”<br>“Royalty? MI5? Miss Piggie?” I guess.</p><p>Mina frowns at me. “Those are weirdly specific suggestions, but no. My ex.”</p><p>“The one you just broke up with?”</p><p>“Yep. Not that she cares about seeing me again. She’s already got herself a new girlfriend. Took her all of two weeks. I’m pretty sure that’s a world record for rebounding, even for a lesbian.”</p><p>“Wow.”</p><p>“Yeah, so now I have to go to my sister’s engagement party and see not only my younger sister fulfil all my parents’ dreams, but I have to do it while my ex snogs her new girlfriend in the corner or something. Oh, and of course we’re going to be bridesmaids together.”</p><p>“Okay, I think you win,” I say, laughing lightly as I cross my legs at the ankle, which makes me abruptly aware of how much more comfortable I am leaning on Mina’s desk now than I was ten minutes ago listening to my team’s small talk. “When is the engagement party?”</p><p>“Next weekend.”</p><p>“Ah, see now you have a whole week to find someone else to go with you. My mother’s party is tomorrow. I’m completely screwed,” I say and as I do the dust particles and fragile fragments of an idea start to spin around my mind.</p><p>“Oh, I would rather just not go,” Mina says with a sigh. “Although that would be a pretty shit thing to do. My sister has asked me to be Maid of Honour so I suppose it’s not very <em>honourable</em> of me to bail.”</p><p>“Wait,” I say and I hold my hands up again, but this time it’s to ensure I have her full attention. I even manage to keep my wrists firm and steady. “Why don’t we be each other’s date?”</p><p>Mina gives me her longest, slowest blink yet. “What?”</p><p>“Are you busy tomorrow night?”</p><p>She squints. “No, but—”</p><p>“Then please will you come with me to my mum’s birthday party?”</p><p>“Are you asking me out?” She dips her chin in disbelief.</p><p>“Sort of, yes,” I admit. “And you can ask me to be your date for your sister’s engagement party.”</p><p>I pause and wait for her to follow my lead. It really is a genius idea. My mother will hate that I show up to her party with a woman. But of course, she won’t be able to say anything about it because she does know I’m bisexual, even if she refers to it in the past tense. She’ll have to play along with me and keep up appearances because that’s truly all Mum cares about once we’re in a public setting.</p><p>“Let me go with you next weekend by way of apology for my behaviour today,” I add when Mina doesn’t say anything. “In fact, you don’t even need to return the favour and come with me tomorrow, although it would really piss my mum off and that’s almost worth paying for.”</p><p>“You will not be paying me,” Mina warns in a low voice.</p><p>My smile is instant and big, bunching up my cheeks again. “So, you’ll do it?”</p><p>“Wait, isn’t it a bit… inconsistent that you show up with… me?” She points a black-painted fingernail at her chest.</p><p>“Oh, because you’re a woman, well, technically no. I’m not gay, I’m bisexual,” I explain and I wait for a clap of thunder, a flash of lightning or at least Mina’s jaw to drop to the floor. But none of that happens. She doesn’t even look like she heard me.</p><p>“No, not that.” Mina shakes her head. “I know you’re bi.”</p><p>“You do?”</p><p>“Sure. The first week I worked here you stared at my tits for seven seconds during a brand brainstorming meeting when I made the mistake of wearing a shirt missing a button.”</p><p>“I did?” I gasp sounding very much like the gay mascot everyone else at the company believes me to be.</p><p>“That and I never make assumptions about people’s sexualities until they declare them themselves to me. Instead, I just do the normal thing and assume that everyone is bi or pan or somewhere on the multisexual spectrum.”</p><p>“That’s the <em>normal</em> thing to do?”</p><p>“Sure it is. Don’t tell me you disagree?”</p><p>I muse on this for a few moments, chewing my bottom lip as I do. “I mean, it does make the most sense to me personally.”</p><p>“Exactly. It’s just a much better starting point than the boring old default of heterosexuality. It makes sense to opt out of multisexuality rather than opting into a completely different sexuality from being straight, which as I’m sure you’ll agree, is the orientation that makes the least sense of all.”</p><p>I find myself smiling at this theory, laughing a little too. I also can’t deny how seen I feel, how validated. So rarely do I think about my bisexuality making sense when it seems to go against what everyone else assumes me to be, but the last few minutes of conversation with Mina has me feeling seen, affirmed, validated, and I like it. I like feeling this way a lot. That is until I remember what she said. “I couldn’t agree more. But also, I’m so very sorry for staring at your tits. I actually don’t do that very much.”</p><p>“I know you don’t. Haven’t noticed you do it since, by the way. Not that I could blame you. I do have excellent boobs.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“So, will you let me be your plus one for that party? And if you want, you can be mine?” I ask, suddenly eager to talk about something else, anything other than Mina’s breasts.</p><p>“You didn’t let me explain what I meant earlier,” Mina says. “I meant it would be inconsistent and a little odd if you showed up with me because, well, bisexual or not, I doubt I’m close to being your type.”</p><p>How do I tell her that that’s exactly why I want her to be my date. “Well, I suspect that goes both ways, am I right?” I cock my hand on my hip, just to camp it up a little and make my point.</p><p>Mina nods. “I haven’t dated a boy since I was doing my A-Levels, and even then, it was an accident.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“An accident?”</p><p>“He was my Dutch pen pal and his name was Jan, spelt J-A-N, so for the first five months of exchanging letters, which got very intimate, very quickly, I assumed he was a she. It was a huge shock when he walked off the bus at six feet two with patchy stubble.” Mina’s eyes and thoughts seem to drift away a little. “I always did think it was strange when he said how hard I made him, but I just assumed it was lost in translation.”</p><p>“Poor Jan,” I say, bringing my bottle to my lips, surprised I have to tip it back quite far as I’ve nearly finished it while talking with Mina.</p><p>“Hardly. I gave him several hand jobs and a tit wank over the five days he was visiting.”</p><p>I cough and choke as my shock makes the beer go the wrong way.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re definitely not gay if that ruffled your feathers,” Mina says with an amused smile as she reaches for her bag and gets up to stand.</p><p>“Wait, so are we doing this?” I ask, wiping at my mouth with the back of my hand. “Come on, I actually think it could be fun.”</p><p>Mina stops placing things in her bag to consider this with a look on her face that could just as easily be a thoughtful smile as a slightly repulsed grimace.</p><p>“You’ll really come to my sister’s engagement?”</p><p>I bow slightly. “It would be my pleasure.”</p><p>Mina assesses me once more, her expression still unreadable, but her eyes narrow, which I feel somewhat sad about because it means I can’t look at the warm mahogany swirl of her irises again. Without saying anything she picks up a pen and starts writing on the pad of Post-it notes on her desk. Once finished, she pulls the top pink note off and then slaps it against my chest, sticking it there.</p><p>“One condition. Nobody at work knows about it,” she says in a low voice as her eyes pin mine.</p><p>“Deal,” I say, because it will benefit me too, after all.</p><p>“Text me where to be and when. You can also let me know about a dress code, but I’ll almost certainly ignore it,” she says as I stare down at the note she left, its fluorescent pink colour clashing brilliantly with the blue of my T-shirt. I should wear pink and blue together more often, I think to myself.</p><p>When I look up, Mina is already walking away.</p><p>“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow, and thanks! Can’t wait! It will be fun!” I call out as she and her hips, which I am noticing for the first time are very voluptuous, sashay out of the office without looking back.</p><p>*****</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" href="https://geni.us/LetLoveRuleBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Read the rest in Let Love Rule!</a>&nbsp;</strong></p><p><em><a data-mce-href="https://francesmthompson.eo.page/newsletter" href="https://francesmthompson.eo.page/newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Sign up to my newsletter</a> for other release news and updates, or alternatively you can <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1210578856503071" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1210578856503071" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">join my Facebook readers' group</a>.</em></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/publishing-plans-2023 On Writing: My Writing & Publishing Plans for 2023 <div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-and-publishing-plans-2023_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-and-publishing-plans-2023_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div>As the end of the year approaches, I wanted to take a little time to acknowledge what I've done in 2022 and to also look ahead and announce my writing and publishing plans for 2023.</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>What 2022 Looked Like</strong></h2><div>If you had told me a year ago that I would have published five books in 2022, then I would have told you to shut up and get sober. If you'd told me that I'd do all this while also struggling with a newly diagnosed chronic illness, I would have told you to shut up and poor me a drink. But that is exactly what has happened over the last twelve months.</div><div><br></div><div>Here's a full list of the books published this year, when and where you can find them if you're curious:</div><div><br></div><div>Jan 2022 - <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Weaker Sex</a> (London Killing #2)</div><div>June 2022 - <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Five Sunsets</a> (Sun, Moon &amp; Stars #1)</div><div>September 2022 - <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella" href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Hummingbird</a> (Birds and Butterflies #1)</div><div>November 2022 - <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/ChristmasSunriseBook" href="https://geni.us/ChristmasSunriseBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Christmas Sunrise</a> (Sun, Moon &amp; Stars #1.5)</div><div>November 2022 - <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Moon Also Rises</a> (Sun, Moon &amp; Stars #2)</div><div><br></div><div>Admittedly, two of the published books are novellas (of around 35,000 words each) and one of the full-length novels was already written and ready before January 2022 began, but that's still two full-length romance novels that I knocked out in just over twelve months (as I started the draft for Five Sunsets in November 2021).&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>That's the good that was achieved this year. The bad was that this chronic illness I've acquired did slow me down enough to delay two releases that I was hoping to push out before the end of the year, namely the sequel to The Weaker Sex and book three in the London Killing series, The Way We Were, and also a second sapphic novella that would be the second book after Hummingbird.</div><div><br></div><div>But I am far from bitter. I am very philosophical about it all; I can only do so much and when I push myself too hard I will suck the joy out of this journey that I am thoroughly enjoying. So no regrets, and yes, still a lot of pride!</div><div><br></div><div>I am also going to take December much slower than I have for the rest of the year. Partly this is because my health needs a lot more energy and focus right now, but it's also because I need to go back into creative mode to get these projects done and that always starts with filling my cup and looking inward.</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>My Writing and Publishing Plans for 2023</strong></h2><div><br></div><div>Now on to next year and my other writing and publishing plans... Well, here's a rough schedule of what I hope to finish and publish in 2023. This is very tentative and highly unlikely to be exactly what happens (welcome to life as an indie author with two young kids and a chronic illness!) but I have hope I'll be able to do at least some of it:</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Jan or Feb</strong> - The Way We Were (<a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09KPMJ1M4" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09KPMJ1M4" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">London Killing #3</a>) PLUS A SURPRISE THRILLER BOOK from the London Killing world!</div><div><strong>March</strong> - Butterflies (Birds and Butterflies #2 - another spicy sapphic novella like <a href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella" data-mce-href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella">Hummingbird</a>)</div><div><strong>May or June</strong> - Too Many Stars to Count (<a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B1HBPC8G" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B1HBPC8G" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Sun, Moon &amp; Stars</a> #3 - aka Maeve's book!)</div><div><strong>August or September</strong> - Birds and Butterflies Collection (four spicy sapphic novellas, including Hummingbird and Butterflies)</div><div><strong>October</strong> - POSSIBLY A SURPRISE (VERY!) SPICY BOOK! And hint, hint... For those of you who have already read <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella" href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Hummingbird</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Moon Also Rises</a>, you will already know the main female character!</div><div><strong>November</strong> - The Worst Kind of Love (<a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09KPMJ1M4" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09KPMJ1M4" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">London Killing #4</a> - aka The Junkie's book!)</div><div><strong>December</strong> - Collapse in a heap!</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>Best Ways to Keep in Touch For New Releases</strong></h2><div><br></div><div>If any of these books capture your interest, then the best way to keep in touch and find out about new releases first is to <a data-mce-href="https://francesmthompson.eo.page/fmt" href="https://francesmthompson.eo.page/fmt" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">sign up to my newsletter</a>. It's also via that link that you will have access to bonus scenes from many of my books.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Last but certainly not least, I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has bought one of my books, read one of my books, told a friend about my books or left a review for one of my books. You are the only way this really works and while I would still write these stories even if nobody read a single word, it means SO MUCH to me to share the journey with some fabulous readers. THANK YOU!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/the-moon-also-rises-extract The Moon Also Rises: Read a Free Extract <p><em><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-moon-also-rises-extract_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-moon-also-rises-extract_x960.jpg?v=1"></em></p><p><em>Here you can find the prologue and first chapter from The Moon Also Rises, the second in my Sun, Moon &amp; Stars series and the full-length sequel to <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Five Sunsets</a>. If you've read Five Sunsets, you may also better recognise this story as JAKE'S BOOK! Yes, our grumpy gay gets his very own Happy Ever After! And what a sexy, swoony, steamy HEA it is. Read on to see how the story starts, and here's where you can <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">order your own copy (ebook or paperback)</a> and here's where you can <a data-mce-href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63060265-the-moon-also-rises" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63060265-the-moon-also-rises" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">add it to your Goodreads shelves</a>.</em></p><h2><strong>THE MOON ALSO RISES</strong></h2><p><strong>Prologue</strong></p><p><strong>Fifteen Years Ago</strong></p><p><strong>New Year’s Eve, Sydney, Australia<br></strong><strong>Jake</strong><br><br></p><p>Somebody’s bollocks should get pickled for this.</p><p>Like, seriously. It’s a shambles. The sound is off, the lighting is giving me a headache, and don't even get me started on the potential health and safety implications of the over-crowding situation we have thanks to a photobooth far too close to the main entrance to the dancefloor. But what do I know? I'm just a lowly under-employed assistant manager of a hotel restaurant gate-crashing the New Year’s Eve dance event in the hotel's top floor nightclub because he shamefully didn’t get a better offer. The only thing making up for the evidently poor organisation are the views of the harbour from up here. And the music. I crane my neck to try and get a better look at the DJ, because whoever it is, they're kicking out some stonking tunes.</p><p>"Yeah, it's banging," Steveo shouts back.&nbsp;<em>Oh, did I say that out loud?</em></p><p>"Want another drink?" He asks me while his mouth is close to my ear.</p><p>"Sure," I say and knock back the last beer in my bottle. Before I can ask him to get me a white wine spritzer instead of another beer that will make me bloat even more than that first one did, he's off, heading to the bar. I find my eyes naturally fall to his backside. It's still just as pert as I remember from last night. And still just as married to a woman.</p><p>"When will you learn?" I ask myself out loud, turning my head back to face the front stage. The crowd is as busy and as much of a fire hazard as it was a moment ago and again, the poor lighting set-up means that all I can see of the stage are flashes of light so I still can’t see who’s DJing.&nbsp;I probably should have read the set list in advance, but it was a rash decision to come, mostly prompted by Steveo's late announcement that he would be in Sydney for a few days, thanks to his wife getting a last-minute deal on a girls’ holiday in Bali. The greatest surprise of all had come when he announced he wanted to go out rather than watch the fireworks from my apartment. Steveo hardly ever wants to be seen out in public with me. However, ‘public,’ is sort of stretching where we are now considering it’s a dark nightclub overpopulated with people at least ten years his junior. Kind of like I am.&nbsp;</p><p>"Seriously, Jake," I mutter to myself again. "When will you stop being someone's bit on the side?"</p><p>I should never have called him when he left his phone number on the back of his receipt that evening he&nbsp;dined in the restaurant a few months ago. But it seemed so… romantic? That just goes to show how low the bar is when it comes to me and romance.</p><p>Regardless, I should have done what I always promise myself I'm going to do; wait and meet a nice man who doesn't hide me away. A man who is proud of who he is, and proud of who I am. I mean, I would like to be proud of who I am too, but I know better than to ask for too much.</p><p>I sigh and try to think of Steveo’s redeeming features, besides the one in his trousers. We do have fun, I think to myself as I watch him walk back balancing four drinks. Wait. Four drinks?</p><p>"Got us a little shot to keep our beers company," he shouts at me as he spills drops of all four drinks on my shoes. Shoes I polished for half an hour this afternoon, like the idiot I am for thinking he'd notice. That <em>someone</em> would notice.</p><p>"Great. Thanks," I say with gritted teeth as I take my drinks.</p><p>Steveo nods at me to down the shot and begrudgingly, I do, wincing as the vodka burns my throat and churns my stomach. I’ve barely rearranged my facial features back into something normal when Steveo nudges my arm with his surprisingly pointy and hard elbow.</p><p>"Come on, let’s dance!" He yells.</p><p>I’m not entirely sure why I agree, but I do. I let him take me to the dancefloor and for the first few tracks we dance like awkward straight white men, our drinks being thrust out into the air in various directions, more often off the beat than on it. But after ten minutes, Steveo spins me around and lines up his chest against my back. His arms don't circle around me but I feel the warmth of his body, and the outline of one particular part of his anatomy, push up against my backside. I lean back against it, and him.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The music has an air of Seventies disco to it and I sway my hips to the rhythm. It’s the kind of song I feel I should know and it’s easy to close my eyes and feel the music pump through my body, my veins, my mind as I start to forget all the many problems with Steveo. Maybe tonight will turn out alright. Maybe tonight will mark the beginning of a better, brighter year.</p><p>Encouraged, I turn around and slide my thighs around Steveo’s leg, interlocking our groins closer together. He straightens up a little, pulls back and I watch him glance around the dancefloor. I ignore how that elongates my spine and makes my jaw clench. I need to help him forget. If he just dances with me like this a little more, rocks that beautiful big cock into me a little, and maybe, brings his arm around my waist and...</p><p>"What are you doing?" I hear him shout in my ear just before he pushes me away, a hand on my chest.</p><p>I step back, a little dazed and very confused. Except I'm not. Not at all. I know exactly what’s going on. And I’ve had enough of being treated like this.</p><p>Pushing my own hand against Steveo’s chest and moving him back, I turn and storm off the dancefloor.</p><p>"Jake! Wait up!" I hear him call out, even over the music and noise from other revellers, people who probably aren't with someone who's ashamed of dancing with them.</p><p>I pick up my pace and the music changes to match this, leaving that soulful swinging disco beat behind for a hard thump of an EDM rhythm, my least favourite kind of music. Good. I'm ready to go home now.&nbsp;</p><p>I pause briefly when I realise we haven’t even seen the new year in yet, and I glance at my watch. Thirty minutes to go.</p><p>Rolling my eyes at nobody, I start walking again when I realise how pissing perfect it will be that I see the new year in while walking home completely alone. How bloody brilliant it will be that the world-famous fireworks will paint the sky hundreds of different colours as I am slipping into my PJs. How fucking fantastic it will be that when I call my sister to wish her a happy new year, she will only just be starting to get ready for her own celebrations.</p><p><em>Jesus. When did my life become such a tragedy?</em></p><p>But before I dive head first into this wallowing, I need a piss.</p><p>Not wanting to risk seeing Steveo in the nightclub toilets, I dig in my wallet for my staff pass and head to the personnel-only doors near the stage that leads to the backstage rooms and the facilities back there. I keep my head down as I walk past people rushing around back there, some of them drunk, others anything but - all clipboards and headsets and stressed shouting - and I go to the gents’ toilets.</p><p>Inside, I quickly relieve myself at a urinal and then wash my hands and splash my face with cold water before taking a good look at my reflection.</p><p>I don’t hate what I see – I have a nicely put-together face and a jawline many should be jealous of – but I don’t love what I see either. My chestnut eyes reveal the sadness and dejection I feel, my dark blond hair is no longer holding the same shape I spent far too long putting it in earlier, and my cheeks look a little hollow, no doubt because I didn’t eat a decent meal all day in order to fit in the Armani jeans I stupidly bought a size too small in the sale.</p><p>"Jesus, Forester. You're too good for this," I say to myself.</p><p>"Yeah, you are," a voice says and then I hear a toilet flush. I hear the click of a lock opening on the nearest cubicle and a striking man walks out. He’s tall – roughly the same height as my five feet eleven - and he's wearing black trousers and a black woollen turtleneck, which I find mind-boggling considering it’s been 30 degrees for the last few days. He must be crew and here with one of the DJs on some whistle-stop tour.</p><p>"Sorry," I say to him via the mirror as he comes to wash his hands. "I talk to myself too much."</p><p>He gives me a side smile before bending down to wash his hands, like really washing his hands with soap and water and lots of scrubbing. Maybe he's actually hotel staff. I should keep my eye out for him, I think as I take in his light brown skin, dark hair, and sexy stubble.</p><p>"Most people don't talk to themselves enough," he says with a smile that has my eyes glued on him. That’s when I see the colour of his eyes, a grey so light and ethereal it’s practically silver. I have to blink to remember to speak but still I can’t find words worthy of a witty reply, which is not like me at all.</p><p>"Ha," I say eventually and quite pathetically. "Maybe."</p><p>He starts to rinse off the soap's bubbles. "Well, whatever it is, or whoever they are, I hope they don't ruin your night," he says and that's when I realise he's from England, like me. There's even the soft lull of a West Midlands accent.</p><p>"Oh, it's too late for that," I say.</p><p>"The night is yet young," he steps around me to reach for paper towels. "And so are you."</p><p>He looks up and down my body then, a very open assessment. His lack of subtlety prompts me to be just as direct.</p><p>"Are you accosting me?" I ask, putting a hand on my hip.</p><p>"God, no," he says with a grin that would suggest otherwise, or maybe that's the godawful shot I just did blurring my vision and interpretation of curious looks.</p><p>"Don't sound so horrified!" I put my other hand on my other hip. He scrunches the paper towel into a ball and we both watch as he throws it towards the bin and it lands.</p><p>"I'm not horrified, but let's just say I’m probably not the answer to your problems," he folds his arms across his chest. A nicely solid chest, I believe.</p><p>"You're from the UK," I say, deliberately changing the subject away from my problems. I'm quite good at that.</p><p>"Birmingham," he says. "You?"</p><p>"Surrey, originally," I say. "Now a citizen of the world."</p><p>"Yeah, me too, I guess," he says, and I have to look away from those eyes again.</p><p>I hear a buzzing, and I move to put my hand on my phone in my pocket but there’s no vibration. Of course Steveo isn't even trying to contact me.</p><p>The man in front of me is looking at the screen of an expensive-looking Smartphone by the time I look back at him.</p><p>"That's my cue to leave," he says. "Got a plane to catch, unfortunately." As he looks at the phone's screen I see him cringe, very noticeably.</p><p>"Whatever it is, or whoever they are, I hope they don't ruin your night," I repeat his words to him, nodding at his phone.</p><p>He looks up. "The night is yet young for that," he says with that mirthful smile again. "Goodbye, handsome stranger."</p><p>"Ha!" I can't help my laugh. "Goodbye, man who is very inappropriately dressed for an Australian summer."</p><p>"You're not wrong," he says as he pulls at the neck of his jumper. "And hey?"</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Nice shoes," he says with a lingering look at my feet, and then he's gone.<br></p><p><strong>PART ONE – NEW MOON</strong></p><p><em>“Don't worry if you're making waves just by being yourself. The Moon does it all the time.” - </em><strong>Scott Stabile</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Chapter One</strong></p><p><strong>Present Day, London</strong></p><p><strong>Jake</strong></p><p>“You do this for me and I will pay for Dolly’s grooming for a whole year,” I say into the phone.</p><p>“A year? You can’t afford that,” Derek immediately counters.</p><p>I shrug. “What are credit cards for?”</p><p>“You’re that desperate?”<br>“I am <em>that</em> desperate,” I groan into the phone.</p><p>Lionel’s wedding has come out of nowhere, and when I say nowhere, I mean I have successfully ignored the invitation for their whirlwind wedding for the last three months but now the date is just five weeks away and I am still dateless. Did I do that because I didn’t actually expect them to get married? Possibly, and apparently stupidly, yes.</p><p>“Why do you need a date so badly?” Derek asks and I swear I can hear the soft scratch of a nail file doing its thing in the background.</p><p>“Because…” I begin even though I really don’t want to dig up this sorry story again. “Because he’s the one that got away.”</p><p>“Oh Jakey, you’re breaking my heart,” Derek says and I really can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or genuine. It’s a fine line with most of my social circle, myself included. Because it serves me better, I choose to interpret his tone as one of real concern.</p><p>“So you’ll come?” As I shift in my chair with excitement, I notice my assistant Sharon walking into my office, carrying a laptop. She’s talking to a man who follows her in. A man who is carrying a bundle of envelopes and other post, including my <em>Homes &amp; Garden, Lonely Planet</em> and <em>BBC Travel</em> magazines. He must be the new post guy.</p><p>“God, no. I can’t pretend to be your boyfriend. That’s way too weird.” Derek snaps me back to our conversation. I put a finger up to Sharon to show her I’m busy talking.</p><p>“Derek, you literally blew me once a week for a year when we were at uni!”</p><p>Derek sighs loudly. “I also studied geography and used Superdrug hair gel. Mistakes were made, Jake. Mistakes were made.”</p><p>“What do I have to do?” I’d like to say Derek’s the first person I’ve begged but he’s not. In fact, he’s the fourth friend I’ve asked to do this favour for me and it looks like he’s going to be the fourth to turn me down. I am running out of both time and friends.</p><p>“Nothing will convince me, Jake. I have plans that weekend and I’m not changing them.”</p><p>“I hardly think watching Eurovision finals with your chihuahua-Pomeranian mix dog constitutes plans,” I say but then adjust my tone. "Listen, I'll give you the afternoon to think about it. I'm tied up running through our upcoming schedule with our newbie events manager who will no doubt be as bossy, boring, and buttoned up as the last one.”</p><p>“Oh, yes. What was her name again?”</p><p>“Tasha. I forgot you met her at our Christmas do when you came with me last year. See you did that for me, Dezza. Why won't you step up again and-”</p><p>Sharon clears her throat, making a noise that isn't dissimilar from a flushing plane toilet.</p><p>“Yes, Sharon?” I pull my phone away from my ear slightly and then see the postman is trying to catch my eye and opening his mouth to say something, but I save him the trouble. “Oh, thank you for the post. Pop it down over there on the table if you don't mind.”</p><p>He opens his mouth to respond but seems to change his mind as he turns and places the pile down. I take in his appearance and realise while his clothes are all black, they do seem to fit his slim physique well, and while his shaved head is a little predictable and unimaginative, it does suit his chiselled dark features. “I have to say, you're very smartly dressed for the post room staff,” I comment.</p><p>“Thank you, I-” He begins but I don’t hear what he says next because Derek is threatening to hang up on me.</p><p>"Jake, I've got to go. You've gone from begging me to do you a solid to ignoring me completely which is not good for my mental health..."</p><p>"<em>Your</em> mental health?" I declare, gripping the phone close to my ear again. "I'm the one feeling dejected. I have a good mind to send you and all my lousy friends an invoice for the emotional damage all this rejection is going to cause. I see some very poor decision making on my horizon, especially in relation to my credit card, or worse, my Grindr settings-"</p><p>I'm unable to finish my sentence because my phone is snatched out of my hand and away from my ear.</p><p>"Sharon!" I exclaim. "Give me that back!"</p><p>Sharon's voice booms like only Sharon's voice can, a perfect match for her solid physique and short jet-black hair with its gravity defying spikes. "Jake, I'd like to introduce you to Rami Kazimi. Our new Head of Events."</p><p>She nods at the postman as she says that which means... he's not the postman at all.</p><p>"Oh," I say, eyes widening. I’m about to apologise but then I see the time on the clock behind his head. "But you're two hours early for our meeting."</p><p>"Yes, well, funny story," he begins, smiling in a way that is nervous and jolly and I have time for neither.</p><p>As if detecting this, Sharon jumps in. "Rami's going to be working from your office today, and tomorrow too."</p><p>"What?" My jaw drops.</p><p>"Maybe next week as well," she adds quickly as she scratches at the back of her pixie-cut. I swear I see her lips curl with glee as she watches for my reaction, her dark eyes sparkling a little.</p><p>"Here? Why isn't he getting Tasha's old office?"</p><p>"No can do. Tony nabbed that before her stiletto heel marks had been buffered out of the marble floor. Rami was supposed to be moving into <em>his</em> old office,"&nbsp;Sharon says.</p><p>"Oh, God, the dungeon." I say before I can stop myself, glancing at Rami whose smile looks like it could be slipping. Shame, it's quite a nice smile full of bright white teeth and framed with dusty pink lips that don't seem to thin out even when stretched into his awkward smile.</p><p>Sharon flashes an unconvincing grin up at Rami as she stretches her short, round body to put my phone on my desk.</p><p>"It's not really a dungeon, but it does indeed need better internet apparently, and there's not even a working phoneline connection down there so maintenance are going to address all the above as soon as is humanly possible. But it will be fine you working here for the foreseeable, won't it Jake?"</p><p>Uh oh. She's using <em>that</em> voice with me.</p><p>“Can't he share your office?" I try one more time.</p><p>"I don't have an office, I have a corridor." Sharon’s thunderous look tells me exactly what she thinks about that.</p><p>"But I literally just got my own private office for the first time in well, ever. Do you know how long I've waited and how hard I’ve worked to get to a place where I can just fart in peace?"</p><p>"You think I don't hear some of those rippers? Now, quit your moaning. It won't be for long. Just as soon as maintenance can drill some big holes and poke pipes down channels or something."</p><p>"Now I know I'm really angry because I don't even want to play with the blatant innuendo you just served me on a silver platter!" I cross my arms like the cranky toddler I apparently am.</p><p>"Should I go?” Rami points to the door. “I could always work in reception. In fact, maybe that would be better..."</p><p>Sharon holds up her hand to him. "No, Rami. Jake is mid-way through his gay flap so just five more minutes and it will all be over."</p><p>"<em>Gay</em> flap? How very dare you, Sharon? I'll report you to HR for homophobia." I point my finger at her.</p><p>"Homophobia? I'm a gold-card-carrying lesbian, and you know it, you nimcompoop," Sharon says with a dismissive eye roll. "You play Words with Friends with my wife, for crying out loud."</p><p>"Ugh," I grunt but reach for my phone in the next breath. "That reminds me, it's my turn. And actually, what is Daniel doing the last weekend in May? He'd make a lovely looking date for this blasted wedding."</p><p>"There's no way you’re taking my son anywhere. Poor boy is still recovering from when you came over and plucked his eyebrows last week," Sharon mutters. "Besides, he's twenty-three, hardly an appropriate age for your date."</p><p>"Tell that to my sister," I mumble referring to Jenna's partner Marty who is many years her junior. "Anyway, he should be thanking me. Those brows added real definition to his face, which has sadly acquired your substandard bone structure."</p><p>Sharon points a stubby finger at me. "You may be turning forty this year, Jake Forester, but you're not too old to go over my knee and-"</p><p>Rami coughs again, much louder this time. His smile has completely vanished too. "I think I'm going to go and get a coffee, or something. Anything that will take me somewhere else-"</p><p>"You stay right here. Look there's already a desk for you-" Sharon grabs hold of his arm and practically hurls him towards my table.</p><p>"That's my meeting table for important meetings with important people!"&nbsp;I stand up.</p><p>"No, it's not. It's where you store all the paperwork you should have shredded or filed already and where you have your lunch reading Mail Online and eating cheese and pickle sandwiches. And you can do that at your desk."</p><p>I gasp with a hand on my chest. "And get grated cheese in the cracks of my keyboard? You savage, Sharon."