Tag: #challenging

[28] 85 Days till the end of the year

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Today could well be the shortest post I have written so far. With regards to writing, today hasn’t been that inspiring. I am just reviewing the 99 things I said I would achieve by the end of the year. So I then decide I’ll post the 99 things. I keep the list in Google Keep as checklists hence the ticked off items ( at the bottom). I have managed so far 9, so 90 still to do and 85 days to achieve them. I will pick out 10 for the next week.

Going through the list  I noted some duplication so these have been changed to be added (TBD) at a point in the not too distant future

99 things in 99 days

  • 1 Get below 90 kg ( Currently at 91.0 but did make it to 90.4)
  • 3 Go somewhere never been before
  • 4 Read a Joe Abercrombie book
  • 5 finish the book
  • 6 Enter a story into a competition
  • 7 Walk 20k steps in Manchester
  • 8 Eat at work for a full week
  • 9 Drink 3 bottles of water ( 1lt bottles ) in a day
  • 10 Do 1 task a day for 1 week
  • 12 TBD
  • 13 keep spending diary for 1 week
  • 14 purchase £250 shares
  • 15 purchase £250 shares
  • 16 Try selling and buying bitcoins ( Already sold hoping for a price drop it hasn’t happened so far! oops)
  • 17 Cook dinner party
  • 18 Walk stairs at work for a day
  • 19 Brain training for 21 days
  • 20 Listen to 3 audiobooks
  • 21 Read a book had on my bookshelf for ages
  • 22 Eat salt and pepper chicken
  • 23 Do something out of comfort some
  • 24 Write a poem and enter in contest
  • 25 Write 1000 word story
  • 26 Walk down alphabetical Street Manchester – so A-Z
  • 27 Photo on Instagram for 5 days
  • 28 Swap a book on book swap
  • 29 Chat to some writing bloggers
  • 30 Eat Chinese food
  • 31 Catch leaves in a wood
  • 32 Draft idea for cover
  • 33 Go to the seaside
  • 34 Watch star wars Last Jedi
  • 35 Go cinema with Hannah
  • 36 Watch football in the pub
  • 37 Buy something for someone
  • 39 Watch something on top 10 series on NetFlicks
  • 40 Tweet 5 things in a day
  • 41 Act of kindness for homeless person
  • 42. Do something for Hannah (Daugther, I know she is trying to read this so if you do get to this bit don’t  worry I’ll make sure it’s cheap :). Text me when to actually read this with the word spatula) 
  • 43 Do something for Leo (son)
  • 44 Do something for Julie (wife)
  • 45 Do something for Helen (sister)
  • 46 Do something for Mum (er Mother)
  • 47 Withheld as someone might see this and spoil it
  • 48 Listen to a new band
  • 49 Listen to a new podcast
  • 50 Ask XXXX about her published book, name remove to protect the innocent 
  • 51 Watch a SQL bits video
  • 52 Buy a chocolate bar not eaten in years
  • 53 Do something seen on Lancashire tourist info
  • 54 Eat somewhere never eaten before
  • 55 Order something off internet, not from Amazon
  • 56 Buy a new cheese
  • 57 Smile at someone while walking in the streets of Manchester, taking my life into my own hands
  • 58 Post something of random to someone as a gift
  • 59 Jog
  • 60 Dance
  • 61 Try and speak to someone you haven’t for a while
  • 62 Eat a flavour of crisps never tried
  • 63 Bake something
  • 64 TDB
  • 65 Buy something for Hannah birthday
  • 66 Buy something for Leo birthday
  • 68 Take a photo in Manchester of something unique
  • 69 Catch a falling leaf
  • 71 Play cards
  • 74 Read a novella
  • 75 Walk from Buckshaw train station 
  • 76 Sit in a booth in Costa
  • 78 Buy a different coffee
  • 79 List all books owned in good reads
  • 80 Visit martincroft sign ( I have a road named after me!)
  • 82 Buy a magazine not bought previously 
  • 83 Enter competition in a magazine
  • 84 Buy a new shirt
  • 85 Buy new trainers
  • 87 Look into company car
  • 88 Finish my dad wrote a porno
  • 89 Find another podcast I like
  • 90 List all things started and not completed
  • 91 Decide on user group session and create it
  • 92 Sign up for Pluralsite for a month
  • 93 Bake bread in bread maker
  • 94 Eat somewhere new
  • 95 Read a book recommended
  • 96 Blog 50 times
  • 97 TBD
  • 98 TBD
  • 99 TBD
  • 2 Gym streak of 5 days
  • 11 Meditate for twenty-one days
  • 67 Drink something different (Tried Aperol Spritzer not that nice)
  • 70 Swim one work morning
  • 72 inbox zero all email accounts
  • 73 buy the guardian
  • 77 sit somewhere different on train
  • 81 go to 5 guys
  • 86 Finish python course

[23] Story challenge

martincroftLeave a comment

A couple of days ago [21] I got some random works to create a story around

Orphaned child

Fierce

Pursuit

Polluted river

Wedding video

This is what I came up with:-
She was nearly out of breath, but she still kept running, she had to. She ran as fast as she could manage. She had managed to wriggle free when the man had grabbed her. She had lost her coat as he pulled her towards the open van door. She was starting to get cold. She was only 14 and very scared. She pushed through a hole in the hedge. Thinking the man would give up the pursuit but he hasn’t. He looked much older than her step-parents, she had grown up with them since she was orphaned at the age of six after the accident. The man had been very angry when she had managed to get away from him. He was a grey-haired scary man with a contorted screwed up face. He had this fierce look about him and called her a bitch as he struggled to get through the hedge. It has given her some precious time else he would have caught her. She knew the area and was navigating around the local river. It wouldn’t have been good to end up in the river, all the locals knew it was polluted. She cursed that she hadn’t got a mobile phone getting it confiscated that day at school for playing with it. She felt for her rucksack and cried out when she realised she’s lost it in the struggle. She gasped,  in the bag, in it was the only images she had of her parents on their wedding video

(Words 250)

The image was created from https://wordart.com/create

 

[17] Always searching

martincroftLeave a comment

I have been doing this 17 days now and this might be the first time I’ve sat down to write not knowing what I am going to write.  Maybe I broke myself writing 300 words yesterday. It had been pointed out a couple of typos and grammatical errors from the short story which I will go back and correct. I was also asked why a knitted dress? Why not?. The issue with writing exactly a set number of words is it’s really difficult. I mentioned my English isn’t the best in a previous post and the initial draft usually has a few issues which Word screams about and then Grammarly once pasted into WordPress. The addition of a single word or even deletion can mean restructuring whole sentences. Is this the best use of my time? Probably not. So, if I will always write 250 words we will see. The other thing is adding photographs. I spend, ages searching for photos appropriate to the blog. Yesterday the search for a girl on a train, funnily enough, found lots of pictures of ‘the girl on the train’ and if you search train and girl you get lots of dresses and no trains it seems. I think I need to start blogging about day to day stuff and also having a few drafts lined up. I might see if I can find a section of the book that makes sense on its own, as a lot of book you need the backstory to understand it.