Bring in a little Sunshine…

My throat feels like I stuck a cheese grater down it and a big part of the weekend was spent curled up on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. I admit it, I’m not a fun person to be around when I’m sick. Give me a book and stick me in a corner and leave me alone…

I had a massive creative spike on Saturday, my head was going a hundred miles a minute and I churned out one thing after other… I should have known. I normally get really hyper creative before I get sick. Not quite sure how that works.

So anyway, what do I do to cheer myself up?

I read, normally I dive into what I call my ‘trash-pile’ * or/and grab Sunshine by Robin McKinley which is my ultimate comfort read and has is the only book I own twice** (deliberately… I might have accidental doubles somewhere in the loft)

Apart from that I dig out my favourite TV-shows and movies (will name and shame sometime) and have them on in the background while I read. I write with the TV on as well, I need noise otherwise it doesn’t work… so anyway, depending on what kind of ill I include chocolate in my comfort needs. Obviously not if I can’t stand food but something that always works is TEA. Black, fruit, herbal… I ♥  TEA.

Between tea and Sunshine I’m guaranteed to perk up and as I improve I start to rearrange my bookcases…

* It’s an unfair description really, the books are well written. So yes the plot is predicable, as are the characters but you don’t have to concentrate and you’re guaranteed a happy end. Just the thing when you aren’t a 100%

** The original copy and a smaller travel-sized version

Things that get forgotten (aka my poor carpet)

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been having a bit of a reading/writing frenzy.

I go through phases where I write continuously (these are rare) or read non-stop (these are frequent) but having both at the same time is a new one for me.

It’s causing my home to feel a bit neglected, I’m not quite sure when I hovered last* (or for that matter, dusted). There isn’t anything that has started walking of its own accord and my washing up get’s done (at the latest) the day after, but my carpet definitely could do with a once over…

I can easily forget about cleaning but thankfully my friend comes over for dance-fests** on an almost weekly bases, so I tidy up for that.***

Anyways… in the last 2 weeks I’ve written somewhere between 15,000 – 18,000 words, while reading the below:

• Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
• A certain slant of light by Laura Whitcomb
• Mistwood by Leah Cypess
• The princess and the hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
• Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
• The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon #
• The splendor falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore ##
• Sunshine by Robin McKinley ###
• Keeping you a secret by Julie Anne Peters ####
• Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles
• Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Unsurprisingly I’m a bit tired but a book tired is better then any other kind of tired…

Plus the last time I had a big tidy up it look like this:

And that was before I added the new bookcase in the living room. 

* For the concerned amongst you I will be hovering tonight

** That’s us watching dance shows, not us dancing, because my flat is tiny (and I can’t dance anyway)

*** I feel the need to point out that my mess consists of books and notepads and art supplies spilling over my coffee table onto the floor. So it doesn’t create bio-hazarders material. Like the stuff I found in the microwave the previous tenant left behind. (That microwave got relocated to the tip.)

# I highly recommend it, it’s very well done and deserves every single award and many more on top of that.

## Ok, I haven’t actually finished this one. It’s taking a while to get going, I’ve moved it to my dippy-pile.

### Sunshine will show up in other blogs, suffice to say it’s one of my favourite reads. I know I’m on 2-digts but I’ve lost count exactly how many times I’ve read it.

#### Very special book again, though I’d say read Annie on my mind by Nancy Garden first.

I promise not to have as many footnotes in my next post!