o bleakness!

Some days you're afraid of the sky falling; other days you're afraid it won't.

Monday I felt really dreadful. I woke up early, exhausted from not enough sleep and just lay there worrying for some time.

I was concerned about my health, my finances, my home.... and to cap it all off, my first few days in National Novel Writing Month felt like a complete disaster.

That really disturbed me; if I was doing so much worse this year than last year, it was obviously a sign that I was so run-down I couldn't even concentrate on doing something that I loved. I must be running on empty.

I sat at the keyboard and all my ideas felt so flat and useless.

But during the afternoon, while walking Julie's dogs, I fell to musing and came up with a completely different approach. Maybe that was what I should be doing -- perhaps things weren't competely hopeless after all.

Then in the evening we went out to the Irish Association's monthly quiz night at the New Sydney Hotel and our team managed to scrape into first place by one point. A narrow margin, but we did win.

Maybe life isn't so bad after all....