A writing slump, "the ring", and a new infatuation (which I hope is temporary).

It's been a funny month for me. I've found it ridiculously hard to get going this month in most areas of my life, as if my mind and body have just gone, "Nope. I ain't getting back to work, not yet - I need a longer break."

On the writing front, well, it's certainly happening, but at a pace about 66% slower than I'd like. I write 500 words and then I stop. It's like my brain chooses to shut down after just half an hour or so of writing. It's not fun; it's not productive, but there seems to be not a lot I can do about it at the moment. I've spent many hours analysing it and trying to come up with a solution - maybe it's burnout, maybe it's distraction, maybe it's writer's block - and I've come up with nothing, because it doesn't feel exactly like any of those things. There's a chance that it's partly grief, but I don't really want to talk about that. And grief is such an elusive bugger it doesn't a hundred percent feel like grief either.

I have hit the 10% mark with Disgraced. Like I said, I should have hit 30% by now, but it's just not happening. The story is there, but writing anything feels like trudging through mud. However, I usually post an excerpt for readers every 10% or so, so here is the first one...

Ooooo ... exciting, huh? Yes, I did - I got very excited about this excerpt :) Despite what I've just said above, I am still confident about getting the book out to you by the end of April. I'm just going with it and trusting that somewhere in here, I know what I'm doing and it'll all work out.

Other non-writing things

I will not harp on, again, about how I've just got engaged to my ten-year partner, but I did promise you all a look at the ring. Well, I've taken over ninety pictures of the ring and I'm not one little bit ashamed of that :D

I've included one mosaic picture for you to see, and two pictures where I managed to catch the diamond's "glow"...

Glow #1 (unfiltered)

Glow #2 (unfiltered)

All taken under natural light, then put into a mosaic, then filter added to soften the edges of overall image.

In other non-writing news, I have been replenishing my make-up. This sounds very boring, and I was expecting it to be very boring, but I haven't really even LOOKED at make-up for twenty years (all my old make-up that I threw out was twenty years old - I barely ever wear the stuff, which is why it lasts so long), and my gosh! Make-up has changed a lot since I last shopped for it! The variety now seems even greater than it was then, and I found myself lost in this massive sea of beautiful craziness. A lot of high-end brands have upped their game, too, in the last twenty years, taking out a lot of nasties from their ingredients, and the selection of natural make-up (from smaller, unknown cosmetic companies) has also grown. It remains really hard to find natural / (mostly) organic make-up that actually looks good and stays on, but there are some successes if you bother to take the time to look and try them. I have also become rather infatuated with make-up palettes (from any brand, high-end or drugstore; I'm not being fussy in this instance) - they're so PRETTY. When did that happen? Make-up used to be so boring to look at - not any more!

Anyway... yes, bye-bye twenty-year make-up; hello new pretty world of bad-for-my-pocket fun.

Back to writing... 

Look out for the blurb and cover reveal for Summer's End on 13th February, hosted by Hot Tree Promotions. While there's an outside chance I might not get this book written this year (it's last on my list of three), I do want the cover and blurb out there - it's very motivating for the writing to have it out there.

So, this is my plan: chill out, relax, don't worry. Everything will work out eventually, because it always does.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend, everyone :)

Dianna xx

Steaming straight into 2015 with ... a diamond ring!

Wow! What a start to the New Year!

Firstly, my writing goal is 1000 words a day, minimum, starting from two days ago. I am on target so far, LOL. Let's hope it lasts. My current writing project is Disgraced (Saving Eve, book one), which you can see here: http://www.diannahardy.com/saving-eve-series.html

Secondly, I have been tidying our teeny-tiny flat for the last month because this is hopefully the year we move out! I can't tell you how excited I am :D But it is a task and a half, although I'm having fun doing it because, FINALLY, our goal is reachable.

Last, but not least, yesterday, my partner and I celebrated our ten year anniversary of being together as a couple ... by getting engaged! I didn't see it coming, which was great, because I see most things coming. He's my best friend. He's seen the absolute worst side of me, and also sees the best, often when no one else does. In the space of ten years we've had agonising arguments, and moments too beautiful to put into words. We are both Scorpios, which means we sometimes sting each other, but we always come back to each other, because no one else quite "gets" that thing about each other the way we do. In some ways, it's nice to have had ten years to figure that out first, because now, I don't feel like we're in the middle of a relationship, or near the end - I feel like we're about to begin all over again. We sort of are. I'm lucky I'm (still) in love with my best friend. Guess how happy I am :)

So... there's a hell of a lot to do this year: write three books, sell two homes, buy a new home, and all the other things that come with moving. Wedding plans can wait until after all that, but I can safely say, I couldn't do all this with a better person than I'm doing it with. I'm really glad I got the chance to say 'yes'.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Dianna xxx

P.S. Photo of "the ring" posted next week (it's currently being customised to fit my very, very small finger!).