Back to School

Gosh, it has been a long time since I last blogged. So much has happened since that it would be a very long blog indeed if I listed it all and I'm sure I would loose you long before I finished. I am on Facebook (Sarah Milne) and on Twitter as Sarah__Milne (the line is a double underscore) and do 'tweet' several times a day so, if you want to see what is keeping me away from this blog, you can follow me here . Now all three children are back at school, I hope to have time to keep this blog updated more regularly.I have been crazily busy over the last few weeks, perhaps it wasn't my most sensible plan to decide to go self employed and launch a new career in the Summer Holidays, with the children home. I'm not known to be the most sensible about these things though. Getting things started and entertaining William all day was a challenge, but one I think I rose to.

Over the Summer, I have submitted articles to magazines, provided photographs for several charities, a number of events, four local newspapers, national newspapers and magazines. I have also started portrait photo shoots. I will sit down this week and list everything in order to update my CV. It is a good start and I am very happy with how things are going. I have now done enough writing and photography to see where my strenths lie and where I should specialise. After some analysis, thought and some suggestions from those close to me and some of those I have worked with, I will be specialising my feature writing on child health and illness, transplants and organ donation and and family issues around chronically ill and special needs children, although I will write more widely as well. As a photogapher, I will specialise on documentary and public relations, PR, work (which I will approach as a documentary project of a day or event). Work is developing nicely but I do need to work out a marketing strategy to sustain it. I hope to finish a draft of my novel by the end of the year and, of course, have the hospice artist in residence project to plan. There is something else that I will soon be able to tell you about as well :).

There is a lot going on but it does now hinge together.Most of my work is still at home but I am beginning to get out more to meetings and photo shoots. It is lovely to work with people and not have to worry that a meeting will almost certainly have to be cancelled or moved because of a crisis for William. For the last year, I have lived pretty much in jeans and converse boots. This was perfect for hospital and is great for sitting at my desk at home and for informal shoots. Apart from the odd thing I bought for a specific occasion, this is pretty much my wardrobe. Having sorted the children with new uniform for school over the last couple of weeks, Hope and I went into town today to buy a few bits for my new term. I needed some things that can be worn for meetings and more formal photo shoots. While we were out we talked about how things have changed for us as well as William since the transplant. Both of us are feeling more free and self-confident and enjoying being able to make plans. Even short-term plans were impossible to make before William's transplant. We are all enjoying the stability and the security that is enabling us to develop our own lives. William's transplant bought new life for the whole family and we are all making the best of it. September has always been a time of year that energises me. I love the 'back to term' feeling, the new start, clean sheets of paper and new pens. This September is bringing about the biggest and best fresh start of them all