Well, I have done my first couple of weeks being a freelancer (or unemployed, depending on whether you see the glass half full or half empty) How has these weeks been? Well - I must admit that it has been a little like a holiday. Oh shut up, I needed the break - half my problems come from my inability to switch off, so yes, I have switched off. I did get up on my first freelance Monday, write a to-do list and dream about all the things I was going to do. I can happily report that nearly 90% of the actions weren’t done in the first week. What, you ask, have I done? I have been enjoying myself, thinking about the future and making roads into what I want to be. I would say the first three days were a bit strange. It is the realisation that this is not just a holiday and that there is no one there watching you, asking you to do things and generally keeping an eye on you. I think I saw on Wednesday (13 January) how easy it would be to become a cough potato as I lay on my bed and had an afternoon nap. Yes - I know, but in a way, it was the best nap I could have had.
As I lay on my bed, I thought how boring this life could become, mulling away the hours, procrastinating about all the things I could be doing, but never getting around to doing them. It is easy to hide away and become really lazy! Then, I remembered why it was that I have decided to go freelance and all the opportunities I could see before my eyes. Not one of them was lying on my bed at 3pm, bored. There is so many reasons why this lifestyle shouldn’t work, but I think the biggest factor is motivation. It is getting up each day and going hello world, what have you got stored up for me today? We have only one life and it is not to be spent in bed sleeping!
Having just read this back it sounds as though I didn’t do anything until Thursday, I did do about 11 hours of volunteering, I went walking in snow - I found three jobs to apply for and started thinking about topics for freelance articles. I remembered to send cards to my Granny and Uncle, paid the stair cleaners and go to writing group, where I read out two new stories and started my New Zealand/Beatles murder story that has been in my head since 2004.
Then on Thursday (14 January) , I sat down and started to think about the CV. Don’t you love writing a CV and trying to make yourself beauty? I suppose the key with the CV is to be proud of what you have done. I think everyone has a journey in their career and the key is being able to communicate this within 2 sheets of A4. Needless to say, I was working on it until Saturday night, where I have got something I am happy with. (Although I think I’ll keep working on it so that it becomes an active document) I also need to create a portfolio to support my CV. It is all about image.
Sometimes, I wish could be Bridget Jones, and walk into a room wearing a low cut top and go, right sir this is me, this is what I about, and if you give me a chance, I will give you dedication in return. I have my demons just like anyone else, but I am trustworthy, honest and passionate. Give me a job and I will wear these kind of tops for the next ten weeks. Maybe not, it would set women’s rights back by about 60 years. After nearly five and half hours at my faithful MacBook, I treated myself to a trip down Princes Street, where I spent half of my vouchers from Christmas, before meeting boyfriend from work. We went over to Musselburgh for the night, for a change, and then a Friday I got my belated Christmas present.
Okay, that might have sounded rude, but we had postponed a trip to the Witchery that we had in the diary for Christmas Eve, due to snow. For those not familiar with Edinburgh, the Witchery is one of the top restaurants in Edinburgh, situated up at the Castle. I hadn’t eaten there before and after a review in a weekend paper, I had my doubts whether it would meet expectations. It just shows that you shouldn’t believe all that you read as I was really impressed from the moment we walked in. The atmosphere was classic, but not too pretentious, and the food was lovely. I had fresh crab salad to start with which melted in the mouth, followed by scallops on a bed of mash, which was equally delicious. Although the pudding menu looked divine, both boyfriend and I went for cheese and biscuits, which was very filling and tasty. The meal was excellent, along with the service and I would be the first person to recommend it to a friend. Unfortunately, when, I suggested that we should make lunch a weekly event there, boyfriend reminded me that I was the one without an income and maybe we needed to win the lottery to indulge in that kind of living. I reluctantly agreed, and put my thought on the list of things I will do once the novel becomes a best seller. Just because it won’t happen at the moment, doesn’t mean it isn’t something to aim for in life. What’s the quote “Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
After the Witchery, we wondered over to the Museum of Scotland and climbed up (okay we took the lift) to the roof terrace to look at Edinburgh’s skyline. It may sound cheesy, but there is still something breathtaking about the skyline and all the iconic buildings that stand proud in our city even after living here for nearly 15 years. I sometimes wonder what the city would say if the buildings could talk. It brings up the idea of footsteps, past, present and future, being contained on the streets where we live. The idea of history rolled around my brain as we walked around an exhibition about Scottish people and the changes the nation has been through. We are a nation of footsteps, each individual in their path, but combined, they can influence and change the course of history. We are all standing on the footsteps of the past, hoping we can make a difference for the future. As you can tell, the concept of footsteps figures greatly on my mind, which is good, as my poem “Footsteps on a beach” is published this month.
Footsteps are a good image to leave this blog entry on as this is a start of a whole new adventure for me and it is very exciting as I am not following someone’s else path, but creating a new set of footprint for myself. New journeys and experiences can often take you further than you have ever been before and strangely bring you back to where you meant to be.
