Sunshine over Cloudy Days

2024 is off to an amazing start, but not without an annoying hitch.

I got in a few days of hitting all my goals (writing, social media posts, translating, etc.) before we set off for Florida to (belatedly) celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday with a few of his friends who are spending the winter there, and some family. The latter being me, my parents, my brother, his wife, and my nephew.

It was absolutely amazing. The weather was temperamental, so we only went swimming a couple of times, and spent a lot of time indoors, but I was there for the company more than anything. My brother joked he was going to hand me his son every morning at 6, then go back to sleep while I took care of him. I think it was meant as a threat, but I woke up with my nephew every morning and got in some quality time while my brother or sister-in-law made breakfast. Our days were spent exploring until nap time, when we brought out the board games, then a little more wandering before dinner and my nephew’s bedtime. At which point we often had friends over for more board games!

It was in no way a relaxing trip, and we all caught the daycare cocktail of sore throats, coughs, and runny noses, but honestly, it was perfect.

I hadn’t planned to do any work while I was there, and there wasn’t much alone time, so I was having serious writing withdrawals by the time I got home last night and couldn’t wait to get back into it today.

The biggest (only?) downside to my first few weeks of 2024 is that my facebook account got hacked. Rather, my facebook ads account, so they didn’t just post weight loss videos and tag my friends in them, they created ads for random products and ran up charges on my credit card. Which sucks, but I’m hopefully working through it. And it was a wake up call to reinforce all my online security so something like this will never happen again.

In happier news, it is less than three months until I leave for London! Seventy-seven days if we’re being specific, so after getting my words in and having supper with my grandparents, I’ll be looking into things to do and booking trains for my first few days abroad. My goals for the trip are to research the regency period and a few other UK-based stories I am working on, but I am also open to being inspired, and hoping to gain some confidence while I’m out there. I’ve been to London twice before, and both times I left feeling a renewed sense of excitement for what’s to come. I also think I stood a little taller and talked a little louder, but that might just be because I felt confident. Like I was good enough to put myself out there and make my dreams come true. And everybody deserves to feel that way, right?

If you have any recommendations for London (or the UK) I would love to hear them!

Until next week (for real this time),

Amanda

“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.” 

-Alphonse Karr