Hello 2022

It's a good job I haven't put blog more as one of my goals for 2022 because I think I would epically fail. 

However, I have some FAB news and I want to share on my blog (although I know I do have a newsletter that needs writing too!)

I'm not very good at setting New Year Resolutions. I am sure I've told you this before. However, with my new network marketing side show, I am encouraged to set goals, and to write them down and visualize them, as well as say affirmations. I've even recently done a positive coaching session with Liz Doyle who calls them intentions rather than goals. 

So among some business goals/intentions for 2022, I wrote on a post-it note as well as on my little white board to find a new job by 31st March 2022. (I wanted to change my job back in 2020 and then became a key-worker, remember?)

Well, peeps, I've only gone and done just that! 

2022 has started off superbly with Mistletoe At The Manor selling well and remaining a Best Seller for over 2 months (more on that in my newsletter.) But now I also have a fresh start! 

I have only four more shifts at the Post Office and then I'm having a couple of weeks off before I start my new job! It's more hours, and I will be working in Corporate Services for my local council. It'll include some home working too once I am fully trained. 

I will still have time to write (more on that another day) and time to work my home-based business. 

The great thing is no more working Saturdays and no more Christmases in the Post Office! 

So I am now fully onboard with this visualising your goals business because the Universe WILL provide. 

Write them down, make them visible and say those affirmations every morning! You can do this! 

Goodbye 2021

As the year comes to a close, I thought I would reflect a little. 2021 hasn't been all bad, (thanks to journaling my 3 positives a day) although it does feel like it amalgamated with 2020 a bit. I am so done with Covid! I really hope we do see the back of it in 2022! 

Mistletoe At The Manor has remained in the top 500 in the UK Amazon charts for a month! I can't believe this. It's been No 1 in Inspirational Religious Fiction (only because it's set at Christmas lol!) and as I type this, it's No 2 in British and Irish Humour and Satire Fiction - which is a little more my category! This is a great way to end the year with my writing career. 

I do have edits for my third novel (due summer 2022) which I will look at next week. But I have really taken the last two weeks off. It's been hard to concentrate with the kids home and getting ready for Christmas, from cake decorating, mince pie making and present wrapping! 

One of my best friends bought me a Jane Austen puzzle for Christmas, and I have spent time finishing this. Something I'm not very good at doing is taking time to do nothing - without feeling guilty about it. Christmas feels like the only time I can justify stopping everything and doing a puzzle. So I did! 

With my UW business, it came to a halt with not many people wanting to take a look at their bills with Christmas approaching - completely understandable! But in 2022, I really want to help more people save money on their bills. There are more price increases coming, and the cost of living is just going up and up. With this in mind, I'd also love to help people make some extra cash like I do. £250-500 extra a month to most people will make a huge difference to their everyday lives. I know it does with me. 2022 we have a holiday in Corfu to look forward to, and I wouldn't have been able to book this without my UW business income. 

But UW hasn't just given me a financial benefit. It has taken me on a path of personal development no other organisation I've worked with has even thought to give me. I want to grow and develop and be a better version of myself in 2022. And I hope that will make me a better person to support the people closest to me. 

Also, if I want to get another book out there, I need to start writing properly again, so I'm setting myself a word target for each week of 2000 words. 

I'm not really one for New Year Resolutions, and if anything, I've learnt it's best to set goals. Do you set goals? If so, what are they? 

Another of my goals is to find a part-time job as I really need to get out of the Post Office!

On that note, Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2022 brings you happiness and health, because these two things are what makes real wealth. 

Xxxx 

My Latest Newsletter Is Out!

 My latest newsletter is out! Have you subscribed? 

Well here it is if you'd like to read it! 

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year! 

Keep reading, and writing. Much love, Teresa x 

Happy 17th Birthday, Ben!

Oh, Lordy! Where does the time go? I'm pretty sure the years speed up as soon as you have kids! 

I can still picture my son as he was laid on my tummy after I'd given birth to him for that early bonding. Labour had been a tiny bit traumatic. But being a new mother, I was shocked that he had his eyes open. Bright, blue eyes stared at me (not that he could probably see me much.) 

And now I have this 17-year-old! (I know, I don't look old enough to own a 17-year-old!)

He will always be a blessing. After suffering an ectopic pregnancy at the age of 29, and losing a fallopian tube, I really didn't think I would get pregnant again. I was in a very dark place for a while. So when Ben was born I considered myself incredibly lucky. 

I remember (he won't as he was barely a day old) that I did tell him when we were on our own, I would do my best as a mother, and that whatever life threw at us, we'd handle it. (I was incredibly nervous as a new mother and knowing my patience wasn't the best, I was worried I'd be terrible at parenting.)

Ben has continued at the pace that he entered the Earth, by taking his sweet-arsed time with things - which can be frustrating! He's a little away with the fairies and dis-organised, (compared to Kieran!) and then he can surprise you by being super organised with some random thing!

But he does help with the dinner, and odd jobs around the house, and he's achieved excellent exam results, which means he's able to study towards becoming a civil engineer. I just wish he'd remember to turn off the lights as he leaves a room and tidy his bedroom. Oh, and remember to shut cupboard doors! 

He does have a great sense of humour, and doesn't suffer fools lightly. His laidback, chilled persona, and the fact he's not too worried about what other people think, should help with not taking things too seriously, and not get too stressed in life, as well as not suffering with peer pressure. He has always been sensible, and used to get quite annoyed as a child when rules weren't stuck to! 

Happy 17th, Ben! Love you more than you can imagine, Mum x x x 

This will always be one of my favourite photos! 

Publication Day for Mistletoe At The Manor

Mistletoe At The Manor is out today! 

It is the second novel in my Kittiwake Cove series, and is my first official Christmas novel. You can order from here!

A heart-warming Christmas romance set in Cornwall! Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Victoria Walters, Heidi Swain and Phillipa Ashley…

Can Beth learn to open her heart this Christmas…?

Between setting up her boutique and raising her six-year-old son, single mum Beth Sterling has little time for romance.

Keen to expand her clientele, Beth moves her business into a cosy converted stable on the scenic Trenouth Estate.

However, her focus soon wavers when she meets Tristan Trenouth, the handsome but aloof owner of the estate. Each wilful and outspoken, Beth and Tristan are soon clashing whenever they cross paths.

With the estate’s charity ball and Christmas fayre on the horizon, the two grudgingly put their differences aside and agree to work together. And as they spend more and more time in each other’s company, their uneasy truce blossoms into a strong mutual attraction.

But with a young son, a fledgling business and a painful past to contend with, Beth needs someone she can rely on. And Tristan has demons of his own to face…

Can Beth get her boutique up and running in time for Christmas? Will she and Tristan find happiness together?

Or will the shadows of the past drive them apart…?

MISTLETOE AT THE MANOR is a contemporary festive read you won’t be able to put down. Get lost among the snowy hills of Cornwall in this glittering Christmas romance, perfect for cosy winter nights.