</p><p>"Me a savage? I'm not the one giving our new colleague the worst possible welcome."</p><p>I close my eyes then and when I open them, I make sure I have a smile on my face. I turn to Rami.</p><p>"Yes, my apologies. I shouldn't have made… assumptions. Of course, you can work in here, for however long you need to."</p><p>It literally pains me to say such nice things. Am I really becoming this grumpy in my middle age?</p><p>"Apology accepted, Jake," he says with a returning smile so warm some of its heat reaches me, loosening a little of the tension in my shoulders. It’s as we share eye contact that I notice the colour of his eyes, a light, bright grey that seems to sparkle in the artificial lighting. God, how lucky do some people get having eyes that unusual, that captivating? No wonder he doesn’t seem to feel the need to make much of an effort with sparkling conversation. He doesn’t need to.</p><p>"Well, that's very decent of you.” Sharon gives me a very self-satisfied look. “Let’s make you some space over here."</p><p>She reaches over and grabs the post and all the other stacks of paperwork. She scoops it all up and then strides over to my desk. There she dumps all the papers on what little space remains.</p><p>"You bitch," I say, pulling harder on my pout so I don't show even a hint of a grin.</p><p>"Dateless desperado," she says back before she walks to the door. Her tone becomes sunnier as she turns to the man who will now be sharing my office. "Good luck, Rami!"</p><p>Sharon is gone before Rami replies, and he swallows whatever words he was mumbling. I move to sit back at my desk, sighing again when I see the mess of papers covering it</p><p>"Sharon seems... interesting," Rami ventures as he goes to the table and pulls out a chair.&nbsp;</p><p>"Sharon is a ruthless and insensitive battle-axe, but she's the best personal assistant I've ever had, and I love her dearly," I say finding all those words suddenly exhausting. I can't believe I now have to summon the energy for small talk with this stranger. While he's certainly easy on the eye, he's already gone some way to show me he has the personality of a cucumber so I can't even enjoy a little banter.&nbsp;</p><p>"That makes complete sense," he mumbles as he sits down and opens up his laptop. My top lip curls in a sneer when I notice it's a newer model than mine, and with a screen two inches bigger. The bastard.</p><p>"Who did you have to blow to get that?" I demand.</p><p>He practically gets whiplash from looking up at me so quickly. "Pardon?"</p><p>"Fancy laptop," I waggle my finger at the device. "How did you get the job anyway? I don't remember you coming in for an interview. I sat in on some of them." I know I would remember seeing those eyes recently.</p><p>Rami takes a moment to think on his answer, lips closed flat. "I didn't exactly go through the usual recruitment process," he says, and I wait for more information but he closes his mouth again and turns back to the laptop.</p><p>"Are you friends with Bill, or Simeon?" I ask, referring to the two owners of the company we work for, Status Hotels &amp; Venues. When I see his shoulders rise, I know my answer even though he doesn't speak.</p><p>"It's both, isn't it?" I ask and again his silence and tense upper body are confirmation.</p><p><em>Shit</em>. If he's friends with them then not only do I have zero opportunity for banter but I also have to be on my best behaviour. In fact, I probably need to do more than that to undo the damage of the mistaken identity and the admittedly ridiculous gay-or-otherwise flap I just had.</p><p>Resisting the urge to groan and hang my head in my hands - because knowing my luck, this man has eyes in the back of his head as well as a much better laptop than me - I instead move the papers Sharon dumped on my desk to the floor and get back to work. And by work, I mean continuing to go through my contact list to find a suitable date for Lionel's wedding.</p><p>*****</p><p><em>Read what Rami's first impressions of Jake are and the rest of the story in <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" href="https://geni.us/TheMoonAlsoRisesBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Moon Also Rises.</a></em></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/hummingbird-novella-extract Hummingbird: Read The First Two Chapters <p><em><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/hummingbird-photo_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/hummingbird-photo_x960.jpg?v=1"></em></p><h2><strong><em>Hummingbird - Read the First Two Chapters</em></strong></h2><p><em>Ready for another extract from one of my latest steamy romance books? I've got not one but two chapters from my spicy sapphic novella Hummingbird to share with you today. It's how the book opens and introduces you to the main characters Dove and Keeley, who also meet for the first time.</em></p><p><a data-mce-href="htt" href="htt" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>You can read the rest of this hot and steamy novella by buying it here.</em></a></p><h2><strong>Chapter One</strong></h2><h2><strong>Dove</strong></h2><p>Why do I keep looking at her? It's like my eyes are magnets and she is made of metal, which I can plainly see she is not. I can clearly see with my magnetic eyes that she is made up of dark goth make-up, peroxide blonde hair in a cute pixie cut, and soft, full curves encased in creamy pale skin that is scattered with tattoos in a variety of colours and styles. In short, she is very, very cool. That must be why I'm looking at her.</p><p>I don't fancy her. I just want to be more like her.</p><p>"Are you even drinking that?" Jake bumps his shoulder against mine.</p><p>"Yes," I say and then take a large gulp of my beer.</p><p>"Some party this is," he says with one of his tuts.</p><p>"What did you expect?" Dana says from my other side. "Ministry of Sound? They're second year drama students, not professional party planners."</p><p>I’m about to thank my friend for her solidarity but Jake has a quick retort, like he always does.</p><p>"Well, if we were throwing a party over in hospitality, you'd know about it. None of these plastic cups of warm beer, someone's iPod on shuffle and one single disco light in a corner of the room. The corner? I mean come on, Dove."</p><p>"Hey, I did the snacks,” I say. “Lighting was Craig's department because that’s actually what he wants to be, a lighting technician."</p><p>"God help Craig at exam time. As for those snacks of yours, they are rather… beige, not to mention inadequate for a party of this size."</p><p>"You are such a bitch." I tap his arm.</p><p>"That's why you love me." Jake blows me a kiss.</p><p>"So, is he here?" Dana interjects looking at Jake.</p><p>"Who?" I ask.</p><p>"Whoever Jake’s next victim is!"</p><p>"Ha! Funny you should say that. Do you know Ahmad Zane? He does French and mechanics, I think?"</p><p>"What a combo," I mutter, and I hate how my eyes are drawn back to the tattooed goth girl. I watch her talking with a taller friend. In fact, all the people she’s standing with are taller than her. I don’t know why that makes something inside me melt. I don’t normally have this reaction around people smaller than myself, which is just as well because at five foot nine, a lot of people are shorter than me.</p><p>"It's a killer combo! It tells me he's cultured <em>and</em> good with his hands!" Jake is saying.</p><p>"But is he here?" Dana asks. She’s swaying on her feet already. I’m not saying Dana is a lightweight but I’m also not saying I would want her on my team for group drinking games.</p><p>"Just walked in. He's heading over to the drinks table. Over there," Jake says even though he seems to be looking in a different direction, revealing just how excellent he is at multi-tasking when one of those tasks is watching a man he is attracted to.</p><p>I do see Ahmad actually, but only because the drinks table is next to the group of people that the tattooed goth girl is part of. When Ahmad bumps fists with a few of them, half-hugs a couple of the girls, and then finally reaches for a beer from the table behind them, I see an opportunity.</p><p>"Do you know who he's talking to?" I ask.</p><p>"Oh, they're townies," Jake says. "I know of a few of them."</p><p>"Which ones?" I ask, perhaps a little too quickly.</p><p>"The tall lanky bloke is Paul Harrow. His dad is head of security at the Grand." Jake is referring to the hotel where he works part-time. "Next to him is Caroline something. She's a hairdresser down on Broad Street. She's shagging a footballer, apparently. Division One, not Premier League, mind you. And I met the girl who looks like a colouring book once."</p><p>"The what?"</p><p>"You know, the girl with all the tattoos."</p><p>"Oh, her," I say, keeping my voice as steady as I can.</p><p>"She's a tattoo artist - no surprises there. She's a bit older, I think, and I met her because she was going out with Gina from your course. I'm pretty sure they broke up last year, but maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe lesbians are more civilised than us gays and they can actually stay friends.”</p><p>“I don’t think that’s a gay-lesbian thing,” Dana adds, although I’m not sure how she would know. She’s as straight as I am. “I think that’s a Jake thing. But wait, Gina’s gay?”</p><p>“As a rainbow flag made of glitter and bubblegum."</p><p>"I didn't know that," I say but the unsettling feeling of heat and tension in my stomach hasn't got anything to do with the fact that Gina is gay. It's more to do with the tattooed goth girl also being queer. She likes women.</p><p><em>Would she like me?</em> That thought hits the front of my mind, loudly.</p><p>"Why would you? Gina's one of the cool kids. She doesn't speak to people like you," Dana explains.</p><p>"But she speaks to Jake!" I point out.</p><p>"Yes, but I'm gay. That gets me a special pass to hang out with cool kids, as long as I don't overstay my welcome or actually do so in public spaces, unless invited to do so. You straight nerds are simply not worthy."</p><p>“I’m not a nerd. I’m a slut. There’s a very big difference,” Dana says and swigs back the last mouthful of her beer. Apparently, room temperature lager is her favourite kind tonight.</p><p>"I fucking hate the cool kids." I glance briefly at the group of students from my course that have perfect bodies, perfect clothes, and perfect hairstyles I have no idea how they pay for. I haven't been able to afford cutting my hair since I started uni almost two years ago, which is why it falls to nearly my waist, and the only updates my wardrobe has had in that time have been hairbands and socks.</p><p>Except I don't <em>really</em> hate the cool kids. I would love to be one of the cool kids. I would love to move around campus with the confidence that carries them through life. That's why I can't stop looking at this tattooed goth girl, I tell myself again. Because she's so cool and that's what I want to be. I want to be just like...</p><p>"What's her name?" I ask Jake and I know it doesn't sound casual. I also know perhaps I shouldn't ask. But I can't help it. I want a name to put to that face, and that full body, and the slightly lop-sided smile she's giving the girl called Caroline who is now dancing to the music.</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“The girl with the tattoos.”</p><p>"Keeley, I think," Jake says before emptying his cup in</p><p>his mouth. "Come on, we can go and find out properly. I need another drink.”</p><p>“Oh, no, I’m okay,” I say quickly.</p><p>“Well, Dana needs another drink.” Jake nods at her.</p><p>“No, I’m heading out now,” Dana says as she applies a thick coat of sparkling lip gloss.</p><p>“Really? Where are you going?”</p><p>“Simon Telford’s dorm room.”</p><p>“Oh, Dana!” Jake complains. “Tonight was supposed to be all about us. A long overdue night out with my Double Ds!”</p><p>“Well, I’m here, aren’t I? I’ve showed my face. But to be honest it’s a little boring and you’re about to go sharking for Ahmad anyway.”</p><p>“What about me?” I press the tip of my index finger to my chest.</p><p>“You’ll be yawning and making your excuses to go to bed in about twenty minutes,” Dana says, and I don’t respond because I have no argument for it.</p><p>“Anyway. Simon should have finished football practise by now. God, I hope he doesn’t shower,” Dana says as she fiddles around with the V of her top. “How are my tits looking?”</p><p>“Fabulous!” Jake declares.</p><p>I’m still cringing from the shower comment but I nod in agreement. She does have fantastic tits.</p><p>“Okay, see you later, bitches,” Dana says as she pouts out two loud air kisses.</p><p>My hand hasn’t even dropped from waving goodbye to Dana when I feel Jake’s fingers wrap around my arm. Before I know it, I'm being dragged across the room towards the tattooed goth girl who gets even prettier, no, I mean <em>cooler</em>, the closer I get to her.</p><p>"Paul! Mate!" Jake holds out his hand and I have to hide my snicker at his very unconvincing attempt at a straight voice. "How's your dad?"</p><p>"I dunno," Paul says as he gets pulled into Jake's handshake. "You probably see him more than me."</p><p>"Jesus, Paul, I hope you're not insinuating there’s something between me and your father," Jake quickly snaps back into full-on camp mode, and I know exactly whose benefit that's for as Ahmad watches the interaction.</p><p>"No," Paul says stonily. "I simply meant I haven't seen him in weeks. He left my mum a month ago."</p><p>Jake's face freezes in a grimace that looks like it might be a bit painful. "Oh, shit, sorry to hear that. Me and my big mouth. Anyway, we just wanted to get another drink. I don't suppose there's anything better on offer? Any French wine, <em>peut-être</em>?" Jake levels this at Ahmad whose brow crinkles in what could be curiosity or confusion.</p><p>"Do you want another drink?" A voice comes out of nowhere. A female voice, and for some reason, I know exactly who it belongs to, and that it’s directed at me.</p><p>I glance at my half-full cup. "Still going, thank you," I say and only once the words have left my mouth do I let my eyes land on the woman with the tattoos.</p><p>She is captivating in a way that startles me, and it’s not just because of the bright bleach blond hair or the sporadic tattoos that climb up her neck and arms. Her face is beautiful, accentuated by make-up I can tell she’s a master at applying. The point of her chin is almost cartoon-like, as is the upswing at the end of her nose. Her almond-shaped eyes are accentuated with thick eyeliner and a bright shade of blue eyeshadow that illuminates the azure swirl of her pupils, even in the dim drama studio light. Her white-blonde hair contrasts with her dark eyebrows, both of which are pierced. I also notice the septum piercing she has and don't have time to count how many earrings each ear holds. I want to say my favourite thing about her is that crooked smile, but I know already it's the tattoo of a hummingbird on the right side of her neck, just below her ear. So colourful and so detailed, it’s a true work of art.</p><p>"Caroline's got some vodka in her handbag if you want some of that," she says to Jake then, as Ahmad didn't take the bait.</p><p>"I'll make do with the lukewarm supermarket beer," Jake says with a sniff. "Ahmad, do you want another?"</p><p>If Ahmad is surprised Jake knows his name, he doesn't act it and I don't hear his reply as he steps closer to Jake. I’m swiftly left alone with the rest of the group as he and Ahmad move closer to the table we’re standing near and then gradually drift away. But a second later, when I brave another look up, I realise that I'm not left with the group at all, but rather just with the tattooed goth girl, because Paul and Caroline have also separated themselves and are now dancing in earnest to a song I don't know. A song that is probably too cool for me.</p><p>"Are you a drama student too?" Tattooed goth girl steps closer to me. There's still plenty of distance between us, but nonetheless, I feel the temperature change after she's closed the gap.</p><p>"Yeah, second year," I say.</p><p>"Cool, I'm Keeley."</p><p>She holds out her hand to me, and I stare at the black nail varnish and the word LOVE written across her knuckles. <em>God, she is so cool.</em> I fear she can read my mind when her lips lift, hooking at the right side of her mouth, sending sparkles to her eyes, and tingles into my belly.</p><p>"Dove," I say taking her hand and telling myself how perfectly normal it is to enjoy the warmth and smooth softness of her skin. She must moisturise a lot. That’s all it is.</p><p>“That’s a beautiful name,” she says after blinking once, twice.</p><p>“Thanks, my mam’s a recovering hippie.” I give her the explanation I give anyone who seems surprised by my name, which in my experience is nearly everyone I meet. It is the truth after all.</p><p>"Nice to meet you, Dove." I smile back when I hear my name in her locals' accent.</p><p>"Are you a student too?" I ask, hoping I sound more uninformed than I am.</p><p>"Fuck, no," she says, her body reeling back a little with the idea. "Sorry, I don't mean any offence or anything but no, studying, college or uni, all that shit. It's not for me. Besides, I'm too old."</p><p>"How old are you?"</p><p>"Twenty-seven," she says and I am surprised. Not that it's <em>old</em>, but it seems so much older than me. I turned twenty a few days ago but I still feel very much like a teenager. A lost, uncertain and deeply uncool teenager.</p><p>"You don't look twenty-seven." I’m unsure if that's the right thing to say. And then I just feel uncertain about my worrying about saying the right thing. That familiar tight feeling in my chest sets in as I tie myself up in mental knots once again.</p><p>"It's the shit lighting in here," she says with a wink that only emphasises her wonky smile. I want to write a whole play about that smile.</p><p>"So, what do you do? If not studying, I mean."</p><p>"Tattoo artist," she says and holds out her arms straight in front of me.</p><p>"Very cool," I say like the completely uncool human I am.</p><p>"It pays the bills." Keeley shrugs.</p><p>"I like the hummingbird... On your neck."</p><p>She places a hand to where the tattoo lies, and again she smiles but this time it's smaller, shyer. "That's a special one. I got it for my daughter. The first time I heard her heartbeat it reminded me of how quickly hummingbirds' wings beat. It's not the same number, by the way, not even close, but it was what I thought about, so I got a tattoo to always remember."</p><p>"Your daughter?" I say and sound as stunned as I am.</p><p>"Yeah, she's three," Keeley replies and of course, this is perfectly logical and reasonable. Lots of people in their late twenties have kids. Lots of people in their <em>early</em> twenties have kids. I am just not lots of people.</p><p>"What's her name?"</p><p>"Marianne," Keeley says and that tentative smile returns to her lips.</p><p>"Do you have a photo?"</p><p>"You want to see a photo of my kid?" She looks genuinely shocked.</p><p>"Of course," I say. "Why wouldn't I? Oh, God, is it weird I asked. I promise you I'm not a weirdo or a pedo."</p><p>Keeley's hand comes down on my forearm and her wonky smile is back. "Relax, I don't think you're being weird. I'm just not used to girls taking an interest in my daughter."</p><p>That sentence is so loaded with potential hidden meanings I can barely see clearly. Am I a girl like the girls she pulls are girls? Or am I just a girl like the girls she chats to platonically? Does she think I'm flirting with her? Is she flirting with me? I really don't want to give her the wrong idea, but I’m also rather clueless what the <em>right</em> idea is.</p><p>"Here she is." Keeley has pulled out her wallet and is showing me a small photo of a child with the same sparkling blue eyes as her mother.</p><p>"She's adorable," I say, noticing her impish smile too. "She looks just like you."</p><p>I pull my lips back in my mouth after saying that.</p><p>"Thanks," Keeley says and tucks her wallet back in her pocket. "She's my world. But, you know, it's also nice to have nights off. She's with her dads tonight."</p><p>I have far too many, far too nosey, questions so I don't ask any of them.</p><p>"So, drama, hey? What do you plan on doing with that after you're finished with college?" Keeley asks when I don’t respond.</p><p>I blink a few times, unprepared for her question. The gap in our conversation is filled by some whooping and giggling by Caroline and Paul behind her as the song changes. We both turn to smile at them and over the top of their heads, I see Jake and Ahmad are deep in conversation sitting on the stage. Looks like I may as well stay here and talk to Keeley as he won't want me getting in the way.</p><p>"I'd really like to be a playwright. Write plays. But I know the chances of me doing that with any kind of success is minuscule."</p><p>"Define success," Keeley says with narrowed eyes.</p><p>"I mean like, financial success. Making enough money to live off."</p><p>She wrinkles her nose. "But is that really success? Don't you think there's more to it? More to life?"</p><p>Taken aback by the philosophical direction of this conversation, my reply comes out as a splutter. "There's a lot more to life, but if you can't afford to eat or pay your rent, there's not much chance of you enjoying all that life has to offer."</p><p>Keeley holds my eye contact as she speaks. “That sounds like an excuse.”</p><p>Her words burn and the tightness in my chest increases. “I’m just being practical.”</p><p>"It sounds like you’re giving up before you've even started."</p><p>"I'm... I'm not giving up." I feel a heat in my eyes and I swallow hard.</p><p>"What you just said... You sound like you already have."</p><p>Part of me wants to shout at her. To tell her to mind her fucking business and that she doesn't know me. But I would never do that. That's not who I am. I'm Dove, the quiet mousey girl who sits in the front of my classes because my glasses prescription is long out of date and I can't afford a replacement pair. I’m the dedicated student who always turns her essays in on time. I'm Dove, the girl who does that because she never goes out unless it's a faculty party like this, where part of the budget comes from the department. I'm Dove who has never been kissed properly. I'm Dove, the twenty-year-old virgin.</p><p>I am definitely not Dove who stands her ground with the coolest girl in the room. A girl who is in fact not a girl at all, but a woman. A woman who is twenty-seven, a tattoo artist and has a kid. I am not Dove who is thinking about how soft Keeley's full lips would feel on my mouth. &nbsp;I am not Dove who can’t stop looking at Keeley’s thick curves and thinking about how juicy, how generous, how enticing they are. I am not Dove who is wondering what that hummingbird tattoo would taste like under my tongue.</p><p>"You're cute when you're all flustered," Keeley says. "It almost makes me not sorry for making you flustered, but I am, you know. I am sorry."</p><p>"I'm not gay.” The words spill out of me.</p><p>"Okay," she says after a beat, her expression only a little alarmed.</p><p>"I'm really not," I insist.</p><p>"Okay..." she says again, slower this time. "Do you want me to stop talking to you?"</p><p>"Yes, no. No, I don't want that. I'm not trying to be rude. I just don't want you to get the wrong idea and—"</p><p>"You're not the first girl to tell me they're straight," Keeley says with a level stare.</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>"Of course, many of them were lying."</p><p>I open my mouth but there are no words. As it happens Keeley's mouth is also open and out of it tumbles warm, deep laughter. "Jesus, I'm messing with you."</p><p>"You are?"</p><p>"Yes, I'm teasing you. And I probably shouldn't. I apologise."</p><p>"I'm sorry for sounding homophobic. I'm really not." My body temperature seems intent on swinging from hot to cold and right now I feel frozen, ice cold.</p><p>"I believe you," she says.</p><p>"If I were gay, I'm sure—"</p><p>"Don't say it." She presses a finger against my lips, a move that silences me instantly. "That's literally the worst thing you could say right now."</p><p>"Okay," I say, moving my mouth as little as possible because I don't want her to lift her finger off my lips. When she does it anyway, I hope to God my features don't reveal how disappointed I feel.</p><p>"You want to run away from me now?" Keeley asks me.</p><p>"No," I say, but it’s not the complete truth. For every part of me that longs to stand next to this woman and look at her longer, there’s a part of me that wishes I could run away and hide.</p><p>"But you probably will, right?"</p><p>It is the worst possible time for me to see Jake waving at me from across the room, beckoning me to him.</p><p>"I'm not running away," I nod at Jake. "But I do have to go. My friend needs me."</p><p>Keeley seems to find this amusing, which deepens my discomfort while also irritating me a little.</p><p>"Go be with your friend," she says, her eyes dull and her lips downturned, and then she turns and walks over to her dancing friends.</p><p>It's not until I'm standing in front of Jake in a dark corner of the room and he's giving me a lengthy debrief on how Ahmad touched his thigh for all of three seconds that I realise Keeley had been into me. Keeley <em>fancied</em> me. Whatever it was, Keeley had seen something in me that not many other people do, including myself.</p><p>And I have no idea how I feel about that.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></p><h2><strong>Chapter Two</strong></h2><h2><strong>Keeley</strong></h2><p><em>Ugh. Straight girls.</em></p><p>I had been so convinced she wasn't one. The way her eyes kept landing on me. The way she smiled coyly. The way she couldn't stand still, shuffling from one foot to another the whole time we talked. Adorable.</p><p>Ridiculously, annoyingly, addictively adorable.</p><p>And then there’s her face. Long like her physique, it’s dominated by her big brown eyes which take up far too much space behind those round-framed glasses. Their warm walnut colour selfishly kept pulling my gaze into them as I stared up at her, and after a while, it felt like looking away was an impossibility. Her straight nose is covered in light brown freckles, her lips are an almost unnatural pink, and I’m only partly ashamed that it made me wonder if her nipples were the same rosey shade. Likewise, I’m nowhere near embarrassed enough that the first thing I thought when I saw how long her hair fell down her back was what it would look like wrapped around my fist. My impure thoughts were somewhat subdued by her clothes as uninspiring as they are, with her ripped jeans and a saggy well-worn baby blue cardigan, but still they failed to hide the curve of her waist, the slight flair of her narrow hips and the long, lean flanks of her thighs.</p><p>So she's not my usual type, but my usual type hasn't exactly worked out for me so far. I spare a quick glance at Gina who has the curves, dark features and overtly sexual aura I normally go for. She was fun while she lasted, but exhausting at the same time with her extroverted personality and tendency to always be performing a little. Then I stopped dating women completely so I could focus on raising my daughter, which seemed like such a good idea but in practise was incredibly boring. Well, Marianne is getting older now and Caroline and Paul were right to drag me out tonight. It has been a long time since I've socialised with people who have cultural references more sophisticated than the names of the Teletubbies. I love being a mum, but I also love not being a mum now and again and wasn't that the whole point of having a child with Nick and Ivan? To ensure I had time to myself while Marianne also gets to have more adults and love in her life? But since Gina, I've been reluctant to even think about dating again. It's also possible I've used my daughter more as an excuse than a reason.</p><p>That's why when I saw Dove's flushed cheeks beneath the wide rims of her glasses and the long hair that draped far too teasingly over her breasts when it fell there as she talked, I dared myself to find out more about her. Not that it felt like a dare. It felt like an invitation I'd been waiting for a long time.</p><p>But it seems the looks she directed my way were likely more because of my appearance than anything else. My hair, my piercings, my tattoos, my make-up. To me, they're just me and I'm not a big deal. Not something worth feeling intimidated or even especially curious about. But to others I know it's not that simple. My tattoos alone give out negative messages I can't control. I just didn't think they were being received by Dove. At least I’d hoped they weren’t.</p><p>I give her only half a glance now as I shuffle on the spot next to Paul and Caroline who I can tell are both about one drink away from snogging, which will pretty much be my cue to leave.</p><p>I know Dove’s friend - Jack is his name, I think - was waving at her and I can somehow tell she's the kind of person who will always go running when a friend calls for her, but she didn't have to do it so eagerly, so quickly.</p><p>Dove did make it clear that she's straight and not interested. I've learned the hard way that I need to listen to women when they do this. But as my eyes find their way to Dove again, much to my surprise they lock in with hers. She's leaning back against the wall as her friend talks, his hands busy, and she looks... wistful, sad, maybe even a little ashamed.</p><p>I offer her a small smile and I know she sees it because she drops our eye contact immediately and turns to the side so her shoulder is now against the wall.</p><p>I'm about to moan about long-haired mousey girls into Caroline's ear, but when I look at her, I see her mouth is fused with Paul's and she's virtually humping the thigh he has wedged between her legs.</p><p>"Oh, for fuck's sake," I mutter and then walk away. I ditch my drink on the first available surface I find, take my coat off the hook on the wall, and then I keep walking, heading for the door.</p><p>"Where are you going?" A voice stops me before I reach the double doors.</p><p>"Home," I say before I turn and see Dove standing a few metres away.</p><p>"Don't go," she says and I wish she'd repeat it because I can't tell if her tone is as desperate as I want it to be, almost begging.</p><p>"We could have another drink together?" She offers. "My friend is now back talking to his latest crush and I don't really know anyone else here so..."</p><p>"So, I'll do as a stop-gap, to keep you company while your friend is busy?" I argue, my words heavy with spite.</p><p>"That's not what I meant," she says quickly and I don't miss how her bottom lip plumps up in a pout.</p><p>I step closer to her. "Are you straight?"</p><p>"Pardon?"</p><p>"Are you still straight, or did your sexuality magically change in the last ten minutes? I have to ask."</p><p>"I'm still straight," she whispers.</p><p>"Then, no, thank you."</p><p>She straightens up a bit then and lifts her head. "You know, that's kind of rude."</p><p>"I am kind of rude," I spit back. May as well live up to the reputation my tattoos and piercings give me. I put my coat on and ready myself to go, confident she doesn’t have a response to that.</p><p>"No, you're not,” she says, her shoulders held high. “You were really friendly with me earlier."</p><p>I take another step closer. "Well, that was when I was hoping to find out if you taste as sweet as you look," I say slowly, deliberately like the bitch I am.</p><p>I'll give her credit, she barely flinches. It's more of a shiver, in fact. But still she doesn't respond, her wide eyes finally fleeing from my glare.</p><p>"Go write your plays and be that amazing playwright you should believe you can be," I say to Dove before I turn my back on her and walk away.</p><p>*****</p><p><a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella" href="https://geni.us/HummingbirdNovella" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow"><em>Read what happens when they meet again here.&nbsp;</em></a></p><p><em>And if you haven't read my full-length spicy FM romance, Five Sunsets, you can <a data-mce-href="five-sunsets-prologue" href="five-sunsets-prologue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read the prologue here</a>, or <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">go read it for free on Kindle Unlimited here</a>.</em></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/the-weaker-sex-prologue The Weaker Sex: Read the Prologue <h2><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/pexels-photo-169978_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/pexels-photo-169978_x960.jpg?v=1"></h2><h2><strong>The Weaker Sex - Read the Prologue</strong></h2><p><em>Today I want to share the prologue from The Weaker Sex. I actually can't believe I didn't share this already as I really thought I had, but instead I realised I shared <a data-mce-href="the-weaker-sex-authors-note" href="the-weaker-sex-authors-note" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Author's Note</a> from the book instead. Anyway, here is the prologue today, and <a data-mce-href="https:/" href="https:/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here is where you can find the book available as an ebook for Kindle (it's free in Kindle Unlimited)</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">as a paperback</a> too.&nbsp;</em></p><p><em>If you do want to go on and read the rest of Madam's story, I strongly recommend you check the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book.</em></p><h2><strong>Prologue</strong></h2><p><strong>Now</strong></p><p><em>That’s him. Isn’t it? Is that him?</em></p><p>I crane my neck to see his face, but a bus pulls up alongside the window and I see nothing but red. I glance ahead, past my driver’s ear. Noticing we’re stuck in traffic I lean forward, gripping the sides of the passenger seat in front of me.</p><p>‘Are you alright?’ asks Abigail, my driver.</p><p>‘I just…’ I pause, willing the traffic ahead and the bus beside us to move on, begging the other people walking along the side of the road to just melt away. ‘I thought I saw someone I knew.’</p><p>Abigail nods. ‘For a city of millions, London’s still a small world. I always end up seeing the exes I wish I didn’t.’</p><p>I sense that Abigail is looking at me in the rear-view mirror, wanting to share a small laugh or reassuring smile, but I don’t take my eyes off the side of the road. The bus starts to move but I know it’s too late. I don’t see the grey hair atop a long navy-blue coat again. I can’t see the woman with the plaid scarf who was walking just behind him.</p><p>They’ve all moved on.</p><p>I finally sit back and apologise to Abigail.</p><p>‘Nothing to apologise for, Madam. Are you okay?’ she asks and I meet her gaze this time.</p><p>‘I’m fine,’ I say, but I’m not. I haven’t been fine for years, and every day I feel more fear. Not fear of him - not anymore - but fear that my time is running out.</p><p>I’d forgotten what it was like to think I’d seen him. I’d forgotten how I could feel so much, so quickly. An immediate rush of cold freezing my breath, my body, my mind. And then a hot, engulfing heat that rises, like the flames of wildfire.</p><p>I’d forgotten how much seeing him could make me feel both lost and found. Lost because it made me remember the pain and helplessness. Found because I know exactly what I have to do to regain control. Found because I’m ready to do what has to be done.</p><p>Because I have to see a body, a dead body. Even if I have to make that happen myself.</p><p>*****</p><p><em><a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Read the rest of The Weaker Sex here.</a></em></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/book-reviews-june-2022 Book Reviews: Mid-Year Book Report 2022 <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/book-report-june-2022_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/book-report-june-2022_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>Remember when I used to do monthly book reviews? That was fun! Well, I can't commit to doing monthly book reports - I can barely commit to anything more than brushing my teeth these days - but I did want to drop in and share some of the books I've read in 2022, specifically those I loved the most.</p><p>Consider this a quick and dirty round-up of book reviews. For more detailed reviews (possibly) and real-time updates on what I'm reading, <a data-mce-href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7044639.Frances_M_Thompson" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7044639.Frances_M_Thompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">find me on Goodreads</a>.</p><h2><strong>My Favourite Books From This Year... So Far.</strong></h2><p>So far in 2022, I've read 29 books and the vast majority of them have been romance. That said, not all of my favourite books of the year have been romance books so you can expect a nice mix below. (But if you <a data-mce-href="the-joy-of-romance-novels" href="the-joy-of-romance-novels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">want to know why I read more romance these days, read this post</a>.)