I took my mother last week to watch the recording of Have I Got News For You and we had an excellent time. Clive Anderson was the host, he was really funny. Although the show is only 30 minutes long they film over two hours of footage so it was a great evening’s entertainment.
We have been promised tickets for a taping of Have I Got News for you in November, after trying unsuccessfully for ages to get them, which is good news. I am going with my mother who is really excited. They are not guaranteed seats so we will need to be there ages beforehand to make sure of getting a place, but that’s okay. We are hoping that the host and the guests will be really funny. Hopefully I can finally tick this one off as done in a month or so.
This week I was really pleased to find that my total weight loss is now 42 pounds, so only another 8 to go before I achieve this goal. Not that I intend to stop there, I want to lose another half a stone after that, but I’m pleased to be so close to the goal which looked pretty darn unattainable at the start of 2007. I have recently started to go to the gym which is helping quite a bit, I think.
I’m happy to say that my nice holiday alone in 2008 is now booked – I’m going to Vegas for a week next April. I really am so excited about it, and have plans to really relax and pamper myself that whole week.
Okay, book is completely written now and has had one full edit. That’s finished ahead of my October 1st deadline, amazingly! I have filled in all the plot holes, dealt with inconsistencies and added lots of dialogue. For the next edit I will be trying to improve characterisation and put more humour and sharper dialogue in. I have absolutely no idea if this book is publishable or not, and since I haven’t let my family read it other than little bits ages ago, I have no feedback to judge from. However I do intend to give it my best shot when the time comes to try and find a publisher. You never know, I could be lucky.
I did but a new coat on Saturday, because I have no winter coat and it was a real bargain, reduced from £60 to £17.50. However most other things I am not buying even though my clothes I have now are totally boring, because I am on a diet and it’s working so I would be buying clothes which hopefully will be too big for me in a few months. Can’t wait to get to my goal weight and hit the shops, I’m saving up for that as much as I can.
I think I may have mentioned in a previous post that I have a particular show in mind for this, Have I got news for you. Tickets are like gold dust so I am not hopeful of getting any when the next batch are released, but I will do my best to try. It would be a really great gift for my mother if I succeed, she loves that show.
I went through a non-reading period for quite some time in the middle of this year, so there’s no way that I can catch up now. I may think about doing 30 books for 2008, that’s probably a more manageable ambition for me.
I am marking this goal as finished because I now give to charity on a regular basis via monthly direct debit, as well as making one-off donations when I get chance. I think that it’s important for me to keep giving to charities that I believe in, and I intend to do so.
At the start of the diet I was 14 stones 5 pounds, and I’m now down to 11 stones 11 pounds. I have recently started taking long walks on Sunday mornings to try and keep the weight loss going, and also I cut down on calorie intake a little. I’m pleased with my progress but can’t wait to get the whole thing finished.
I’ve found over the past few months that I haven’t had enough chances to spend time in London, so I’m happy to leave this half done.
I like to have everything organised, that way it doesn’t look cluttered.
After we moved house I unpacked all of my stuff and sorted through it ruthlessly. Several bags of things went to the charity shop, and a number of other items are being stored in the garage for use in a car boot sale which we are planning. I love having a nice neat room to come back into, with stuff stored away neatly.
I have fallen behind with this objective, but I intend to catch up over the next few weeks.
Number 13 was Trading Realities by Michael Redpath. A bog-standard thriller which was extremely predictable; I spotted whodunnit and who they dunnit with very early on.
Work on this book was held up for ages because I was buying a new house, but we’ve moved now. Also I have recently bought a new PC and it’s all set up, so now is the time to start on this. The book was written some time ago but I know it needs a rigorous edit which will lead me to adding a lot more content, then another edit and possibly another after that. It’s months of work, and I honestly don’t know if this book is any good at all. I may be wasting my time completely. My family have read extracts and say it’s really interesting and tell me to keep going, but whether it is a publishable work is another matter. However I am going to finish it and find out. At the very least I’ll have produced a new story for my niece to read.
I think it would benefit me to set a timetable for this work, something to aim for even if I don’t make it. I think about a year would be a reasonable target so I’ll go for this:
Complete first edit by 31st October 2007.
Complete second edit by 31st January 2008.
Complete final edit by 30th April 2008.
Then send to publishers and hope for the best!
or so my family tell me, anyway. Since starting the diet in January I have lost a stone and a half, which I’m very pleased with. If I can just keep going at the same rate or something near it then I will lose the 50 pounds by the end of the year. Can definitely see the difference with clothes being looser etc.
I really wanted to book tickets for the new series of Have I Got News for You – my mother loves the show so I wanted to take her to watch it being taped as a surprise. The tickets were released one day last week at 3pm. I had been told that they’re always snapped up quickly so I logged on and applied right at 3pm, but still I received an email a day or so later saying that tickets had run out. Arghh! I suppose it’ll be six months or so before they release tickets for the next series, so I’m a bit disappointed that I missed out.
In about ten days we’re moving into our new house, where I will have one 12 feet x 10 feet bedroom and about five tonnes of possessions to fit into it. I intend to get rid of as much stuff as possible, either giving it to other members of my family or to charity. I could sell a few things on Ebay, but to be honest I’m just too lazy!
Have bought a pedometer off Ebay and am waiting for this to arrive. Once it gets here I will have no excuses and will need to start walking, asap. Actually I’m quite excited about the idea, and looking forward to getting a bit fitter.
we have just bought a house which, as is often the way of houses, needs much more spending on it than we realised during the viewings. I’m thinking now that I might have to only take a short holiday, because I’m having to use the money I’ve saved up for this holiday to pay for repairs. Still, I suppose that would be okay because at least I would be having a holiday alone, which is the important thing. I aim going to aim for that and see how I do.
