2016 Wasn't So Bad - 40 (ish) Achievements

The Earth has orbited the sun 40 times since I joined the celestial party.


Around this time last year, I set myself a challenge - a mini 'bucket list' of sorts. I listed 40 things to do before I was 40.

I wrote about it HERE: 40 Things to Do Before I Reach 40

I had to think of things that were realistic and achievable without breaking the bank.

Here's how I did:

As you can see, I only managed 11 of them. However...

There were a few that I crossed off in the year for various reasons:

• Skiing and White Water Rafting - we had 2 holidays in the year and neither gave us the opportunity to ski or go rafting.

• Tie a message to a balloon and let it go, also,  let go of a floating lantern - I didn't want to create unnecessary litter. 

• Wear coloured contact lenses for the day - several people told me horror stories about people who had caused permanent eye damage from using these.

In the summer, it became apparent that I wasn't going to complete the 40 challenges, so instead, I started recording the awesome things I did:

my #BuckListWin's!

Travelled First Class. Okay, so it was only from Bristol to Taunton by train, but I've never done it before!

Swimming in the Black Sea. A holiday to Bulgaria, the weather was scorching and we spent the weekend at Golden Sands.

The Blue Lagoon, Iceland. This one had been on my bucket list for a long time.

Rowing the Kennet and Avon Canal. A gorgeous sunny afternoon, midweek, we both took the day off work and went rowing.

See The Northern Lights. Also on our holiday to Iceland, this was a fantastic experience, again, it's been on my bucket list for ages!

 

A screen free day. Our few days in Bulgaria - no phone, no TV, no internet, no computer. Bliss.

Speed boat along the Thames. A family day trip in the summer.

Jeep Safari in Iceland. A day of exploring the tundra, seeing geysers, waterfalls, and glaciers.

A pro- photoshoot. I now have a collection of great business images, thanks to the expertise of Lidia at Visuable, that I use for all my marketing.

A styling session. I may not have lost the weight, but thanks to a styling session with Gosia Scarrott of GS Styling, I can now dress for my shape. At least I look like I've lost weight!

I'm still self-employed. I may not have met my income goals with the business, but I have managed to be in profit from day one and haven't had to concede defeat and divide my time by working for someone else.

Completed a Speaking Circuit. I took my 'Storytelling for business' talk to Women Mean Business networking groups across the South West and made the decision to join the formal networking club in 2017

Finished the Sheridan and Blake Series. A trilogy that turned into a quadrilogy, finishing my first series of books is a significant milestone in my career as a writer and means I can now move on to other writing projects with pride. I compiled all four into a bumper 4 in 1 eBook Boxset


 
Published a 'Blogging for Business' book, which is proving to be a great 'gateway product' and 'premium business card' into further consultancy work.

 

Watched NYE fireworks from the rooftop of an eight-storey building.

Made lots of new friends and found my tribe. I realised this when the people who came to my Gabriel's Game book launch party and to my New Years' Eve 40th Birthday party were a completely different bunch of people to a year ago.

So, all in all, it may not have been 40 things, but 2016 wasn't all bad...

What did you achieve in 2016?



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All I want for Christmas...

My mewsings are all about Christmas right now...

My business is taking the back seat while Christmas invades every inch of desk space in my office.

Spot the proof copy of 'Gabriel's Game, Part 2: The Black Knight' languishing in a pile of tissue paper.

It's already filled with scribbles and editing notes. My first job after Christmas is to update it, get feedback from my other beta readers and then publish it. I'm hoping to publish it by the end of January.

Too late for Christmas unfortunately, but just in time for everyone who had a Kindle for Christmas


...to load it up with new books!



Although I'm not making much money this month with my Amy Morse, Authorpreneur business, I am at least saving money by making lots of presents this year (sort of). 

I've been melting chocolate and baking biscuits like a woman possessed and creating labels for all the homemade goodies going in Christmas hampers this year...

