Anna Aden Writes

Review of 2020 Goals So at the beginning of the year I set out some goals so let's see how far I've come! 1. Complete my novel-in-progress fit for publication This is carried over from 2019, and I'm committed to finishing it in May but it's something I want to complete this year. If you have been following my blog, you'll also know I've done a few workshops and courses. The last one was the Faber Edit Your Course where I got a reader's report with some comments.  Feedback - still writing however I've written about 63,000 words to date so that is progress so I will keep on writing.   2. Fitness and Weight loss This comes up every single year, and I seem to grow bigger however for the last few months, I've been in excruciating pain because of my knee. I went for physio or as Americans call it physical therapy but nothing really worked. I think it's more about my weight, even my calves are larger. So I probably need to eat less - mostly bakery produ...

Current novel-in-progress It's in progress and I'm pushing on filling in the large gaping holes from the first draft, making some cuts and generally getting on with it. It's hard to imagine this time last year, I was attending the Faber Edit Your Novel class and drinking tea and eating biscuits.  I wonder how everyone has got along? Generally when there is news, course mates tend to send an email round. From my Curtis Brown course (yes, I've been around the writing course block) I think three people have been traditionally published now. At this stage, I'm a self publishing writer so my motivation for going on these courses is generally to improve my writing and get new insight rather than getting an agent.    NaNoWriMo Prize Software  Generally, I find the best time to test new writing platforms or software is during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which takes place in November though they have camps and mini sessions all through the year.  Normally st...

Current novel-in-progress Writing is going well, and the progress is steady. Again, it's slower than I anticipated but I'm hanging in there.  Work Christmas Party on Zoom I've been to a couple of leaving dos and now I have a Save The Date for the office Christmas Party on Zoom.  I've been to a number of social events on Zoom but it feels like hard work.  I don't know, we'll see. It could be fun and a one off event, not depending how the office situation turns out next Winter. Are you having Christmas parties on Zoom? I might turn up for a while then disappear, I mean in most meetings now the convention is to mute mics and turn off cameras at least on Teams.  Lock Down Stops in a Few Days - M&S Yellow Duck Puddle baby suit To be fair, my life has been restricted since March so lockdown or not, makes little difference to me with all the social distancing and not going to work. Then again, pre-lockdown I got a nice cute out fit for the Sis's baby. Baby was ...

Current novel-in-progress Still writing and not much progress to give but I hope things get quicker. I'm still in the first half of ACT TWO, which is the middle. So basically about 35% of the book is written, and I still have 65% to go. So I'm working steadily toward that.  Other hobbies  I've started doing graphics again and hopefully will be about to design my own covers. I went on a course a year ago but forgot everything since I didn't have time practice and was still writing the book, and you can see above the book is still only 35% into the next draft.  However I attended a few writerly conferences and was inspired about book covers and the amount of effort that when into them. I've always wanted my covers to look attractive and show what the books were about but I realised they also needed to be a marketing tool. I mean I knew that but hearing it said over and over again by different publishing industry people made it drive home.  I love courses and found ...

Dear Everyone, So what first? I hope everyone is well and keeping safe and healthy. We are entering a new lockdown but since working from home, life has been restrictive so it doesn't have much of an impact apart from the clothes shops and non-essential shops have closed. However business owners have been more innovative this time.  So restaurants apart from the larger brands and chains have taken to stacking up chairs and tables giving a takeaway service. Some places like stationary shops are open - probably due to courier services etc. Like what is really unessential and who gets to define.  Konditor was open but seemed to be lots of business with pre-orders especially mince pies, they had stacks of orders on the counters.  However the streets are deserted but that could equally to do with the cold weather. It was freezing.  Current novel-in-progress in Focus I've written about five pages not sure how many words since I use long hand, that's right, I hand write som...

Hello everyone, Not much happening apart from still working at home. Apple Store Covent Garden Went to Covent Garden and it's empty. Nobody, like probably about twenty people walking down Neal Streets, when before there used to be hundreds of people rushing up and down, in and out of shops. It felt like an early morning Saturday before the shops opened though it was Friday midday. I got to the Apple shop and they are very serious about the CoVID 19 protection. First they request you sanitise your hands, like they are serious, as in actually asking you. Most shops or stores just have a sign. After which they take your temperature... Yes, they have one of those high tech air thermometers, once you are given the all clear, you are allowed into the store.  Then you sit down while they get the stuff for you, so no loitering and browsing in the store touching stuff and getting free internet for the fun of it. Nope, Apple is highly organised. Got what I needed and was soon on my merry way...

