erondagirl
Hello again... 3 years on update
I have no clue how to start this, so I'll just start with hello. I've missed you!
The last time I logged in was February 2021-ish, and I did not have any intention of leaving it so long before coming back. I just wanted to give an update as to what's happened. I feel a bit like I'm writing a message in a bottle and throwing it out into the ocean here, but I hope someone is out there to catch it.
Shortly after my last gallery post, I noticed things weren't going well for me. I was getting incredibly paranoid, feeling like I was floating, and a whole host of other really weird symptoms. I kept breaking down into tears all the time. I had to take time off work because I would just cry and cry and be unable to stop. Eventually I went to the doctor to ask them about it and was told that it was... ANXIETY. I've always been an over-thinker and I have a tendency to worry a lot but this was on a whole other level. I've since done several different courses of CBT therapy, and I was put on medication for it last November, which quite frankly has been a life-saver. I don't really mind telling people because it's been a truly great thing and it has helped me out a lot. Dealing with it though has been tough and I'm not completely out of the woods yet. I think it will be with me for a long time.
Having anxiety has really affected my desire to "put myself out there" and to share my artwork. As I said, I became very paranoid, particularly regarding the internet. For a long time I didn't want to post anything. I even thought about deleting this account entirely and abandoning it. The only thing that held me back from doing that is remembering how much I used to love being on here, sharing artwork, seeing other peoples' work and making friends. It felt like it would be a huge betrayal to who I was before all this to out-right delete it all and say goodbye. I then thought I would just leave it up untouched. However, on the spur of the moment, literally as I was sat in work today, I decided to log in and not give up on it. That is what I intend to do. I want to get started again. I want to start interacting again. Starting from here. My plan at the moment is to a) get used to how this site works again (You have no idea how long it took me just to find where messages go now!), b) have a little clean up of my gallery, and then c) start to post art again. I have quite a back-log that I've already sorted through and that I want to share. Though I might not be posting as regular as I used to - adult life is hard - I want to make it a goal of mine to do it more often.
Now that the heavy stuff is out of the way, here are few happier things I have to tell you!
I turned 30 last year! Honestly, that probably didn't help with the anxiety either. Turns out I'd always set 30 in my mind as being the point where I would have everything together... Definitely didn't turn out that way. Have realised I know nothing. I'm now 31, so it's not getting any better.
I'm in that period of life now where it feels like everyone around me is either getting married or having babies, and I am doing neither... At least not yet... But in the last two years I've been a bridesmaid in two weddings for two of my best school friends, and a guest at my longest best friend's, which I was very happy and proud to do. She has also within the last week had a baby boy, who I'm excited to meet. I'm going to be weird Auntie Claire 
This year I made my first trip abroad since the pandemic. I went to Vrsar in Croatia with my family. I've also been making little trips to Devon, West Wales, Cornwall and I've got plans to visit London later this month. I've always enjoyed exploring, so it's all little steps along my healing journey.
I am still with Kevin and we're both very happy 
I joined a local writers' group back in 2020 and I'm still going strong with them. We've spent a lot of this year working on a group anthology which we're going to be publishing soon. So I will soon have some writing actually published! My own novel has been put on the back-burner since I've been ill. It's one of the things I want to get back to pursuing when I feel ready. As it is, it's been allowed LOADS of editing time.
And very importantly, I'm still a hardcore Black Veil Brides fan. My first concert after lockdown was to see them in Bristol in February this year. I loved every single second, and I was really happy to be seeing Lonny in person (he's an angel, I adore him), and Lillith Czar was with them and it was my first time seeing her in the flesh too. I screamed so hard that night that I put my voice out for about a week. Excellent!
On the flipside, I'm not impressed with 30STM much these days. Seriously, WTF are they doing? This most recent album has wound me up slightly less than 'America' did, but I miss my 30STM. They are no more, and I'm sad about it. Oh well.
So I'm going to sign off, and hopefully catch you again very soon!
Claire
xxxx
Hope you're doing well in these strange times!
Important bit first - Kevin has been helping me set up more social media pages for my artwork on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I finally have an Instagram page, although I'm still just getting used to it! If you can and you want to follow me on any of these the links to my profiles are below. It would be awesome and really help me out!
[link] - Erondagirl Facebook
twitter.com/erondagirl - Erondagirl Twitter
www.instagram.com/erondagirl/ - Erondagirl Instagram
We're in early days yet but I want to make a really good effort with it, so hopefully, I'll see you there sometime! ^_^ I'll be putting my book news there and trying out other bits and pieces, I've got big plans!
Also, just a quick update on my book... For those who don't know, I'm currently in the process of getting my Eronda novel 'The Lost Twins' published. You'll see my twins Rowan and Sam as well as the other Eronda characters in many of my most recent pictures. I want it to have illustrations and for it to be a really nice piece of work that totally represents me. So, I have now sent it out to a few publishers; some local, some larger; and I'm currently waiting to hear back from them. Of course, I don't yet know how our friend Covid is going to effect their work schedule, so as of yet I haven't heard anything. I'm going to keep trying though, and if it's not possible to go through a publisher, I will be looking into self-publishing it. I know a few of you are hanging on for this, which is really lovely and thank you so much. I will let you guys know as soon as I know anything further!
