Life Updates
HALLO ALL, HAVE YOU ALL MELTED??
I am not enjoying this sudden heatwave. When people ask me if I’ve been loving the beautiful weather, I tell them no, I’ve been hiding in the shadows of my house hissing at the sun through the window. HISSSS I SAY.
Still, it seems to be cooling down a bit, thank Gawwwwdddd, and I definitely have been loving seeing all my pals in the sunshine, as well as work easeing up for the summer. (Yay for writing time in an empty shop!)
Speaking of which… I have a work update! After Portsmouth Uni drawing out the process to anxiety-inducing lengths, my Voluntary Redundancy finally got accepted (Yay!) and they offered me the amount of money I was expecting to receive (Yay!) but they want me to stay on in the job until DECEMBER (Boo!) … As you can tell, there are a lot of mixed emotions!
At first I was like NOOO DON’T MAKE ME STAY HEEERE… It’s really hard when you are emotionally detached from a job, but have to keep acting like you care about it. But then on further reflection, I realised it might not be so bad. I do have a laugh in the shop most of the time. The evil restructure changes won’t be put in place until January. so I won’t have to deal with any of that crap. I’ll have time to save even more money for my “Eat Pray Love Year (TM)”, and be able to wind down bit by bit, plus say a proper goodbye to my friends.
SO ACTUALLY, when I really think about it, this is all the perfect outcome. I’ve broken through my grieving period and now I’m out the other side feeling pretty pumped, in all honesty (mixed with the occasional wobble, but I guess that’s to be expected?!). With so many creative projects floating around, any of which could take off at any moment, the timing feels somewhat fated - the thought of a FULL YEAR (or thereabouts) to move the needle forward is just a dream come true. And if I get to the end of 2027 and nothing has happened… Well, at least I will have tried. And I won’t have a single regret in regards to chasing my dreams.
Also, everyone at work is currently running around like a headless chicken, trying (n vain) to stop the sky from falling. And it’s like I’m watching through a window, going OH DEAR, knowing full well I’ll be walking away from the chaos by the time it all implodes. It’s amazing how easily you can ignore stressful things when you know they’re not going to be your problem anymore. I do feel sorry for everyone left dealing with the unfolding nightmare… But it certainly serves to remind me that jumping off the ship now is one thousand percent the right decision.
One of my wise artist customers simply told me “Change is good” when I told her the news. And she’s right. I always fear change, but it’s needed. In fact, it’s long overdue. So let’s embrace that moody bitch with open arms for once in my bloody life. Maybe, if I stop resisting, we’ll actually get along.
Aside from work - at the start of June I arranged a get together with me, Matty, my besties Paul and Andy, and my Mum to SING KARAOKE!!! Mum said she’d always wanted to try it so I had to make it happen as a little pre-birthday treat! We booked a deal with unlimited cocktails and pizza, and got to sing for well over 2 hours (they gave us extra time!)
It was such a laugh, with our musical repertoire ranging from The Beatles to Oasis to Barbra Streisand to N-Dubz to a heartfelt duet of WAP between Paul and I (sorry Mum). It really was a giggle, and naturally there was plenty of choreography to go alongside the singing. It did take Mum about thirty minutes to work out how to sing INTO the mic rather than holding it ten feet away from her face, but we got there in the end!
Oh yeah IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY THIS MONTH WOOHOO! 39, fucking hell. Not sure how I got here to the end of my thirties, I think I blinked and middle age was suddenly looming above me, gnashing its teeth in a most unfriendly way… But you know what, I had an existential crisis at 25, then again at 30, and then the crisis kind of carried on in the background, just chugging along like a reliable old jalopy, so in all honesty 40 feels like an extension of the continuous rising dread that’s been present for most of my life anyway SO REALLY IT’S NOT SO BAD!!
ANYHOW, I had a lovely weekend up in Bristol with Matty. We saw the Aardman museum, which was a bit of a rip-off because it was ONE MEASLY ROOM OF THINGS for £20, but I did love seeing all the claymation figures, they were fab! We perused cute indie bookshops and had yummy food and drink, and saw a pub full of cats and actually got A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP in this nightmarish heat thanks to our lovely air-conditioned room. It was brilliant, just like being on holiday! I love being with Matty wherever we go and whatever we do - we always have the best time. 💖
I can also thoroughly recommend the Dead Man’s Fingers rum bar… A place made for me, and the cocktails were so cheap. When are we getting one in Pompey?!
Creative Updates
Writing/Submission News
Well, as per usual, I have no news on Just For Likes being out on submission. It’s pretty much the same story as last month… Some passes, some editors still reading, a few leads here and there… I’m sitting in this weird limbo where something could definitely still happen, but also, perhaps my focus should be on what’s next.
I’m lucky that I’m someone who has always been prolific with my ideas, so “what’s next” doesn’t feel too scary - but at the same time, it’s so hard when the book you adore, the book you worked on tirelessly for 2 years, the book that early readers fell in love with… Is just not doing the thing you thought it would do.
