Sick Leave...

Having thought I'd managed to get through winter without any major health problems, the last bugs of winter have struck.

The nasty cold bugs that have been going round my family- and quite a few friends too- has finally overcome my defences, and I'm coughing and spluttering a lot- day and night; consequently my breathing is not as good as is desirable. So it's going to be a trip to the GP surgery to sort out my asthma...

Oh, and rearrange my dental appointments too. :(

So I'm sure you'll understand my brain is a bit hazy at the moment. But I do want to leave you with something to read about.

Last week a YouGov survey announced that 60% thought being an author was the most desirable job to have in Britain...

This announcement resulted in newspaper articles, that in turn got bloggers blogging.

Chas Newkey-Burden in the Telegraph books section gave '14 reasons why you shouldn't dream of being a full-time author', and while his reasons were all valid, most writers cannot afford to become full-time authors as they need their daytime job to pay the bills and eat- and if you're female there's often your family to factor into it all.

Tim Lott in the Guardian books section added his opinion too, including an obvious plug for his current writing related work with the newspaper.

These inspired Sally Quilford to write her response, '14 reasons I wouldn't want to be anything but an author'.

And another brilliant piece from Jane Lovering's 'From Behind the Keyboard'.

It's quite possible that within that 60% there were people who want to be authors, but haven't yet taken that first step on the very long and bumpy road; but sadly, I suspect many think that it is easy to write a book and be a JK Rowling, a Dan Brown or EL James, sell millions of books, make millions and get films made of your work, because the media makes so much of the breakthroughs.

If you want to write, you will do it, however long it may take you, and however much you need to learn.

We'll continue to write because we have to. Because we love doing what we do.

And honestly, you would not want to eavesdrop on my subconscious at any time- it would give you a severe headache. :)

Inspiring...

I have recently been nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by the charming and talented writer, Rosemary Gemmell, whose next book The Highland Lass from Crooked Cat Publishing will be launched on Facebook next month- so pop along to Rosemary's 'Reading and Writing' blog to find out more.

Inspiring blogger award...

With this award comes a few rules- nothing difficult so here they are:

• Thank the person who nominated you, and link to their blog.

• Display the Award Logo.

• Nominate other blogs and provide a link to them (so you can go and visit).

• Go to their blog, leave a comment to tell them they've been nominated, and where to find the information they need to accept.

And finally: mention three things that inspired you the most during the past few weeks.

1. Has to be last weekend's virtual romance festival (see my 8th February post). Professional development is important for any writer, otherwise we get left behind; and the Pinterest item certainly got my brain working, and thinking how it could help me put together visuals when I'm considering ideas for my stories.

2. A few Facebook pages that I keep in an Interest list relating to Costume. If you're on Facebook do go and have a look at the posts from: Historical Sewing, Mrs Daffodil, and Silk Damask Consulting. Pictures will feature that I can see my historical characters wearing- even those that are just a glint of an idea!

3. Coaches- whether they're the writing type, or the sports related type. They give their time and energy to children and young people, encouraging them to develop their skills and inspire their students to achieve.

See, that wasn't too difficult. :-)

Now these are the blogs and bloggers I'm nominating- if they would like to accept; there's no pressure to accept...

MillyMollyMo

Sally Jenkins/ A Writer on Writing

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