What quirky life are you born to lead?

Hi everyone

Once in a while I share a post with you on this blog, that I think you will be interested in from my www.beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com blog.

This is today’s post:

You Have a Way About You – Your Own Quirky Way

You have a way about you, that is unique to you, and your way of being. It’s your own quirky way, no one else’s.

Don’t worry about conforming and fitting in, be concerned with your own inner being and who you are.

If this is new territory to you, to stand proudly of yourself; it may be difficult at first because you are asserting your right to be an individual and to be treated as such.

To remain strong when sometimes family, friends and even loved ones are pulling you in their direction, takes guts, willpower and determination. This is especially true if you have recently experienced a loss, such as your job.

However, when you have lost something, is the best time to find you. To find your inner being, the roots of your tree, and embed them in the earth. You; your thoughts, your actions, can be controlled by you. In a time when everything else may feel out of control, this can be extremely good for you.

When you assert yourself and others aren’t used to it and don’t like it; if they love you for who you are, they will still love you, care about you, talk to you and be friends with you. They will either get used to the new you and accept it, or they have the right to go their own way. If they go their own way, remember, you have a way with you, that is called your way for a reason. You are your own person. It’s better to be yourself than live as others would have you live and never be truly happy.

Whatever your background, culture, race, colour, religion, sexual orientation or other, you need to be true to you.

I communicate with people from around the globe. I see the difference between people who are blending in with their society’s expectations, their family traditions and cultural expectations, when it’s not what they truly want for themselves. They sacrifice their own needs for others; even to the point where they can’t be themselves or with the ones they love, forever. So they settle for what they can get or what they get given. They think they have no choice, but there is always a choice. Compare that to those seemingly in a minority, who come out as themselves; go their own way, but feel an inner contentment and peace, after weathering the storm. They choose to start their own life, how they choose to be, and feel alive and sometimes reborn because of it.

I love my parents dearly, but I am extremely different to them. For years I wanted their approval of what I did, of what I wanted, and to be accepted for being me. I break family traditions, conventions and some expectations. It is hard, but the more I am strong and go my own way, the more they seem to understand the real me and accept it. Whether they do or they don’t, I have a quirky way about me, that’s my own. I am my authentic self, and I like me just the way I am.

That’s why you were born as you. You were given your own brain, to think, your own body to look after, your own eyes to view the world; your own ears to listen and your own voice to speak. The way you sense the world around you, will never be identical to another. You have a way about you. Don’t turn the other way, away from yourself, your needs, wants and desires, go and get them.

What quirky life are you born to lead?

Looking forward to hearing your replies.

If you want to read more inspirational posts, check out previous posts on www.beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com and follow.

Write soon

Sandra

Are you a do whatever it takes kind of person?

Hi everyone

I am so excited. I have booked the train/bus replacement to go to Bristol for Valentines Day tomorrow. I am celebrating being single.

I am going to the aquarium, then for a Thai meal. After that I will watch Robocop at the cinema and hopefully have another Thai meal before going home.

Some people would be put off by the fact that it’s a split journey due to using a bus as a rail replacement service, but I am a do whatever it takes kind of girl.

Once I have set my mind on doing something, that is it, I do it.

It is this attitude that is essential to a career in writing. You need to believe that no matter what, you will succeed. That whatever it takes, you will learn the skills neccessary to become a published Author and to live the writing life of your dreams.

When I first started to blog, I struggled with the technical side of things but I never gave up. I was persistent and consistent in learning what I needed to, despite being frustrated. Over three years later, I now teach people how to start a WordPress.com blog.

I spent months trying to build a website using templates, with many hours of wanting to scream or cry because I couldn’t get it to look right. Now I have three websites that I have created and that have had good feedback. They may not be perfect but I am proud to have created every part of them.

