Two Years On (Or Thereabouts)

How do you feel about anniversaries? Wander into a card shop and you’ll see all kinds of opportunities to spend money on a way of saying, “Look! It’s been x years since whatever it might be.” I’m a fan of anniversaries, but I find they tend to sneak up on me more and more these days.

My very first ever blog for MTW was published on 7th November 2019. So one year and ten months ago. Happy One Year and Ten-Month Anniversary! OK, that doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue and I don’t suppose Hallmark[1] will be banging on my door asking me if they can borrow the idea, but stick with me.

That blog (here it is – https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2019/11/its-all-completely-fabulous-by-ruth.html) was the start of something new for me. As I’ve shared before, I joined ACW in 2018 as a wide-eyed newbie, agog at the many talented people who had actually published real books. Books that you could pick up and smell and touch and perhaps even read. These dizzy heights were not something to which I aspired. I expected to carry on plodding away at being a freelance Christian writer while running a catering company and bringing up the children.

When Wendy asked me if I’d like to contribute to MTW, the conversation went something like this.

Wendy: “Would you like to be part of the MTW team? The seventh of the month is free.”

Me: “What? Me? Really? Oh my goodness, yes, yes, yes, yes, thank you so much, oh wow, are you sure?”[2]

Wendy (possibly wondering what she’s got herself into): “Yes. Seventh of the month. Around six hundred words and have a look on Pixabay for images.”

Me: “OK. Pixabay. Yes. And how do I use Blogger exactly? This is all new to me.”

Helpful suggestions followed. She wrapped it up by asking if I had my own blog. I didn’t. She indicated that it would be a very good idea if I started one. Armed with my new, slightly sketchy knowledge of Blogger software, I cast about for a title and I was off.

Looking back, that was the start of a new chapter in my writing life. Without ACW it wouldn’t have happened. I only invented my snobbish aspirational lifestyle blogger Isabella M Smugge for an MTW blog. I would never have done it otherwise.






It’s impossible for me to overstate just how supportive and inspiring and helpful the members of this fine organisation have been.

Looking back at that first ever blog, I see it’s all about authenticity and letting your slip show. I firmly believe in that. And pondering on what I should write today, I wanted to talk a little bit about How Things Look.

When promoting yourself and your works, you tend to err on the side of success and optimism. Marketing, after all, is all about making your shopfront look as good as possible. But we never know the whole story and today I felt it was important to take you behind the tapestry and show you the knots and the dangling threads.

“Ruth Leigh is a freelance writer and novelist. She has published one novel and the sequel comes out later this month. The third novel in the Isabella M Smugge series is currently marinating in her busy little brain. She is married with three children, keeps chickens and quail, has a cat and lives in beautiful East Suffolk.”




Wow. Get me. Mrs Overnight Success. From jobbing writer to author of a series! Let’s try that again.

“Ruth Leigh is a tired, middle-aged, often discouraged self-employed writer. She is still doing her other full-time job and she wishes it was all over, but she worries that she’s taking a risk that won’t pay off. She loves writing fiction and she wants to keep on doing it, but she often lies awake at night worrying that no-one will like what she writes. Of late, she has been looking back over her parenting career and crying a lot and berating herself for the mistakes she thinks she made, even though her children seem fairly well-adjusted, considering she is their mother. The chickens poo everywhere and lately the egg production hasn’t been great. She is so fortunate to live in this beautiful place, but is cross with herself for not enjoying it more. Everyone in the world is doing things better than her.”

Do you see? I hate the idea of other writers reading what I write on social media and thinking, “It’s all very well for her” or similar.

Today, it was really important for me to show you that everyone’s got a story and authenticity is painful and risky but vitally important. Over the last nearly two years, I’ve found that when I write my blog at the last minute and the words flow as they have, Someone else is really in charge and He wants me to write these words because someone needs to hear them. So as I press, “publish” (and sorry I’m late), I really hope that’s the case.

Images by Pixabay

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[1] Other card shops are available

[2] I may have exaggerated slightly for comic effect