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Six Good Reasons Why Our Empty Nest has a Silver Lining. http://wp.me/p3E4z3-sz New blog! #emptynest #motherhood #offtocollege #missingthem

#motherhood #offtocollege #emptynest #missingthem

More Strawberries and Salt

Three years ago, I premiered as a blogger with “Strawberries and Salt”, i.e., a mother’s emotions and thoughts on her children finishing compulsory school. (http://ruthkj.com/2013/06/19/strawberries-and-salt/) This new blog, if you will, is the sequel.

And so it came to pass, that even their three years in sixth form college (the US equivalent of high school) were destined to come to a swift…

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#end of school days #Graduation #Motherhood #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #Ruth Kvarnström-Jones #school mum #Sixth form college #Strawberries and Salt #Youth of today

Why a 20th Memorial Anniversary Dinner was a Fabulous Idea

Agneta, 1994.

“Will you come?” her daughter asked. “Of course,” I said.

And here we all were. A group of eighteen people whose only common denominator had been dead for twenty years, to the day, since that sunny Maundy Thursday in 1996 when hot tears finally flowed at the hospital for Agneta Millqvist J-son Berg.

And while she may have lost that ultimate battle, she had certainly won the…

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#Agneta Millqvist J-son Berg #Celebration #Closure #Funeral #Memorial #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #Ruth Kvarnström-Jones #Why a 20th Memorial Anniversary Dinner was a Fabulous Idea #Without raw pain

The Perks of Planning a Project

I’m a dab hand at procrastination. An absolute whizz. Always have been. Years ago, my beloved Dad bought me a plate identical to the one in the picture. I was delighted. No, seriously, I was. The accuracy made me laugh. A school essay or university thesis would always be left to stew until the last reasonable moment to commit pen to paper. Even today, my long-suffering husband regularly claims…

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#A change IS as good as a rest #A round Tuit #adrenaline #anticipation #excitement #Health boost #healthy fatigue #Planning #Preparation #procrastination #Research #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #RuthKj Writer #The Perks of Planning a Project

Back in the saddle - why I took a blogger's time out

Back in the saddle – why I took a blogger’s time out

Ready to go.

I flatter myself by thinking that one or two of you may have noticed I stopped adding new posts to my blog in October 2015. The reason is twofold: firstly, I’ve been deep inside my writer’s cave rewriting Halliholmin line with new input from my wonderful editor, Jean. And secondly, and perhaps more significantly, because I didn’t know what to say. No, I wasn’t suffering from writer’s…

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#Back in the saddle #Blog content #Blogger #blogger&039;s time out #Buzz words #Facebook abuse #Facebook attack #Halliholm #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #Ruth Kvarnström-Jones #Sick of being sold to #Writer

A New Library In Town: One Stop For Writers

It’s all happening in the world of writing this week! Regardless of whether you are an acclaimed established writer or toying with a novice idea, there is a brand new online resource for writers being launched today that just might turn out to be the most useful tab on your browser.

This is why, for the very first time, I’ve handed my blog over to a guest writer – one of the founders of this…

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#Angela Ackerman #Online library for writers #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #The Emotional Thesaurus

When reading is part of your day job

Books on writing

Now just to be clear, I’m not talking about reading in general — I can’t actually think of any job that does not involve the ability to read to some degree. No, I’m talking books. The kind one would normally read for pleasure. And novels in particular.

I’ve always been an avid reader and nothing gave me greater pleasure than discovering a — for me — new author or series and…

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#copywriting vs creative writing #guilt when reading #reading for pleasure #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #When reading is part of your day job

A narrow squeak and a jolt of reality

It was a glorious August day and life was sweet. The motorway was crowded, as they always are in southeast England, but nothing out of the ordinary. There were five of us in the car, cruising our way towards Canterbury — a city I have never visited but was excited to do so. I closed my eyes to grab a nap and drifted happily in and out of wakefulness until I suddenly felt the car slow down then…

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#A narrow squeak and a jolt of reality #ambulances #Canterbury #emergency vehicles #fatalities #Lucky stars #mother&039;s fears #motorway accident #motorway fatalities #orphaned child #RuthKj #RuthKj Writer #southeast England

Blind date with a book — a literary experiment

Just read it, she said.

On a regular basis, someone will recommend a book or send a review in my direction. I ask what it’s about, they tell me. No spoilers required, just the basics. Then, depending on my reaction, I will either grab a copy, add the title to my book bucket list, or simply forget about it. Normal, right? Right. Only this time, things were a little different.

Walking in the woods…

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#Blind date with a book #Book clubs #Book recommendation #Karen Joy Fowler #literary experiment #New dimension to reading #Reading blind #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #Spoilers #We are All Completely Beside Ourselves

A visit to the World Trade Center Museum -— and how it moved me more than I anticipated.