I was reluctant to use Facebook, partly due to a fear of safety. For my writing and redundancy help, I needed to have two Facebook business pages, and that meant having to have my own personal Facebook page. I took the plunge and created all three, despite not being comfortable with it. Now I usually use Facebook several times a day.

I believe that to a certain extent, we create our own destiny. I will do whatever it takes to better myself in order be able to write more and to help others, which is what I was born to do.

What were you born to do and will you do whatever it takes to achieve it?

Write soon
Sandra

Do you see the light?

Hi everyone

It can be very easy to slip into a negative state of mind, when everything seems to be going wrong or not as planned. As one thing builds on top of another, it is extremely important to still see the light.

One of my mottos is – Through the downs comes the ups – So if I am experiencing a lot of downs, it must mean there is a ton of ups coming my way.

I didn’t always used to think so positively, in fact, I used to be very negative and in a depressive state, but when I was made redundant for the second time in my career, in 2009, my life began to change for the better.

It’s been a while since my last blog post. To give you a quick update, after being off sick from my day job for 4 weeks, I went back to work and got an upper respiratory infection and had to be off another week. I went back to work part-time last week and today is my first day working full-time. If I am off sick for a third time this year, before the 5th of December, I am due to be investigated and possibly have a first written warning. I don’t feel that this would be fair, as I have doctor’s notes and was taken to hospital by ambulance whilst in a work meeting, for my first illness. Nevertheless, that’s the situation.

I am still self-employed and so long as I do that, I will always be in work, but I currently do need my day job to pay the bills.

After my illustrator moved the book completion deadline from Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd, and I started back to work on the Tuesday 21st, I had to work throughout the night on Tuesday, to get my book finished for Wednesday morning.

Although in theory I did finish the book and the cover is now complete, I am still working on the index and book content. Whilst the number of pages has to remain the same, I am adding some text and cutting some out to make improvements to it, before uploading it to Amazon. It needs to be the best it can be.

I start teaching again next week, on one of my days off from my day job, and yesterday I had to attend a tutor meeting.

Yesterday, I also got my four furry babies back from their long vacation at my parents. Daisy has recovered well after major surgery to remove a lump that turned out to be a hair follicle cyst that had got badly infected.

At the moment I teach on a self-employed basis but I have recently been offered a contract with the NHS to go on their staff bank, with a new job title and 69p per hour pay rise. I don’t work many hours for them but I still think it’s fantastic. I have to have an informal interview with them before becoming staff. That I can hopefully do soon because I am feeling better than I was. I have had to stop taking one of my tablets because it was giving me bad side effects and even working part-time last week, was a struggle towards the end of the week.

My Grandma was very poorly with an infection before her birthday but is off anti-biotics and thankfully seems to have improved.

I got upset when I visited her and she said to me, “I want you to hold my hand until my name is called.”

Me and my Grandma have a special bond, I can usually understand her when no one else can and when anything does happen to her, I will be devastated. We just ‘get’ each other. Whilst some others, just don’t.

I have faith that there is light at the end of this down tunnel and that I still have lots to look forward to in 2014. The teaching contract is a great achievement for me, as I got a teacher/trainer PTTLS Level 4 qualification in 2012, but I couldn’t get a teaching job back then because I didn’t have enough experience. Consequently, I went back into retail for a 16th year. Ironically, since working in retail, I now have a teching job.

I want to thank you for your patience, time and understanding whilst I finish my Break through the barriers of redundancy book.

I know I haven’t visited many of your blogs recently or left many comments and I thank you for your loyalty and support whilst I finish my book. I have people waiting for it to be published so they can buy it. Therefore, I do need to take more time out to do just that.

I hope if you are experiencing a lot of downs, that you too, can see the light.

Write as soon as I am able to
Sandra

I Spoke To Her Majesty The Queen

Hi everyone

What a busy week it’s been. I have been to London and saw Matilda the musical, also the film “Now you see me”. I visited Battersea Park Zoo and Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire.

