Life Update: New Job, New Home, and Book Writing Journey

So you have brought and read my book and want to know what I (the author) have been up to since I wrote it..

Well to be honest, quite a bit has changed. Ive now got a full time job in the civil service, I’ve recently started the process of buying my first home, and I am truly and happily content with my life right now.

So going back, I wrote ‘Breaking Free’ last spring/summer. The original plan was to write a bit and see how it goes. I had no plans to write the whole book in 16 weeks, and to be honest, the first few weeks were tough. I wrote the first chapter, but then struggled to write the second and third. I knew I needed help if I was to ever get this book written, so I turned to the group of people I knew I could rely on to get this book done and yep, for those who have already read my book, it was my girl gang from Hornsey, Tabz, Inaya, Ruzi and Jay.

We are all still in touch with each other and have our own little WhatsApp group, so when I told them that I was finally writing my life story, they were all over the moon. I even got a comment that it was about time. I asked them for help, and they happily agreed to be my first ever readers.

I knew the girls wouldn’t judge me, and maybe the book would help them understand me better, or at least the girl they knew from school, and I was right. I gave each of them a copy of each chapter as I wrote them, and they did nothing but encourage and support me. To be honest, if it wasn’t for these girls, I probably would not have gotten the book written as fast as I did, as they were constantly on my case to get the next chapter, to the point that I was writing one chapter a week.

Once I got into the groove of things, I aimed to get the whole book written by the time my girls started back to school in September…and I sort of missed that deadline, but only by a week, so not too upset about that.

The next thing was finding an editor, as I knew I had written an excellent book, but i also knew that grammar and punctuation was not my strong point, plus I knew I was gonna need help with the whole publishing the book thing. So I connected with a contact I had made during my ‘business’ days, Jen from Fuzzy Flamingo.

Jen is someone I have met through Mums In Business Facebook group, and I knew she would be perfect as my editor as she had been following my journey whilst writing it, and to be honest, Jen has been AMAZING! She not only edited the whole thing just right, she even made sure all the information that I had in the book was still relevant (such as the IMAX at millennium point, no longer being an IMAX cinema…). 

Jen started the whole editing process from October 2023, and meanwhile I had been applying for jobs.. well did 4 applications during the summer. Most of them were standard office based jobs, which I had gone for as I didn’t think that I would get a great job after being a stay at home mum/small business owner for the last 6 years… but there was 1 job, that my husband had encouraged me to apply for. Can’t go into much detail about it as its civil service job, and don’t want to get into trouble for saying something that I shouldn’t be. But it is a branch of the Ministry of Justice, so you can get an idea of how professional and rule abiding it is.

So I applied for this job, didn’t think I would ever be considered for it, but got an email for a formal interview, which I dreaded, as I suffer from anxiety, so when they said ‘is there any special requirements for the interview’, I said yes and told them that I suffer from anxiety, and that fiddling with something helps a lot, so can I fiddle with something during the interview, and they agreed. I did my research of the types of questions asked and made notes on them and stuck them around the table where I was going to have my zoom interview. Don’t remember much of the interview, apart from mentioning that I had written a book, which seemed to impress them. So I used my experience of writing ‘Breaking Free’ to answer questions about time management, sticking to deadlines, and setting realistic targets, and a few weeks later I found out that I got the job.

I officially joined the office on 9th November 2023, and went through 6 weeks of training, then 6 weeks in consolidation team (during which I was signed off sick for 2 weeks with a serious chest infection), made a few friends at work, and then joined my permanent team in Feb 2024.

And what a team! Everyone is amazing, my manager is awesome, and I absolutely love working there. My first month in, I was nominated by my manager for reward and recognition for my great work ethic, smashing the targets set for me, and for always trying my best, and was rewarded with a £20 voucher to use (still need to figure out where I can use it ..lol). But I am happy and working everyday is a pleasure and something I look forward to.

On another front, with me having a full time job, me and my husband were able to get a mortgage and start house hunting. We saw quite a few properties, that were ok, but we were always beaten when offers were given, that we thought we would have to settle for something that was a fixer upper and maybe not as close to the girls school as we wanted. Until we view this one house. As soon as we walked in, my jaw dropped. This was my dream house. It was decorated in a style that I loved, there was a sofa, small TV and artwork on the wall, that made it look like the perfect show house, the lounge was just the right size, as well as the kitchen, the back garden was tiled and perfect, and I wanted this house before I had even been upstairs. Even my husband fell in love with it, and whispered to me that he thinks we should put in an offer before we headed upstairs. The upstairs didn’t disappoint either… 2 great size double bedrooms, a single/box room, and they even had turned the old boiler cupboard into a home office space. There were built in wardrobes as well as beds, curtains, artwork etc… it literally was a show house that showed off the home in the best possible light.

So we spoke to the estate agent about its price and how long it has been on the market, she told the information and told us that it was £182k, but all the furniture was included.. unfortunately £182k was slightly above our budget, so we offered £180k, which was the max we could afford, and the offer got accepted.

We are currently on the last stages of the paperwork, and fingers crossed, we should be moved in by the time the next blog post comes out next month. 

So this is a snapshot of what has been going on in my life since the book was written. I hope you enjoyed this update, and continue to follow my blog as I keep you updated on my life.

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Memoir writing, girl gang support, writing process, editing services, career transition, civil service job, anxiety management, time management tips, home buying journey, mortgage process, house hunting experience, home decor inspiration, property offers, budget-friendly home buying, moving process.