Hello everyone, I hope everyone is well and keeping safe and taking care in these times. I'm still working from home and it's been hard. But not as hard as things happening around the globe in terms of people losing their lives, families and livelihood. Then there has been all the civil unrest, protests and general mayhem.  It's been tough for everyone. It's been difficult to think about what to write about. For me' life has generally just being staying at home, working from home. There has been limited movements so that has been a huge adjustment. I've visited Big Momma, regularly. And seen Sis - great news on that side is that Sis now has Baby. Novels-in-progress update  I have ten novels in the pipeline, and I'm rather sheepish about it because I thought my current novel-in-progress would be published by now. It was supposed to be released in Feb 2019 and is nearly a year and a half ago. I'm still in the writing it, so not sure when. However I other b...

No, not a hotel room! So on Lockdown, where there is little division between home and work and things are getting blurred. Normally all the times I used to treat myself was food related. Food, food, food.....biscuits, sweets, pizzas, takeaways, cakes... However I soon discovered a new treat. A visual treat, and that was making up my bed.  Normally making up my bed is a chore, and sometimes I used to wonder what the point was, I was only going to go back into it. Why bother? Also because I go on morning walks, I see a lot of people are of the same opinion. They rarely make up their beds until I realised it was a VISUAL TREAT!  After a hard day at work, and yes Lockdown work, is busier than normal-in-the-office work, I realised that after sitting at my desk for so long, there was nothing more welcoming than a make-up bed at night time.  So now, I've been making up my bed reminding myself that even though the treat is not an instant grati...

Once in a while, I make pancakes where I add hot (pepper) sauce to them. The pepper gives it a sharp kick.  For lockdown, I used my normal recipe but the only difference was I used equal parts of cornflour (polenta) and self-raising wheat flour. The polenta gave it a grainy taste - so perhaps not to everyone's palate but who cares? My mother also bakes a lovely cornbread - more like a cake so I'll happily use it as a substitute for flour.  This polenta was finely milled. At times my normal recipe varies depending on if I have the ingredients but what is normal? Flour, milk, eggs and sugar. I normally use self-raising because I like the fluffy or spongey feel to the pancakes, rather than just plain flour which feels and tastes a bit heavy. It just depends on the texture. Normally because I LOVE pancakes, I tend not to have flour at home. I could just live on pancakes, which I normally do until I run out of flour. HOWEVER, due the lockdown, I grabbed a pack before officia...

Hello everyone, I hope you and yours are all safe and well. There is so much going on that I try to switch off because it's what's everyone is covering and let's face it I'm scared and so is the world including leaders. There are people out there doing amazing work - the key healthcare workers (including caregivers in home and on hte field), the postal service, the local utility service - refuse collection, gas, water etc. Then the brave supermarket workers and delivery workers, the law enforcement and everyone else. So what have I been doing on Lock Down? Baking, lots of baking I tired to make some biscuits, and they didn't quite meet the mark but they hit the spot. I love biscuits but I used less ingredients than I should. A lot less sugar and butter. I used more flour but in hindsight that is now a scarce commodity.  But this was before everyone started baking. Staying in touch with Family and Loved ones. I ring Sis and my mother ...

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a good time, I saw the 2020 watching the London Fireworks and digitally with family! With 2019 behind us and lessons learnt, we move forward to 2020 and a new decade unless you use another type of calendar and believe me there are loads around!  So with celebrations we move into the New Year. My 2020 Goals This time I'm just going to focus on three top goals though there is plenty I want to do. Normally I overwhelm myself with about ten but I think streamlining is the way forward for this year. 1. Complete my novel-in-progress fit for publication This is carried over from 2019, and I'm committed to finishing it in May but it's something I want to complete this year. If you have been following my blog, you'll also know I've done a few workshops and courses. The last one was the Faber Edit Your Course where I got a reader's report with some comments.  2. Fitness and Weight loss This comes up every s...