Time to write.

Last week, when my husband was here in England, we saw many incredible historic sights, both locally and in the surrounding towns. I gathered material, bought books, took hundreds of photos and videos, and was only back in the apartment long enough each night to sleep. (Our apartment is the middle and top floor of the building on the left. There is a real estate office on the ground floor.) Three days ago, my husband flew home to go back to work, and I stayed here for a while to get down to work as well.

I love that the village’s name is Settle. I love the connotations of the word. Over the weekend, I settled down and am settling in now, spreading my papers and books and computer all over the dining table and coffee table.

Settling IN, Settling DOWN

When we arrived, the apartment looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

Settling down has involved going inside my head now to sort through everything I crammed into my brain last week. I take time first thing in the morning for prayer and reading. I don’t rush. Then I check the weather and enjoy watching the mail carrier go down the lane.

The middle of the day is spent writing, reading, and eating! (A lot of each thing.)

At the end of the afternoon, I need another “settling down” time. So I take a walk, straight up the hillside to a paved path with stone walls on both sides, lots of sheep in the fields, benches that overlook the village, and so much GREEN. [See the photos below.]

Then when I enter the village on the way back, I stop at the local grocery store. Most everyone here shops daily, so you run into the same people. I love that. While I’ve heard that the British in the cities can be stand-offish, I haven’t experienced that here at all.

I am loving the language, and I’m understanding people better, like the tiny older man walking his dog on the trail. I remarked that it was a beautiful day. “Ah, smashing, innit?” he agreed. Or the “bloke” ringing up the groceries who always grins and says “cheers” when you leave. And I am remembering to call chips “crisps” and french fries “chips.” And very kind people loan you a brolley when you’ve forgotten your umbrella.

My Daily Walk in Pictures

Take my walk with me!

Retreating in My Retreat

I’ve decided that for the remainder of the time I am here that I won’t blog new material. I just want to settle down and work, pretty much cutting off the outside social media world to see how it affects my writing. From what I’ve read in books like Deep Work, it can have a profound affect on the quality of your writing. This is the perfect time for me to put that to the test. So until I return to Texas the first week in October, I will re-post popular older posts. After I get home, I will share some more experiences and pictures of places I still plan to see.

So, as they say in Settle, “Have a smashing day. Cheers!”