After packing a suitcase full of what I may need, I forgot to pack my toothpaste. Luckily I got 2 for £5 from a shop at the train station. There were delays on the tubes during my first and last day there. When I arrived at where I thought the hotel should be, it was a Tandoori restaurant and on the last day I left my handbag on the Paradise Wildlife Park bus, with my tube and train tickets in it, the keys to my flat and my debit cards and my money in it. Luckily, there was a guy who got off the bus who worked at the park and kindly missed his train to phone the park and get the driver to come back with it. I did have my phone on me as I had been taking lots of photos of the animals but it was gone 5pm and I would have been stuck at Broxbourne train station had Neil, the bus driver, not come back with my handbag.

The absolute highlight of my trip to London was going to St James’s Palace for the Community Service Volunteers (CSV) 50th Anniversary celebration and speaking to Her Majesty the Queen.

Her Majesty was wearing a pretty blue floral dress, she was carrying a black handbag that matched her black patent shoes. She looked even more beautiful in real life than on the TV, with not a hair out of place.

When I spoke to her I said, “I am a Health Buddy for CSV in association with BBC Radio Devon in Plymouth but I live in Exeter. I recently received a Good Citizen award for saving someone’s life.”

Her Majesty responded, “that’s good.”

I was able to quickly ask her how her husband is and she said that he is doing well and in Norfolk at the moment.

There was an official photographer in the Palace as we were not allowed to take any photos. Every guest had to hand their phone in before going up the Palace stairs.

I did manage to take some photos outside of St James’s Palace and of the entrance to the Palace. I also took a few photos just inside. Although these have come out blurry as a police officer was watching me.

Walking towards the Palace.

The photo above is on the opposite side of the road to the St James’s Palace Marlborough Road entrance, where we had to queue.

I quickly snapped this photo just before my phone had to be handed in.

Apologies for the blur but security was tight and these were taken just inside the downstairs part of the Palace. You should still be able to make out the gorgeous decor.

After I got my phone back I quickly took a photo on my way out of St James’s Palace. Police officers were watching me and although the photo is a bit blurred, you can see the CSV sign for the celebration to the left.

Upon my exit of St James’s Palace I was able to take a couple of photos looking into the entrance from afar.

St James’s Palace was beautiful inside, with themed rooms. On my way upstairs to the first room, there was a person playing a harp. The first room was a sword, pistol and gun room. They were displayed in swirls on the wall.

Second room was a tapestry room. Some of the pictures on the tapestries reminded me of the Roman baths as they looked like they were from that era, although history was never my strong point at school. (I was okay at the history of medicine, that thankfully was part of my GCSE exam.) There appeared to be some cherubs in the tapestries too.

The third room was where I met and spoke to HM the Queen. It was the Queen Anne room with crystal chandeliers and gold paint. There were satin curtains and seating throughout the Palace.

Two other rooms I remember, were the picture gallery room, full of paintings, some of them appeared to be Her Majesty’s ancestors and the final room, was a throne room, with a real throne. It was magnificent.

To summarise, St James’s Palace was just like a Palace looks in a fairytale but it was and is, very real. So for anyone who doesn’t believe in fairytales, I want to tell you, that they can come true. Never give up hope of fulfilling your dreams. You are only as big, as you dare your dreams to be.

To those who have met me and sometimes think I live in a fairytale world, I do and I am proud of it.

I am very happy to have had the opportunity to visit St James’s Palace and get to meet and speak to Her Majesty the Queen. I totally believe that anything is possible and there are no limits other than the ones we set ourselves. The world is our oyster, so why set limits but believe in the power of the possible.

Until next time

Write soon

Sandra

I Have Been Chosen To Meet HM The Queen

Hi everyone

I am very happy and excited to have been chosen to meet Her Majesty the Queen, at St James’s Palace, on Monday 15th of July.

