31 Days Grace: March.

So, March happened! And it was a month spent in the big smoke. LDN. Laandaaann. I lived the life of an intern; hopping from one tube to another, sniffing out the cheapest lunch spots, calling up local friends for a comfy night, learning the delicate art of filling a filter coffee pot, and expertly juggling email inboxes. Oh yes, I learned a lot this month. 

My new favourite things this month were... 

·       PODCASTS, AGAIN. I listened to so many podcasts when I was packing and boxing and filing and posting in the office - I loved getting into a solid rhythm of work and having voices nattering at me as I did so. Learning shit, too. About celebrities, culture, digital marketing, money, food, fashion...I would come home every day with a teeny new box of info in my brain. 
Some episodes of podcasts that I especially enjoyed were: Jimmy Carr's Desert Island Discs - he was a pleasant surprise on that show! I also loved Bryony Gordon on Ctrl Alt Delete, she was hilarious and inspiring. I've already said how much I adore her book, right?! 

·       Supplements. Yeah, I am that guy and I seize every free mag I can find when getting on the tube...despite the fact that my relationship with magazines is turbulent, I could never resist them. Especially Balance and Stylist. 

·       Pret. Okay yeah, I already loved Pret and have for years, but the Pret across the road from the office was there for me on the days I couldn't eat what was in the staff canteen. Their vegan options have grown massively, and that brings joy to my heart and tummy equally! (I am typing this on my lunch break, eating a Chakalaka wrap and protein pot with added avo at my desk, aww yeaa)

·       Writing. Holy shit, something must have opened my creative floodgates recently guys because I JUST CANNOT STOP NOWWWW! The whole time I was in the office this month, thoughts would flash at me and I had to wedge them in somewhere at the back of my mind despite their pleas to be written ASAP. Whatever got my creative juices flowing again after them being a bit stop-start recently, thank you. (I am aware it may have been a sad experience and jumble of feels with a guy. If that's the case, then...you get no thanks.)

A favourite person this month was...

Actually, this month there are 3!

I've only done this thing in wrap up posts twice, and both times I've done it wrong...

I wanna shout out to some beloved family friends who put me up in the first and last weeks of my internship, and LDN-based friends who made room for me in the middle 3 weeks. Y'all made me comfortable, gave me space, let me hog duvets and use facilities and help myself from fridges, and the latter was in the few cases when I wasn't cooked for. You guys are actual angels; thank you to Louise, Stevie, and Ella - and to your flatmates (/children, in Louise's case!) for putting up with me, too. It's not an easy task...

And the exciting news this month was...

• I attended the Waterstones Children's Book Awards! Never mind how I got in *winks*...the point is, I went. And I saw the excellent author and my lovely friend Kiran Millwood Hargrave being crowned winner of the Younger Fiction award, which was a bit bloody lovely and made me shriek....and then she was announced the overall winner, too. That was when I full-on cried a bit.
  If you haven't read her magical debut 'The Girl of Ink & Stars', you're missing out. Her second novel 'The Island at the End of Everything' is out early, too! 

• I met Sara Pascoe, and she blew my mind to bits with facts and stats and hilarious/frightening musings on the female anatomy and all things sexual, too. Y'all need to read her book, 'Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body' (currently only £6.64 on A Great Read)! 

• The bookshelves were cleared! It's one of those things I say I do every other week, but really I've been slipping lately and thus the books have bred and built up...I donated a heap of them to the charity efforts at Beanzz. 

• As I said at the beginning of this post, for a most of the month I lived in London. Of course, I wasn't set up on my own - I was borrowing bed space in exchange for the promise of acknowledgements in my novel someday - but I was there, in the city, for an extended period of time. Usually 2 nights is my absolute max. I am now more sure than ever that at some point in my life I will live in London - if only for a little while, just to have that experience! But I am also way more aware of the realities; that it's draining some days, it's expensive always, and it's really not that big a place in some ways. 

I bought 2 books. And they only cost me £3 in total! They were books I already owned, yes, but don't judge me – I actually prefer these editions! I have since donated the copies I already owned to friends and one of them I definitely plan on eventually giving to the same Oxfam Bookshop in Eastbourne – because y'know, circle of life. 

I received a lot of gorgeous book mail this month as well, highlights being some very mature fiction/non-fic/poetry titles from Faber, a final copy of Hannah Witton's 'Doing It' book, and some gorgeous new YAs, as per. 

I drank 49 cups of coffee.

My favourite cuppa would have to be the one I had with my family on Mothering Sunday, in my friends' cafe. We ate gf vegan cake and watched a crowd of visitors come in and sit at our old family dining table, that we'd only just donated. It was strange. But quite lovely. 

Also, the one brewed by Laura Jane Williams while I was scribbling frantically in my notebook – which I then drank in the company of 8 beautiful and totally unique writers at the magical workshop we all attended. The creative energy that day was unreal. 

I attended 3 bookish events in London while I lived up there this month.

One of which was Mel Salisbury's launch party for 'The Scarecrow Queen', book #3 in the Sin Eater trilogy. It was in a crypt. Obviously. Another event was an Unsung Stories evening at Waterstones TCR, which I attended with the delightful Stevie. And as mentioned earlier, the last book event I went to this month was the WCBP and well, that was an honour. 

Finally, my favourite wise white board words at Stamford Brook underground station this month were...(forgive the grammar, won't you?) 

It's been a mad month of March. I had some excellent experiences and read all the best books - exclusively Walker, see my recent wrap up! - but I've been so busy, I barely had time to write this and will be doing that thing where I 'schedule' it for March 31st when really I posted it on April 3rd... *giggles manically* 
I am excited about April now. I'll be mostly freelancing, celebrating, preparing and...resting. It's gonna be glorious.