 

I've also been thinking about what my next 365 project should be for 2016. 

In 2015 it was 'Authorpreneur Almanac: 365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship'

I launched my authorpreneur business and have worked at it every day, updating my blog weekly.

I will publish a compendium of 52 blogs on writing and entrepreneurship in the new year, so watch out for that...

Crutches and Karma

Almost 6 weeks ago I slipped at home during a silly 'dancing-barefoot-on-a-slippery-floor-after-wine' incident.

I broke my 5th metatarsal - I took a picture of the X-ray while I was at the hospital:

(The break is in the circle)

My jolly exuberance and ill advised Prodigy related clumsiness has resulted in a splint boot and crutches.

 
I have just under a week before I go back to South Bristol Hospital and (hopefully) get the all clear to have my leg back.

My mewsing this week is about how differently I've been treated during my period of disablement

People generally fall into 4 categories when they encounter me in my be-crutched state:

1) Staring
2) Conspicuous ignoring
3) Overly helpful
4) Chatty

1's: The Starers:

Children tend to be number 1's. It must be weird for small minds still understanding the world around them to see this strange half human half robot hobbling about.

I've also had sneering looks from elderly people. Quite why some elderly folk look on me with such contempt because I have crutches is a mystery, I can only imagine that it's some obscure form of irritation that they may have to compete for sympathy or a seat on a bus!

2's: The ignoramuses:

The starkest example I had of this was hobbling onto a crowded bus and the first few rows of seats (all occupied by young people, presumably on their way home from college) being very obvious about the fact that they hadn't noticed me.

There were also a couple of young professional looking men who made a point of blanking me. Where's a gentleman when you need one?

Heads turned away or eyes looked down.

I was actually quite upset by it. I was tired from struggling to get around, my hips were hurting from the strain of the crutches, there was no way I would have been able to manage to stand up on that bus without it causing me further discomfort. 

Here's my message to those ignoramuses:




Fortunately the driver was patient with me as I weaved my way to the back of the bus to take the only remaining seat; that happened to be next to a man who, shall we say, was hygienically challenged.

I really needed bus pants:




3's Overly helpful's

I've noticed that when someone has made the decision, whether consciously or otherwise, to try to help, they always seem to be dramatic about it. Not in a theatrical sense, they just seem to be extremely happy to help, as if they've been waiting for such an exciting opportunity to attract good Karma all day.

I don't mean that to sound negative, it's actually really lovely and always welcomed when you're feeling vulnerable.

It does amuse me when people go above and beyond the call of duty. I could have pushed into so many queues - but I'm far too English and polite to take advantage of that.

I'm less precious about queue jumping when it comes to buses, however, as I don't want to risk having to stand up. I feel like I have a genuine reason to be a queue jumper in that instance.

4's: The Chatters

Being on crutches is always a talking point. I go to quite a lot of networking events for my business, Amy Morse, Authorpreneur, and end up having to tell the story over and over again. If only I could refine my sales pitch as well as I've refined my 'dancing in the kitchen to Firestarter' story?


 
It's impossible to get onto a bus without getting involved in some injury comparison conversation.

Fortunately, living in the awesome city that is Bristol, the majority of people seem to be in category 3 or 4.

My other observations from this experience:

• I don't feel guilty about using disabled toilets
• I don't feel guilty about sitting on the priority seats at the front of buses and not giving them up for other disabled or elderly (although I have offered when someone has seemed like they are in a worse state than me). When there are other people on the bus who don't need those seats I would always expect them to offer first before I do.
• Everything takes much longer and as the weeks have progressed I've allowed more and more time to get around - Invariably I've ended up being 1/2 hour early for everything - I always carry a book!
• Resting is super hard! I'm usually such a fidgety and active person, having to sit around with my feet up is proving a real challenge. As is remembering to use crutches when I move around the house.
• Wind blowing through the holes in the crutches makes an almost flute-like noise
• My arms are more toned, the bingo wings have shrunk and the guns are much more ripped!
• I have one scrawny leg and one chunky one  

The biggest lesson I'm taking from this experience is that I have a new found respect for people who live with physical disabilities every day. 