For those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may already know this and a few of you I have mentioned it to in my comments. For the rest of my lovely blog followers, the last update I gave you, was that I had been invited to St James’s Palace in the presence of HM the Queen. I have since had a letter to say I have been chosen to meet HM the Queen.

I have been sent a map of the inside of the Palace and have been told I am group 10, in the Queen Anne Room, to meet the Queen.

There is a red dotted line to indicate which route HM the Queen will take.

There are instructions of what I should say and do when I meet HM the Queen.

I am going there, to celebrate CSV (Community Service Volunteers) 50th anniversary. I do voluntary work as a Health Buddy for CSV and got nominated by my Manager to go.

If someone had told me a few years ago, that in the future I would be meeting HM the Queen at St James’s Palace, I would have laughed and said they had a vivid imagination, or yes, in my dreams. But I did something very important in my life, I changed my attitude and my belief in myself.

When I was made redundant for the second time in my life, in 2009, this was the starting point of that change. I knew from then on, that I was born 100% to write and to help others who have been made redundant to get back into work. It was the start of my creative journey. However, needing money and taking on a succession of temporary jobs, that I wasn’t happy in, took it’s toll, and although I still had these goals in mind, I didn’t do much about them at that time.

By the end of 2009, I got a job as an Assistant Manager of a shop and a couple of months later I was promoted to Shop Manager. The drawback was, most weeks I would be working 60 hours a week instead of my contracted 40.

In October 2010, I got headhunted to work as a Sales Person for more money doing less hours and so I took it. After almost a year of working there, I decided to take a year out from work, to develop myself, my skills, my knowledge and expertise to grow as a person and to finally fulfil my destiny of writing and helping others to get back into work. During that time, I gained all of those and so much more.

Although I am working again in a retail sales job during the day, I have chosen to be in a job as a Sales Person not as a Manager, so my hours are stable and kept to a minimum. The pay is not great but I can focus on building two businesses around my two goals during the evenings and my time off. I now know what action to take to make progress with those two goals. I still have time to do courses and to develop myself as a person. I am continuing on the path to fulfil my dreams and you can do it too. I am living proof that dreams can come true. Never, ever, give up on your own dreams. Believe they are achievable and that anything is possible.

Be blessed with what you have,
fight for what you want,
believe in yourself,
helps others along the way,
take action,
change when you are able to
and never look back.

Keep looking forward because your future is in your hands.
Treat yourself kindly,
look after those who are important in your life,
allow yourself ups and downs,
you are only human.
Above all, love yourself, live life to the max and do what makes you happy over and over again.

Until next time, keep writing and keep smiling.

Write soon
Sandra

Reality Award – Seeing is believing

Hi Everyone

I was recently nominated for the Reality Award by Sharla from catnipoflife.wordpress.com she has an awesome blog, so check it out. I am so honoured to have received this fantastic award. This is an incredibly visual award and makes me feel proud that you see my blog as an inspiration to others, thanks very much.

As always, with any award comes rules. From my research there appears to be slight variations to the rules, so I am going to go by the rules that Sharla stated:

1) Show appreciation of the blogger who nominated you and link back to them in your post. Done.

2) Add the award logo to your blog. Done.

3) Share 7 things about yourself (See below )

4) Nominate 5 – 10 or more bloggers you admire. (Listed at the bottom of this post)

5) Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know. Will do.

I have attended a Picture Book workshop in London with Author Julie Sykes.
I attended a poetry workshop whilst I was in secondary school.
My favourite children’s authors are Roger Hargreaves who originally wrote the Mr Men and Little Miss books and is sadly no longer with us and Julia Donaldson because I adore her rhyming stories.
I used to play with snails when I was very young.
I love eating sugar free, gluten free, dairy free ice-cream, chocolate is my favourite flavour.
I have put my Christmas tree up. I usually like to do this as soon as I can at the beginning of December.
Christmas day and my birthday are my two favourite events of the year (and my guineapigs’ birthdays).