</p><p><strong>The Good Ally by Nova Reid</strong></p><p>There's a reason this book is top of this list. If you're white (or white presenting) it's an essential book that I strongly urge one and all to read. It would be too simplistic to say my reasons for recommending this book is because of the anti-racism training I have done with the author - although that work has been transformative on its own - but really this book is about opening one's eyes to the hard and harsh realities that many Black people and POC experience at the hands of white supremacy, and white people who do not do their bit to dismantle white supremacy within themselves, their families, their communities and their institutions.</p><p>I choose the words "opening one's eyes" carefully because once you finish reading this book, which is exquisitely well written, researched thoroughly and presented in ways that will speak to your heart, mind and soul, you really are only at the beginning of a lifelong journey to do the work, and make the world a better place. But The Good Ally is exactly that, an essential first step, especially for white people in the UK or of British descent.</p><p><strong>Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney</strong></p><p>Moving on to contemporary fiction, I'm actually a bit surprised this book is making this list. For all the hype that surrounded its release, I very much expected it to fall flat or rather, to be a bit of a stretch in terms of appreciating its quirkiness, knowing exactly how Sally Rooney likes to be quirky and different based on her other two novels Conversations with Friends and Normal People. And yes, it is quirky and different, but the charm for me came in the way very mundane and normal moments were portrayed; how we use social media, how we interact with those we are attracted to, how we endure strained relationships.&nbsp;</p><p>I can't imagine what it's like being as popular as Sally Rooney so to write a novel that appears both undeniably affected and unabashedly unaffected by her rise to fame in recent years feels like a true achievement.</p><p><strong>Thornchapel Series by Sierra Simone</strong></p><p>Technically, I read this series on my Kindle at the end of last year, but I fell in love with the story and the characters so deeply I bought the full series in paperback and when they arrived, I picked the first one up (A Lesson in Thorns) and started reading it all over again.</p><p>Unlike anything else I've ever read before, the books tell the stories of six characters who are connected to Thornchapel, an old estate located in the moors of Devon, England. The mystical grounds hold many secrets involving rituals and magic, and so it seems do the characters as their lives intertwine and together they dig deeper into a history they may or may not want to discover.</p><p>If you've never read Sierra Simone before, you should know that her books are very, very erotic and indeed the explicit love scenes are incremental to the story - think group acts of pleasure on sacred monuments - so if that's not your cup of tea, this is a series to skip. That said, it's so poetically written and the characters are so beautifully torn apart (and sometimes put back together again) that I urge you to give it a go if you're curious.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall</strong></p><p>Generally speaking, I am not a fan of historical romance. There's something about the restrictions it presents that makes it harder for me to lose myself in. That said, I have very much enjoyed historical romance written by Alexis Hall, a queer author that writes in a number of genres, but I have mostly enjoyed his romances.&nbsp;</p><p>The reason I picked up A Lady for a Duke is because one of the main characters is a trans woman and I was very curious how this would be portrayed in a historical context (early 1800s) and specifically with regard to the aforementioned restrictions former eras' present in terms of queerphobia. As it happened I shouldn't have worried. Yes, the restrictions were there, but no they didn't constrict or suffocate this beautiful love story that features a woman reunite with her childhood best friend and fall in love. Similar to Hall's other historical romance novel Something Fabulous, I adored how the book had an abundance of queer characters and they were all portrayed in positive light.</p><p>Another book I read this year by Alexis Hall is Boyfriend Material, a contemporary romance about two men fake-dating and being very silly as they fall madly in love. It's easily the funniest book I've read this year so definitely deserves a special mention.</p><p><strong>The Push by Ashley Audrain</strong><br></p><p>Moving from romance to dark, dark suspense, I am almost surprising myself by including this book in this list because it wasn't enjoyable, rather it was enticing and demanding in what it made me think and feel, and it was written in a prosaic but addictive way that always held my attention.</p><p>In my Goodreads review, I said that this is a book I would not have been able to read a few years ago, i.e. in my post-partum and early years as a mother, because it very much tackles the topics of motherhood and parenting head on and not in a way that gives you much room to breathe or feel any kind of peace or ease with it all. That said, I did find some perverse comfort in recognising I don't have many of the problems the main character does!</p><p><strong>All About Love by bell hooks</strong></p><p>There's a reason this book is last on this list, because it is simply the single most important book I've read this year, and possibly ever. bell hooks' study, exploration, examination and campaign for love is essential reading for all humans. It should be taught in schools and in companies. It should be given out to babies at birth. It should live on every single book shelf in the world.</p><p>Simply put, All About Love is exactly that, all about love. It explains what love is, and importantly, what it isn't, and it prescribes to a love ethic being the only way we can undo many - if not all - of life's evils and pain. While this sounds grand and almost outlandish, the scary and most significant thing about this book is that it's not. It's really very simple. Let love rule.&nbsp;</p><p>Of course to get to this point and to have it be a manifesto one and all subscribe to isn't as simple or easy, but this book shows us the direction we must move in. It's up to us to make it a road we can all travel along.</p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/the-joy-of-romance-novels My Thoughts: The Life-Enhancing Joy of Romance Novels <div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div>In <a data-mce-href="deciding-to-become-full-time-author-fiction" href="deciding-to-become-full-time-author-fiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my last update about giving this writing fiction gig a go</a>, I touched on how reading, and now writing, romance novels has completely changed my writing life. Hinting in that article that I would go into this in more detail, I am finally doing that today in a blog post I really can only title "The Life-Enhancing Joy of Romance Novels" because romance novels bring me exactly that - a lot of life-improving, serotonin-boosting joy - both as a reader and as a writer.</div><div><br></div><div>To find out how, and to discover more about the impact of romance novels on my writing practice - and productivity! - please do read on.</div><h2><strong>What are Romance Novels?</strong></h2><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/what-is-a-romance-novel-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/what-is-a-romance-novel-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div>It seems sensible at this stage to clarify what exactly is a romance novel. I say this because until three or four years ago I had a very wrong idea of what romance novels were. Back then, I thought they were novels (that part is easy!) that had romance as the central plot, i.e. falling in love and/or being in a romantic relationship. Because of how romance novels have been marketed historically and in recent years (think bare-chested heroes with fair maidens in long dresses for the former, and cutesy cartoon illustrations of attractive mostly white, cis, able-bodied straight couples for the latter) I also assumed romance novels were mostly about conventionally attractive cis-het male and female couples. Furthermore, I used to think that romance novels focused solely or heavily on a boy meets girl, boy gets girl narrative with very few other plot points or themes. While I was aware that these books featured sex scenes, I assumed they were perfunctory and one dimensional, and I suspected more interesting, exploratory scenes would be found in erotica. My final assumption was perhaps the one that kept me away from romance novels the longest; I assumed if they weren't poorly written, they would be "easy-reading", i.e. a very distant cousin from the quality contemporary literature I prided myself on enjoying most.</div><div><br></div><div>I have come to discover that these assumptions are all wrong.</div><div><br></div><div>Firstly, romance novels are defined pretty much by one thing and one thing only - a happy ending, or alternatively, a happy for now. How they get there (and who "they" are) is very much open to the author's own interpretation and creativity, but the one thing that makes a romance novel a romance novel is that the heroes are happily together in the end.</div><div><br></div><div>Secondly, there are romance novels about any and every kind of romance. There are countless sub-genres within the romance genre itself and within all sub-genres, romance is experiencing a rapid transition to include many brilliantly diverse representations of romance and romantic heroes. Notice I haven't specified couple or pairing because indeed there are whole sub-genres within romance that are specifically about throuples, polyamorous groupings and also so-called reverse harems (where multiple love interests are involved and committed to one woman).</div><div><br></div><div>As for the sex scenes in romance, they are just as varied and just as descriptive - or not - as&nbsp; you wish. Again there is something for everyone. And yes, I have read romance novels with sex scenes that could absolutely be called erotica, but the key difference is that when they are included in a romance novel that has that all-important HEA and some kind of plot development taking you there, they are therefore erotic romances, not erotica.</div><div><br></div><div>Finally, as to whether romance novels are poorly written, and if they are only easy-reading, well, I have discovered neither of these things are true. But even if they were, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I'll explain more further on.</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>Why I Didn't Read Romance Novels Before</strong></h2><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/couple-reading-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/couple-reading-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><div>I think my assumptions as outlined above go some way to explain why I didn't read romance novels before. And to quote a crass but strangely and thematically appropriate turn of phase, yes, this was very much a case of me cock-blocking myself. By having these assumptions I was preventing myself from experiencing joy, but that's jumping ahead a bit. First let's touch on why I had these assumptions.</div><div><br></div><div>The long and the short of it is that until recent years, romance novels have been marketed a certain way and for very specific reasons. In the late mid 20th century, imprints like Mills &amp; Boon and Harlequin grew at a rapid pace fueled by the success of their so-called "bodice rippers". These books played up the sex appeal of their raunchy romances - from the content in the books and the covers featuring scantily clad men dominating barely dressed women, and all of the above with your typically Westernised beauty ideals firmly in mind - and they were incredibly popular. And why not? Sex sells and women are allowed to experience pleasure too.</div><div><br></div><div>However, it seems we missed a trick in celebrating this and seizing hold of that key message, because rather than using this to emancipate women's sexualities and pleasure, in a very roundabout way, romance novels have previously been used to shame women and their desires. While I believe this is a tragedy, it is not wholly unexpected.</div><div><br></div><div>At the same time that mass market romance novels were reaching their peak popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, we were also experiencing a feminist uprising. A feminist uprising that focused greatly on de-sexualising women in order to prove our equality with men. While it wasn't an exclusive tactic of feminist activists and scholars - indeed many Black feminist writers and speakers were already commenting on the power of a woman's sexuality in her liberation - it was certainly not the norm to celebrate a woman exploring her sexuality (through reading love scenes in a romance novel or otherwise). Instead, such activities were shunned and shamed because there were believed to be more important issues at stake when it came to women's liberation. This spilled into the 1980s and 1990s, a time when feminism was a lot more focused on breaking glass ceilings in corporate environments than it was questioning why a multi-million dollar industry - which the romance publishing world was by then - was so ridiculed, dismissed or simply ignored by so many.</div><div><br></div><div>Perhaps I didn't need to go so in-depth with my historical analysis. Perhaps it is enough to simply say that romance novels are primarily written, read and loved by women, and as such they are deemed less valuable, less worthy, just "less than" something that men have more input in and control over. In other words, misogyny is what has attached a very stubborn stigma to romance novels, and like with all of misogyny's victims, it will take time to change this.</div><div><br></div><div>Now let's talk a bit about the bad reputation that romance novels have received over the years, in terms of being poorly written or not of quality. It took me only a few minutes to realise how wrong that was when I picked up a romance novel and began reading it. Lyrical prose, beautiful imagery, enrapturing language and vibrant characterisations; romance novels have it all. Of course the "quality" varies from author to author and book to book, but it should very much be stressed that "quality" is very subjective and one romance reader's "trashy" novel will read like another's most beautifully written book. And that's okay. We all have our own tastes when it comes to how a book is written as much as we have our own likes and dislikes when it comes to the plot, the characters, and the overall experience a book gives someone. To shun someone because they like uncomplicated, readable prose is, frankly, a little classist and elitist, possibly even a bit ableist, and ultimately contributes to the gate-keeping mentality that contributes to the stigma attached to romance novels. I've read possibly one hundred romance novels in the last few years and they have ranged widely from incredibly intricate literary-style prose through to the above easy-reading style, and I have enjoyed them all,&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>But it's not just the quality of a romance novel that has been attacked publicly. As recently as 2011, a British psychologist (disappointingly a woman) was quoted in <a data-mce-href="https://www.livescience.com/14985-romance-novels-bad-women-health-psyche-psychologist.html" href="https://www.livescience.com/14985-romance-novels-bad-women-health-psyche-psychologist.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">a Live Science article</a> stating how romance novels are bad for women because they "offer an idealized version of romance, which can make some women feel bad about themselves because their relationships aren't perfect". In my very limited experience of reading (and writing) romance novels I can honestly say that while elements of a romance may often require a stretch of one's imagination - but what is fiction for if not to demand or inspire that of us! - most romance novels I've loved have been delightfully good at bringing fine examples of healthy relationships, nurtured connections and empowering examples of love and respect to life on the page. Indeed, that's the very reason why I love them.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>Why I Read Romance Novels Now</strong></h2><div><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/couple-reading-together-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/couple-reading-together-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></div><div>So yes, I love reading romance for the diversity, for the soppy feels and for the empowering and positive representations of many different characters and relationships. I also love the escapism and most bizarrely of all, I love the predictability of romance novels.</div><div><br></div><div>In terms of escapism, romance novels also offer me all the same opportunities to run away from the real world that other fiction does.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>One of the reasons I was turned off by romance novels was how I believed they were formulaic and predictable. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl. Job done. As a reader who loves the twists and turns of thrillers and a writer who prides herself on having an unexpected ending <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LondonKilling" href="https://geni.us/LondonKilling" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">in her thrillers</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FMThompsonGoodreads" href="https://geni.us/FMThompsonGoodreads" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">short stories</a>, this predictability just didn't appeal to me. Weirdly, this was one of the few assumptions I had about romance novels that was correct. As mentioned above, yes romance novels do have a guaranteed satisfying ending, typically, lovers being together and enjoying their happy ever after or happy for now.</div><div><br></div><div>What I never considered previously was how this could be a good thing. I'd never imagined how comforting it could be to read a romance full of ups and downs, highs and lows (and indeed some sub-genres of romance like dark or taboo romance can get very dark and heavy) and know it will all work out in the end. Indeed, I have since discovered, knowing that there is a happy ending on the horizon is a real source of pleasure and lets me lose myself so much more in the story than say when I'm reading a thriller and am forever looking out for any small detail that may or may not reveal what twists and turns lie ahead.</div><div><br></div><div>All this is to say, I love reading romance novels for the very reasons I thought I'd not enjoy them!</div><h2><strong>How Romance Novels Have Helped Me</strong></h2><div><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/couple-kissing-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/couple-kissing-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></div><div>Yes, you read that right. Romance novels have helped me. They have helped me navigate hard times in my life (including but not limited to a pandemic, loss of income, depression and anxiety). They have helped me look at life very differently from my relationships to the way I see myself. They have helped me parent differently, show up as a friend differently, and also how I move around the world and interact with people. It's perhaps not for me to say exactly if I now approach all these things in a better way, but I certainly would like to think so and there is some evidence - from my partner, my kids, my family and friends - that does suggest I am a happier, more mindful and helpful person than I have maybe been at other times. How can romance novels have done all this? Well, in a nutshell what romance novels are about in essence is about love. But it's not just love between romantic partners, it's also the love people nurture for other people in their lives, for the world around them and for things they care about. And most importantly of all, romance novels are nearly always about main characters finding, nurturing growing in love for themselves.</div><div><br></div><div>All the above are just the ways romance novels have helped me as a reader.</div><div><br></div><div>As a writer, they have helped me in all these same ways but also in a very significant other way. By starting to write romance novels - which I did in earnest just over a year ago - I gave myself a long overdue gift. I gave myself permission to write feelgood books. I'm not saying that every single story I wrote before this point were all dark and twisted tales - although some of them absolutely are! - but rather, I had a very specific and real resistance to write stories that have a happy ending. Furthermore, I was reluctant to write stories that had a predictable format or a formulaic structure. I made it an obsession to write stories with twists nobody could see and I prided myself on shocking readers, often in really outlandish ways. While romance novels can absolutely come with their fair share of twists, turns, shocks and surprises, as I've highlighted above, the very thing that makes a romance novel a romance is that they have a predictable happy ending, and inevitably they all follow a version of a certain formula.</div><div><br></div><div>This predictability has helped my writing no end. Not only in terms of giving me an end destination for every single romance I write but there is reassurance in knowing when you follow a formula, you can expect a certain reaction. I'm still very much learning the art of writing a romance novel, but I am starting to find true freedom in having a pre-determined structure to my books. While I may know where my characters will end up by the end of the book, there is still an awful lot of liberty I can take in getting them there. And actually, knowing exactly where my characters need to end up to give readers that supremely satisfying HEA is a freedom in itself; no longer having to think of an outcome that will please one and all - phew, that's a whole lot of time and energy saved (although I absolutely take seriously my obligation to deliver this HEA in the best way possible).</div><div><br></div><div>(And don't worry, I can go as off the wall as I like <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LondonKilling" href="https://geni.us/LondonKilling" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">in my series of suspense thrillers</a> and believe me, I do!)</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>Why I Started Writing Romance Novels</strong></h2><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-romance-novels-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-romance-novels-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div>I started to write romance novels for the same reason I started writing all my other books. <a data-mce-href="how-to-write-a-book-ideas" href="how-to-write-a-book-ideas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I got an idea for a story</a>. And I played around with that idea in my head, maybe in a Notes app on my phone for a while, and eventually through this stop-start and incredibly fun <a data-mce-href="how-to-write-book-story-development" href="how-to-write-book-story-development" target="_blank" rel="noopener">story development</a> I could see I had more than just an idea.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Of course, I've had ideas to write love stories before, so why did I specifically start writing the romance books I am now writing and releasing into the world? In a nutshell, as I was devouring romance novels at an obsessive rate, I would invariably be struck by the thought, <em>I bet writing one of these would be fun.</em> Curiosity got the better of me and once I had an idea, I couldn't stop myself.</div><div><br></div><div>Although it took many months for me to go from reading romances, having an idea and then sitting down to write the story it was the seed for, it really was as simple as that. Except, it was also <em>not</em> very simple because I cannot overstate how much giving myself permission to write romances was a part of this process, and a truly essential part. When you give yourself permission to write something, anything, it's not just a case of enabling you to sit in a chair for hours typing away - although that is obviously a key component of this writing malarkey - but more it's a huge mindset shift. It's a green light to your creativity, to your ambition, to your hopes and your dreams. It's a beautiful gift that you give to yourself and I am also learning that you have to give it to yourself over and over again, which sometimes isn't as easy as I'm making it sound. There is so much in this world challenging you to write - fear, self-doubt, time constraints, everything else life wants to throw at you -&nbsp;&nbsp;but it does get easier to give yourself permission to write, especially when you start to experience the many benefits.</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>The Kind of Romance Novels I Write</strong></h2><div><strong><br></strong></div><div>The first idea for a romance novel I had involved a bisexual character moving from a relationship with one gender to a new relationship with another. I'm still not sure if that book will ever see the light of day (and there are many good reasons based on the sentence I just wrote why it shouldn't) but I have over 100,000 words written for a first draft. As I wrote in more characters in this book, something quickly became clear. I like writing bisexual characters. I like writing queer relationships. I like exploring sexual identity, yes, but more than that I love writing about queer love, and specifically bisexual love.</div><div><br></div><div>There should be no surprises there because I am a bisexual, and more significantly, I am a bisexual who grew up closeted, not just to the world around me but also to myself. While I have often read books about queer characters and love, I haven't read many books featuring bisexual characters in loving, happy relationships, especially not relationships that look like mine (where my partner is a cis-het man and where my bisexuality is celebrated, loved and not fetishized or a source of pain and conflict). You should <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBooks" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBooks" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">pick up my book Five Sunsets</a> and read the Author's Note I wrote to understand the poor representation of bisexuals in media and entertainment, and until recent years, literature wasn't much better.</div><div><br></div><div>I am but one new romance author, and I am far from the only one doing this, but I want to write contemporary, sexy, feel-good romances that always feature a bisexual main character, or failing that queer main characters. Those are the kind of romance novels I write, and proudly.</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>My Romance Novel Recommendations</strong></h2><p><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/books-on-a-shelf-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/books-on-a-shelf-the-joy-of-romance-novels_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></p><div>Of course I'm going to shout <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">'GO CHECK OUT MY ROMANCE NOVEL FIVE SUNSETS'</a> at this stage in the article, and you should forgive me for doing so, but truth is I only have one out right now, and my others will take quite a bit more time. In the meantime I wanted to recommend some of my favourite authors who happen to tick all the boxes I've referred to in this post.</div><div><br></div><div>Firstly, if the words "romance novels are badly written" have crossed your mind, or God forbid, your lips, I am going to hit you over the head with <a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Sierra-Simone/e/B00HFK1EJO" href="https://www.amazon.com/Sierra-Simone/e/B00HFK1EJO" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">a Sierra Simone book</a>. Her writing is truly exquisite, and is better than a lot of traditionally published literary fiction I've read. I need to quickly add that her books are spicy, and actually many of them play around with polyamory and kink, so do keep that in mind.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Another author I think could prove any "romance novels are trash" dialogue wrong is <a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Alexis-Hall/e/B00ESZWVQE%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share" href="https://www.amazon.com/Alexis-Hall/e/B00ESZWVQE%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Alexis Hall</a>. A gender-hopping author like myself, Alexis Hall's romances all feature queer characters in abundance and the writing is always exceptional. My favourite book by Alexis Hall (so far!) is Boyfriend Material, but the trans romance A Lady for a Duke is a close second.</div><div><br></div><div><a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Talia-Hibbert/e/B074PWF27Q%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share" href="https://www.amazon.com/Talia-Hibbert/e/B074PWF27Q%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Talia Hibbert</a> is another author that prides themselves on writing diverse fiction including lots of queer characters. Their books often have main characters of colour and they are one of the best at depicting interracial love. Their writing is also hilarious and whenever I feel myself a little "American-ed out" after reading predominantly books by US authors, I will often pick up a book of Talia Hibbert's to make me feel like I'm getting a nice big hug from an old British friend of mine (same goes for Alexis Hall actually as he is also British). Start with her Brown sisters series to get a good taste of what Talia is capable.</div><div><br></div><div>Another author of colour that I will always recommend is <a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Ryan/e/B00HBHK09Q%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share" href="https://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Ryan/e/B00HBHK09Q%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Kennedy Ryan</a>. Her books are so tender and raw and multi-layered that it's hard to really summarise what makes them so special other than simply saying they are rich and indulgent and that is what I have always loved most about books. I'm currently reading The King Maker and I think this would be a great Kennedy Ryan book to start with, although I also loved Queen Move and Reel.</div><div><br></div><div>In terms of steamy romcoms, an author you should know about is <a data-mce-href="https://www.amazon.com/Tessa-Bailey/e/B00BKMOZYO" href="https://www.amazon.com/Tessa-Bailey/e/B00BKMOZYO" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Tessa Bailey</a>. Her best-selling books are renowned in the romance world and for good reason. Not only are they hilarious, but they bring all the spice along with plenty of feels. I also value her character development and think this is what makes her romances really work - you start thinking the characters are made for each other long before the dingbats have figured it out for themselves - and the endings while often deliciously dramatic are inevitably also juicily satisfying. Start with It Happened One Summer, or if it's the season go for her Christmas novella, Window Shopping.</div><div><br></div><div>And that is a wrap on my little love letter to romance novels including all the ways and all the reasons I love romance novels. If you've never tried one yourself but now you're curious, just go for it. Give it a go. And if you're already a member of the converted, hello to you, because the one thing I didn't even touch on in this post and really is a true benefit of romance novels is the wonderful romance reading community. Maybe I'll write a little love letter to you one day soon.</div><div><br></div> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/five-sunsets-prologue Five Sunsets: Read the Prologue <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/five-sunsets-prologue_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/five-sunsets-prologue_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p><em>Hello you lovely reader human. Below you can find the full prologue from my first steamy romcom novel, Five Sunsets. <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBooks" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBooks">If you want to read the book in full and find out what happens next, this is your link</a>. And for more links to bonus content for my books, be sure to <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsSignUp" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsSignUp" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">sign up to this newsletter list</a>. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram or TikTok for more sneak peaks behind this book and many of my others.</em></p><p><em>Please note that the below text contains NSFW language.</em></p><h2><strong>Five Sunsets: Prologue</strong></h2><p>The first time I see him, he's checking out my brother's arse.</p><p>“Are your bum cheeks feeling hot?” I ask Jake, nudging my arm into his.</p><p>“Excuse me?” he asks, in longer syllables and a higher pitch than is perhaps necessary.</p><p>“There's an extremely good-looking young man eyeing you up right now, but don't turn around or he'll see. I'll tell you when it's safe.”</p><p>I glance back to find the young man is still standing in the entrance of the resort’s beach bar. He continues to look towards where we’re standing at the circular bar in the centre. However, as I look at him for the second time, I couldn't honestly say he’s studying my brother's backside anymore.&nbsp;In fact, did he just catch my eye and give me a lingering look too? I turn my head quickly before I can verify.</p><p>“Yeah, still not safe,” I mutter before sipping my drink.</p><p>Objectively, thanks to an unhealthy obsession with elliptical trainers, Jake does indeed have a great bum, so maybe the young man was just trying to establish who I am to my brother. As I smile to myself, knowing he will soon see, I feel a warmth spread across my back, as though I can sense exactly where he’s looking.</p><p>Or maybe that’s just the light sunburn I acquired today by spending an hour or two too long lying on the beach. I wasn’t even sure why I was there when I’m lucky enough to have my own private pool villa, a perk of my brother being the manager. It’s not that I can’t afford luxury like this, it’s more that I’m reluctant to indulge myself these days. While a spacious villa with the most incredible view is stunning, beautiful, wonderful - all the adjectives - I’m still there alone.</p><p>Alone.</p><p>I thought I’d be better at being alone by now.</p><p>I push all this aside and return to the present moment, a moment that has great potential for not being lonely at all for my brother. And nobody deserves that more than Jake.</p><p>Not only is he my best friend and confidant, my brother is also the person I leaned on most when my marriage was ending. Together, we’ve been through a lot, and it’s nice to think maybe his luck is turning, even if mine is still firmly on hold. It certainly looks that way now he has his dream job managing this luxury adults-only resort on Crete’s west coast.</p><p>Iliovasílema Villas is everything he’s wanted in a job; high-end, independently owned by a local family, and in the ideal location, perched at the end of a peninsula that offers panoramic views of the blue waters where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean.</p><p>“My, my, my.” My brother pumps his straw up and down in his pink gin fizz, the ice making a satisfying slushing sound. “That is interesting. Not that I can do anything about it though.”</p><p>“Why not?” I ask before taking a nice long sip of my raspberry mojito. “It's your night off.”</p><p>“But <em>I </em>am the resort manager and<em> he</em> is still a guest.” He leans in closer. “It is a guest, isn't it? Not that having a staff member eye me up is any better. In fact, that's a lot worse.”</p><p>“It's definitely a guest.” I can easily recall how the man in question looked and how it told me he was a new arrival. There was his white cotton shirt with a very generous and confident three top buttons undone, tight jeans on long, sculpted thighs and the not yet sun-kissed pale white skin of his face crowned with dark hair that looked like it would curl if given a time to grow. He looked fresh and perhaps a little lost.</p><p>“Well, he will have to lust at me from afar.” My brother pretends to throw more long hair he doesn't have over his shoulder. “Is it safe to look now? I'm dying to have a nosey at him. We don't get many here, you know, despite the Pink Pound prices, advertising in <em>Attitude</em>, and rainbow fucking flags plastered all over the website.”</p><p>“You don't get many gays?” I ask, surprised.</p><p>“God, yes, we get plenty of gays. Just not the cute, young and single ones. Not the kind of twinks I could spend hours daydreaming about corrupting. I guess they don't quite have the budget yet... Oh God, I need to stop talking or thinking like this. But before I do, let my eyes just get hard for a second.”