I think it’s mostly down to luck and timing, neither of which have been on my side for this project. I’m trying to tell myself that if this book helped me find Daisy - who is honestly my dream agent - then it’s not been a waste. And one day it will get its time in the sun, even if it’s now right now.
But also… It could still actually be right now?! Like, who freaking knows. PUBLISHING IS TORTURE.
In the meantime I’ve been:
~ Finishing up my JFL sequel (which may now become a standalone) - just hit 60k words!!
~ Outlining a Christmas script idea with my Canadian-sister-from-another-mister Carley
~ Playing with a few ideas for the potential next book… A few storylines are currently competing for my attention, which is exciting!
Welp. At least I’ll have plenty of time to work on all this very soon, when I’m an unemployed bum! Hooray!
Other Stuff!
Paul and I released our first Rate My Bop episode for almost a year! We LOVE rating new albums on our pop-themed podcast, but being the busy little bees we are, we don’t often have time to get together and record. That’s why it was soooo fun to rate and review the new Olivia Rodrigo album - check it out below:
We’ve got a few dates booked in over summer too, so look forward to more content soon!
In other news, I attended my first ever Life Drawing class this month! It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be and some of the poses were rather impossible to try and emulate (I tried though!)
I found it kind of sexy, everyone gathered around this random man and intensely studying his naked body - but my boss Sue told it was just really awkward and that I’m a pervert. Well, that tracks. Anyway, it was so fun and I hope we’ll get to do another session in September!
I was also a guest on my lovely writer friends’ podcast When Isabel Met Aviva this month, chatting all about novel writing, recent rom coms and potato sack dresses of doom! The episode has just gone live on both Spotify and Youtube (below) - please give it a watch, we had such a lovely conversation!
Movie Recs
Toy Story 5 - A super cute edition to the Toy Story franchise, with a lot to say about tech taking over imagination play. I loved that Jessie got to be the lead of this one - and yes, I SOBBED.
Cora Bora - A quirky, kinda vibey comedy-drama on Netflix starring Meg Stalter in her usual role of “woman who is a crazy, hot mess”. I really liked this one and found myself rather charmed by it! (I also want Meg’s hair in this movie).
Scary Movie 6 - I have never in my life seen a movie in this franchise, and it was SO STUPID, but I actually had the best time seeing it in the cinema haha! Sometimes you just need to switch your brain off and watch a load of spoofy nonsense.
TV Recs
Mating Season - It’s just Big Mouth but with animals in the woods, and it’s really rude, and it had terrible reviews, but I’ve found it hilarious… So what exactly does that say about me? Who knows.
Beast Games - This is exactly like Squid Game: The Challenge but with less fake dying and more Mr. Beast. He is a very strange man, but I am actually obsessed with this gameshow?! SO MUCH PSYCOLOGICAL WARFARE (my fave).
Tip Toe - The new Russell T. Davies show about two feuding neighbours with very opposing ideologies. It took me a while to get into this one because tonally it was a bit all over the place, BUT it’s so timely with its messages, and really speaks out for LGBTQ+ rights in a time where right-wing rhetoric is becoming scarily normalised. Definitely worth a watch.
Book Recs
Love, Locked Down by Beth Reekles - A super cute multi-POV book following multiple couples stuck in lockdown in the same flat during COVID. The pandemic talk was VERY minimal, it was mainly about the various pressure cooker situations happening simultaneously - I absolutely loved it!
Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green - I can’t lie, I could listen to John Green narrate absolutely ANYTHING, and whilst the topic of tuberculosis was not on my bingo card for 2026, I was fascinated by his take on the disease and as well as global medical inequity. It’s not what I would call an easy read, but I learned a lot, and (as always with John) there is just so much warmth and humanity within the writing.
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood - Haven’t quite finished it yet, but I’m counting it! Ali is my number one romance author of all time and this story about a college-aged professional diver who meets a hot, kinky Olympian swimmer is honestly one of her best. Her writing is like crack, GIVE IT TO ME NOW!
Music Recs
Off Campus: The Mixtape by Various Artists - All the major songs from the new show Off Campus… IT’S SO GOOD! Rocky covers of famous pop songs, indie bangers, pretty singer/songwriter style stuff (the lead girl can SING)… I love it sooo much!
you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love by Olivia Rodrigo - You can hear my full, unfettered review of this album on mine and Paul’s Rate My Bop Episode, but I will tell you, I’m a fan!! Album of the summer for sure!
Detour by Kim Petras - I think Kim Petras is a vibe and this is album is full of in-your-face dance tracks that don’t hold back a single ounce of energy. Fun!
Thanks so much for reading my nonsense, I really appreciate everyone who does!
Hope you’re sitting by a high-strength fan wherever you are, and having a fantabulous start to summer.
Much love,
Becky xx
These posts never fail to make me laugh 😂😅😂 Cue landslide swiping you into your next intestinal crisissssssssss