Sunday musings and freelance life update

It’s Sunday evening and I am snuggled up with Baxter on the sofa at my dad’s house. Dad and Karen live in the middle of an ancient woodland in their home built, off grid house. More about this perfect little haven another day, but for now I thought I would give a little update on what I have been up to the last month and a few of my favourite blog posts I have been reading.

The weekend has of course been somewhat subdued after recent news from Paris. When it is so close to home it is easier to relate and worry that such a horrific nightmare could happen in England again. My thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by the recent terrorist attacks.

Freelance life

I have been freelance for over a month now and as mentioned in my recent post, I love it. I have had time to catch up with family, while building up a constantly growing client list, hurray!

I’ve been working on building new partnerships and an even bigger blogger list for Room Auction, which is going very well. We have a new person starting work with us in a couple of weeks so things are going to hot up even more. If you’re a blogger who might be interested in becoming a Travel Ambassador or a travel brand who might want to partner with us Get in Touch.

I’ve also done a couple of days training on social media and entrepreneurship for different companies and continued to build some new partnerships for this blog. Soon I will be launching my new work site, ‘She Gets to Work’, so look out for a new swanky site coming soon.

The highlight of the month was definitely World Travel Market, where I met so many brilliant travel brands, added many more countries onto my bucket list (who am I kidding, just about every country is on there anyway) and had loads of fun with some of my favourite bloggers buddies. I also wrote about this great session on the top travel trends in 2016 after a talk I went to. Let me know if you agree with the predictions.

It’s been a busy month, but being freelance means I have had time for morning swims with mum, woodland walks with Baxter the Legend and I have spent a LOT of time trying desperately to find a new car. You can’t live without wheels in the countryside.

Books, books, books

At the beginning of the year I made one New Year’s resolution and that was to read more books.

Not just more books but one book per week for a year. That’s 52 books in one year.

The second part of the resolution was to blog about it which so far I have failed at, but I have achieved my reading challenge so far and have read a total of 45 books this year, a challenge I honestly didn’t think I would succeed in but I have loved it.

Seven books left and I am already half way through book 46 in preparation for #TravelBookChat on Tuesday night. So what have I read so far this month…

• Stuffocation by James Wallman

If you’re trying to live with less stuff then this book will help! I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment that experiences are better than ‘things’ I think all travel bloggers will agree with that. Though when it comes to actually getting rid of your stuff it’s a lot harder than you think. I spent this afternoon sorting through some things I have had stored at my dad’s for the last year and have managed to remove about 4 boxes of stuff to recycling or the charity shop, but there are still a fair few boxes left. One step at a time…

• Winter in Madrid by C J Samson

One of my little sisters recommended this one. Set in Spain shortly after the Spanish Civil War it tells a tale of love, danger and the things people do when faced with no choice in a war torn country. I couldn’t put it down.

• Marching Powder by Rusty Young

So far this is reminding me a little of Shantaram, my all time favourite book. It is a true story and is already leaving me shocked and amazed at just what goes on in South America’s most notorious prison. Typing faster so I can get back to reading…

Bloggers I’ve been following

Being at World Travel Market meant I got to catch up with loads of my favourite blogger friends in person, so I have become addicted again to many of their blogs:

• Vicky FlipFlop has some awesome tips for wanabee bloggers 
• Monica at The Travel Hack has started sharing photos of her house renovations. I love her new kitchen!
• Beverley went on a similar trip to me to Hastings for the day.
• Elizabeth at Rosalilium has inspired me to write this post with her Self Care Sunday posts
• And to drop a guy into the mix, Ed never fails to make me chuckle!

Plans for the rest of the month

So what have I got planned for the rest of the month?

Well on Tuesday I am heading back to London to catch up with a few friends, including my pal Niki who features in yesterday’s post. On Wednesday morning I am speaking at the Bloggers Lounge breakfast on the do’s and dont’s of working with bloggers. I can’t wait to meet some new blogger friends there.

Later in the week I have a family get together to celebrate my step dad Tim’s 50th birthday and then back to London for more social media training, this time for students at UCL. Can’t wait to get stuck in. Training and public speaking are two of my favourite things to do so hoping to build these up over the coming months. Yay!

I love building a business around doing things I love, it doesn’t feel like work when you are doing what you love, so fingers crossed I don’t have to ever do a day of non enjoyable work ever again. Hurray.

What have you been up to the last few weeks? Anyone got any good book recommendations to see me through to the end of the year?

For a final little giggle my mummy has a new friendly Pheasant who stops by for his breakfast every morning. He pecks on the door until we open up and give him some seeds. He has a broken foot so can’t fly and I think relies on us for his food, that or he is very greedy. Such a cutie! Never thought I would have a pet pheasant. Anyone got any good ideas to name him?