Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Edited 4896 words (3 sittings. Phew) 2. Did a load of laundry 3. Ordered a new to me mac (coat not a pc) 4. Booked a ticket to Venice 5. Watched a film from 1939 (unexpectedly with Alastair Sim)

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Stripped paint from a chair 2. Edited 3500 words 3. Listened to a book 4. Complained to IPSO (I know it's too little, too late. Better now than never) 5. Made date and banana bread

I was having a little snooze. Now I am not having a little snooze. Turns out I can hear my phone from upstairs and with ear plugs in. (Just an emergency alert - which we get twice - first in Welsh and then in English)

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Sealed the doors/windows against wildfire smoke 2. Wrote 1200 words 3. Came up with a new triad to explain drafting stages - Frankenstein, Frankenfurter, Frankincense 🤭 4. Watched The Big Short 5. Drank a lot of water

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Wrote the feedback on a piece for a competition I'm judging 2. Read the next story early so I have time to think about its merits 3. Wished on a shooting star (2am this morning) 4. Wrote 1664 words 5. Flopped about in the heat

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Wrote 1600 words 2. Listened to the birds get confused 3. Experienced the partial eclipse 4. Watched the new Ted Lasso episode 5. Won hunt the parcel! Three of us were out looking!

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Wrote 1600 words 2. Cooked a delicious minestrone 3. Watched an episode of Ripley 4. Documented my writing progress (I do this once a week #sigh) 5. Burned the very end of my tongue

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Edited 1500 words which basically meant deleting 1200 of them 2. Sneezed (might be a cold) 3. Made delcious oyster mushroom burgers 4. Watched an episode of Ripley 5. Drank a lot of water

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Failed to get to the bottom of the laundry basket 2. Edited 1000 words 3. Sat round a campfire chatting with friends 4. Watched an episode of Ripley 5. Redirected the pizza delivery guy

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Had breakfast with lovely friends 2. Wrote 1000 words 3. Edited 1500 more 4. Had an afternoon nap 5. Almost booked a trip to Italy (hmmm)

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Thought about Venice (again) 2. Edited 1500 words 3. Went out to dinner with friends 4. Walked all round Chepstow castle 5. Read, Death In Venice

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Had lovely friends come to stay 2. Cooked dinner with lovely friends 3. Played 'Just One' with lovely friends 4. Sat around exhausted (all of us) 5. Edited 2000 words

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Played hunt the parcel round the local drop-off lockers 2. Read 3. Edited 4000 words 4. Read a story in the competition I'm judging 5. Tried to book a coach - failed!

This is a superb book on a smashing list! (I happpen to have read all of them.) If you're in need of a late summer read you couldn't go wrong with Ghosts of the Farm. Or the whole shebang!

Nicola Chester@nicolawriting.bsky.social · 2w ago

Thrilled to pieces to be shortlisted @wainwrightprize.bsky.social! My quirky fusion of a book & its delightful & opinionated ghosts (human, wild & otherwise) revisiting the points in recent wildlife & rural history where we could have taken different paths, why we didn’t, & what we do now!

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Danced in the rain 2. Watched an episode of Widow's Bay 3. Wrote 1368 words 4. Did a bunch of admin 5. Tidied another room (friends coming Thursday)

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Made datehenge version 2 2. Wrote 1300 words 3. Avoided the 2nd biggest spider that has visited us here 4. Attempted to sort the pantry cupboard 5. Watched The Golden Spurtle (10/10 no notes, perfect if you like porridge, or even if you don't)

Panoramic view of Datehenge (version 2 - we ate the first one). For enquiring minds. Tagging @clonehenge.bsky.social who likes this kind of thing

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Read lots 2. Had friends round for tea 3. Wrote 1320 words 4. Did some more Dadmin! (It's been 2 years! It must end soon!) 5. Realised we have bees in the roof 🤪

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Ate lunch at the old Tintern station 2. Tidied a room before friends visit Thursday (getting ahead of the game) 3. Wrote 1384 words (will do more later) 4. Made Stonehenge from dates 5. Sorted the soap box (actual box of soap, not a thing I stand on)

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Booked a holiday for October 2. Wrote 1500 words 3. Started reading - Yesteryear 4. Sorted a bunch of notes 5. Went for a little walk

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Read - The Murder At World's End 2. Transcribed 1000 words and wrote 1500 new ones 3. Discovered my Grandpa was married 4 times! 🤪 4. Practised wearing new specs 5. Got up at 6, and needed a snooze by 3!

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Sorted a box of my grandparent's books! 2. Read my Grandparent's household commonplace - recipes, wine suggestions! planting schemes, foraging locales - very lovely to see their handwriting 3. Wrote 2000 words 4. Cleaned half the kitchen 5. Danced

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Wrote 2000 words on new project 2. Did a bunch of admin 3. Laundry (just remembered it needs to be hung up) 4. Read - Katabasis 5. Moved the mad dolls house

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Knitted a square 2. Drafted 2000 words of new project 3. Outlined new substack post 4. Wrote the feedback on a piece for a competition I'm judging 5. Did the laundry

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Rearranged (aka excavated) the dynamic context that is my desk 2. Read Orwell's 'Why I Write' 3. Considered why I write 4. Made a ta da list for the week 5. Celebrated finishing a project after 900 days! Immediately began thinking about the next one 🤔

Things I did this week instead of doomscrolling 1. Read 8 books 2. Had 4 work breakthroughs 3. Watched gannets, guillemots and goats 4. Attended 3 art lectures, 2 galleries, 3 museums and 1 farm 5. Thrifted 6. Listened to the sea and the sound of laughter 7. Did the laundry

Off for seven days of no doomscrolling! Expect no updates for a week followed by excitable stories galore!!

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Changed my hair a LOT 2. Completed prep for week of no internet 3. Set an out of office on my email 4. Did the laundry 5. Read half a book!

Things I'm doing today to prepare for a week of no Internet! 1. Making a pile of books to read 2. Borrowing an up to date local map from the library 3. Printing my chapter outline & locating my ideas notebook 4. Choosing which board games to play 5. Deciding which craft wip to finish

Things I did today instead of doomscrolling 1. Noticed 5 things for which I am thankful 2. Hunted for a parcel - same delivery person - new location! 3. Planned a week without Internet 4. Read another piece for the competition I'm judging 5. Found Godzilla in the garden