Evacuation route.

I didn’t hesitate when my American friend, Barb, suggested a visit to the recently opened World Trade Center Museum. Not because I had any sense of morbid curiosity — we’ve all seen the horrific TV footage and read witness accounts — or because I’d never been to Ground Zero. I had. But because paying one’s respects via a hole in the ground had felt a tad disconnected, and…

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#9/11 2001 #A visit to the World Trade Center Museum #Ground Zero #Ladder Company 3 #North Tower #Ruth K #Ruth Kj writer #search and rescue dogs #South Tower #Survivor Tree #World Trade Center #World Trade Center Museum #WTC Memorial #WTC Museum

Queen Elizabeth ll — and why I’m happy she has long reigned over us.

I’m a royalist, at least for now. The lives and reigns of our past kings and queens have always fascinated me — some more than others — because they are part and parcel of our history and heritage, and hugely intertwined with the pomp and circumstance for which Britain is so renowned. And I do enjoy gentlemen in jazzy uniforms on beautiful horses pulling a fancy carriage. No bibbidi bobbidi boo…

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#63 years and 7 months #head of state #Long may she reign over us #longest reigning UK monarch #monarchy vs republican #political stability #pomp and circumstance #Queen Elizabeth ll #Queen Victoria #Respect #Respect for the monarchy #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer

September - licence to buy new writing utensils

September – licence to buy new writing utensils

No idea what happened to my Underwood typewriter.

I must admit, the first day of September always gives rise to a most insistent itch. Not my regular kind of irritant that medics have successfully linked to pollen and the furrier members of the family. Not even the kind that unerringly takes root under the most inaccessible spot of a plaster cast. No. This is an itch that can only be scratched by…

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#Amiga #Apple #Berlitz #biro #felt tip pens #fountain pen #Inkwells #Microsoft #new school year #Olivetti #pencils #Quink #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #September - Licence to buy new writing utensils #Silicon Valley #Starbucks #Typewriters #Underwood typewriter

Tourist in my own habitat — aka time to rediscover my city

Stockholm from the boat.

I’ve seen them all summer: multiculti tourists staring intently from colour-coded hop-on-hop-off buses during designated tours around Stockholm. I know relevant information is being related via speaker voices — including mine if you happen to hop on to a particular route and choose English — because heads with interested eyes are swivelling from side to side. I’ve often…

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#ABBA The Museum #Disney #Hop-on-hop-off #How is my city perceived?#Royal Palace #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #Stockholm #Stockholm City Hall #Sweden #Tourist in my own habitat #What do tourists actually see?

Thoughts ahead of their last school year

First day of school, 2003

It’s back to school for kids in Sweden this week and something feels not quite right. In fact, a good deal feels decidedly unsettling, because after eighteen similar child-rearing summers spent travelling to warmer climes, ferrying the children to and from day camps, preparing and packing for teen camps, or simply watching them run barefoot by a lake where dining al…

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#Back to school #Empty nest syndrome #Growing up too fast #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #school holidays #school mother&039;s lament #shopping back to school #Summer #Summer holidays #Thoughts ahead of their last school year #twins

A trough of self-doubt and what I did about it

Packing for NYC.

They say fifty is the new forty; the age when we reap the benefits of previous experiences and efforts at a time when the all-absorbing child-rearing days are largely behind us and we’re still in our prime. It’s a time for taking stock of achievements while casting excited eyes towards new horizons across unchartered waters. In short, it’s an opportunity to plot a course in a…

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#Authors #Defeat #Depression #Fifty is the new forty #Health #JK Rowling #Loss #negative thought spiral #New horizons #Novel writing #Personal doubt #Romance Writers of America #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #Self-doubt #Self-esteem #Setback #Vitamin supplements #Writers

The Pros and Cons of Reading on a Kindle

Five years ago, I discovered my daughter had arrived in the USA for a family holiday with a luggage load of books and little else. They were heavy and cumbersome to lug along the east coast, but in her defence, I kind of understood. We were going to be travelling for over 3 weeks, and she didn’t know what she would feel like reading a week from now. But humph.

We bought her a Kindle for her…

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#Amazon #Bookstore #bookstores dying #cloud storage #device #Ebooks #Kindle #Pros and Cons of reading on a Kindle #reading device #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #travel book

Goodbye to bad hair days

Meh.

It’s a phenomenon every woman (and quite possibly some of the more follicle-blessed menfolk) laments: bad hair days are utterly random and entirely non-negotiable. They will, by default of their cussed nature, strike on the most inopportune days, wreaking self-conscious havoc with job interviews, parties and any other occasion for which a little intervention from the good-hair-day Gods would…

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#Bad Hair Days #conditioner #Good hair days #Goodbye to bad hair days #Ruth Kj #Ruth Kj writer #shampoo #Wella

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