New things
Okay, it’s been nearly two months since I moved into my new house. The garden’s all right (it will look nicer once it’s been done up in the spring), Harry has gotten used to the house and I enjoy not having to wait for the bathroom to become free. The open plan downstairs is quite nice. The only thing is that ... I’m barely there. We’ve had NO internet since we moved in and BT are shite at sorting this out for us, so I’m spending most of my time at my mum’s house. It’s nice in a way because I’ll go for walks with her, see films at the cinema and go shopping or just have a nice meal in and binge-watch TV shows.
I’ve been doing my very best to find work and I’m either being rejected or not hearing back at all. It’s starting to get disheartening. I’m always getting freelance work though. I went on a course on how to use InDesign better and met a girl there, who invited me to her party in Leytonstone two weeks ago. I was terrified, it was one of my biggest fears coming true: going to a party in a place I didn’t know where I knew nobody there. But I went and had a surprisingly nice time. I need to find lots of nice new people to spend time with.
In the midst of all this madness of no internet and much freelance work, I managed to achieve something. I finished writing Distant Echoes (possibly to be retitled to Shades of Her). It took me five and a half years to write, the longest it’s taken me to write a book. I’m thrilled that I managed to finish it and in six months’ time, I can start reviewing it. In case you’ve forgotten what it’s about, it’s about a man who relives his major relationships in his life to understand why his wife is leaving him; it’s about first love, second chances, if exes can be friends, and who you would let back in your life. It feels like the end of an era, an end to the first five adult books I’ve written - Dear Adele; Waiting For Sunset (originally titled Love Through A Machine); Dancing Shadows (formerly Falling); The Companion and now Distant Echoes. I really feel I’ve achieved something and I’m so pleased about it. Now I have more book ideas that I can develop and continue to write.
I’m also very excited to be going to New York for my thirtieth birthday with John. We’ll be out there for a week and we’re staying in an AirBnB in Brooklyn. I really can’t wait to go, I haven’t been to America before. It’ll be a great way to begin my thirties, which I hope will be way better than my twenties.
While staying at Mum’s, we watched a film I’d flicked past on Netflix many times, unsure if I really wanted to watch it. I loved it, it was beautiful. It’s called Before We Go, about two people who meet in Grand Central Station in New York; a married woman is stranded in the city when she misses her train and a street musician teams up with her to help her get home before her husband does. I thought this was a really sweet, beautiful and haunting film with some good comic moments. Alice Eve and Chris Evans as Brooke and Nick have good chemistry, sharing a memorable evening/early morning together as they try to get Brooke back to Boston; the camerawork was nicely done so it offered lovely shots of New York (which made me even more excited to go there next month), the soundtrack was gentle and calm which suited the tone of the film - it was all really beautiful. Not only that, it felt relatable, about having choices and being at crossroads and choosing the right path, or the road you want to take. It felt relevant. Throughout the whole film, I was very aware of how my heart beat (fast) as I felt tense at times, and it seemed as though this film made me go through the entire spectrum of emotions, from awkward to tense to happy to sad. I really want to see it again, I really enjoyed it. If you liked Before Sunset, then you’ll like Before We Go too. 5/5