</p><p>“Your eyes can get hard?” I ask in a whisper.</p><p>He either ignores me or doesn’t hear and instead nudges me quickly. “Is it safe? Can I turn around?”</p><p>I tilt my chin to the side to check but quickly see that the young man isn't standing where he was before. Turning a little more, I still can’t place him in the small group of bodies near the entrance, so I pivot and look all the way over my shoulder. That’s when I see him sitting by himself at the table directly behind us, just a few metres away.</p><p>“Oh!” I’m a little taken aback.</p><p>It's not just his proximity. It's what he's doing.</p><p>Leaning back into the chair like it's the most comfortable place in the world, he's got a drink in his hand and his long fingers wrap around the glass like they own every inch of it. How he got a drink so quickly without coming to the bar is beyond me but there it is, and there he is. All of him. And he’s quite a sight to behold.</p><p>It's not even the planes and angles of his body I now notice filling out his shirt, nor is it the way his legs are crossed, pulling the ankles of his jeans up to reveal soft dark hair, unapologetically on show thanks to a pair of black leather Birkenstock sandals identical to mine. It’s his face, which I hadn’t fully absorbed previously. With its square jaw, deep-set dark eyes framed by dominant cheekbones and a long nose with a noticeable bump in it, it’s the sort of face that is both arrestingly handsome and intriguingly different looking. It’s his face and what he’s doing. Because he's staring at me. And smiling. Smiling so broadly I can see an countless white teeth and a matching set of dimples slap bang in the middle of each cheek. I blink at him once, twice, giving myself, him, and the universe time to get this picture back into focus. To get his eyes off me and back onto my brother's arse.</p><p>But he doesn't. He keeps on looking at me and smiling.</p><p>And I think my eyes go hard.</p><p>I can't stop the giggle that escapes me, nor the hand that rises to try and catch it, and this makes the young man chuckle too. I move my hand and pin my index finger to my chest. <em>Me?</em></p><p>He stops laughing but keeps smiling.</p><p>I point at my brother. <em>Or him?</em></p><p>He shakes his head then, looking down for a moment. His eyes all but squeeze shut as his smile broadens, opening up his whole face, a face that I am instantly persuaded was created to smile. Then he looks back up and very firmly points his finger at me.</p><p>“Oh,” I say again, but it's barely more than an exhale.</p><p>I am looking long enough to make Jake turn.</p><p>“Wow.” He turns to look at him, and then whips around so swiftly that it snaps me into doing the same. “<em>That</em> is no twink.”</p><p>“He’s not?” I ask. Although I know it myself now, I play dumb. I need Jake to speak so I can figure out why I am currently rubbing my thighs together and doing Kegels at high speed. “But he's young and pretty and...”</p><p>“And masculine as hell,” Jake adds. “Mark my words. That man is a cocky top.”</p><p>“You always tell me that there are femme and soft tops,” I say, trying to get my brother to talk more so I can feel less. Less heat in my body. Less curiosity in my head. Less anticipation in every cell of my being.</p><p>“True, but there is very little that’s feminine or soft about that man.” Jake says with a dramatic backwards nod before he sucks on his straw again.</p><p>“Isn’t it strange how much information we can get from someone just from a few looks,” I say, genuinely fascinated by it. I make a mental note to research this later.</p><p>“Not to mention the bucketload of testosterone flooding out of his youthful pores,” Jake continues.</p><p>“How old do you suppose he is?” I ask, but I know the answer already. It’s <em>young</em>.</p><p>But Jake’s not listening to me, he’s on a roll. “And that posture... far too confident and laid back. And did you see how big his hands are? You remember that article you sent me with comparative analysis of digit length and penis size? Did you see how long his thumbs were?”</p><p>“You noticed <em>that</em>?”</p><p>“Yes, I’m surprised you didn’t,” Jake replies. “Honestly, look at his thumbs. They’re almost obscene.”</p><p>“I'm not looking again...”</p><p>“Hmm. That’s because he was looking at you, wasn't he?” Jake says in a slower, more deliberate voice. “That's the other reason he's no twink. Because he's not gay.”</p><p>I don't speak and it’s not only because I don’t really know what to say. It’s also because of the smile that refuses to disappear. My cheeks are pushed up so high I feel them brush against my eyelashes.</p><p>“I swear he was looking at your arse first,” I mumble in something of an apology before adding. “Besides, he’s too young for either of us.”</p><p>“Oh, he’s young, for sure. But he's more than legal. And you...”</p><p>“Me?”</p><p>“You are not the manager of this luxury resort. You are on holiday. And you're single.”</p><p>“I'm divorced,” I correct him.</p><p>“Which is French for single, <em>n'est-ce pas</em>?”</p><p>“It's actually French for undesirable, Italian for soiled goods, and Spanish for don't-touch-me-with-a-bargepole.”</p><p>“I'm not sure they have barges in Spain,” my brother ponders, doing that ice-shucking thing again. “But you don’t really mean that, do you? I thought you were feeling positive about it all. I thought you were ready for your <em>Eat Pray Love</em> moment. This could be it!”</p><p>“Oh, I’m always ready for an Italian to lick gelato out of my navel,” I sigh.</p><p>“I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen in the book,” Jake frowns at me.</p><p>“Must have been the porno version,” I shrug.</p><p>“<em>Eat, Gay, Cum</em>?” he suggests with a wicked smirk.</p><p>“Nice. But I think it was <em>Eat, Peg, Lick</em> I watched.”</p><p>“Ha!” He laughs with me.</p><p>“Anyway, the point is I <em>do</em> feel mostly positive about my divorce. We both know it was the right thing. But that doesn’t negate the fact that a man who looks like <em>that</em>, is not going to look at a woman like <em>this</em>.”&nbsp;I point to my chest again.</p><p>“Jenna Louise Forester, as a gay man and your brother I am both sorely unqualified and much too biased to tell you that you are a smoking hot snack.”</p><p>I smile at him but quickly turn it into a smug pout. “Oh, I know. I have a shelf of an ass you could eat off, thighs that could keep any man’s ears warm in the coldest winter, and of course, there are these delectably plump fuck-me-lips…”</p><p>“Too much, dear sister, too much,” Jake covers his ears.</p><p>“However, I also know that <em>young </em>men don’t always appreciate such things. And it's probably a good thing. I mean, I’m old enough to be his...”</p><p>“Don't say it!” Jake quickly glances back over his shoulder. “Not until we have at least verified his year of birth, <em>or</em> that of his mother.”</p><p>Before I realise what’s happening, Jake is gone. He’s waltzing off to the young man, his hand outstretched and his smooth voice carrying over the hum of the music and the growing number guests in the bar. “Good evening, I’m Jake Forester, the resort manager.”</p><p>Mouth hanging open, I watch as my brother walks straight for the man, who interestingly, does indeed have very long and curved thumbs.</p><p style="text-align: center;">*****</p><p><strong><a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBooks" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBooks" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow"><em>Read more by getting Five Sunsets as an ebook or paperback.</em></a></strong></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/five-sunsets-book-release-date All About My Next Book: Five Sunsets <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/five-sunsets-book-release_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/five-sunsets-book-release_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>It makes me irrationally excited, scared and proud to announce today that my next book is coming! While it's my second full-length novel, it's my first contemporary romance, and can you believe it, my editors tell me it's actually a rom-com!</p><p>Nobody is more shocked than me that I've managed to pull off such a feat of being funny for most of the 400 pages that this story is told on. Also, this book - it's steamy! Spicy! Hot, hot, hot!</p><h2><strong>Announcing Five Sunsets, My Next Book!</strong></h2><p>Taking place in&nbsp;a luxury resort on the Greek island of Crete, Five Sunsets is a fast-paced and banter-filled steamy contemporary FM romance that features a thirteen year age-gap (she is older!), two hilariously self-obsessed siblings, one very meddling mother, one Sudoku-obsessed father, and more inappropriately named mocktails than you can count. And oh, yes, five beautiful, life-affirming, dreamy sunsets.</p><p>If you've been reading this blog for a while, or if you've read any of my previous books, the fact I'm publishing a spicy contemporary rom-com may come as a surprise. Believe me when I say it has surprised me too. I'm mentally preparing a blog post to explain how and why I started writing romance and I hope to share that soon, (<a data-mce-href="deciding-to-become-full-time-author-fiction" href="deciding-to-become-full-time-author-fiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">although I touch on it in this recent post</a>) but it's enough to say at this point that I have had a HUGE amount of fun writing this book. Five Sunsets has completely changed how I approach writing fiction - both technically and creatively - and I am grateful for that experience.</p><p>I'm also just really grateful for an opportunity to have created two incredibly fun, big-hearted, messy and flawed but sexy AF characters in Jenna and Marty, my two heroes who fall in love over the course of five sunsets while on holiday escaping a small mountain of problems each. Long-term readers of this blog will not be surprised I chose to set Five Sunsets on a Greek island and if you're curious, yes, <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVuc62EovJZ/" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVuc62EovJZ/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Crete is where I went on my last holiday</a> and it's where all the ideas for this story first landed in my head.</p><p>Since I finished the first draft in December last year, I've been very busy working with fantastic editors getting this book ready for your eyes and also doing so in time possibly for your own summer getaway. I will go all out there and say that this book is the ultimate beach read romance, but even if you're not heading on holiday, hopefully this will be an opportunity to mentally escape to somewhere warmer where a curvy "sexpert" journalist, Jenna, is on a mission to break her painfully long-running... ahem, dry spell, with trainee chef and college dropout Marty who - for very good reason - is looking for anything but a casual hook-up.</p><p><strong><a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Intrigued? Pre-order Five Sunsets here!</a></strong></p><p>And you can <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsGoodreads" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsGoodreads" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">add it to your Goodreads shelves for later.</a></p><p>Or, you can <a data-mce-href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenbPOb0zEGnR6wn8lC7u5k49gr2VIEqK4GIITM99arL_wLFg/viewform" href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenbPOb0zEGnR6wn8lC7u5k49gr2VIEqK4GIITM99arL_wLFg/viewform" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">sign up to join my ARC readers team</a> and get an early proof copy of the book for review here. (This closes on Friday 13th May 2022, so be quick!)</p><h2><strong>Here Comes the Full Blurb...</strong></h2><div dir="auto"><em>Recently divorced and jobless, Jenna Forrester has escaped London to lick her wounds in the luxury resort her brother manages on the Greek island of Crete.&nbsp;</em></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><em>Out here she can forget how much she misses her work as a sex and relationships columnist, how much she misses the intimacy that was lacking in her marriage, and she can decide what she's going to do now, sexless and relationship-less, she's so poorly qualified to do the job she loved.</em></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><em>There's sunshine, there's her stack of erotic romance novels, and there's... Irishman Aiden "Marty" O'Martin, a man thirteen years her junior who could easily help her solve one of her problems; the absence of back-breaking, bone-shaking, delicious sex.</em></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><em>But trainee chef and college dropout Marty is not looking for sex. In fact, he's deliberately trying to avoid it after the year he's had.</em></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><em>Marty's also trying to get his life back on track. He still doesn't know how he'll get over what happened, but he hopes a free holiday could help. Even if it means waking up at dawn everyday so his father can drag him around Crete on their racing bikes. Even if it means his Ma is there – always there! – wanting to put sun cream on his back and a self-help book in his hands. Even if it means risking Carpal tunnel holding his sister's phone as she records hours of social media content for her bazillion followers.</em></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><em>However, when Marty sees Jenna's freckled skin glow in the sunset, everything changes. He feels something and it's not just acid reflux from one too many sugary mocktails. It's a spark, it's curiosity... it's hope.</em></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><em>But they only have five sunsets together. How is Marty going to make them count? And will Jenna let him?</em></div><p>I hope to reveal the cover very soon, so <a data-mce-href="../sign-up-to-my-newsletter" href="../sign-up-to-my-newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make sure you're signed up to my newsletter</a> to see that, or make sure you're following me on <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Instagram</a>, <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/FrancesMTAuthor" href="https://twitter.com/FrancesMTAuthor" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Twitter</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://www.tiktok.com/@francesmthompson" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@francesmthompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">TikTok</a>.</p><p>Thank you all for your support and excitement for this book.</p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/deciding-to-become-full-time-author-fiction On Writing: The Year I Decided to Write for My Life <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210922_100259-(1)_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210922_100259-(1)_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>On Wednesday this week I hit send on an email that I'd been getting ready to send since January. Attached to it was the first draft of the sequel to <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Weaker Sex,</a> a book tentatively titled The Way We Were. That email whisked away the 80,000 word draft to my developmental editor (not sure what that is, <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/different-types-of-editors" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="different-types-of-editors">read this post about different kinds of editors</a>) and I will get it back some time in May covered in highlights, red lines, comments and questions about what the eff is going on in my brain. It will likely reduce me to a fragile, possibly blubbering mess having my words, my story, my characters torn to pieces. And I can't wait.</p><p>Because this is what I want to do. This is what I've always wanted to do on some level, ever since I was a child. But I wasn't doing it. Sure, I'd published some books (and I will forever be proud of <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/ShyFeetBook" href="https://geni.us/ShyFeetBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Shy Feet</a>, <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LondonEyesBook" href="https://geni.us/LondonEyesBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">London Eyes</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/NineWomenBook" href="https://geni.us/NineWomenBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Nine Women</a> and all the short stories I wrote) but I wasn't doing it with my whole-hearted self. And I definitely didn't give myself permission to do so until about a year ago.</p><p>Now that I have that book with my dev editor, and another book, my next release, Five Sunsets available in June (blurb to follow, but it's a contemporary steamy romance set in Crete so the ultimate beach read - <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">you can pre-order here</a> or <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsGoodreads" href="https://geni.us/FiveSunsetsGoodreads" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">find out more on Goodreads here</a>) with my proofreader, I have a little time to catch my breath and try and share with you why I gave myself permission, how it's all going, and what my hopes and dreams are for the future.</p><h2><strong>The Year I Decided to Write Fiction Full-time</strong></h2><p>I'm not sure when I first decided to "just go for it" and write fiction full-time, but I know by May last year I was deep in drafting mode for not one, but four new books. Yes, four. I was also busy working on getting The Weaker Sex ready for publication. <a data-mce-href="the-weaker-sex-authors-note" href="the-weaker-sex-authors-note" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You can read more about that book and that journey here</a>.</p><p>I distinctly remember spending my May Sunday afternoons sitting on the grass in a park, surrounded by daisies, outside the swimming pool where my son was having swimming lessons (and we couldn't go inside because of Covid restrictions) and I would pass that hour in a blink of an eye, writing thousands, yes thousands, of words for these new books. I was lost in these stories, falling in love with my characters, and wondering why the heck I hadn't done this before.</p><p>And by 'this', I mean give myself permission to write fiction like it was my job. Permission to actually <em>make</em> it my job. Permission to take my passion seriously and permission to prioritise it over most other things in my life. So why did I finally do this? What was it that pushed me over the edge?</p><p>Well, simply put it was the pandemic. It was the pandemic and also the culmination of a long time working hard on myself, getting to know myself better, and also getting to know the world around me better. It's a little simplistic to say that only the struggle of 2020 was responsible for this when in reality it was much more, a longer process that has roots in my whole lifetime to this point, but it's definitely fair to say that the pandemic was the trigger, or the kick up the butt I needed. The biggest, ugliest reminder that life is short and I needed to spend my time wiser than how I had been to date.</p><p>I've always tried to be self-aware, and I've always tried to learn lessons from the harder periods in my life (<a data-mce-href="my-experience-of-post-natal-anxiety" href="my-experience-of-post-natal-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like when I had post-natal depression and anxiety</a>) and <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LoverMotherOtherPoems" href="https://geni.us/LoverMotherOtherPoems" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">my poetry collection Lover Mother Other</a> and <a data-mce-href="../tags/affirmation" href="../tags/affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my journey with positive affirmations</a> are hopefully testament to that. However, it puzzles me now that through all that self-exploration and self-discovery I have never really asked myself the question what is it I want to do with my life?</p><p>Or rather, I've never asked myself, what do I need to do to make that happen?</p><h2><strong>The Catalyst That Made Me Become a Full-Time Author</strong></h2><p><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20211027_094143_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20211027_094143_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></p><p>When my travel blogging income and freelance work dried up almost overnight in March 2020, I had to rethink everything about my career and how I was earning money. I was on the cusp of earning enough through this blog that I could drop most of my freelance work, which I'd long wanted to do as it no longer fulfilled me and was often a source of stress. The pandemic wiped away that future instantly, and I had no clue when or if it would come back to be a reality.</p><p>At the same time, my kids could no longer go to school or childcare, so the three working days I had per week were reduced to none, again overnight. And again there was no knowing when normality would return. Furthermore, in the early stages of the pandemic, it was unclear how world events would affect my partner's business and our main source of income so he had to maintain his working hours, if not increase them. It therefore proved most logical for me to stay at home with our two boys and for him to continue working to ensure our income remained reliable.</p><p>This was our survival strategy, but it lasted for many, many long months. As I've touched on in <a data-mce-href="../motherhood-diary" href="../motherhood-diary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my Motherhood Diary</a> way back when my oldest boy was just a baby, I do struggle when there isn't much balance in my life, and personally I need to balance hours with my children with hours spent doing creative work. The pandemic, especially in the first twelve or so weeks, made that almost impossible and it was tough. It was almost traumatic at times, compounded very much by the uncertainty that rippled across our world during those days. But it also helped me see things clearly, and made me realise what I missed.</p><p>I missed blogging. I even missed freelance writing. But what I missed the most was the occasional bits of writing fiction I used to do. I missed it in a way that made my heart feel heavy and hard.</p><p>With no discernible revival of my blog's traffic in sight, by the time 2021 began I was already having inner conversations about doing something different. Almost as if to tease or taunt myself, I considered lots of different things from working in a coffee shop through to getting an in-house copywriter role, but my heart already had the answer; writing fiction. Around the same time I discovered a printed out old draft of <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Weaker Sex</a>. It was incomplete and a very hot mess but as I began to read it, I saw its potential, and I saw the answer to my question as clear as day. I wanted to write fiction and I wanted to spend all my working hours doing that.&nbsp;</p><p>I'd love to say there was a single moment where I just said to myself "That's it, Frankie! That's what you're going to do. Let's go for it!". But it wasn't quite like that. More it was like most big decisions or changes in life, I played around with it in my mind for a while, slowly started to talk about it out loud with my partner and my closest friends, and then gradually it became my truth.</p><p>A truth I cemented in stone when I started work on The Weaker Sex with the goal of finishing it and publishing it. And likewise, a truth I made bigger and more solid by giving myself permission to write romance.</p><h2><strong>The Role of Romance Books</strong></h2><p>Three years ago, if you told me that I'd be publishing my first contemporary romance in two months, I would have laughed at you. Much in the same way, had you told me that I would read romance books for fun (so much fun!) I would have told you to shut up. But that's what happening. I love reading romance, and I love writing it too. I cannot wait for my first romance novel to be out in the world this summer, and I'm already excited for the other ones I'm actively working on right now.</p><p>I can't say for certain that giving myself permission to read and write romance was another reason why I am finding writing and prioritising my writing so much easier, so much quicker to do, and just so much fun - I wrote the 140,000 first draft of Five Sunsets in about six weeks last year and my lastest draft is for an urban suspense thriller that I wrote just as quickly - but I am happy for it to be more than a coincidence. Whether it unblocked me or not, I don't know, but I'm glad I feel unblocked!&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>I will write more about why I didn't read more romance in my "past life" but I think it goes a long way to confirm how we put restrictions on ourselves for the strangest reasons. And yet they're not strange. There's quite a bit of literature out there that confirms the way romance is pitched and marketed is heavily influenced by patriarchal and misogynistic standards, and I know only too well how fundamentally sexist and archaic the publishing industry can be.</p><p>So if you take one thing away from this blog post, let it be this. You have permission to write whatever books you want, as long as they bring you and potential readers joy (or thrills/horror/consensual emotional damage depending on your genre!) then please give yourself that permission.</p><h2><strong>How I Can Afford to Write Fu</strong><strong>ll-Time Right Now</strong></h2><p><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210914_153506_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210914_153506_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></p><p>So let's dive into the how. How am I making this a reality? How am I making it work for my schedule and for my family? How am I finding it in these early production stages?</p><p>Firstly, I can afford to write full-time right now because I have huge privilege in that my partner is the main breadwinner of our family and his income covers all our outgoings. There is no financial pressure on me to bring huge amounts of money in and I will never ever deny that this is what is facilitating this big leap, and what is keeping a lot of stress at bay.</p><p>But that doesn't negate that I want all this work to be profitable. That I want to make a sustainable income from my books. As the last two years has proven again and again, we have no idea what the future holds for us and so I am not "relaxing" and relying on my partner's income to always sustain my family alone.</p><p>Right now, I make very little money writing fiction (like under 100 Euros a month, sometimes less than half of that). And I expect this to be the case. I know enough about the industry to know that my current back catalogue, as an indie author, is not set up to make me a lot of money, not least because I do very little marketing and no advertising. I don't have a completed series, and I write across genres which makes things like newsletters hard to use as a sales tool. Navigating these challenges is something I know I will have to do, but I know the priority for me right now is writing the books. I can't market books I don't have.</p><p>So that's why I'm focusing on writing, or production of books. I plan to publish three books this year (The Weaker Sex is already out, Five Sunsets is coming in June and I hope to have The Way We Were out by the end of the year). Next year could be even bigger, with hopes to publish two more romances and the final two books in <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LondonKilling" href="https://geni.us/LondonKilling" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">the London Killing series</a>. That will mean I then have two completed series which from a business perspective is a great start.</p><p>This means A LOT of writing right now. Writing and editing. But I'm quite a quick writer now and can easily write a first draft in 1-2 months if my schedule and my children allow! Since my mindset shift, I have had no problem prioritising my writing and I set myself project goals so I can stay focused on what needs to happen and when. I work closely with excellent editors to ensure my edits are efficient and effective too. Ten years ago, I would never have imagined I could write so quickly and productively but I have spent a long time refining my craft and it's finally paying off. What happens next is actually much harder for me, i.e the business side of being an author.</p><p>Learning about the industry of being an indie author is almost a full-time job in itself and I find this side of this journey the hardest, but I am prepared to do it, and I have faith that I can do it. I'll write about this in a separate post because I'm never saying never to being traditionally published, but right now I am specifically focused on being an indie author because I have seen how it can really work for some authors, and I mean really work. And not just in terms of money but in terms of how they write what they want, when they want, and publish it on their own schedule. And yes, with fantastic results. I know, for example, if I wanted Five Sunsets to be traditionally published, at this stage I would be lucky for it to get a summer 2023 release date, and even that is very optimistic. Frankly put, I want this book to exist in the world MUCH quicker than that, because (admittedly selfishly) there are more books I want to write.</p><p>Also, I have some fundamental issues with how publishing is owned and run these days and I can't ignore them with a clear conscience. I would also much rather any money or place I take in traditional publishing be allocated to an author of colour or of another marginalised group. I know this is simplistic but it makes sense to me.</p><p>Keeping in mind that I want to have some of my own independent income for the reasons highlighted above, I still have one freelance client I have a monthly retainer coming in for work I do, and I am now seeing income from my blog pick up. As you may have noticed, I haven't published a new blog post in over three months (until this one!) and so I am aware if I worked a bit harder on my blog and published more regular content I would be able to maybe go back to making my blog income match what my freelance writing income did. But I don't want to do this.</p><p>I made my blog a focus for many years and I did succeed in making it profitable but I never felt fulfilled by the work in the way I feel fulfilled by my fiction writing. That is reason enough for me to keep going with what I'm doing right now. In case it's not clear, a lot of my decision making process relating to this whole journey was me just acknowledging how short life is and how we don't know how many years we have left, let's fill our time with things that make us feel fulfilled.</p><p>And the money I do earn? I am putting it back into this business I'm trying to build. Editors cost money. Cover designers cost money. Proofreaders cost money. And eventually, when I can afford it, formatters, marketing courses and advertising will cost money too. In addition to spending my earnings on this, I'm also using some savings from money my grandmother left me when she died. Again, I am very privileged and fortunate to have that inter-generational wealth available to me, and it took me a long time to feel comfortable spending some of this money on my writing and publishing business, but it does feel right now. My grandma loved reading and wrote for pleasure too. I'd like to think she'd be proud of me spending this money in this way.</p><h2><strong>The Reality of Being a Full-Time (Indie) Author</strong></h2><p><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210530_165838_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210530_165838_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></p><p>I've touched on some of the realities of my life as a full-time author right now, in terms of the (little!) money I make, and the way I am focusing on production of books right now, but I also wanted to highlight how as wonderful chasing my dream is right now, it's not all rainbows.</p><p>It's hard.</p><p>I am constantly battling imposter syndrome, self-doubt, vulnerability hangovers and fear of rejection in many different forms (editors tearing my work to pieces - for good reason, but then there are also bad reviews, bad sales weeks and bad feedback from readers). And that's without touching on external influences like illness in the family, my own currently not excellent physical health (another blog post for another day!) and always having to work around my kids' schedules. My eldest son finishes school at 14:15 every day so I don't have full days to get lost in the worlds I create (something I crave far too much) and two days a week I'm with my youngest for most of the day.</p><p>These are most excellent problems to have, I'm aware. I am not complaining as much as saying if you follow me on <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Instagram</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://www.tiktok.com/@francesmthompson" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@francesmthompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">TikTok</a> you may not be aware of how hard it can sometimes be to keep up the rhythm of writing a lot of words regularly (which is what I have to/want to do right now), nor do I share much about these struggles because I want to keep my social channels focused more on upbeat, funny or inspriring content because I'm trying to attract new readers not repel them! Also, honestly, I don't give as much time to social media as I used to, intentionally, so that I can focus on the writing.</p><p>And focus I do. Somehow, despite the obstacles, despite the hard days, I keep writing. If there is something that makes me proud and happy and centred on this journey, it's how much joy the writing brings me. And not just giddy, giggly joy (although I get that too - just wait until you read my steamy rom-coms!) but more that grounding, substantial, life-affirming joy, that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.</p><p>And that's why I decided to become a full-time author of fiction.</p><p><strong><em>Thank you so much for reading this, I hope it offered you some inspiration and encouragement if you're a writer, and if you're a reader, I'd love you to check out my books <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/FrancesMThompson" href="https://geni.us/FrancesMThompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">on Amazon</a> or <a data-mce-href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7044639.Frances_M_Thompson" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7044639.Frances_M_Thompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Goodreads</a> to see if there's anything you like the look of. To keep in touch and find out when my next books are coming out, make sure you're signed up to my newsletter, and if you're keen to read Five Sunsets before anyone else, <a data-mce-href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenbPOb0zEGnR6wn8lC7u5k49gr2VIEqK4GIITM99arL_wLFg/viewform" href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenbPOb0zEGnR6wn8lC7u5k49gr2VIEqK4GIITM99arL_wLFg/viewform" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">you can sign up to my ARC list here</a>.</em></strong></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/the-weaker-sex-authors-note The Weaker Sex: Author's Note <p><em><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-weaker-sex-author's-note_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-weaker-sex-author's-note_x960.jpg?v=1"></em></p><p><em>Below is the author's note I included in the back of <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Weaker Sex</a>, the second in my London Killing series of thrillers, which begins with <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWaitBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWaitBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">my novella The Wait</a>. I wanted to publish it here to share a bit more about why and how I wrote <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Weaker Sex</a> because it was not a linear or easy journey. To say I learned a lot writing this book is a grand understatement and it's important I acknowledge some of the lessons I had to learn in order to make this book what it now is.</em></p><p><em>If you get <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">the ebook version</a> you'll get this author's note and also another short essay about what this book taught me as a writer as well as what I learned about the issues The Weaker Sex touches on. You'll also get three free short stories to introduce you to my three collections of short stories, Shy Feet, London Eyes, and Nine Women. The Weaker Sex is <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">also available to buy as a paperback</a> but it doesn't include these bonus extras sadly. Also, for more free stories, you can sign up to my newsletter.