Category Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – SoCS Oct 31/2020

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Here’s this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday, courtesy of the lovely Linda. Please do take part, it’s fun to write and also fun to read the contributions from everyone else.

This week the prompt is the word ‘trick’. Here’s my contribution (albeit late!). And you’re welcome to another segment of my life. Who knows, you may eventually have the whole citrus fruit that is me! (No you won’t, by the way).

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That word ‘trickcyclist’ always used to confuse me when I was growing up. I think I heard it on a sitcom back in the 1970s, and couldn’t understand the context. Of course, being a little girl, I imediately thought of someone doing tricks on a unicycle, à la countless Royal Variety Performance shows, or a clown riding a bike that gradually falls apart as he rides it around the circus ring.

Eventually, of course, I understood that it was a malapropism for psychiatrist, and everything fell into place. But then I began to wonder if it was a way of referring to a need for psychiatric help that kept mental health in its dark, shady, uncomfortable place. By using a jokey term, we place mental health problems firmly in the ‘other’ category of health needs that we humans like to keep tidily organised and reserved for acceptable physical issues such as cancer or a broken bone.

We have got better at looking at mental health issues with less of a side-eye over the decades, we have got better about talking about mental health more openly, but there is still a long way to go. I personally have had my struggles, I’ve had therapy and I’ve been on medication and I’ve learned, over time, how to manage my anxiety and depression. It’s part of me. And I’m OK with that.

A word you have to look up – SoCS Oct 17/2020

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It’s been a very long while. I’ve been away from my blog, away from the social media circus but am dipping my toe in. I’m focusing on my work in progress novel (editing stage!), but feel the need to exercise my literary, wordy brain a little differently. What better way than a bit of Stream of Consciousness Saturday, courtesy of the lovely Linda?

This week the prompt is, as you can tell from the title, a word you have to look up. Here’s my contribution. And you’re welcome to the tiny insight into my workaday world…

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This is so dull, but it’s the word that came to mind, so here it is.

Cedent, or, is it cedant? Believe me, if it wasn’t for my job, I doubt this word would ever cause me any trouble, because I would never use it!

A cedent (or cedant) is ‘a party in an insurance contract who passes the financial obligation for certain potential losses to the insurer. In return for bearing a particular risk of loss, the cedent pays an insurance premium’ (thank you, Investopedia). Of course we all have some familiarity with this as insurance is something that is part of every day (adult) life, it’s just that most of us don’t think in insurance language on a day to day basis.

As it happens, neither spelling is incorrect. I am also pretty decent at spelling (autocorrect in texting notwithstanding!). This causes its own problems because then you have to commit to spelling it consistently every time you use it. I suffer with this. I may write an email or a document and use the word consistently throughout, but then the next time I write this infuriating word, I have to check how I wrote it last time. And then colleagues may spell it differently to me and then we have to have the discussion as to which one should be adopted as the company style. Believe me, the fun is never ending…

SoCS Jan 4/20 – Tap tap tap

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‘Ow!’

That’s what my brain is thinking as I stare at the computer screen yet again, and begin tapping away at my laptop – yet again. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed my break from work over the festive season, relaxed, eaten tasty food, cooked tasty food, had lie-ins, all the usual ‘stuff’ as we’ve hunkered down against the short hours of daylight at this time of year. BUT (and it’s a big but, hence the shouty capitals!), I’ve also been working very hard.

Thankfully, it’s been pleasurable work. The only person standing over me and wagging a judgemental finger has been my inner taskmaster (and believe me, she is quite the taskmaster!).

Also thankfully, I have finished said work – at 6.37am on 28th December to be exact. I was so excited, I posted about it on my Instagram account – @freyathewriter

By the way, the writing community over there is absolutely lovely. I only joined to see if there was such a thing as a writing community – and there is! It’s been a happy accident to find friendly and encouraging fellow writers.

Anyway, the work that I’ve been, errr, working on (use your vocab, Freya!) has been the first draft of my dystopian novel. Quite wisely I think, I’ve taken a few days since completing it to have a break so that when I start my editing, I’ll see it with fresh eyes. At this stage, I’m looking forward to it – although I recognise that I might think differently at some point in the future!

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It’s time for Stream of Consciousness Saturday where the lovely Lynn invites us to write using a word that includes ‘ingle’ – I just added an M!

Please do join us to read, or let your mind wander and join in!