A big congratulations to all of my 6 nominees for this award, they are:

inspire1life.com

inspireyourbusiness.wordpress.com

thewhyaboutthis.com

margekatherine.com

searchingforthehappiness.wordpress.com

suewestwood.wordpress.com

Still to come in the next post, will be my thanks any nominations for another superb award, this time it will be Blog Of The Year 2012, that I am elated with. (Huge smiles.)

Thanks to everyone who stops by, comments and follows me. Your support is a rock to me and I appreciate every single one of you.

Write soon

Sandra

Quirky Shine On Award (quirkybooks.wordpress.com)
The Liebster Award – Thanks And Nominations (quirkybooks.wordpress.com)
Celebrating Two Year Blogging Anniversary (quirkybooks.wordpress.com)

Launch of quirkybooksnet Facebook Page – Guest Blogger Rochelle Melander here on 18th September

Hi Everyone

I have some exciting news, not only will there be a guest blogger, Rochelle Melander, Author and Writing Coach, blogging here on Tuesday 18th of September, the quirkybooks.net Facebook page was launched yesterday, click on the link below to view and to Like it: facebook.com/pages/Quirkybooksnet/144394649036836

quirkybooks.net is currently a basic site about me and my writing but in the next few months you will see it transform into a more attractive design, incorporating an e-book store. Join me on this extraordinary journey of creating an e-book store especially for you, as it unravels book by book.

My debut children’s picture book should be available to buy as an e-book on quirkybooks.net before Christmas and I will be writing lots of non-fiction, How to books, many of which, will help people who have been made redundant, to get back into work.

I already have ideas for different books I intend to write but in the meantime you can have your say about what non-fiction books you might like to see in the categories of redundancy/employment/business/writing/self-belief. By this I mean would you like books on how to get work in a certain type of industry? How to cope with redundancy? How to gain the art of self-belief?

Let me know what you think by commenting below.

Write soon

Sandra

What E-Books would you like to read?

Hi Everyone

My quirkybooks.net website is due to change dramatically during this year. It will become an online E-Book store. But what type of books would you like to see? Please let me know using the above poll.

Thank you. Write soon. Sandra

Make Your Writing Resolutions Count

Hi Everyone

It is important to approach the new year with confidence.

Knowing you are making progress with your writing will not only enhance your chances of being published but it will also increase your self-belief.

You need to make a minimum of 5 writing resolutions, number them in order of importance and give yourself a time scale to complete each one. Work your way through the list. You should aim to complete at least 3 of them, that’s one, every 4 months. By the end of the year you should have accomplished at least 1 of them.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Write a book – 1 year
Write 1 more new blog post – Once a week
Write a minimum of 1 letter to a friend – Once a Month
Write at least 1 diary entry – Every day or every other day
Brainstorm writing ideas – Once a week

Now add some of your own and figure out which of them:

You have the largest passion for.
Mean the most to you.
Will give you the highest sense of happiness if you achieve them.

Make sure they are your priorities.

These factors will be your motivation to success.

Good luck.

Write soon. Sandra

Five Fantastic Reasons To Put A Smile On Your Face!

Hi Everyone

Staying positive in this current economic climate can be extremely difficult, especially when the daily news seems to bring nothing but doom and gloom. However, one simple thing could help you on your way to becoming a more positive person.

Smiling, simple but true!

Smiling, puts other people at ease, it lets them know you are approachable.
A smile can break the ice with a stranger and lead to new found friendships.
Your usual tone of voice is lowered whilst on the telephone, smiling on the telephone allows your tone to become higher and sound more welcoming.
Even if you are feeling fed up, depressed and really don’t want to smile, try it, a little bit at a time, you will be surprised how focusing on something else which contradicts your current frame of mind, could actually be a step in helping you to get out of the poor frame of mind you are in.
If someone smiles back at you, it will make you happier and increase your confidence.

Keep smiling.

Write soon.

Sandra

quirkybooks.net beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com