</em></p><p><em>But for now, read on to gauge a bit more about what this book is about, what I learnt writing it, and what you can expect if you want to <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">get your hands on a copy</a>. P.S. There aren't any plot spoilers here but if you want to go in completely blind to what the book is about, I recommend reading it first, and even better, I recommend reading <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWaitBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWaitBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Wait</a> first as it's the preceding novella.</em></p><h2><strong>Author's Note in The Weaker Sex</strong></h2><p>The Weaker Sex is a work of fiction, and as such, I urge you to remember that it is made up, untrue and not at all real. However, as most fiction does, my goal with The Weaker Sex is to invite you to think about very real issues, and to consider almost realistic characters in possibly true-to-life situations.</p><p>Among the very real topics this book is about is sex work, and I wanted to write a short note to highlight some important things I would love you to keep in mind or take away from this book when thinking about sex work in the future.</p><h2><strong>The Problems with (Me Writing About) Sex Work</strong></h2><p>Firstly, it’s imperative I clarify that I am not a sex worker, and thus, by publishing a book that is about sex work, I am presented with a very real and very true problem. In addition to denial of worker's (and often human) rights, sex workers are routinely overlooked, ignored, uninvited or dismissed when it comes to conversations about sex work. As a non-sex worker, my writing a book - albeit a work of fiction - that has sex work as a central theme is in itself problematic.</p><p>Furthermore, I want to acknowledge that for a socially- and economically privileged white women who presents herself as an ally to sex workers to then go on to write a work of fiction in which sex workers commit serious crimes, there is another layer of potentially problematic behaviour. I will never argue with anybody who wishes to raise these two points.</p><p>I battled with this uncomfortable truth for most of the first three years I worked on The Weaker Sex starting in 2017, and it was my main reason I abandoned the manuscript once the first draft was written. Following that decision I spent time educating myself more on the struggles, stories, and many contradictory but all valid experiences of sex workers and this helped me to see where my original narrative went wrong. It's hard to say if it was because of or in spite of this that Emma's story never left my mind completely but eventually I came to realise that with The Weaker Sex, I was being presented with an opportunity.</p><h2><strong>Feminism and Sex Work</strong></h2><p>I have called myself a feminist since I first understood what the word meant, and yet, I must admit that until recent years, I long harboured negative opinions and harmful misunderstandings about sex work and sex workers. When you consider the vast majority of sex workers are women, it is undeniable that sex work is a feminist issue, and indeed, historically feminist activists and scholars have made it so. However, most have done so in ways that, at best, exclude sex workers themselves, and at worse exploit, dehumanise, and vilify them.</p><p>One quote I have always heard about sex work, and I'm sure you have too, is that it is the oldest profession in the world. It seems pointless and wasteful (and frankly quite passive aggressive) to debate whether sex workers "should" exist. Sex workers will always exist in a myriad ways. Indeed, our online world that has catapulted the porn industry, and more recently introduced sites like Only Fans making more people take up sex work in various forms, is cementing the sex industry more and more firmly in our modern lifestyles. So any "feminist discussion" about how we can eradicate sex work feels not only redundant but also damaging to the welfare of the most vulnerable service-providing sex workers as they continue to work in a grey area when it comes to the law, the consequences of which mean they do not have basic employment rights, job security, and/or access to work and live in safe spaces. That’s not to mention the isolation, abuse and social obstacles they encounter at the hands of the damaging stigma that exists surrounding sex work.</p><p>It should be stressed here that it is predominantly white feminism - the same brand of feminism that has repeatedly failed Black and Brown women - that has historically let down sex workers and there's a reason The Weaker Sex points Emma, and the reader, in the direction of inimitable Black feminist writers in order to broaden knowledge and understanding of what true intersectional feminism looks like.</p><p>While The Weaker Sex tackles some of these above issues head on - and the journey that Emma goes on as she "wakes up" to how feminism has failed sex workers is very deliberate - I am compelled to highlight that this is far from the only challenges sex workers encounter. The book is intentionally vague about how Rachel got into sex work - because in some respects it should be irrelevant, she is still entitled to rights and protection by the law, she is still deserving of love, respect and care - but of course, it's important to acknowledge that many sex workers do not do this work by choice but rather out of economic necessity, and yes, others are forced into it too through violence, coercion, and trafficking.</p><h2><strong>What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Sex Work</strong></h2><p>Again, the omission of talking about sex trafficking was by design because it's a topic that too often gets bundled up with discussions about sex work. The outcome of this is that sex work is perceived as a similar human rights issue which then overlooks the reality that while they do overlap in some senses, they are not the same problem at all and this oversight harms victims of sex and human trafficking and at the same time ignores the real needs of sex workers at great cost. Absolutely, abolition of sex (and human) trafficking should be our goal, but the same solution should not therefore automatically apply to sex work because that is not what sex workers are asking for. It's this reluctance to listen to sex workers - at all levels of society, from the law to feminism, from the media to you and me - that causes the most damage.</p><p>There are many other associated issues I omitted - like how trans sex workers make up a frightening majority of the numbers of both trans murders and sex worker murders, and how a disproportionate number of immigrants, and Black and Brown people are sex workers - because they are all deserving enough of a more thorough exploration than what I felt capable of offering in this book. There are also other sides of sex work that I think need more air time, like sex work being one of the most progressive and accessible industries for queer and disabled people to work in, the role of sex workers in providing so-called intimacy and sex care to the disabled community, how for decades sex workers have championed the now very trendy sex positivity movement, and indeed, how (trans) sex workers were incremental to founding LGBTQ Pride marches and celebrations around the world back in the 1960s. But again, these all felt too big and too important for me to only dip into in a brief moment in a fast-paced suspense novel.</p><p>All this is to reiterate, while the story you have just read is completely fictional, the struggle, challenges and harm sex workers experience at the hands of institutions, their own communities, the media, and the general public are all very real and very urgently require examination, education and evolution. This reality has not materialised without reason, of course, and it was definitely my aim to highlight some of the causes - misogyny, rape culture, sexual repression, toxic masculinity - in The Weaker Sex.</p><h2><strong>Further Reading for Further Learning</strong></h2><p>Therefore, alongside the suspense and the adventure you hopefully enjoyed, I hope The Weaker Sex was also food for thought and maybe some action too. With this in mind you can find below some books and resources I found very helpful in deepening my knowledge and understanding of both sex work and its maltreatment by most at all levels of society and community.</p><p><em>Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights</em> by Juno Mac and Molly Smith</p><p><em>Harlots, Whores &amp; Hackabouts: A History of Sex for Sale</em> by Dr Kate Lister</p><p><em>Thriving in Sex Work</em> by Lola Davina</p><p><em>Sex Work Matters</em> by Melissa Hope Ditmore</p><p><em>Sex Lies &amp; Statistics</em> by Dr Brooke Magnanti</p><p><em>A Curious History of Sex</em> by Dr Kate Lister</p><p>And to find out ways you can actively support sex workers follow @SexWorkHive, @ProstitutesColl and @NationalUglyMug on Twitter and go to their respective websites.</p><p>You can also donate to National Ugly Mugs to provide support to sex workers and financial assistance to help them end violence against sex workers. Find out more at <a href="https://nationaluglymugs.org/donate/" data-mce-href="https://nationaluglymugs.org/donate/">https://nationaluglymugs.org/donate/</a>. I am also proud to donate 50p from every copy of The Weaker Sex purchased to this fund.</p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/the-weaker-sex-book My Books: The Weaker Sex is Available for Pre-Order! <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-weaker-sex-on-kindle_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-weaker-sex-on-kindle_x960.jpg?v=1">Guess what? I wrote another book! And it's available to pre-order, right now! The Weaker Sex will be published on 17th January 2022 and is <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">available on Amazon as a paperback or as ebook for Kindle</a>. You can also <a data-mce-href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60017479-the-weaker-sex" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60017479-the-weaker-sex" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">add The Weaker Sex to your Goodreads reading lists here</a>.</p><p>And this isn't just any book. It's my first published novel. Can you believe it? And this is what the cover looks like:</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-weaker-sex-cover_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-weaker-sex-cover_x960.jpg?v=1" width="440" height="704"></p><p>If you've been hanging around here a while you'll know that I have been writing fiction on and off for nearly ten years and until last year, <a data-mce-href="writing-novels-is-really-hard" href="writing-novels-is-really-hard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was yet to finish a novel</a>. (<a data-mce-href="writing-novels-is-really-hard" href="writing-novels-is-really-hard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I wrote about some of the reasons why I think that is... or rather, was... here</a>.) So it's a huge relief and joy that I can now say I WROTE A NOVEL! I will be updating <a data-mce-href="../tags/how%20to%20write%20a%20book" href="../tags/how%20to%20write%20a%20book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this series of posts all about how to write a book</a> when I get a chance, but for now can I just celebrate this milestone!</p><p>And let's do that by sharing the blurb with you.</p><h2><strong>Blurb for The Weaker Sex</strong></h2><p><em>They call me Madam. They being the women I protect because the law does not. They being the men I work with, breaking any number of laws on a daily basis. They being the men who love and hate me.</em><br><br><em>I never wanted to be Madam. I set out to run London's most exclusive members-only bar, but it also became the city's most sought after and infamous brothel. And it's not your typical brothel either, because as well as sex work, my girls offer another kind of service, a service I believe this world needs... Because "they" are also the women who kill for me because that's what the dead deserved.</em><br><br><em>Doing this work comes with great risk, and great enemies, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any of them before this all began. I'd be lying if I said that it was only the women I hire who kill. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready and waiting to do it again.</em><br><br><em>Because while there are many men I need to find - my missing business partner who knows too much, a colleague on the cusp of a breakdown - there's one man who I have been looking for for over twenty years. A man I blame for it all because of what he did to me.</em><br><br><em>But I'm yet to find him, and I know I'm running out of time, not least because there is another man, another enemy, coming after me. A man who wants to lock me away because of what I do. A man who knows my weakest link and isn't afraid to exploit it. A man who I can't kill... a man who won't give up.</em><br><br><em>However, I am the one thing that is more dangerous than that. I am a woman who won't give up... at least, not without a fight.</em></p><h2><strong>What I Learned Writing The Weaker Sex</strong></h2><p>Can I also share a secret? Since I finished writing this book, I've gone on to finish the drafts of two other novels, all within the space of six months. Is that proof that books are like buses? You wait around (for TEN YEARS!) for one and two more come along at the same time?</p><p>I'm dismissing and belittling some helpful truths I learnt writing The Weaker Sex about writing a novel that definitely went on to help me write those other first drafts in such a speedy fashion. Firstly, writing gets a lot easier, is a lot more fun and can be a lot more productive when I write what I want to write as opposed to thinking about what needs to be written or what I should be writing in order to write something 'good'. I'll leave that deliberately ambiguous because I may go into further detail when I have more articulate thoughts on the topic.</p><p>Secondly, writing - or rather editing and re-writing - is a lot more effective and successful when I think about the experience of a reader. In the past I have written for myself (in line with the first realisation above) and while it has been exciting and fun and wonderful, I have to also be honest and say it's not always been satisfying. As I edited The Weaker Sex - and indeed worked with two fantastic editors on it too - I put my readers first, thinking constantly not only about what they were reading in terms of the plot points and the character development but the overall experience too. How was the pacing? How much mystery was there? Too much? Not enough? Would they be satisfied with the ending? Would they want to know more? (Sorry, readers, but I kind of need you to want to know more, I'm planning on at least another three books in this series!).</p><p>This brings me to answer some important questions for you if you're considering&nbsp;</p><p>What does my reader want to feel while reading The Weaker Sex? Suspense, fear, panic, intrigue, invested, curious, a little confused. Yes, I think this book delivers on those things.</p><p>What does my reader want to feel after finishing The Weaker Sex? Satisfied, content, calmer, informed, entertained, still a little confused. Yes, I'm pretty sure the book can deliver that.</p><p>And if you want to read it and tell me I'm wrong, please do! <a data-mce-href="geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Available here.</a></p><p>And if it doesn't sound like your cup of tea but you would just like to show me a little support you can just spread the word on <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Instagram</a>, <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/AstheBirdflies/photos/6842262755816266" href="https://www.facebook.com/AstheBirdflies/photos/6842262755816266" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Facebook</a>, <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/FrancesMTAuthor/status/1463091575052029952" href="https://twitter.com/FrancesMTAuthor/status/1463091575052029952" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Twitter</a>, or by <a data-mce-href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7044639.Frances_M_Thompson" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7044639.Frances_M_Thompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">adding the book on Goodreads</a>. THANK YOU!</p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/things-made-me-feel-better-2021 My Thoughts: 21 Things That Helped Me in 2021 <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/things-that-made-me-feel-better-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/things-that-made-me-feel-better-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>When I shared <a data-mce-href="how-i-got-through-hard-times-in-2020" href="how-i-got-through-hard-times-in-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this list of the things that helped 2020</a>, an undisputably hard year for one and all, it was a really excellent exercise in making me realise that despite the year being one of my hardest to date, it hadn't been all bad and that in the process, I had learned an incredible amount about myself, and the world around me, while also growing as a human being.</p><p>I suspect that that is part and parcel of navigating difficult periods of time - and this is a lesson in and of itself - but as I now reflect on what 2021 has been like and write a similar list of what helped me get through the last twelve months I have to admit that it wasn't personally as bad.</p><p>Indeed, in many ways 2021 was a really good year for me. That said, it was still undeniably challenging not least because of the on-going impact of the pandemic that continues to impact my professional life (as a travel blogger and content creator) and also my family life (I've only seen my parents for 2.5 days in two years).</p><p>So I still deem this list worth writing for myself because it gives me a moment to pause and appreciate what I learned and loved in the last twelve months, but I also hope that it offers some ideas or inspiration for things you can consider should&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>The Things That Made Me Feel Better in 2021</strong></h2><p><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/frances-m.-thompson-books_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/frances-m.-thompson-books_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></p><div><strong>Writing (Fiction) (aka Following my Dreams)</strong></div><div><br></div><div>This year something clicked with me regarding my writing fiction and it is absolutely the single best thing to come out of 2021, hence why this is top of my list.</div><div><br></div><div>I have always given myself permission to write but I have also given myself plenty of excuses not to do so. 2020 was a year full of excuses, and honestly, I understand each one. There was the pandemic, there were long lockdowns (and little or no childcare), there were months of spending any spare time trying to save my fledgling travel blog career and freelance writing business.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>But in 2021 I ran out of excuses, or rather, I gave myself permission to stop coming up with them. And it was the best thing to have ever happened to me.</div><div><br></div><div>For the best part of ten years, possibly longer, if you asked me what is my dream job, I would have said writing fiction, and yet I put that dream on the back burner. A huge reason why I did so is because of financial security and (hand in hand with that) my having children. But earlier this year, I stopped spending time trying to save my travel blog and writing income and instead I spent that time working on my next book, The Weaker Sex.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>By the time summer was here, I was starting to get new ideas for new books and I indulged each and every one. I wrote notes. I doodled ideas. I started mapping out chapters and scenes, and I even started to write first drafts for not one, not two, but by the end of the year, five new stories. I fell in love with my characters, felt full of joy with the way my plots played out, and I treasured every single second I spent writing. I am finishing this year with one book to be published imminently, and with 3.5 first drafts ready for editing and re-writes. I just did a quick bit of maths and I estimate I have written over 400,000 new words this year, not including the countless hours I spent editing The Weaker Sex.</div><div><br></div><div>Writing fiction this year has been the escape from the real world I needed, but somewhat conversely it has also been the deep dive I needed into finding myself again after a year, maybe more, of feeling a little lost about what I want to do with my time and energy these days.</div><div><br></div><div>It has been glorious and it has been confirmation I am finally&nbsp; doing what I have always wanted to do. But it's also very bittersweet that it took me this long to really commit to my dream. And of course, I'm nowhere near making it financially viable, something I have given myself a year to figure out and try and achieve. If this year has been the laying of foundations, next year I start to build and I am so very excited and terrified...</div><div><br></div><div>If this doesn't relate to you - and I'm sure it doesn't because not everyone has imaginary friends talking to them in their heads - I hope you can simply substitute the words "writing fiction" with "doing something I've always wanted to do and really committing and doing it". Follow your dreams, my darlings. We only have one life, we need to spend as much of it as we can doing things we love.</div><div><br></div><div>Oh and if you're curious what I've been writing... you'll need to wait and read one more item on this list (Clue: It's the last one!)!</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Vaccinations</strong></div><div><br></div><div>The key difference between my pandemic experience last year and this year was undoubtedly the presence of vaccinations. While the Dutch were slow to roll out their vaccination program compared to other countries, I was as quick as I could possibly be to get my "prik" and now I'm a week or so away from getting my booster.</div><div><br></div><div>It's also true that vaccinations have become yet another fiercely and upsettingly divisive topic but I hold firm to the fact that they now exist and that this is still a good thing that is saving lives all over the world.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Meditation</strong></div><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/meditation-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/meditation-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div>I am pretty sure I was annoyed including this one on last year's list, and I here I am annoyed I'm including it again on this year's list. But honestly, I can't not. Like writing fiction, meditation has been a real constant this year, and it's also been an undeniable tonic. The annoyance and reluctance to include meditation or even acknowledge it as a positive thing in my life is sign that I need to meditate more, by the way! So yes, this is definitely a habit I will be taking with me into next year and almost certainly, beyond that too.</div><div><br></div><div>I began the year meditating over 150 days in a row, and while I haven't maintained that daily streak, I have meditated over 3000 minutes this year which I'm incredibly proud of. I nearly always meditate last thing at night to switch some of the tabs off that are still beaming bright in my head, but I also have been known to do it when walking, cycling, before starting work, when I need a mid-afternoon pick-up or just whenever I feel overwhelmed with stress or another negative feeling.</div><div><br></div><div>Meditation has helped me deal with overwhelm, manage my anxiety and depression and it has definitely helped me parent differently, and show up for my partner, my friends and myself in a more meaningful way. That said, like positive affirmation, meditation is&nbsp; still something I more often than not turn to very quickly (albeit not always quickly enough!) as a reaction and my goal for 2022 is to make my meditation practice more pro-active.</div><div><br></div><div>But of course, I will be meditating with a view to not judging any of it as such too!</div><div><br></div><div>If you would like some tips for getting started with meditation, I strongly recommend downloading the Headspace app and treating yourself to an account. The guidance is positive, helpful and reassuring and there is so much to learn from the courses and videos available. There are even workouts, playlists and sleepcasts to enjoy too.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Music (&amp; Dancing)</strong></div><div><br></div><div>There are two things that 2020 was missing that 2021 got right. One is reading (which you'll find out more about below) and the other is music. This sort of clicked towards the end of last year when a winter lockdown was back in play and I realised I was going to be spending a lot more time at home and with my children again. I had long ago put away my dancing shoes for nightclubs, but at some point in the last few years I realised that I really do miss dancing.</div><div><br></div><div>So I started doing it more and got my children to do it with me. We even bought a disco light and had stop-dance parties whenever they had friends over. Now, when it's time to do the big clean up at the end of the day, I put on one of my favourite playlists and I dance my way through the sweeping and dishwasher stacking. I'm a big believer in moving our bodies to get rid of stress, and I love doing it to some great songs.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Exercising (Differently)</strong></div><div><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/exercise-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/exercise-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></div><div>This also featured on last year's list and with good reason.</div><div><br></div><div>Exercise is fundamental to my mental health and while I ran and walked my way through 2020, and also picked up open water swimming, this year I began to do things a bit differently. I started switching up my workouts to include rowing, yoga and weights, I swam for longer once the weather allowed, and I was delighted when I could go back to working out in exercise classes in the summer. My body really appreciates the non-running exercise I do and I especially feel good after using weights, which is something I never really expected.</div><div><br></div><div>Considering I started the year with a disc bulge in my lower back that immobilised me for three days, I am ending the year feeling fitter and more confident in my skin than I have in a long, long time and I am very proud and grateful for this.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Eating Less Sugar &amp; Dairy</strong></div><div><br></div><div>This sort of goes hand in hand with the exercise in terms of the benefits on my physical and mental health, but actually this was more of a conscious decision and one I committed to practically overnight back in the summer of 2021.</div><div><br></div><div>Waiting on a pizza take-away order, my partner and I were sitting outside in the garden enjoying a glass of wine while our kids played (or mostly fought!) on the grass. As we talked about the summer and what plans we had and my partner mentioned how he wanted to eat healthier and exercise more now the weather was warmer. I have always exercises regularly but I knew at that time my diet had been stuck in a not particularly healthy loop for over a year so his wishes triggered something in me.</div><div><br></div><div>After discussing it a little more than night and then later that week agreeing to hire a nutritionist to help us improve our diets, we began tracking our meals and making changes. One change I knew I'd have to address was eating less sugar, and one suggestion the nutritionist made to us both was reducing our dairy and animal-based protein intake. We generally don't eat a lot of meat (maybe once or twice a week) but we were both eating cheese daily. I was also turning to sugary snacks to get me out of energy slumps and both of us were probably eating to much bread and the least helpful kinds of carbohydrates.</div><div><br></div><div>It took a few months but I noticed a difference in my mood, energy and body once I had dropped bread and cheese from my lunches, and once I was snacking on nuts and fruit rather than crackers and jam. I also switched out cow's milk from everything but my morning cups of tea, and made all our grains and breads wholemeal. I also tried taking some different supplements and adding walnut and linseed oil to my salads or breakfast bowls. These small changes helped improve my cycle, my energy levels and occasionally my sleep. It also feels like a change that has stuck because we didn't make drastic changes and we are very aware of the benefits.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Letting Things Go</strong></div><div><br></div><div>I let so much go in 2021 and wow, it felt good! I suspect it's because I ran out of f&amp;8ks to give but maybe there is more to it...</div><div><br></div><div>I stopped writing new blog content. I deleted social media apps from my phone for weeks at a time. I said no to offers of work that I knew could help rejuvenate my blog and freelance travel writing business but ultimately they didn't excite me. I stopped worrying what people thought of me if I hadn't hoovered the floor immediately before their arrival. I got much better at identifying negative thoughts (about myself, or anything) and I let them go. I didn't sweat it when I didn't reply to emails or messages the same day.</div><div><br></div><div>When my fiction writing really caught momentum, I let parts of my house get so messy and cluttered I lost my children in them. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration but the fact remains that I let go of more expectations on myself this year than I have, ever. And it was blissful. Truly. Yes, it was messy. Yes, eventually the clutter stressed me out (it's been my main job this week trying to find my children again). But what I gained from letting go of a few things was a real focus and joy for my writing, which in itself felt revolutionary this year.</div><div><br></div><div>Also, this new mindset helped me breakthrough a few other restrictions I'd been putting on myself and 2021 was <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUMmxJgoct2/" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUMmxJgoct2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">the year I came out publicly as bisexual</a>. <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUJ6_lvoB8H/" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUJ6_lvoB8H/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">You can read more about that here.</a></div><div><br></div><div><strong>(Reducing the Number of) Houseplants</strong></div><div><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/houseplants-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/houseplants-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></div><div>2020 was very much the year <a data-mce-href="houseplants-self-care-act" href="houseplants-self-care-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I fell in love with houseplants and they became the ultimate self-care act for me</a> and I have zero regrets about that. But 2021 was the year I fell in love with other things just as much and it was very much needed that I reduce how many plants I had, and also found more manageable ways to look after them without that sense of duty eroding away some of the joy.</div><div><br></div><div>This resulted in me giving or throwing away almost half of my houseplant collection, something that was also necessitated thanks to the great thrips outbreak of September 2020 rolling over into 2021. And similar to the point above, it was so liberating to "let go" of things that were weighing me down or stressing me out.</div><div><br></div><div>I also felt less emotionally attached to my plants which I think needed to happen as it would sometimes ruin my day (or week/month!) if one of my favourite plants showed signs of poor health, while now I feel much more philosophical about the circle of life with plants. I also spent a fraction of the money on plants I did in 2020 which my bank balance is happy about, and I feel much more comfortable just having plants I know are reliable and sturdy (and more pest-prone!) rather than chasing trends or spending too much money on special plants that have trickier needs! If 2020 was the year I fell in love with plants, 2021 was the year I made that love really work for me.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Prioritising Myself (Yes, Even Over My Kids!)</strong></div><div><br></div><div>A controversial one to include for many reasons, but that fact alone makes me want to add it in with confidence. Yes, it has a lot to do with more childcare this year and also my kids ages (my eldest is six and my youngest just turned three), but I feel like this year was a year for me prioritising me, and for my needs sometimes taking precedence over their needs.</div><div><br></div><div>Depending on where you fall in the spectrum of parenting, the concept of prioritising yourself over your children will come as a shock, a concern, or a ridiculously obvious statement. There's that oft quoted idea of putting on your own oxygen mask first when a plane is crashing down - and I do believe in the message that portrays - but let's be honest, by the time the oxygen mask sign is on in an aircraft, it's probably too late for both you and your child or children. (Sorry to sober us all up.) Rather, I feel like keeping my own cup topped up at all times - even when, or maybe especially when - the sh*t isn't hitting the fan has been the key to avoiding some really hard mental health days or weeks this year. And sometimes to do so, I need to put my needs first and respond to them (as long as I can do so in a way that obviously doesn't hurt or harm my kids or anyone else!).</div><div><br></div><div>That's not to say I've avoided every single bad day, but I do have some confidence I've dodged some of them, and for me, that's a big win!</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Positive Affirmation</strong></div><div><br></div><div>It will surprise nobody that positive affirmation is another way I made myself feel better at times during 2021. Not only was I writing <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/tags/year%20of%20affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations">monthly batches of daily positive affirmations for a year of affirmation</a> for this blog (and for over on <a data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" href="https://www.instagram.com/francesmthompson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">my Instagram</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Ko-Fi page</a>) but I was actively trying to practice it for myself whenever I recognised negative thoughts spiraling out of control. I also started to do a lot more positive affirmation with my eldest son who has a habit of talking negatively about hiself when he's tired, frustrated or angry.</div><div><br></div><div>I still love <a data-mce-href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how simple positive affirmation is</a>, and how empowering it is when you find an affirmation or intention that really works for you.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Finishing My Sixth Book (and FIRST Novel!)</strong></div><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-my-first-novel-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-my-first-novel-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div><br></div><div>Just in the same way that my first poetry collection Lover Mother Other surprised me in 2020, this year I was more shocked than anyone when I finished <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">my first novel</a>... ever. And I don't just mean the first draft is finished, I mean the whole thing is finished, and it's going to be published in January.</div><div><br></div><div>Yes, working on The Weaker Sex was A LOT of work, but it was work I loved and wanted to do. Even though I've been working on this story for over four years - and at times I never wanted to look at a single word in it ever again - I have learnt so much about writing fiction through getting that book ready for publication and while I hope all future novel writing experiences will be different (and A LOT quicker!) I will be forever grateful for everything I've learned getting this book out into the world.</div><div><br></div><div>You can <a data-mce-href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" href="https://geni.us/TheWeakerSexBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">pre-order The Weaker Sex as ebook or paperback her</a>e.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Vinted</strong></div><div><br></div><div>I have a draft blog post all about selling things on Vinted because it has definitely been one of the more unexpected and fun success stories of my 2021.