The Write Stuff with... Charlie Ferguson

Today it's my pleasure to welcome blogger and aspiring author Charlie Ferguson to talk about how lockdown has inspired and affected her multiple projects.

When I first heard that the lockdown was approaching I was quite excited to be getting some well needed time at home to work on the multiple projects I had been neglecting and putting on the back burner due to work. Since 2018 I have 2 blogs, one bookish based where all my book reviews, book and blog tours and anything else bookish went which has been running for 6 years now, the most recent blog is a mix of everything else, lifestyle, cooking, advice and all the things in-between. The blogs were and are not the only thing on my project list, I also have a book manuscript and a human nutrition course to complete.

Within the first week of lockdown I was catching up on my sleep mostly and then happily planning on what was next. Within the second week I was gliding through my course, feeling completely inspired and motivated for the rest of my projects. I was so inspired I managed to edit my books first chapter and I felt like I was on a great course to continue my editing as I was using the comment feature to mark up improvements and questions that were relevant to my editing process which would help me make my work the best it can be with less chance of doing my head in. Managing this only furthered my motivation and inspiration as I headed back over to my blogs determined to get them cobweb free ad running silky smooth again. First came the bookish one, A Books Eternal Glory, which I managed to post on for the first time in 9 months and even agreed with a close friend to partner up so she could also take part in posting on the blog as she is a huge bookworm. Next was the mash up blog, I was planning so many posts and coming up with ideas I was just simply bursting at the seams. There was nothing stopping me for the next 2 weeks and I was feeling unbeatable with all of my inspiration running through my veins. 

Sadly, the 5th week of lockdown hit and suddenly everything had gone, every ounce of my determination and inspiration had gone with very little to show for it. My book sat unedited after the single chapter and the comments I had first left, my course sat undone at the 2nd assessment and the blogs lay dormant once again. I was searching each day for the motivation, telling people I had these things to do but in the end I wasn’t doing them as much as I truly tried. In the end, the lockdown gave me the opportunity to organise and act upon my projects and goals but it also drained away all of my motivation and inspiration by simply cutting me off from the physical things that had been helping me keep myself and my brain busy and active. To this day my book manuscript lies with a close friend of mine, a fellow author who simply can’t wait to read my work and give me feedback and my boyfriend can’t wait to read my work and even ex colleagues can’t wait and now there’s a tiny spark of inspiration appearing within me to stick with my book manuscript and my goal for it regardless, make my time on it worth it. 

Maybe I wore myself out thinking this time was going to be the perfect time to do all of these things and let’s be honest it would be the perfect time to do all of the projects I tried to do but I just went at it the wrong way, diving right into all of them at the same time and not taking my time with each project. Covid 19 has taught me many things, it’s shown me my friendships, the fragile ones the strong ones, it’s shown me the extent of my own company giving me time to reflect upon myself and making the changes I hope will positively affect my future long after this pandemic. I miss the outside world, my friends, my boyfriend, keeping busy at work and going on amazing dates and having some fun and plenty of laughs. In these troubling times we must be patient with ourselves and others, take things into consideration and not take things for granted. 

I can’t wait for what the future holds when we are finally able to be living in the new normal and working hard on my projects one at a time at a good pace.

Charlie Ferguson

Websites:
abookseternalglory.blogspot.co.uk
cwordtalks.wordpress.com

Twitter:
@abooksglory
@word_talks

Instagram:
abookseternalglory