While on the subject of Covid, I hope you're all coping with the lockdown well. I live in Newport in South Wales which has been one of the worst hit areas for the virus in the UK, and that is so surreal. I've been working from home since March and I've had a few ups and downs, although I'm trying to stay on the positive side. Being that there's nowhere to go, I've been able to fully throw myself into my creative projects without normal life getting in the way. The weather's been nice and we've spent a lot of time in our garden. I mostly just count myself lucky that I have outside space I can go to and myself and my family are all well enough to be doing creative things. I know others wouldn't be so fortunate and I'm very aware of that. However the lockdown finds you, I hope you're staying safe and healthy and not going too mad!
It's my little sister's birthday tomorrow, she will be 25 years old, and then it's my birthday on the 17th. Our challenge is to have an awesome time, despite Covid!
That's all for now!
Catch you later!
Long Time No See!
I have not posted one of these in a longggggg time. My last one was back in 2015, which is unbelievable. I never meant to leave it that long, and I'm sorry! Although I've been really absent for this site, I'm going to make an effect to check it and upload more than I have been.
As far as my life goes... Last 4 years... What has happened?... I'm doing really good. Much better than I was 4 years ago anyway. There's two pretty big reasons for that. One of which being that in 2017 I found myself a really great guy called Kevin ^_^ He's been helping me a lot and is really supportive and I adore him to bits! We've also recently been looking into buying a house together but it's still in the earliest stages of that right now. I'm still working in a solicitors' office and am quite happily settled there. I've been abroad several times on my own and got really into Babymetal!
The second thing... You might notice if you look at my gallery recently the same couple of characters keep popping up. These are my twins Rowan and Samuel, and they have been my characters since I was 13 years old. Last year I picked up their story again after having not worked on it since the end of high school. I totally rewrote it and... I have actually started to send it off to publishers! It's kept me super busy - I wrote the first draft in 4 months, I've been editing, proof-reading (with Kevin as my wonderful assistant), I'm also currently working on illustrations to go inside and I've been planning the front cover.
It has helped my mental state so much. I feel almost like something has woken up in me which lay dormant for so long.
This project is still on going. If anyone's interested I will keep you updated as to how it progresses.
Onwards and upwards! This was just a really quick update. I won't leave it so long this time! I've got a load of new pictures to put up after this, and I've created my own watermark too... probably badly. We'll see. XD
Thanks for hanging in there!
Claire xxxx
The Moonhollow Origins is now published!
www.amazon.co.uk/Moonhollow-Or…
The Moonhollow Origins
I’m really excited!
I’ve been working on something that I wanted to keep quiet until it was finished, buuuuuuuuut now I can tell you! 
Over the last month or so I’ve teamed up with a friend from school who has written his first novel. He’s been writing it since finishing university, and it was part of his dissertation. It’s called The Moonhollow Origins and… I’ve produced the cover for it! I can’t quite show you yet, but on Wednesday it will be up on Amazon Kindle for all to see/download/read!
When it’s available I will put a link up on here so you can check it out! 
In my last journal I mentioned that I had a big meeting. August was really difficult for me, because in that meeting I found out that I would potentially be losing my job. 
My fellow part time colleagues unfortunately had to leave, but I was lucky enough to get another position in my office, on more hours. So I’m now full-time! That’s taken some getting used to! It’s on a different area to what I was doing before, so I’ve had to learn a lot. It does wear me out sometimes. This is actually my first full week off since going abroad in August. I plan to use it for xmas shopping – I’m so far behind!
The other thing I did since my last journal is that I went to Paris for a couple of days in September. I went out to see my friend Ross take part in an art festival. He’s a poet and his poetry reading was all based around the fact that as a gay man there are laws that prevent him from giving blood. I had a great time. I saw the Eifel Tower up close, went to the Palais de Tokyo art museum and revisited Pere Lachaise cemetery. I made a bunch of new friends and it was great.
I have been saving up a lot of my wages, because Ross has invited me to go and stay there with him for a longer time, a couple of months or so. If my current contract comes to an end when I think it might, then I am really considering taking him up on his offer…
… So you can imagine how I've felt this last week. 
I almost fainted several times from worrying about what has happened in Paris. Mostly for Ross’ safety. His apartment is right in the centre of the attacks that took place in the restaurants. Had he been in town at the time, he could have been in serious danger. Luckily, he was safe home in the UK. He’s been really lucky. He was visiting home when the Charlie Hebdo attack happened too.
I feel like the world we left on Thursday 12th isn’t the same as the one we are living in now. You wouldn’t think the space of one week could change the entire world as you know it.
I haven’t necessarily been put off going to live there, but I am going to be watching the news very closely in the coming months.
Wherever you are in the world, stay safe. 
Love love kiss kiss
xxxx