</div><div><br></div><div>It's essentially an app you use to sell unwanted items (mostly clothes, toys, small homeware items and accesssories) and it has been a great way for me to clear out things we don't need and supplement my income. I hope to get that blog post published soon with some tips on how to get started if you're curious!</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Childcare</strong></div><div><br></div><div>I can't do any of the writing, the work on this blog, and sometimes even the exercise, the meditating or the prioritising myself without childcare. Last year we relied heavily on babyseitters during lockdown (when it was permitted).</div><div><br></div><div>This year, it was thankfully back to school and daycares for all but three months of the year. I will never ever take childcare for granted for my own well-being and that of everyone in my family.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>A Short but Sweet Family Reunion</strong></div><div><br></div><div>My family in the UK and I have very much been cautious about seeing each other over the last few years and even though it's meant we haven't seen each other much, I have no regrets. It has kept us all safe and healthy.</div><div><br></div><div>But in the summer of 2021 we drove to France to meet with my parents and my brother and his family and while it was a very short reunion - just two days - it was indeed very sweet. We stayed in a fantastic holiday house and did very little but hang out together, eat good French food, drink nice French beer and wine and splash about with the kids in the jacuzzi. All being well, we really do hope to repeat this sort of arrangement again this year.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Staycations in Amsterdam</strong></div><div><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/amsterdam-staycation-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/amsterdam-staycation-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></div><div>This year was very much the year of staycations in the Netherlands for us and my partner and I were able to enjoy a few nights in Amsterdam hotels too.</div><div><br></div><div>With our boys a bit older and with an excellent babysitter they love, this year we had more nights away than we usually do. In fact, we had four little Amsterdam staycations in <a data-mce-href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d189387-Reviews-Pulitzer_Amsterdam-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d189387-Reviews-Pulitzer_Amsterdam-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">The Pulitzer Hotel</a> for my birthday (fantastic!), a really memorable night at <a data-mce-href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d21362181-Reviews-The_Unbound-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d21362181-Reviews-The_Unbound-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Unbound Amsterdam</a> (so stylish and unique!), a spontaneous getaway at the <a data-mce-href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d12454831-Reviews-Van_der_Valk_Hotel_Amsterdam_Amstel-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d12454831-Reviews-Van_der_Valk_Hotel_Amsterdam_Amstel-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Van der Valk Hotel</a> (lovely!) and more recently a cosy stay in <a data-mce-href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d229137-Reviews-The_Toren-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188590-d229137-Reviews-The_Toren-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Pavilions The Toren</a> (super cosy!).&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>You can find a list of <a data-mce-href="luxury-hotels-amsterdam" href="luxury-hotels-amsterdam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my favourite luxury hotels in Amsterdam here</a> - yes I need to update it!</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Staycations in the Netherlands</strong></div><div><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/staycations-in-the-netherlands-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/staycations-in-the-netherlands-things-that-helped-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></div><div>We did a number of staycation trips to holiday parks in the Netherlands this year, and strangely only stayed in one new place. This is because we returned to two vakantieparks we loved staying at last year - <a data-mce-href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188575-d11695567-Reviews-Dormio_Resort_Maastricht-Maastricht_Limburg_Province.html" href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g188575-d11695567-Reviews-Dormio_Resort_Maastricht-Maastricht_Limburg_Province.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Dormio in Maastricht</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://www.tripadvisor.nl/Hotel_Review-g227915-d15641374-Reviews-Suitelodges_Gooilanden-Loosdrecht_North_Holland_Province.html" href="https://www.tripadvisor.nl/Hotel_Review-g227915-d15641374-Reviews-Suitelodges_Gooilanden-Loosdrecht_North_Holland_Province.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Dutchen Gooilanden</a> in Loosdrecht - which I am now a big fan of. There's something quite nice about knowing exactly what you're getting at the other end of a journey.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The other vakantiepark that was new to us was <a data-mce-href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g3407349-d1090275-Reviews-Hof_van_Saksen-Nooitgedacht.html" href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g3407349-d1090275-Reviews-Hof_van_Saksen-Nooitgedacht.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Hof van Saksen</a>, which is a great place for young families, but we didn't love our accommodation and the Covid-restrictions did make swimming and activities a little complicated. I hope to write a more detailed review soon.</div><div><strong>&nbsp;</strong></div><div><strong>One Blissful Holiday in Greece</strong></div><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/family-holiday-in-greece-things-that-made-me-feel-better-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/family-holiday-in-greece-things-that-made-me-feel-better-in-2021_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div><br></div><div>If you've read this blog for longer than a few years, you'll know we love our luxury family holidays in the sun, and our week in Crete in October 2021 was our first in over two years. We actually had the same holiday booked for October 2020 but it was cancelled. So yes, this holiday was much anticipated and wanted, and it didn't disappoint.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Open Water Swimming</strong></div><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/open-water-swimming_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/open-water-swimming_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div><br></div><div>Something else that was new to me in 2020 that became a regular fixture in 2021 was open water swimming. I managed to keep going as the seasons changed and by the time summer was upon us, I was swimming in the river near my house three or four times a week.</div><div><br></div><div>While I very much prefer to swim in the water during warmer months, I have to say that there really is something truly invigorating about swimming in freezing cold water - even if just for a few minutes - and then having a long hot shower after. I have also noticed a huge difference in my breathing when I first get in cold water, and likewise my panic is a lot less severe. All in all, I think open water swimming is going to be something I keep doing in 2022.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>My Friends</strong></div><div><br></div><div>As we reach the end of this list, I have to say that the last two things on this list are the things that helped me the most during hardest moments of 2021. Simply put, I don't know where I'd be without the kind words, enthusiastic encouragement, and unwavering love and support of my friends.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Romance Novels</strong></div><div><br></div><div>And romance novels? Hmm. I bet you weren't expecting that! Well, neither was I!</div><div><br></div><div>It will be no surprise that I'm an avid reader, but I have always actively avoided romance novels as I have long had a certain opinion of them. That opinion is that they're sexist, poorly written, and all follow the same sort of script.</div><div><br></div><div>In recent years, many people have tried to convince me that this opinion is very, very wrong, but I haven't always been open to exploring it any further and testing who is indeed correct. That was until 2020 was my worst year in decades for reading books. I was in such a deep reading slump and I just wanted to read something, anything, and get the joy and distraction and escape of reading back in my life.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm not sure exactly what prompted me to do it but around Easter time I downloaded a Talia Hibbert book and started reading. And I couldn't stop. Talia Hibbert is a British author of diverse contemporary romance and I was hooked. Her novels are well-written, brilliantly funny and deliciously steamy. From there I discovered many other romance authors and many different romance genres.</div><div><br></div><div>Exploring this vast, rich and enlightening world of books has not only made me fall back in love with reading, it's also been crucial in demolishing a lot of the conditions I was putting on my own writing. As a result, I'm now writing my first romance novel and I have nearly finished drafting a four book series of romance novels.</div><div><br></div><div>If you're curious, I will one day write a bit more about this shift and about my new enjoyment and enthusiasm for the romance genre, but for now let me just say, if you love reading but have found yourself in a bit of a funk with books, try romance. Have a little search of the type of books out there (it's not all corsets or topless torsos, let me tell you!). There really is something for everyone (my personal favourites are dark/suspense romance and steamy romantic comedy).</div><div><br></div><div>And let's make that my happy ending! If you'd like to share some of the things that helped you in 2021, please do in the comments. Now I'm off to read a romance novel, or write one!</div><div><br></div> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december Self-Love: 31 Positive Affirmations for December <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>It makes no sense to me that my final batch of positive daily affirmations from this year-long challenge were actually the easiest to write. Last month I thought I was all out of ideas, inspiration and even enthusiasm for affirmation, but this month something shifted and this list of positive affirmations for December are easily among my favourite of the whole year.</p><p>I suspect it's because I had something to really focus on as the calendar year comes to an end - the last twelve months and the lessons I've learned. There's also the coming of a new year on the horizon and so this combination of reflection and aspiration is very much reflected in this list of positive daily affirmations, which I don't think is a bad thing at all.</p><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for December</strong></h2><p>Before we get stuck in, a reminder that not all affirmations should or will mean something to you or work for you. This is okay! This is good! It means that you should focus on the ones that do bring some comfort, some ease or some hope to you.</p><p>Furthermore, a reminder that there's no wrong or right way to do affirmation, but if you're just getting started, I highly recommend trying out reading one or two affirmations out loud five times or more for them to really sink in. If that doesn't feel good then try repeating them in your mind. Or you could even try writing them down again and again.</p><p>If you want to know more about affirmation, you can <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful">find out exactly how and why it works here</a>, and you can find some lists of <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression">positive affirmations for depression</a>, for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/feeling-overwhelmed-advice" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="feeling-overwhelmed-advice">when you feel overwhelmed</a>, for <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety">stress and anxiety</a>, and for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="healing-affirmations">healing</a>. This is also my go-to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations">list of my favourite and most simple and effective daily positive affirmations</a>.</p><p>Now let's dive into 31 positive affirmations for December and the end of another calendar year.</p><ol><li>Change is good for me.</li><li>Real soul-soothing growth takes time.</li><li>I dare to dream.</li><li>Whenever I feel fear, I am extra gentle with myself.</li><li>I can be firm and kind at the same time.</li><li>I am happy to be on my own timeline.</li><li>I don't give power or energy to things that make me feel bad.</li><li>Reflecting is healthy. Dwelling on mistakes is not.</li><li>I look forward with a grateful heart for what has already been.</li><li>As I end this year, I keep my heart and mind full of hope.</li><li>I take all the good lessons I've learnt this year with me.</li><li>The end of a year is as good a time as any to release what no longer serves me.</li><li>I am my best days from this last year and I am my best days next year.</li><li><span class="JsGRdQ">I look back with gratitude, I look forward with hope, but I focus on where I am with love.</span></li><li>As this calendar year ends, I take a moment to reflect on everything I have survived so far.</li><li>Success looks differently to everyone. Only I define what success means to me.</li><li>I am kind to myself when I experience hard feelings like regret, guilt and shame.</li><li>Resting now means I can do and enjoy more later.</li><li>I am always growing and moving forward.</li><li>I do what I can to lighten the load on others.</li><li>I welcome this festive season as a time for peace, love and joy.</li><li>Setting goals should never mean I put extra pressure on myself or others.</li><li>When I make resolutions for a new year, I am mindful of all my needs and wishes, and their changeability.</li><li>I give myself permission to have bad days, both now and in the future.</li><li>I celebrate all the ways I am different from others.</li><li><span class="JsGRdQ">I am brave enough to find light in darkness, hope in hard times, and love in the pain.</span></li><li>The future is unknown but I can always get to know myself in deeper ways.</li><li>I remind myself that a new year is just a new year, and life is full of new beginnings.</li><li>It's important to remember that small acts of kindness are still acts of kindness.</li><li>Protecting my energy and mental health is always a priority.</li><li>When in doubt or distress, I turn to love; self-love, love for others, love for the world we live in.</li></ol><p>And if you'd like to save or share this post, you can find some images for Pinterest below.</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december-3_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-december-3_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-november Self-Love: 30 Positive Affirmations for November <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-november_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-november_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>Please accept my apologies in advance because this batch of 30 daily positive affirmations for November are not the happiest or most upbeat I've ever written. And there's a reason for that. I think I have to finally accept that I struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder and these shorter days, longer nights, also darken my mood.</p><p>If you can relate (if you are indeed in the Northern Hemisphere) then it's my hope at least that these positive affirmations will offer you some comfort or a new perspective on these lulls in mood we experience as the weather changes and so does our energy.</p><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for November</strong></h2><p>As with each month's batches in <a data-mce-href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this year-long affirmation extravaganza</a>, I don't expect you to relate to every single one. It's always most effective when only a few speak to you and you really focus on them. If you don't know how to do affirmation, I always say it's as simple as reading the words of an affirmation out loud, if you can and repeating until it starts to morph into a thought rather than a message. If you can't or don't want to say it out loud, that's fine - just say it in your head, but do so when you can give it your full attention.</p><p>If you want to know more about affirmation, you can f<a data-mce-href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ind out how and why it works here</a>, and you can find lists of <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression" href="positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener">positive affirmations for depression</a>, for <a data-mce-href="feeling-overwhelmed-advice" href="feeling-overwhelmed-advice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when you feel overwhelmed</a>, for <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anxiety</a>, and for <a data-mce-href="healing-affirmations" href="healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">healing</a> via those links. This is also my go-to <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations">list of my favourite and most simple and effective daily positive affirmations</a>.</p><p>Now, here we go with 30 daily positive affirmations for November.</p><ol><li>I fill my life with love.</li><li>I do what I can to brighten my home and heart when there is more darkness outside.</li><li>As I welcome winter, I take all opportunities I can to rest and go slow.</li><li>I forgive myself my darkest moments.</li><li>I lean on those who offer me support.</li><li>I am actively kind to myself whenever I need to be.</li><li>I am allowed to have big feelings.</li><li>It is okay to feel things differently compared with others.</li><li>Focusing on myself is not selfish.</li><li>I am exactly where I need to be in this moment.</li><li>I am grateful for the lessons I learn when I make mistakes.</li><li>Self-forgiveness is growth.</li><li>Happiness for others is still happiness.</li><li>I let hard days and hard moments pass me by.</li><li>It's never too late to try something new that excites me.</li><li>It is okay if people don't understand what's most important to me.</li><li>It's healthy for boundaries to evolve as other things in my life change.</li><li>Surrendering is not giving up or giving in.</li><li>Love will always wait.</li><li>I do not fight with my negative thoughts. I simply let them go.</li><li>I do not resist conflicting feelings when they arise.</li><li>I can be patient with myself.</li><li>I accept that a full life is one that brings many different experiences.</li><li>Being able to move my body when I want to is a gift.</li><li>My sense of self-worth is not dependent on what I do or achieve.</li><li>When I admit I am struggling and need, that signals it's okay for others to do the same.</li><li>Crying is good for me.</li><li>I give myself time to process feelings before I react or respond.</li><li>When I stop judging others, I also stop judging myself.</li><li>It is healthy and human to feel sad sometimes.</li></ol><p>And if you'd like to save or share this list of positive affirmations you can use these images for Pinterest.</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-for-november-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-for-november-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-for-november-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-for-november-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p><br></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/best-easy-creative-habits On Writing: Best (& Easiest!) Creative Habits All Writers Should Try <h2><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-best-creative-habits-for-writers_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/the-best-creative-habits-for-writers_x960.jpg?v=1"></h2><h2><strong>The Best Creative Habits You Should Try</strong></h2><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">When it comes to building effective creative habits, it's important that they are easy to both start and maintain. There's no point trying to introduce a range of exciting and inspiring creative habits that you work hard to start but you're unable to keep going with them. By definition this means whatever you're trying - be it journaling, reading more, trying a new creative hobby - isn't a habit because it's not possible for you to keep it going.</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">As someone who has been writing fiction regularly (and publishing books!) for nearly ten years I have learned the hard way what works and what doesn't when it comes to the best creative habits. Personally, I have found that doing a little a lot is one of the most effective ways to bring a new creative habit into your life and to then go on and stick to it. I also find that the simpler I make it, i.e. write 2000 words a week or write for 20 minutes every day, it's easier to achieve and that sense of achievement gives you an energy boost. It's also why I'm a big advocate for creative writing challenges like NaNoWriMo as they have simple goals (albeit they are hard to meet every day for 30 days!) and there aren't many rules at all.</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">With all this in mind, I am happy to share this guest post with you about five simple, easy and very effective creative habits that all writers should try if they're stuck in a creative rut or struggling with writer's block. As I often share on my WriteNOW Cards Instagram page, the more you make creativity and being creative a part of your daily life, the more your creativity will grow and reward you with new ideas, creative energy for your works-in-progress and a lot of love for your creative life. So enjoy reading this post and I hope you find one or two creative habits that work for you.</span></em></p><h2><strong>The Importance of Creative Habits</strong></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Creative habits are very much worth thinking about and adopting. Creativity is by nature dynamic, with lots of ebbing and flowing depending on what is going in your life or the world around you. It can also sometimes be an almost elusive thing, and it can often feel like it disappears for days (or weeks or months or years!) at a time and then you're stuck with a bad case of writer's block. But on the other hand, it can also play out that creativity springs up from nowhere and inspiration strikes in strange, almost paradoxical ways. Ideas can appear out of nowhere and you are on a roll... but then days (or weeks or months or years!) later they disappear just as suddenly.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">While some of this is out of our control, certainly when our lives may be busy or weighed down by other factors and events, there are always things we can do to encourage creativity to stay with us. As Frankie writes above, It may seem counter-intuitive, but no matter how fleeting and slippery creativity may feel, the reality is that there are things we can do to maximise creativity, and one of those things is having creative habits, and making time do do the creative things we love regularly, like building and committing to a daily </span><a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/how-to-start-writing-habit" data-mce-href="how-to-start-writing-habit"><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">writing habit</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">If you wish to be more creative, try developing some creative habits that many other creatives and writers follow. Not all of them will work for you, but all of them have great potential to help you harness more creativity and avoid things like writer's block. Because the easiest habits to maintain are those that are simple, quick and easy to do, we're only really focusing on the habits you can do no matter what experience you have as a writer or creative, and you really don't need to do them all to experience greater creativity. Just pick one or two of these simple and easy creative habits and hopefully they will help you start developing your creativity right away!</span></p><h2><strong>The Best &amp; Easiest Creative Habits for Writers (and ALL Creatives!)</strong></h2><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">1. Journal, Journal, Journal!</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Though keeping a journal is an age-old and enduring practice for authors, painters, musicians, and virtually anybody involved in the creative process, it is a creative habit all writers should definitely try at least once in their lives to see if it works well for you.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Keeping a journal makes perfect sense if you think about it, as it's a way to clear some of the thoughts in your mind, work through them on a page, and practise the art of writing about feelings, experiences, people, and well, life, without judgement or being read. As writers, when so much of what we do is for others to read, it's very liberating to write only for ourselves, and to "clear our minds" as we do so we can focus on the other projects that we're working on without other busy and unrelated thoughts getting in the way.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">If you're not sure what to write about, there are 1000s of articles online with journal prompts, but the most important way to approach it is without any rules or guidelines at all. You can write whatever you want. You can treat it like a diary exercise. Make an effort to describe the places you visit and the people who live there. What do you see in terms of food, plants, and architecture, and how do they look and smell? Try this for a couple days and you'll notice that writing down your thoughts enhances clarity and self-awareness, which in turn leads to new ideas, possibilities, and ways of being.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">By </span><a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/write-every-day-tips" data-mce-href="write-every-day-tips"><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">writing every day</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">, you warm up your creative muscles and make room for wonderful things. Additionally, if you ever find yourself feeling uninspired or stuck, you can always turn to your creative writing journal for new ideas.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">If nothing else, by journaling as a creative habit, you'll be encouraged to face the white space in front of you. There’s no pressure to make what you write in your journal flawless, and you don’t even have to spell everything correctly. It may sometimes be as simple as one-word impressions or notes. Whatever you write is fine as long as you can understand it when you go back and read it later.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Journaling can be done at the same time every day or even on the go whenever you have something you want to jot down. Often, ideas and inspirations come to us in the form of flashes of light. It is our responsibility to seize such moments and keep them alive.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Keeping a journal handy is one such approach. Throughout history and even now, some of the most famous and successful people like scientist Leonardo da Vinci, painter Frida Kahlo, and entrepreneur Benjamin Franklin made a habit of keeping a journal. And one of the most popular books about harnessing and nurturing creativity, The Artists Way by Julia Cameron, swears by the daily morning pages practice where you clear your mind before getting on with your real creative tasks.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">2. Reading A LOT!</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">This one’s as obvious as telling chefs that they should eat if they want to learn how to cook. But we're not talking about casual reading here; we're talking about reading with intention and purpose. As a writer, reading can help your writing in endless ways. Not only will it fill your creative well in terms of giving you new ideas and motivation to keep working on a particular project, but reading can also help writers improve their knowledge of language and understand the technicalities such as tense, grammar, syntax control, and correct use of </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://writer.com/blog/metaphor/" data-mce-href="https://writer.com/blog/metaphor/"><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">metaphors</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">A robust reading habit will teach you how authors tackle various themes. Explore the templates that other writers provide and see if you can adapt or even enhance any of them. Study how various authors develop plots and characters, how they keep a constant tone and pitch, as well as how they create tension. Reading may also bring back memories from your own life that will provide you additional material for your own stories.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Your growth and development as a writer will always be limited if you don't make time to read. Hence, make it a point to read daily—and voraciously at that. When asked about his daily routine, Portuguese Nobel-winning writer José Saramago </span><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">said</span><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">, “I write two pages. And then I read and read and read and read.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Reading must be the creative core of a writer's existence. Writers are shaped by other writers, and good readers make good writers.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">3. Doing Regular Physical Exercise</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Gary Kasparov, world champion chess player in the 1990s, </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/kasparov63/status/1338522801075056642?lang=en" data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/kasparov63/status/1338522801075056642?lang=en"><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">said</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;"> physical exercise was always a key element of his chess training.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">There are numerous parallels between chess and writing. These two professions are well-known for being sedentary, and necessitating a significant amount of mental work rather than physical exertion. For extended periods, the only portion of the body that gets constant exercise is the fingers, whether playing chess moves or writing in a journal. And when authors become more immersed in their work, or as a deadline approaches, they tend to disregard the physical needs of the body in order to prioritize the mental work they need to do.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Exercise is a habit all writers should intentionally include in their day. Not only for your </span><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">physical health</span><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">, but also because it can </span><a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/how-running-makes-me-a-better-writer" data-mce-href="how-running-makes-me-a-better-writer"><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">make you a better writer.</span></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">There is a reason why Japanese writer Haruki Murakami completes a daily 10-kilometer run — and why Ernest Hemingway was also an avid amateur boxer, Charles Dickens walked about 12 miles each day, and journalist A.J. Jacobs types while walking on a treadmill. Exerting physical effort prepares you to work hard mentally as a result.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">It's up to you to decide what works for you, but make sure you get up and move around.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">4. Daydream!</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">It’s hard to imagine how writers can not also be daydreamers in some way. Excellent ideas for stories often come to writers unexpectedly, from wandering thoughts rather than analytical ones. For a writer, daydreaming isn’t a waste of time.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Daydreaming is a “What if?” question that our minds attempt to answer through imagination.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">For example, what if we discovered that an asteroid was poised to strike the Earth? How would humanity&nbsp;react? What if a school didn’t study math and science but potions and magic instead? If you ask yourself "What if?" you'll find yourself daydreaming endlessly.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">You may have gotten in trouble for daydreaming in school, but science supports the claim that it fosters creativity, or at least that it’s a common habit for creative people. </span><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393217302592?via=ihub" data-mce-href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393217302592?via=ihub"><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">This study</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;"> conducted by a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology shows that people who frequently daydream have more intellectual and creative talents than those who do not.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">It's important to remember, though, that while writers are superb daydreamers, the process </span><em><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">is</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;"> a waste of time if you never actually write. As a result, enabling unrestrained daydreaming comes with the extra responsibility of writing down what you dream up.</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">5. Nurturing an Open Mind, Always.</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Having an open mind to new things is one of the most reliable predictors of creative success.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">A new experience is generally associated with meeting new people or going on a thrill-seeking adventure. But a search for truth and the desire to interact with competing moral views are also characteristics of openness. It may also be aesthetic, defined by a desire to study fantasy and art and to feel emotional immersion in beauty. It may also be openness defined by delving into the depths of human feeling.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">It makes sense, right? When authors learn more about the world and how things function, their horizons open up more and more for their stories.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">So, if you want to improve your creative abilities, make an effort to seek out new experiences regularly. It may be as easy as choosing a different route or arranging a last-minute excursion, or visiting a new kind of restaurant or accepting a social invitation. Try to learn a new skill, perhaps. The possibilities are limitless.</span></p><p><strong>About the Author</strong></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">Nicholas Rubright is a digital marketing specialist and expert writer at CyberWaters. In his free time, Nicholas enjoys playing guitar, writing music, and building cool things on the internet.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">If you'd like to write a guest post for As the Bird flies, you can <a data-mce-href="../guest-posts" href="../guest-posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">find more information here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;">If you'd like to save or share this post, here are some images you can pin:</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;"><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/creative-habits-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/creative-habits-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;"><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/creative-habits-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/creative-habits-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="601"></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;"><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/creative-habits-3_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/creative-habits-3_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;" data-mce-style="font-weight: 400;"><br data-mce-bogus="1"></span></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-october Self-Love: 31 Positive Affirmations for October <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/october-affirmations_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/october-affirmations_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>Ten months into this <a data-mce-href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">year of affirmations challenge</a> and I can hand on heart say that this month's collection of daily positive affirmations for October are the biggest mix bag of all. These affirmations came to me here and there over the last few weeks. Sometimes during a short meditation session, other times when I was riding my bike around Amsterdam, or out on a run in this bright Autumn sunshine. A handful came only when I had to sit down and finish this list, because only a handful was necessary.