Friday Focus - Life, Loss, and Lists

I can’t believe that this time last week I was preparing for the launch of Lisa Blower’s short story collection. It seems like the blink of an eye.

This week has been a very intense and sad one. A cousin passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 52, and the family is devastated. It will take some healing. Thankfully my dear dad, who thought a lot of his nephew, does not and will not know that he has passed. That’s the only blessing that Alzheimer’s brings.

As for dad, he has been moved into a different part of the same care home for assessment. His behaviour is becoming increasingly challenging and I hope that this new place will be his permanent home, because he gets more specialised and intensive care there. We shall see.

So, as usual for me, my focus this weekend will be on the one thing that keeps me sane. I have a workshop tomorrow, and even though I have picked the wrong weekend it seems because everyone is away for Bank Holiday or there are lots of other things going on in Stoke, I do have two and possibly three people, and I have a great morning of work planned, as well as lots of talk about flash and how to write it. I am really looking forward to it. The good thing about being so few people is that we can chat more and focus on the things that they specifically want. And there is always something I can learn just by the questions that people ask.

Focus too this weekend will be on my novel, which seems to be taking off into a whole new plain at the moment. My flash fiction career of the last few years has given me an epiphany about how to do something, and I am very excited to be working on that.

I have a million other things to do and my list is endless, but one step at a time!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I will meet you all back here on Monday for my musings. Let me know in the comments box further down if you have anything special planned, especially if it is writing related.