I'm lucky - I've been slowed down for a few weeks and had only intermittent bouts of discomfort and very little pain (except for the first few days after the accident - then it bloody hurt!). 

There are some amazing charities out there that do some great work with disabled people. 

Here are just a few:

Scope
The Disabilities Trust
Leonard Cheshire
Snowdon Trust
Motivation, Freedom Through Mobility

It's a bit too early to be thinking about New Years Resolutions, but one of mine for 2016 will be to do more to support charities like these.

I would like to think, that I will always be a number 3 or 4.





 

Amy on the interwebs this week...

I've had a busy week sharing, creating and curating content on the intwerwebs this week:

2015 is Authorpreneur Almanac year 

Join me in my 365 Adventures 
in Writing and Entrepreneurship... 

My Pinterest boards are filling up with lots of blogging, and business tips. 
Here's the 'Authorpreneur Almanac' board of my content:

Follow Amy Morse - Authorpreneur's board Authorpreneur Almanac on Pinterest.

I have two workshops coming up in Bristol in September 2015 on:

• Introduction to Social Media and Content Marketing

• Blogging for Beginners 

At: The Factory Meeting Room - The Tobacco Factory, Raleigh Road, Bristol, BS3 1TF

Introduction to Social Media and Content Marketing

Blogging for Beginners

The workshops feed neatly into each other.

£40 each or £70 for both

(Includes tea, coffee and cake!)

To book email me: Amy@tomcatdesigns.co.uk

Or book via Eventbrite

 

It's not necessary for you to be a business to benefit from these workshops.

Network with others, invest in yourself, invest in your business.

While I've been on the subject of blogging I have feature published in Prowess Women in Business on my '10 reasons to love blogging'

I have also been playing with videos this week. 

I have entered the Small Business Saturday Small Business 100 competition and had to create an about me video for it. I've added the video to my website:

www.AmyMorse.co.uk

 

Keep checking my website and I'll post here periodically too.

What marketing activities have worked for you this week? 

Ideas are powerful, ideas change your world

What is Idea'ism?

It's the place where I put my ideas and invite 
others to share their perspective.

Ideas are powerful, ideas change your world.

For the past two years I have done 365 day projects. 

Through the experience of completing daily goals I am training myself to be goal orientated, breaking down big projects into baby action steps. 

This approach takes discipline, but doesn't have to take a lot of time, perhaps less than an hour a day. 

It takes 21 days to make something a habit so once you establish that routine, completing daily actions becomes as natural as having regular meals.

A year is a long time to commit to one thing, so I have kept my projects deliberately vague to give myself some scope and variety to fuel creativity, but at the same time, everything must hang from a single over arching theme so that there is something specific to achieve.

The projects so far have been related to books and writing. My dream is to make a living from writing so it is important to me that I keep my projects relevant.

In 2013 it was 'Project Book 365' where I did something creative every day on the theme of books. Here's the Facebook page for the project: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectBook365

And a couple of my most notable daily projects. 

 

Day 363 - a raggy book with part finished projects, and failed experiments

Day 214 - publishing my first book

In 2014 I completed 'Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author'. I did a weekly blog update of 7 actions, many being marketing actions, to inspire other writers.

In 2015 I'm going to build on this foundation and my next project will be...

The Authorpreneur Almanac:

365 Adventures in Writing and Entrepreneurship

Throughout the year I'll be doing weekly updates of tips, ideas, inspiration and features for writers who are also entrepreneurs aka Authorpreneur's

At the end of the year I'll tie it all together to produce an almanac. In 2016 I will then have a comprehensive book to share that I hope will inspire and enable others to follow their own writing dreams. 

Happy New Year everyone - 

Here's to a successful and productive 2015