</p><p>It may sound strange but this is not how I normally write my lists of positive affirmations. Typically, a few, maybe ten at most, will pop into my head over the course of a few weeks, but the majority I have to sit down at my computer and actively hunt for. Occasionally, it doesn't happen at once, so I need to do this twice, three times before I have a full list of thirty or thirty-one positive affirmations.</p><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for October</strong></h2><p>So, yes, I'm glad there was more ease in writing this list of affirmations for the month of October, but it does mean that they are a real varied mix of affirmations. As always, they are very much influenced by whatever is happening in my life, or in the lives of those closest to me, but also sometimes they do sort of slide into my mind out of nowhere and I don't really know what they relate to. All this is to say, don't think too much into each one, but rather grab hold of the ones that work best for you. Those are YOUR affirmations.</p><p><a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful">If you're completely new to affirmation, go find out what it is and why it works here</a> and you can find all the other <a data-mce-href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lists of affirmations I shared so far this year</a> here: <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-new-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year">January</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-february" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="daily-positive-affirmations-february">February</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-march" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-march">March</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-april" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-april">April</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-may" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-may">May,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-june-summer" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-june-summer">June,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-july">July,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-august" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-august">August</a> and <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-september" href="positive-affirmations-for-september" target="_blank" rel="noopener">September</a> via those links.</p><p>You can also read some of my lists of positive affirmations for specific situations or moods, like these <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations">100 daily positive affirmations here</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression">50 positive affirmations for depression</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety">affirmations for anxiety</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="healing-affirmations">100 healing affirmations</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/why-writers-need-affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="why-writers-need-affirmation">why all writers should try affirmation</a>. I also share near-daily affirmations on my Instagram pages:&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog">@asthebirdfliesblog</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/">@writenowcards</a>.</p><p>And now let's dive into the list of positive affirmations. Are you ready? Of course, you are.</p><ol><li>Small moments of peace have great value.</li><li>Small steps are how long journeys are made.</li><li>Autumn teaches me a great deal about the cycle of life.</li><li>I embrace autumn as an opportunity to slow down, rest and release what doesn't serve me.</li><li>Each day, I take time to look around me and appreciate nature in all its forms.</li><li>I am loving to myself.</li><li>I am gentle with myself.</li><li>I am full of great ideas, huge potential and big, big love.</li><li>My wild is nothing to be ashamed of.</li><li>I cannot control other people's opinions of me.</li><li>Hurting is always the beginning of healing.</li><li>Love is patient and forgiving.</li><li>Hope will forever live in my heart.</li><li>It's never too late to prioritise my joy and my dreams.</li><li>Words have power and impact, so I use them mindfully.</li><li>I listen to my body with an open mind.</li><li>Before I succumb to a strong negative narrative, I try re-framing to find a new perspective.</li><li>Staying curious about my feelings, my thoughts and my behaviour is a gift to myself and others.</li><li>I am proud of all I've done to get to where I am today.</li><li>I am protective of my energy and focus.</li><li>My creativity is limitless.</li><li>Forgiving myself is the first step in asking others to forgive me.</li><li>When I work through my shame, I release anger and resistance that could hurt others.</li><li>All I have is the present moment. I am grateful for that.</li><li>Friendship is true, true love.</li><li>When I do things that scare me, I learn more about how to manage my fear.</li><li>Being able to laugh at myself means more giggles and fun in my life!</li><li>Watching someone I love heal and grow is an honour.</li><li>Change is hard but ultimately what it means to be fully human.</li><li>Feeling vulnerable is healthy and human; I find peace in the discomfort.</li><li>I listen with my heart, to myself and to others.</li></ol><p>You can find free download-friendly images of these affirmations over on <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" target="_blank">my Ko-Fi page.</a></p><p>And if you'd like to save or share this positive affirmations you can do so with the images below. Thanks so much!</p><p><br></p><p><br></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-september Self-Love: 30 Positive Affirmations for September <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210819_152819_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/20210819_152819_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>September always feels a bit like a second new year to me. I know this is hugely because I associate it with the beginning of a new school year - and that hangover has lasted far too long - but to be honest, I don't mind. Being a huge fan of sunshine and summer weather, I often have a tendency to dread the changing of season from summer to autumn but this "new year" feeling of September often helps to alleviate that a little.&nbsp;</p><p>This year, September feels especially fresh thanks to it being the beginning of a busy work season for me, and the fact that I have a bit more time to do aforementioned work now my children are back in their own rhythms, and compared with last year, when I was almost definitely burnt out following that first hard spring and summer of the pandemic, it feels like this September and this autumn could bring some good things.</p><p>But really, the reason I write these lists of positive affirmations is to have some positive thoughts or some healthy perspective in mind not because good things are happening, but rather because I know challenges are going to rise up. Challenges are inevitable; we can't control all the struggles we experience. We can, however, influence how we feel about those challenges and for me, positive affirmations are one of the ways I do this.</p><p><a data-mce-href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">If you're new to affirmation, go find out what it is and why it works here.</a></p><p>You can find all the other lists of affirmations I shared so far this year here: <a href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year">January</a>,&nbsp;<a href="daily-positive-affirmations-february" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="daily-positive-affirmations-february">February</a>,&nbsp;<a href="positive-affirmations-for-march" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-march">March</a>,&nbsp;<a href="positive-affirmations-for-april" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-april">April</a>,&nbsp;<a href="positive-affirmations-for-may" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-may">May,</a> <a href="positive-affirmations-for-june-summer" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-june-summer">June,</a> <a href="positive-affirmations-for-july" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-july">July,</a> and <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-august" href="positive-affirmations-for-august" target="_blank" rel="noopener">August</a>. You can also read some of my lists of positive affirmations for specific situations or moods, like these <a href="list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations">100 daily positive affirmations here</a>,&nbsp;<a href="positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression">50 positive affirmations for depression</a>,&nbsp;<a href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety">affirmations for anxiety</a>,&nbsp;<a href="healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="healing-affirmations">100 healing affirmations</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="why-writers-need-affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="why-writers-need-affirmation">why all writers should try affirmation</a>. I also share near-daily affirmations on my Instagram pages:&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog">@asthebirdfliesblog</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/">@writenowcards</a>.</p><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for September</strong></h2><p>As I always like to remind you, the goal with these lists of daily affirmations is never that I want you to use each and every single one. It's so very unlikely that they will all resonate with you, but a few might, maybe more. These are the ones that I urge you to make a note of and keep safe somewhere for those days when it feels hard, when you need a little positive perspective. That said, practising affirmation on the days when life just feels good is also effective and healthy too - it helps build the practice.</p><p>So here you go, my thirty daily positive affirmations for September. I hope you find some that speak to you. And if not, <a data-mce-href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">go have a look at the other lists I did for other months this year.</a></p><ol><li>Making an effort to think and speak positively about myself has limitless benefits.</li><li>When I don't have positive conversations with myself, I create room for negative thoughts to grow.</li><li>I respect and welcome the change of seasons.</li><li>I soak up the last of the summer sunshine with gratitude.</li><li>I welcome any fresh start with hope in my heart, no matter when or how it shows up.</li><li>Feeling neutral about something isn't a bad thing. It doesn't mean I don't care.</li><li>It is okay and normal for some things to take longer than others.</li><li>True self-acceptance and self-celebration is unconditional.</li><li>I stay curious about what fear can teach me.</li><li>There is a lot of love in my future.</li><li>I walk towards love and hope.</li><li>My future is undecided and that is a beautiful thing.</li><li>I learn more about the role my ego plays in my life.</li><li>I am growing into my true self&nbsp;</li><li>It is good that I ask for more time when I need it.</li><li>I respect the ways people are different from me.</li><li>I create space in my life for the things I enjoy.</li><li>Love is always waiting for me.</li><li>Who I am is always there in my core. That is what I return to when I need reminding.</li><li>I embrace the mess that comes with a busy, full and happy life.</li><li>I am more than someone else's - or my own - afterthought.</li><li>I nourish my body with good food, and my mind with positive thoughts.</li><li>Life is not passing me by. I am alive in every single second that passes.</li><li>My future is full of growth and healing.</li><li>Patience is just as important as passion.</li><li>I am capable of great things.</li><li>Done is always better than perfect.</li><li>It is human to make mistakes. It is honourable to own and learn from them.</li><li>Healing happens when I rest, when I give myself love, and when I am patient with myself and others.</li><li>My mind always has more power than the words of others.</li></ol><p>And if you'd like to save or share this post, please find some images you can pin below.</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-september-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-september-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-3_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-3_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="599"></p><p><br></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-august Self-Love: 31 Positive Affirmations for August <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/august-positive-affirmations_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/august-positive-affirmations_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>This batch weren't the easiest positive affirmations to write, and I can't exactly put my finger on why. Possibly it's because we are now eight months into this and so yeah, I'm running out of brand new and original affirmations, but I also think it's because this month my kids were off school and childcare so I was incredibly time short. Speaking honestly, I was also a little affirmation-short, in that I wasn't really prioritising speaking positively to myself. And I have learnt the hard way that when I slow down these efforts, then that leaves more space for less positive and even negative thinking.</p><p>So, yes, while these positive affirmations for August were a little slow and sluggish coming to exist, I am personally very happy they do exist, and am grateful to be sharing them with you now. Remember, you don't need to relate or repeat every single one of these affirmations - not all of them will work for you - but I do urge you to try a good handful or two to see which ones speak to you most. When you find a positive affirmation or two that are working for you, repeat the, write them down somewhere, and keep returning to them whenever you need them.</p><p>Find all the affirmations I shared for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-new-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year">January</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-february" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="daily-positive-affirmations-february">February</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-march" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-march">March</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-april" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-april">April</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-may" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-may">May,</a> <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-june-summer" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-june-summer">June,</a> and <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-july" href="positive-affirmations-for-july" target="_blank" rel="noopener">July</a> via those links. And you can read some of my lists of positive affirmations for specific situations or moods, like these <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations">100 daily positive affirmations here</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression">50 positive affirmations for depression</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety">affirmations for anxiety</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="healing-affirmations">100 healing affirmations</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/why-writers-need-affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="why-writers-need-affirmation">why all writers should try affirmation</a>. I also share near-daily affirmations on my Instagram pages:&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog">@asthebirdfliesblog</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/">@writenowcards</a>.</p><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for August</strong></h2><p>If you're new to affirmation, I urge you to read this post about how and why affirmation works. And if you'd like to have and share these positive affirmations for August on social media, you can find them all as individual images on <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" target="_blank">my Ko-Fi page here</a>.</p><p>Now, dive into these positive affirmations and enjoy finding the ones that work best for you. Happy positive thinking!</p><ol><li>Everyday I focus on releasing resistance and welcoming curiosity.</li><li>I enjoy my own company as much as I enjoy the company of others.</li><li>I fill my life with things and people I love.</li><li>When I show myself love, I am nurturing inner peace.</li><li>Good things are already on their way.</li><li>I make changes based on what is important to me, not what isn't.</li><li>Life is not a test. I am not being tested or appraised or rewarded.</li><li>My only duty on this earth is to love. Love myself and love others.</li><li>Joy doesn't work like a balance. I don't need to suffer in order to experience joy.</li><li>I pursue my pleasure.</li><li>I prioritise my passion.</li><li>Everything is fleeting so I hold on to what matters and release what doesn't.</li><li>I thank my body for all it carries for me and how far we have come together.</li><li>I have faith in my future self.</li><li>I have more than one purpose in life.</li><li>I do not ration my joy.</li><li>It's important that every day I find moments to pause and appreciate what I have.</li><li>Bad days are a fact of life, not a sign that I am broken.</li><li>Not reacting is sometimes more powerful than reacting.</li><li>Grief is a necessary part of love and life.</li><li>I do not underestimate my body and mind's abilities to heal and grow.</li><li>I am comfortable with wanting what I want.</li><li>I am what I am.</li><li>I am magic.</li><li>I can always turn to music, art and books for solace and comfort.</li><li>Life is beautiful, even on the days I can't see it.</li><li>Listening is love.</li><li>I have enough time to do what really matters in life; love myself and others.</li><li>Gratitude is the gateway to more joy in life.</li><li>I am grateful for all I do for myself and those around me.</li><li>The conversation I have with myself is the most important dialogue in my life.</li></ol><p>And if you'd like to share these affirmations on Pinterest, here are some images you can pin and save.</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-for-august-pin_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/daily-positive-affirmations-for-august-pin_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="601"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-august-pin_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-august-pin_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="601"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/31-positive-affirmations-for-august_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/31-positive-affirmations-for-august_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><br></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july Self-Love: 31 Positive Affirmations for July <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/boats-at-sunset-photo-positive-affirmations-for-july_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/boats-at-sunset-photo-positive-affirmations-for-july_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>When I sat down to write these affirmations - I normally do most of them in one or two big batches, and also add in other ones that come to me out of nowhere as and when they do - I really felt quite blocked. Rather than stare at a blank page, I went back re-read some of the positive affirmations I wrote for this challenge and you know, it helped release so much of the negative thinking I was having relating to <em>why&nbsp;</em>I couldn't come up with 31 positive affirmations in one go.</p><p>It was a helpful reminder that positive affirmation works. It really does. Thinking and saying positive statements out loud or in your head is so effective at getting your brain to slow down with the negative thoughts, take a breath and let some positivity ease the doubt or fear.&nbsp;</p><p>It doesn't always work like this, but after reading some of the daily affirmations I've already shared with you in <a data-mce-href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" href="../tags/year%20of%20affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this year of daily positive affirmations challenge</a>, I felt my mindset change and shift, and I felt ready to write a handful of positive things I needed to hear right in that moment.</p><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for July</strong></h2><p>So that's what you're going to read below here. These affirmations are very much influenced with where my head is at right now, and that's a very different place from where I was at in the beginning of the year. I am very busy with writing. I have one book with an editor, and another two books in first draft mode, and four more books in the planning too - yes, four! I don't want to go into too much more detail at this stage but something feels very different about these new books; they feel much more real, much more doable and much more exciting than the other story ideas I've had in the past. As wonderful a feeling as this is. It's also terrifying, terrifying!</p><p>This excitement and fear is evident in these affirmations, as are some nods to some serious personal growth that I feel happening right now. It's strange being very alert and aware to big shifts in the way I think and feel, but I am grateful for this new kind of mindfulness I am bringing to it. And I"m grateful to life being a bit more normal right now so I have more time and energy to explore it all.</p><p>Anyway, enough vague explaining from me. Let's dive straight into the affirmations after I share some links to articles and more positive affirmations that may help you if you're really new to this or if you're struggling with something specific right now.</p><p>Find all the affirmations I shared for <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year" href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January</a>, <a data-mce-href="daily-positive-affirmations-february" href="daily-positive-affirmations-february" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February</a>, <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-march" href="positive-affirmations-for-march" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March</a>, <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-april" href="positive-affirmations-for-april" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April</a>, <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-may" href="positive-affirmations-for-may">May</a> and <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-june-summer" href="positive-affirmations-for-june-summer">June</a> all via those links. And you can read lists of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations">100 daily positive affirmations here</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression">50 positive affirmations for depression</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety">affirmations for anxiety</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="healing-affirmations">100 healing affirmations</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/why-writers-need-affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="why-writers-need-affirmation">why all writers should try affirmation</a>. I also share near-daily affirmations on my Instagram pages:&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog">@asthebirdfliesblog</a>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/">@writenowcards</a>.</p><p>Remember you don't need 100 affirmations to change how you think and feel, sometimes - no, often - only one or two are enough. Just stay loyal to them and yourself when you repeat them and return to them in the future so your brain gets the positive message you want to send to it.</p><p>Now, let's get our affirmation on...</p><ol><li>There is always room for hope in my heart.</li><li>I do not censor myself.</li><li>I always have permission to change.</li><li>I am not a burden.</li><li>My body is not a temple. It is a body, made of love, and here to take me through life.</li><li>I do what I can so my hopes and expectations align.</li><li>Productivity is not a measure of my self-worth.</li><li>Courage lives inside me.</li><li>There is no limit to the compassion I can show myself.</li><li>I lean into the uncertainty that underpins all parts of life.</li><li>Once I identify a negative thought, I release my hold on it and set it free.</li><li>The stories I tell myself about myself are the ones with real power. I use that power mindfully.</li><li>I do not let what I don't know stop me from continuing to learn.</li><li>I stay open to feeling peace and calm whenever I need to.</li><li>Good things are happening all the time, all over the world.</li><li>My truths are bigger and brighter than anyone else's illusions about me.</li><li>I celebrate myself, just as I am.</li><li>I give myself room to grow.</li><li>I focus more on what others can teach me rather than what I already know.</li><li>It is an honour to (re)connect with people I love.</li><li>I have an endless capacity for love both as a giver and recipient.</li><li>There is magic in being my true self.</li><li>I promise my future self love, forgiveness and compassion.</li><li>I treasure slow days and high energy days equally.</li><li>Being an effective ally is important to me.</li><li>Confidence is a bridge between myself and the success I want to enjoy.</li><li>My creativity is sometimes a beautiful mystery to me.</li><li>The work I do tomorrow will always benefit from the work I do today.</li><li>I lean on those who offer me love and support.</li><li>Everybody benefits when I practise deep, unconditional self-love.</li><li>I am proud of how I show up for myself.</li></ol><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july-2021-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july-2021-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july-2021-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july-2021-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july-2021-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-july-2021-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/how-to-earn-money-writing-stories On Writing: How to Earn Money by Writing Stories <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-blog-post_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-blog-post_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p><em>Writing has been my main source of income for nearly a decade and while it's been an up-and-down journey, it's not one I've ever regretted going on. I earn money writing stories on this blog you're reading now, for clients as a freelance writer, and also in actual real published books, like my three short story collections (<a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://geni.us/ShyFeetBook" href="https://geni.us/ShyFeetBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shy Feet</a>, <a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://geni.us/LondonEyesBook" href="https://geni.us/LondonEyesBook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">London Eyes</a>, <a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://geni.us/yStkRj" href="https://geni.us/yStkRj" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nine Women</a>).</em></p><p><em>It took me a while to figure out that making money from writing stories was not only possible but it actually also has unlimited potential; it's actually a very adaptable skill to have and one that can be applied to lots of different media, as this guest post will explain. Because yes, this is another guest post for you, written by another content creator who makes money writing stories.</em></p><p><em>So, allow me to handover to Laura May from Just Another Magazine who will give you some ideas on how you can make money from writing stories, creative writing, and writing both fiction and non-fiction. (P.S. If you're not sure which of those to focus on, <a data-mce-href="writing-fiction-or-non-fiction" href="writing-fiction-or-non-fiction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this post on whether you should write fiction or non-fiction may help</a>.)</em></p><h2><strong>How to Earn Money By Writing Stories</strong></h2><p><strong><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/make-money-writing-stories-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/make-money-writing-stories-2_x960.jpg?v=1"></strong></p><p>Creative writing and writing stories are often considered nice skills to have, especially at a time when content creation online is at an all-time high, but they can sometimes be seen as more of a hobby or a side project than a real career choice. There are also the many stereotypes of struggling writers never earning enough money from their stories that discourage writers from trying to earn a living from writing stories, but the reality is that there are countless opportunities to earn money from telling stories. Whether you want to write non-fiction or fiction,&nbsp; creative writing and storytelling are not only nice skills to have, they are also real opportunities to earn a decent income.</p><p>However, this article isn't going to give you any shortcuts or ways to make money fast. As with most industries and skills, creative writing is something that takes time to master and not just from a writing-perspective. It can also take time to figure out where best to focus your efforts in terms of how to make money with your writing. That's why this article will cover some of the challenges you'll face pursuing a career in creative writing, as well as some of the ways in which you can start to build up your income from your skills.</p><h2><strong>How Easy is it to Earn Money by Writing Stories or Creative Writing?</strong></h2><p>While it is possible to earn a living from your creative writing skills, it’s not always an easy career path to follow and these are a few things you should consider before you take the plunge.</p><ul><li><strong>It Takes Time to Make Money from Writing</strong></li></ul><p>Turning your writing hobby into a full-time income usually takes quite a bit of time and a lot of dedication. You should be prepared to put in a lot of effort and time, and build up your income slowly&nbsp; — you’re not going to be earning lots overnight.</p><p>As with any creative industry, in addition to gaining experience and skills relating to writing, writers also need to think and learn about how they manage their work and so become adept in marketing, branding, networking, and time management. So yes, all of these things take time.</p><ul><li><strong>It's About More Than Just Writing</strong></li></ul><p>As mentioned above in order to monetise your creative writing skills you also need to be able to promote yourself, communicate well, understand finances and the operational side of running a business or being self-employed.</p><p>You can find lots of online courses that teach you the fundamentals of business and there are sites such as <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.smallbusinessbonfire.com/" data-mce-href="https://www.smallbusinessbonfire.com/">Small Business Bonfire that cover tips on self-employment</a> and running your own business. Here are also some of Frankie's <a data-mce-href="things-beginner-freelancers-should-know" href="things-beginner-freelancers-should-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lessons learned from freelance writing for three years.</a></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/can-you-make-money-writing-stories_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/can-you-make-money-writing-stories_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><ul><li><strong>You Have to Motivate Yourself</strong></li></ul><p>To earn a reliable living from writing stories or freelance writing, you need to be able to continually motivate yourself and stay on track with your work. Mindset is everything! There will be times when you have lots of work and things feel good, and other times when the work dries up and it feels very unsettling.</p><p>Furthermore, many writers will experience blocks or times when they feel uninspired, so you need to learn more about yourself so that you can overcome them. Here is Frankie's post on understanding <a data-mce-href="writers-block" href="writers-block" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what is writer's block</a>, and how to avoid or beat it.</p><p>You could take some inspiration from this mindset podcast with Steve Sims. The podcast covers <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.getyourselfoptimized.com/the-art-of-making-s-happen-with-steve-sims/" data-mce-href="https://www.getyourselfoptimized.com/the-art-of-making-s-happen-with-steve-sims/">Steve Sims’ tips for changing your mindset</a>, focusing, and getting things done. It’s also a good idea to use <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.timecamp.com/blog/2018/07/15-effective-proven-time-management-techniques-2020/" data-mce-href="https://www.timecamp.com/blog/2018/07/15-effective-proven-time-management-techniques-2020/">time management techniques</a> that help to minimise distractions and ensure you meet your deadlines.</p><p>Knowing how to keep yourself motivated and productive is going to be essential to earn an income from your creative writing. That's why <a data-mce-href="../tags/self-care" href="../tags/self-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">self-care</a> and <a data-mce-href="../tags/self-love" href="../tags/self-love" target="_blank" rel="noopener">self-love</a> are so important for writers, and don't forget <a data-mce-href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the power of affirmation</a> - <a data-mce-href="why-writers-need-affirmation" href="why-writers-need-affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here's why Frankie thinks every writer needs affirmation</a>, and you can <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://ko-fi.com/s/1302f7a460" href="https://ko-fi.com/s/1302f7a460" target="_blank">find her WriteNOW Cards, positive affirmation cards for writers</a>, here and <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" target="_blank">on Instagram</a>.</p><h2><strong>How to Earn Money from Telling Stories or Writing</strong></h2><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/making-money-writing-stories_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/making-money-writing-stories_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>In reality, not many people are going to make money from writing stories by becoming a successful published author; you'd actually be amazed how many bestseller authors still have other jobs or sources of income, and only a very few make a decent amount of money from their books. But stories are needed not only in novels and books, but all over every single industry. An ability to write creatively, to tell stories and to connect with readers is a very desirable skill to have and you can and should be paid for using to help businesses, individuals and brands create engaging, far-reaching content.</p><p>So yes, there are plenty of other opportunities to make money from your writing and we're going to dive into some of them below. Some of these ideas will provide you with an income while you work towards your dream writing job, and some of these may eventually become your full-time career.</p><ul><li><strong>Writing Short Stories</strong></li></ul><p>There are many fiction websites and literary magazines that will pay you to write short stories that they can publish. If your long term goal is to write your own novel, then this could be a good way to get some practice in and earn at the same time. Plus, it generally takes less time to write short stories so you can set yourself up with a steady source of income if you’re committed to writing them on a regular basis.