Simple Magic: Summer

Here’s a quick summer Simple Magic before I transfigure into full-on autumn mode! The following photos are from my phone camera roll. They don’t quite fit the theme of my blog or Instagram, but capture enchanting, everyday moments I want to remember.

JULY

July is a blurred, half-remembered month. I barely left home, working flat-out to finish my manuscript in time for my editor. To keep me sane I got as much fresh air as I could and appreciated the little details I was in danger of missing – abandoned mills, wildflowers, hidden river paths I hadn’t wandered since childhood. I balanced out this new-found peace and sanity by watching Chernobyl in the evenings.

  Mid-July brought temporary novel freedom. I met my deadline - just in time to celebrate a friend’s wedding! If I look glaekit it’s because I can’t quite believe I’m allowed to leave my desk. Afterwards, deadline free, I took myself to a café with my bullet journal and brainstormed future book ideas.

An almond croissant the size of my head courtesy of @aranbakery. The ham sandwich baffles me because a) I can’t remember eating it and b) I don’t like ham sandwiches.

{There must be some weird July-energy scuttling through my nerves still, as I convinced myself for thirty seconds there that ‘ham’ is spelt ‘halm’.}

AUGUST

Another month, another wedding. Same outfit. Saving money and the planet.

I took a trip to Dundee to use a Waterstones gift card before it expired. I got Autumn by Ali Smith (2/5), Wild Harbour by Ian MacPherson (4/5) and The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin (cr). No trip to Dundee is complete without a visit to The Bach. I obviously live a sheltered life because the option to choose between v60, chemex and aeropress genuinely lights my fire.  

My novel freedom was short-lived as I received the first round of edits from my Editor towards the end of August. A latte was procured from the downstairs café to soften the blow but turns out I was energised rather than deflated by my editor’s feedback! Although there are big changes to make I feel a tingly excitement at the prospect of making The Children of the Mist a better book.

And so, summer ends in the way it begun, with words & wildflowers.