Milestones

Big and small and in-between.

What is a milestone? Is it about reaching a certain age? Or getting to a significant point on your journey, wherever or whatever that may be in life?

Happily, today it’s a bit of both for me.
I’m celebrating a BIG birthday! But since I refuse, at least for now, to give my new age a number.

Behold: Today I am this old.

These heavy, clunky vintage shoe skates are just like the first pair I owned as a youngster. But despite their apparent short comings, they actually skated with some speed. That’s how I roll.

I progressed to a penny skateboard and then a big girl’s bike. Or was it the other way round? In any case, I remember my first solo ride on my Raleigh Amber (minus the stabilisers) like it was yesterday. There was no stopping me.

At eighteen, I got my very own car: a gold metallic, Nissan Sunny Sedan with a cassette player, wind up windows and a choke. Remember chokes? Great fun in cold Scottish winters! Those were the days, footloose and fancy free. Regularly driving way too fast at silly o’clock in the morning with a Stone Roses tape blasting out of the stereo.

I can think of those early years behind me as the opening chapters in a book, the setup of my story. Writers call it the first act. The second act is the meat that makes up most of the story. The fun and games. Full of highs and lows but always moving forward to a resolution.

After years of sensible grown-up living and reliably safe family cars, I graduated to a little Honda 125cc motorbike. Thought I was ‘erchie’, as they say in my neck of the woods. But no danger, it was quickly sold. What was I thinking?

And now, here I am. Yay for me! I’ve reached that age where my letterbox will remind me every day that I’m getting old. It has already spilled a variety of medical screening invitations. Thanks? Along with flyers for care homes. Eh, no thanks!

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for: A home, a loving husband, three beautiful amazing daughters that make me so proud my heart aches, an adorable dog, family and friends. Already a lifetime of memories to cherish. But I’m always looking forward, excited to see where the journey will take me in the next chapter.

I’ve taken many deliberate little steps in preparation for embarking on a publishing career: Reading lots more children’s books, listening and learning from authors and publishing professionals, attending workshops, trying to write every day until it feels like my job, editing, finding critique partners, submitting to journals and competitions, growing social media platforms, building a website, starting this blog.

I’m now at what writers term, the midpoint in a novel. Where standard plot structure determines that I am half way through my story. At this point, halfway through the second act, something momentous is meant to happen that will propel me to the climax. I need a certain amount of luck. What happens now could decide the ultimate fate of my story, and I like happy endings.
Stars willing, in what will be another big milestone for me, I’ll take my next exciting step. ‘I will secure an agent,’ I say out loud with fingers crossed.

For all your love, support and everything else in-between, thank you Mum and Dad. Thanks to Scottie too, who’s been part of my story since the first act. X

I’m grateful to have had a big family around me to celebrate my birthday. Cheers and good health to all!

I’m feeling very lucky.