Ideas

This may be entirely wrong, but I feel that there is more money to be made from writing articles rather than short stories.  

I can only name a few magazines that will pay for short stories (but if anyone can name some more I'll gladly take note) and, although being published without pay will look good on my CV, I kind of need to get some money back for my time. Of course, there are probably thousands of short story competitions, but the probability of actually gaining any money from them is not that great. 

There are definitely thousands of magazines, journals, newspapers and the like out there. And I don't even have to pay to submit my pieces to them. So I think this is the side I'm going to focus on most with my spare day.

So, what can I write articles about?

- salsa dancing
- Ceroc dancing
- reading
- writing
- having an 'at risk' job
- baking
- learning to cook healthier
- weight loss
- personal trainers
- being new to running
- getting slightly better at running
- kettlebells
- gluten free, dairy free eating 
- Glasgow
- Crewe
- being on Jobseekers Allowance
- being kicked out of your place of residence (twice...)
- moving house
- finally settling down
- losing someone you love to cancer
- losing someone you love for no apparent reason
- fundraising for charity
- living away from your family
- public transport
- sharing a flat with a European 
- sharing a flat with a cranky distant relative
- making greetings cards
- embroidery and cross stitch
- the desire but complete inability to modify your own clothes

That should keep me going for a wee while.

Looking up.

Finally I'm taking some steps in the right direction. i.e. back to Glasgow. On Thursday I'm starting a job, call centre again but not selling anything so hopefully I can suck it up and deal with the few cross people on the other end of the phone. Actually I have to, because the other news is that I'm moving back into a flat in the West End!  I can't wait to get back where I belong. 

 Although I'm a wee bit cross; my friend has been saying for months that I need to get a 2 bedroom flat so she can move in with me, and now that I've got one she's decided she's not that desperate to move after all. At the moment I can't afford this place on my own, but I've decided to trust that God wouldn't get me back to Glasgow just to be kicked out for lack of funds a month later. If this is a test of faith I'm going to pass with flying colours. 

I just can't wait to be back!

xXx

Give me a job!

So, I have a ginormous number of CVs all printed off and ready to go, and the plan for the next two days is to wander up and down the three main streets of Glasgow and hand them in at any shop I think I could possibly work in. Whether they're looking for new staff or not.  Because as things stand I only have enough money to stay here until March.

Technically I could move back home at the start of April because all the teaching for my course will have finished by the end of March. But I don't want to. I've got salsa here, and the gym for £40 per year instead of per month, and S'mug and Starbucks, and tall, yellow-gold buildings, and Hogwarts, and a cinema with armchairs instead of aeroplane seats, and a library with 12 floors, several libraries in fact, and the quiet, and a million little things that I don't want to get used to living without. I mean, even the six flights of stairs up to the flat make me feel good about myself, because that sure as heck has to count as a huge chunk of my daily exercise.

I know that I'm supposed to be here because every single time I've almost run out of money, some more has showed up out of nowhere. But then I think what if I'm only supposed to be here for the duration of the course, and when it ends I'll 'supposed to be' somewhere else. Like Crewe. I'm really starting to feel like I could stay here forever. And how will I find my ginger Scotsman if I have to go home??

xXx

Mmm radiator

Oh, Glasgow. Dear green place. I feel quite different about you tonight. I'm not sure what it is. It's not so much that you feel any more like home than before, but that I feel like I could one day come to love you. Almost but not quite there yet.

 I don't know if it's the effect of being in Glasgow, or being away from home, or something I can't think of right now, but I feel like the me of 6 months ago wouldn't recognise the me of today. Yesterday I hugged a guy; I initiated it and I didn't obsess over it for hours after. Tonight I started conversations with four or five people, and managed to keep it up, and it didn't even cross my mind to worry that they didn't want to speak to me.

 I'm starting to think that moving up here is the best thing I've ever done.

xXx