Sunday Sunday

Hello, autumn! Autumn is when I want to get down to business and organise my life. It’s either a hangover from the academic year or because some primitive part of my brain that wants me to get ready for winter. I’m in one of those moods where I want to sort out everything in my life and emerge a paragon of wonder and joy. Ultimate Fran* is what I call the version of myself that I am always striving to become. Ultimate Fran does yoga every day, has a tidy and sparkling clean house, reads more books, wears proper outfits and lipstick every day, she looks nice in photographs and blogs regularly. Ultimate Fran would never waste a whole day flopping about on the sofa playing idiotic games on her iPhone. I am not Ultimate Fran by any stretch of the imagination, but I like to think I’m getting closer to her all the time!

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

I have started listening to the audiobook of Les Misérables. Good grief Victor likes to go on. I was 2 hours in before Jean Valjean turned up! I love the musical so I thought I should try the original. The audiobook in 10 parts of at least 5 hours each so I’m in for a long slog, but I know I would have abandoned it after 10 pages if I had been was reading it.
I’ve started listening to The Teacher’s Pet. This is a true crime podcast about the disappearance of an Australian woman named Lyn Dawson. Her PE teacher husband almost certainly murdered her as she has not been seen or heard from since she disappeared on 8th January 1982, but to this day he maintains she went off to join some religious sect.
I’m (actual physical book in my hand) reading The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. It is a gorgeous book. I’ve been channelling Ultimate Fran and reading it on my commute instead of playing games on my phone.
It’s NaNoWriMo planning time! This year I am more determined than I have been in the last 6 years and I have started to plan and research properly. I already have an exercise book half-full of research and character profiles on my computer. I just need to come up with a plot… Depending on how well I get on, I might share some of my experience here. I anticipate a lot of time spent frantically typing in the early hours with this playing through my headphones.
For various reasons, I’ve not done much sewing in recent weeks. I have about 3 things that I need to finish off at the moment, but I’m worried I’m going ruin them.
AND FINALLY… Isn’t this necklace glorious? It was a collaboration between the goddess Laura Jane Williams and jewellery brand Zeal and Heart.