</p><p><a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://writers.com/short-story-submissions" href="https://writers.com/short-story-submissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> summarises some of the print and online journals that are accepting fiction submissions, as does <a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://thewritelife.com/where-to-submit-short-stories/" href="https://thewritelife.com/where-to-submit-short-stories/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this post</a> which also gives some magazines that want short stories.</p><ul><li><strong>Writing Articles, Essays or Creative Non-Fiction</strong></li></ul><p>In the same way, there are many different types of publications - online and in print - who accept submissions for non-fiction and pay for them. Whether you're pitching to local or national newspapers, to journals or websites, or poetry to anthologies, you won't know if you can get published unless you try.&nbsp;</p><p>Here's a<a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://writers.com/best-places-submit-creative-nonfiction-online" href="https://writers.com/best-places-submit-creative-nonfiction-online" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nother list</a> of publications that pay for non-fiction submissions, and <a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://medium.com/write-out-loud/67-publications-with-open-submissions-for-nonfiction-22e12052aa8d" href="https://medium.com/write-out-loud/67-publications-with-open-submissions-for-nonfiction-22e12052aa8d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this list</a> which does still include fiction, but plenty of other homes for non-fiction and poetry too.</p><ul><li><strong>Start a Blog</strong></li></ul><p>Starting a blog can be a good way to make money eventually, but it will take some time to establish a following, gain traffic and start earning enough to live off. However, it gives you the freedom to write about what you want to and it's something you could start in your spare time. There are ways to make it quicker and easier to make money too, by having a strong and narrow niche (that you know A LOT about), and by learning good SEO practices so that your blog content ranks well in Google. There are lots of places to learn about this online like <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.digitalnomadwannabe.com/" href="https://www.digitalnomadwannabe.com/" target="_blank">Digital Nomad Wannabe</a> and <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://maketraffichappen.com/" href="https://maketraffichappen.com/" target="_blank">Make Traffic Happen</a> websites which have both helped Frankie monetise her blog, and she's also learned a lot from <a rel="nofollow" data-mce-href="https://brandongaille.com/the-blog-millionaire-podcast/" href="https://brandongaille.com/the-blog-millionaire-podcast/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Blog Millionaire podcast</a>, although it may not be to everyone's taste!</p><p>Once you've decided on a niche or topic for your blog and set up your site (Wordpress is a great place to start with this), you need to write and publish new posts on a regular basis. Promote and share them on other channels like social media so you can build up an audience. You can use a social media scheduling tool to automate promotion. As this review outlines, <a rel="nofollow" href="https://influencermarketinghub.com/buffer/" data-mce-href="https://influencermarketinghub.com/buffer/">Buffer is easy to use</a> if you don't have much experience and has a free plan that will be enough to schedule a few social posts each month when you're starting out.</p><p>You'll be able to earn money from your blog with advertisements on the site, affiliate links where you get a commission for recommending products or service, or businesses and brands might pay to work with you on creating content too.</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-stories-making-money_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/writing-stories-making-money_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><ul><li><strong>Freelance Writing</strong></li></ul><p>As Frankie mentioned, <a data-mce-href="../tags/freelance%20life" href="../tags/freelance%20life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">freelance writing</a> for companies or individuals is one way you can make money from creative writing. Yes, creative writing and telling stories, because some clients really do want this. Whether you're ghost-writing a non-fiction book, or helping someone write their memoir, or doing copywriting an About Us page for a website, telling stories is often at the heart of content creation. Never assume that freelance writing work is mostly content-farm jobs or writing soulless copywriting briefs.</p><p>Over the years, working for travel companies, Frankie has written the preface for a book about nomadic living, ghost-written guidebooks and been paid to write lots of other articles about the history, culture and people of places she has visited. There are lots of creative projects out there for freelance writers! Great places to start looking for freelance writing work include Freeup, PeoplePerHour, Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, and if you have experience in editing or publishing, Reedsy too. You can <a data-mce-href="../freelance-tips-for-online-job-websites" href="../freelance-tips-for-online-job-websites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read Frankie's tips for submitting proposals on online job sites here.</a></p><ul><li><strong>Share Your Knowledge and Teach Creative Writing</strong></li></ul><p>If you’ve got a lot of creative writing experience and knowledge, you could teach these to other people. There are lots of possibilities for teaching creative writing — you could offer private lessons and tutoring to individuals, you could run small classes, or you could set up your own online course that people will pay to take. This will work better if you already have a blog, platform or social media following.&nbsp;</p><p>Setting up an online course is one of the best options if you’re looking for an option that won’t take up too much of your time and it’s easy to scale. You just need to find a good platform to set up your course. Some of these include Teachable and Skillshare.</p><p>Once you’ve created the course, find a few people to take it for some feedback and then start marketing it. If you’ve put together a good course and you promote it well you’ll have a fairly reliable income.</p><ul><li><strong>Write for Other Blogs and Online Publications</strong></li></ul><p>There are lots of blogs and online magazines or publications that will pay you to write stories, articles or blog posts for their website. This is a good opportunity to try out writing on a range of different subjects and brush up on your online writing skills.</p><p>However, it's important to have a clear understanding of how much you'll be paid for your writing, and if there are any conditions on it. For example, some sites ask you to write and submit an article but might decide not to publish it and you won't be paid anything. Other sites might pay you depending on the number of views your article gets. It's possible to earn a living from writing blogs and articles, but you just need to be cautious of the site you write for.</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-earn-money-writing-stories_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-earn-money-writing-stories_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><ul><li><strong>Self-Publish a Book</strong></li></ul><p>If you're writing your own book then it's easier than ever before to <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/tags/self-publishing" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="../tags/self-publishing">try self-publishing</a>. You don't need to rely on finding a publisher who likes your writing, you can now print smaller runs of your book yourself or for a more cost-effective route use an online platform like Kindle to publish it.</p><p>This isn't a quick way to start earning money from your creative writing though — you still need to write something that other people want to read, make sure that you get <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/different-types-of-editors" data-mce-href="different-types-of-editors">a professional editor</a> to review it, create an engaging cover and then embark on the many different steps needed to market the book successfully. In fact, it's true that writing the book is less than half of the journey when you're self-publishing because you need to spend just as much time, if not more time, promoting your book and finding the right readers. Many authors will find they have to write and self-publish several books before they start to see enough income to earn a living;&nbsp; this is also why sometimes writing books in a series will do well.</p><p>It's definitely possible to earn money from writing stories, writing fiction or writing non-fiction books and self-publishing them, but with most of these options, you need to be prepared to put in some time and work before you can start making enough money to live off.</p><ul><li><strong>All the Above!</strong></li></ul><p>While all of these ideas can be pursued alone, you may feel like Frankie and have a desire to try them all, or you may want to explore them all in order to maximise your earnings and have a so-called multi-hyphen career. There are many advantages to trying lots of different ways to make money as a writer, but it's also true that spreading yourself across multiple revenue streams may make it more difficult to specialise or "niche down" in one, which then could pose a risk to your income.</p><p>It really does depend on your experience to date, your skillset and your personality type. If you can spend a little bit of time thinking about how you want to best make money writing stories, and how you can do this within the restraints of your time, your energy and other commitments, you will figure out the best way to earn a living as a writer. The important thing is that you know now that there are lots of different ways to make money as a writer!</p><h2><strong>About the Author</strong></h2><p>Laura May is Digital Editor at&nbsp;<a rel=" noopener" href="http://www.justanothermagazine.com/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.justanothermagazine.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624382650685000&amp;usg=AFQjCNESBDMF89NBu08zV28BhCY6XEtb5Q" data-mce-href="http://www.justanothermagazine.com/">Just Another Magazine</a>. We write about beauty, fashion, lifestyle, relationships, travel, trends and anything else that matters to you. Name throwing you off? Don’t take it too seriously — we intend to stand out from the crowd.<strong><br></strong></p><p>If you'd like to save or share this post, here are some images you can pin:</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="601"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/how-to-make-money-writing-stories-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-june-summer Self-Love: 30 Positive Affirmations for June <div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/amsterdam-view-summer_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/amsterdam-view-summer_x960.jpg?v=1"></div><div>Summer has finally arrived in Amsterdam and it's very, very welcome.</div><div><br></div><div>So yes, you can expect this month's collection of affirmations to be a sort of list of positive affirmations for summer, as many are heavily influenced by the lovely, hopeful, warm wonders of this new season. However, I would still like to think tha most of them can and should be used on any day of the year.</div><div><br></div><div>I will be honest and say that as I arrive at the half-way mark of this year's challenge of writing one affirmation for every day of the year (albeit in monthly batches) I have started to find it quite hard to spontaneously come up with original positive affirmations, and I'm almost certain many of them are copies or very similar to ones I have already penned this year, or maybe in my other lists of daily positive affirmations.</div><div><br></div><div>It's been an exercise in self-love to let that happen, let it be okay and to just let it be as it is. I will always endeavour to create unique daily affirmations for every day of the year but I will also not punish myself if I slip up unknowingly (or even knowingly, if I still feel the affirmation needs to exist).</div><div><br></div><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for June</strong></h2><p>As always with these lists of positive affirmations, the goal is only ever for you to find a handful (or even one or two) that really speak to you and to remember and practice with only them. The ones that don't serve you, let them go. Again, this is a good exercise in self-care!</p><p>You can find the affirmations I shared for <a href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year">January</a>, <a href="daily-positive-affirmations-february" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="daily-positive-affirmations-february">February</a>, <a href="positive-affirmations-for-march" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-march">March</a>, <a href="positive-affirmations-for-april" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-april">April</a>, and <a href="positive-affirmations-for-may" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-may">May</a> via those links. And you can read lists of <a href="list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations">100 daily positive affirmations here</a>, <a href="positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression">50 positive affirmations for depression</a>, <a href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety">affirmations for anxiety</a>, <a href="healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="healing-affirmations">100 healing affirmations</a>, and <a href="why-writers-need-affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="why-writers-need-affirmation">why all writers should try affirmation</a>. I also share near-daily affirmations on my Instagram pages: <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog">@asthebirdfliesblog</a> &amp; <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/">@writenowcards</a>.</p><p>Now, let's take a deep breath, find the affirmations that call our name, and repeat them until they're like second nature to us:</p><ol><li>As summer arrives, I sing with the birds, dance with the butterflies, and let the sunshine warm my skin.</li><li>Summer is not only a time for flowers to bloom; I have much colour and beauty to offer the world.</li><li>I remind myself that I too can get energy from the sun.</li><li>The sunshine is here for my growth and joy as much as it is the plants and flowers.</li><li>To be aware and to observe without judgment, is to have clarity and peace.</li><li>I am capable of great and good things.</li><li>I am a boundless source of love.</li><li>I like myself.</li><li>I am exactly where I need to be.</li><li>Having hopes and dreams that may never come true is a good thing. That hope alone is worth experiencing.</li><li>My own voice has many forms. I take time to listen to it carefully so I can hear its truest wishes and wants.</li><li>I learn my love languages so I can use them to deepen my own self-love.<br></li><li>I am grateful for second chances.</li><li>I have more time than I think.</li><li>My desires are valid.</li><li>I am nature.</li><li>I love sharing this world with billions of other living things.<br></li><li>Rest is always a non-negotiable priority.</li><li>My thoughts and feelings are messengers, but not always truth bearers.</li><li>Learning when to let go and when to hold on is my life's work. <br></li><li>It takes time to learn how to release things, even the things that cause me pain.</li><li>Vulnerability is pure strength.</li><li>I give myself space to feel pain, not so that the pain can grow, but so that the pain can find the way out.</li><li>I promise myself the same unconditional forgiveness I offer my children.</li><li>It is a privilege and a joy to love wholeheartedly.</li><li>Fear is never far away, but love is always closer.</li><li>I do not run away from discomfort. I love myself through it.</li><li>There always an infinite number of ways life can get better and easier.</li><li>I do not assign quotas or limits to the best things in life; love, joy, fun and pleasure are mine in abundance.</li><li>Sometimes fear arrives, big and loud, to show me the way forward.</li></ol><p>And now here are some images you can pin to save or share this post:</p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-june-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-june-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-summer-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-summer-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-summer-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/positive-affirmations-for-summer-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></p><p><br></p> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/how-to-travel-with-kids Family Travel: How to Travel with Kids - My Golden Rules <h2><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel_x960.jpg?v=1"></h2><h2><strong>How to Travel with Kids</strong></h2><p>I shared <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CFNR6NlHlsG/" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CFNR6NlHlsG/" target="_blank">these tongue-in-cheek golden rules for travel with kids in an Instagram post back in September last year</a>, but had such a fun response that I want to give them a more permanent home here. Consider these rules for family travel as anything but real rules. They are more guidelines on a good day, or depressingly accurate annoyances on a bad day, and let's be real - we all have bad days when we travel with kids!</p><p>But all this being said, travelling with my kids has always reaped more rewards than regrets, and travelling as a family is still one of the best things we choose to do (as and when we can safely!) together. However, I also know that this is not always the case for others, and if you do find travelling with kids more hard work than it's worth - you are not alone. If you are still unsure about whether you should travel with kids or if it's worth it, then I encourage you to <a data-mce-href="why-when-travel-with-kids" href="why-when-travel-with-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read this post I wrote all about why and when you should travel with children.</a></p><p>For now, however, have a little read of this short but sweet post which shares everything I've learned about travelling with kids over the last five years with more than a touch of humour, because believe me, humour is NECESSARY when thinking about how to travel with kids. While it may not be the How To Travel with Kids guide you were looking for, but I have included links to lots of useful resources on family travel so I do hope you will find something helpful among the jokes I am making at only my own expense.</p><h2><strong>How To Travel With Kids - Nine Golden Rules</strong></h2><p>Again I want to reiterate that this post was written with sarcasm and humour in mind! If you are really looking for more useful family travel advice, or you want my tips for travelling with a baby or flying with a toddler, then I have lots of posts that may prove more useful. But that being said, the one thing I say you must always pack when travelling with kids is your sense of humour so why not have a little giggle at these "golden rules" of travel with kids here.</p><ul><li><h2><strong>Travel with kids will never, ever be the same as travel before kids&nbsp;</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>Leave the stack of books at home, forget wearing the three outfit changes a day (unless you're one of your children) and leave your hopes and dreams for daily relaxed sun-downer (aka witching hour) cocktails at security.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>As a mate once messaged me after her first trip with her daughter "It's the same shit, different place", and I couldn't agree more. Children don't stop having tantrums, wetting their pants, throwing hard objects at their siblings, or moaning/whining/complaining even if you are in a 5-star resort in the Maldives. (Believe me, I know because <a data-mce-href="tips-for-the-maldives-luxury-travel-with-a-toddler" href="tips-for-the-maldives-luxury-travel-with-a-toddler" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I took my kiddo to the Maldives when he was a toddler</a>.) I would even go so far as to say that on some trips, it's a case of "more shit, different place" especially if you're <a data-mce-href="travel-advice-flying-with-baby-under-six-months" href="travel-advice-flying-with-baby-under-six-months" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flying with a young baby</a>, <a data-mce-href="tips-for-flying-with-18-month-old" href="tips-for-flying-with-18-month-old" target="_blank" rel="noopener">travelling long-haul with a toddler</a>, or need to <a data-mce-href="tips-for-looking-after-toddler-with-jet-lag" href="tips-for-looking-after-toddler-with-jet-lag" target="_blank" rel="noopener">help your kids face the eternal (okay, 5-day long) hell that is jet-lag.</a><br></div><div><br></div><ul><li><h2><strong>Most military forces are given packing lessons by mothers.</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>And they will still forget the plasters, zip-loc bags, clothing pegs and mosquito spray because that list wasn't laminated, was it?</div><div><br></div><div>I have never <em>loved </em>packing for trips, but when I became a mother I felt any joy I felt for packing disappear like my love for J.K. Rowling after *those* tweets. But love it or hate it, when you're a parent getting ready for a two-week holiday, or even an overnight trip locally, you have to get over it and pack the shit out of any suitcases you are allowed to fill.</div><div><br></div><div>In the last few years we have done more domestic travel here in the Netherlands, and we also bought our first family care, and I'm going to say something that shouldn't make any sense, but I actually find those trips where you can fill A WHOLE CAR with stuff, the hardest ones to pack for. Give me a budget airline and a stingy baggage allowance any day of the week, ideally in summer because then my kids can just run around in the same T-shirt and shorts all week, washing them only when they go in the sea or a swimming pool. #JokingNotJoking.</div><div><br></div><div>But all joking aside, I have become better at packing for family travel, mainly thanks to keeping the same lists for holidays and adapting them accordingly. This saves you a ton of time! If you want some packing advice for lazy travellers, read this, and if you want my <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/travel-advice-tips-for-packing-with-baby" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="travel-advice-tips-for-packing-with-baby">packing list and tips for travelling with a baby</a>, my <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/best-toddler-travel-essentials" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="best-toddler-travel-essentials">toddler travel essentials</a>, and even <a data-mce-href="toddler-ski-gear-packing-list" href="toddler-ski-gear-packing-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a packing list for going on a ski holiday with young kids</a>, click on all those links. You're welcome!</div><div><strong><br></strong></div><ul><li><h2><strong>Never pack more than you can carry while holding a baby in one hand and pushing a buggy with the other.</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>Because you never know when your partner is going to put his back out windsurfing in Thailand the day before you travel home.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>True story. This literally happened (on <a data-mce-href="review-of-point-yamu-como-resort-phuket" href="review-of-point-yamu-como-resort-phuket" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an otherwise lovely holiday in Thailand).</a> I have just about forgiven my partner, although my back has not.</div><div><br></div><div>So yep, pack only what one single responsible adult can carry, while also keeping a hand free to shepherd a toddler or two through busy airports.</div><div><br></div><ul><li><h2><strong>You can never have enough nappies on a baby's first flight.</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>The air pressure on planes is proven to make babies poop more.&nbsp;More violently, more in terms of amount, and more often. Fact.</div><div><br></div><div>I mean, I don't have scientific evidence but I bet some analyst is working on the data right now.</div><div><br></div><div>What I do have is personal experience, which I will not relay here because nobody likes to hear about scrambled egg poo leaking through three layers of clothes in the first ten minutes of a three-hour flight and yes, one of those layers were mine.</div><div><br>And if you are planning on flying lots with a baby or child of any age, here's my round-up of <a data-mce-href="best-airline-for-kids" href="best-airline-for-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the best airlines for travelling with kids</a> - all true tried and tested reviews of each airline.</div><div><br></div><ul><li><h2><strong>The first 24-48 hours of any trip will suckity-suck suck.</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>If you're only going away for 24-48 hours, you'd better hit the mini bar as soon as you check in.</div><div><br></div><div>But seriously, once I figured this out - that the first 1-2 days of a family holiday would be simply awful - it actually made those days a little less awful, and also helped to move past the shitty start and into the holiday with a better, more positive perspective.</div><div><br></div><div>If you're waiting for me to offer an informed perspective about why the first 24-48 hours of travel are so hard for families (kids AND parents), then you're going to keep on waiting because I don't have one!</div><div><br></div><ul><li><h2><strong>You loving travel doesn't mean your kids will.</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>Same goes for certain destinations, certain experiences and DEFINITELY for certain cuisines. Seriously, kids can be so uncultured and not at all well-travelled. Ugh.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>While this can be a little hard to wrap your head around, it's actually a very normal and fair thing for your kids to not enjoy the same things you do. This may mean <a data-mce-href="family-vacation-holiday-of-lifetime" href="family-vacation-holiday-of-lifetime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some dream family holidays of a lifetime</a> turn out to be disasters for your and/or kids, so I do strongly recommend waiting until you have some simpler and easier trips under your belt before you jump in at the deep end and spend a ton of cash on a holiday that it's possible your children are too young for or just not well suited to.</div><div><br></div><div>There's a reason my partner and I nearly always do the same kind of holiday with our kids - holiday parks in the Netherlands, <a href="https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/family-ski-holiday-hopfgarten-austria" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="family-ski-holiday-hopfgarten-austria">ski trips staying in family-friendly hotels</a>, <a data-mce-href="ikos-versus-sani-resorts-comparison" href="ikos-versus-sani-resorts-comparison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beach resorts with lots of kid-friendly activities and entertainment</a>, and occasionally city breaks to cities where there's lots to do no matter the weather (like <a data-mce-href="amsterdam-with-kids" href="amsterdam-with-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amsterdam</a> or <a data-mce-href="rotterdam-with-kids" href="rotterdam-with-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rotterdam</a>) - because we know these holidays work for our family. Maybe in the future we will be more adventurous but right now, we know what we like and what works and we're sticking to it.</div><div><br></div><ul><li><h2><strong>Screens and snacks are gifts from the gods. Use them wisely.</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>And sometimes you can even give them to your kids!</div><div><br></div><div>I don't think this needs any further explanation other than EMBRACE DEVICE TIME, PARENTS, and train your kids to catch snacks early to save you a ton of energy... unless you are a sado-masochist who likes getting stress migraines, of course.</div><div><br></div><ul><li><h2><strong>The firm nod of solidarity from one parent to another over a tantrum-ing child is the same in any language.&nbsp;</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>But sadly so are the judgmental eyebrow raises, head shakes and tuts.</div><div><br></div><div>So can we all just pledge to do the former and not the latter. Yes, even you kid-free humans!</div><div><br></div><ul><li><h2><strong>Your children don't really care where you are or what you do... as long as you're all together.</strong></h2></li></ul><div><br></div><div>So this may only be true for kids aged 5 and under but based on my experience, it's completely true and it's completely worth remembering as often as you need to, especially when they're twenty minutes into a meltdown on foreign public transport with no air conditioning on a hot August day.</div><div><br></div><div>And I love that it's true. because it is 100% reason enough to keep on travelling with my kids.</div><div><br></div><div>It is also one of the main reasons we as a family are changing how we travel once this pandemic is properly over. In short, we will be travelling less, going slower, and not venturing as far. But that is a post for another day...</div><div>Now did I miss any other golden rules of travel? Feel free to leave them in the comments...</div><div><br></div><div>If you'd like to save or share this post, here are some images you can pin:</div><div><br></div><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel-pin-1_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></div><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel-pin-2_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></div><div><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/golden-rules-of-family-travel-pin-3_x960.jpg?v=1" width="400" height="600"></div><div><br></div> http://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/posts/positive-affirmations-for-may Self-Love: 31 Positive Affirmations for May <p><img src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/doorporn-in-amsterdam_x960.jpg?v=1" data-mce-src="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/asthebirdfliesblog.com/content/images/posts/doorporn-in-amsterdam_x960.jpg?v=1"></p><p>I found this list of positive affirmations for May quite hard to right as I am experiencing a lot of multiple different, conflicting feelings right now. I am feeling deep gratitude for how life is a little easier in these post-lockdown months, and I cannot deny my heart is being buoyed by the hope on the horizon that are the vaccinations happening all over the world, but I am also feeling something of a hangover from the last year, and especially the hard, hard start to the year.</p><p>That's why these affirmations go back to basics in some ways; to try to find some perspective and some grounding. But they also target some other recurring thoughts and feelings - self-doubt has been a big one over the last few weeks - and also they tackle this multiplicity of feelings we are very capable of as humans.&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Daily Positive Affirmations for May</strong></h2><p>Before we get into this list, I want to remind you that with affirmation, it's always more about finding a handful of positive affirmations that speak to you, rather than expecting every single one to work for you. You also don't have to see this list as something to be read or used chronologically. And if you want to know how to actually "do" affirmation - well, it's up to you! But many people believe saying affirmations aloud (and repeating them) is one of the most effective ways to really get your brain to stop and listening to what you're saying, but if you're more comfortable just saying them in your head to begin with, then you do that. <a data-mce-href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" href="how-affirmation-works-and-why-it-is-so-powerful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read more about how and why affirmations work here.</a></p><p>For more positive affirmations you can find <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year" href="positive-affirmations-for-new-year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January</a>, <a data-mce-href="daily-positive-affirmations-february" href="daily-positive-affirmations-february" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February</a>, <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-march" href="positive-affirmations-for-march" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March</a> and <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-april" href="positive-affirmations-for-april" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April's</a> lists of affirmations, and also you can find <a data-mce-href="list-daily-positive-affirmations" href="list-daily-positive-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">100 daily positive affirmations here</a>, <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-depression" href="positive-affirmations-for-depression" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50 positive affirmations for depression</a>, <a data-mce-href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" href="positive-affirmations-for-anxiety" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affirmations for anxiety</a>, <a data-mce-href="healing-affirmations" href="healing-affirmations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">100 healing affirmations</a>, and <a data-mce-href="why-writers-need-affirmation" href="why-writers-need-affirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">why all writers should try affirmation</a>. I also share near-daily affirmations on my Instagram pages: <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog" href="https://instagram.com/asthebirdfliesblog" target="_blank">@asthebirdfliesblog</a> &amp; <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" href="https://www.instagram.com/writenowcards/" target="_blank">@writenowcards</a>.</p><p>If you'd like these affirmations in individual images you can download and print or share on social media, you can find them all as JPEG files that are free to download once you are <a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow noopener" data-mce-href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" href="https://ko-fi.com/birdswords" target="_blank">a supporter of my Ko-Fi page</a>, which costs as little as just $1. Over to these daily positive affirmations - I hope at least one or two really speak to you this month.</p><ol><li>I am human.</li><li>I am alive.</li><li>I am here to live, to love and to learn.</li><li>I am not my darkest thoughts.</li><li>I respect my own seasons.&nbsp;</li><li>Breath work is soul work.</li><li>Feeling out of control is not the same as being out of control.</li><li>It is possible to feel great pain and still feel immense joy.</li><li>I hold space for my own conflicting thoughts and feelings, without judgement.</li><li>It is okay for some things to happen slowly.</li><li>Almost every thing in life takes some practice.&nbsp;</li><li>Loss, pain and challenge are facts of life. They are easier to navigate once I accept this with a hopeful heart.</li><li>I decide what success looks and feels like to me.</li><li>Self-care is never selfish.</li><li>Boundaries are a birthright.</li><li>I learn more about history so I can see what role it plays in today's world.</li><li>Fresh air is a gift.</li><li>The future remains unknown and I surrender to this truth and all its possibility.</li><li>I acknowledge what I find hard, rather than dwelling on it or resisting its discomfort.</li><li>I show myself the same true forgiveness I offer my loved ones.</li><li>I show myself gratitude and appreciation.</li><li>I am grateful to feel the sun's warmth on my skin.</li><li>On hard days, I take it breath by breath.</li><li>My body works hard for me. I look after it by eating well, resting and moving regularly, and thinking positively about all it is and all it does for me.</li><li>I take time to appreciate and applaud how far I have come to get to today.</li><li>Growing old is a great privilege.</li><li>My flaws do not define me.</li><li>Self-confidence is a muscle that needs both exercise and rest.</li><li>If I lose momentum with something, it does not mean I lose my ability or my worth.</li><li>Peace comes from within, not from any number of external factors aligning.</li><li>To live slowly doesn't mean I miss out on anything. In fact, it is to live more fully.<br></li></ol>