20 Things About Me

1. My name is Tracey, I often get called ‘T’, Lou Lou and many other things besides!
2. I have many qualifications including a law degree and an Access to Nursing as well as pharmacy qualifications.
3. I am a mental health warrior and have several diagnoses that I will go into more in my blog.
4. I have written hundreds of poems, all compiled in four books, and a few have been published in the Great British Write Off.
5. I am an expressive, creative soul so I love playing with stationary, making scrapbooks, writing poems and short stories and enjoy painting with my son who was born in 2012.
6. My spirit animal is a butterfly as I think this represents me, and my mental health, perfectly. Butterflies are extremely special to me for reasons I will eventually go into but also they represent my recovery.
7. I am engaged to a wonderful woman called Jade who has shown me the real meaning of love, and of life. We have been together since February 2016 although we have known each other since school. She also has suffered with mental health and I may ask her to guest blog one day!
8. I have a really annoying habit of buying books but rarely reading them although this is down to concentration levels and its connection to my wellness.
9. I love Costa Coffee and am a reigning Costa Queen.
10. In July 2019 I rejoined Slimming World for the 13th time (unlucky for some but not for me, as I am determined this time!). I have met some lovely people during my journey(s).
11. I have weekly gang chats with my besties; there are four of us which includes Jade, her sister and a mutual friend and we use this time to air our weeks difficulties and empower each other.
12. I love Harry Potter, Friends and watch series such as Scott and Bailey, Merlin, Heroes and Silk. I also love and identifty with Dory and all things Disney.
13. I love chocolate and cheesecake…and chocolate cheesecake!
14. I have met the Queen.
15. I talk a lot.
16. I had a horse riding accident in 2000 and now have degenerative disc disease and bilateral sciatica. I am registered disabled.
17. I love photography and always have the camera out. For experiences and places, its to look back on and for people – however reluctant they are – its to preserve our memories.
18. I have no common sense, no concept of Geography (I didn’t know England was a country in its own right until 2010 – how worrying!) and I get disorientated. Often.
19. I can cook a Christmas dinner for six people, but burn toast for forty nursing home residents. Go figure.
20. My favourite flowers have always been white roses.

If there is anything you want to know, just drop a comment. I am an open book and will be spilling my heart into this blog and about my ongoing recovery.

TLR x

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.