Rhiannon Lassiter

Since May 2017 I have been on sabbatical from my university job. (By day a Faculty Marketing Manager at Oxford Brookes, by evening a writer of fantastical fiction, by night whatever the dream world dictates.) I was originally thinking of blogging about what I did but quickly decided that would take away from actually doing things, although I do have a daily photo journal.

Before the sabbatical started a lot of people asked what I was going to do. “Will you be writing a book?” was the most popular question. The answer to this question is always yes. The unfortunate state of the writer is always ‘writing a book’ although it can also involve ‘promoting a book’. But aside from writing, what else?

I started out by writing a list in a beautiful notebook. I rather regret this because paper lists just don’t work for me as well as app data. However, I’m going to use it as a jumping off point for talking about the goals I’ve achieved (and try to remember some of the others).

1. Write books.
I have done this. I completed “Candid” (working title) shortly after the start of the sabbatical and started all sorts of other projects before finding the book I was meant to write, “Before & After” (also a working title), and embarking on that. It’s currently 70% done. I hope.
2. Attend meetings of the Labour Women’s Group.
I have not done this. But I did leaflet for Labour in Blackbird Leys and we successfully elected a new Labour MP with an increased majority, so I’ll give myself partial credit.
3. Bike rides.
I have done this. I have discovered that although I in theory enjoy this, in practice I don’t often get the bike out. I have done a lot of spinning at my desk bike though, so perhaps will be able to re-enter the world of 9-5 employment as a commuter cyclist.
4. Take over 10 Pokemon gyms.
The purpose of this was to get the maximum amount of daily coins possible in the game. Only they’ve changed the system so by the time I did it, it doesn’t work that way. But I did get to level 39 and made a bunch of new PokeFriends.
5. Go to the gym frequently and regularly.
This is the real world gym, not the Pokemon kind. I have done this. I have done this a lot. I am a gym regular, people know me there, I even have gym friends. Achievement unlocked!

My reflections on the first 5 goals on the list are that although “make more friends” isn’t on the paper list it was definitely on my mental list. So that’s going to be list item 20 and it’s already been ticked off. I have game friends and gym friends, I’m just missing all those potential political friends. Yay for friendship.

Also, this was a good mix of different kinds of goals. Well done, Past!Rhi, for thinking of them.

Look out for the next blog post in which I contemplate baking, important issues and nail art.