Naomi the Wordsmith

I’ve got a few posts coming up, but I’ve had to take a small break. I’ve caught an infection, which always makes my health condition flare up.

My health flares can be unpredictable – I could be better tomorrow or in two weeks. Gotta kick the infection first.

If you’re worried about me overstretching myself writing this though – don’t be! I find writing is a really nourishing distraction from pain.

As a teaser, what’s coming up includes:

• How to write a headline that grabs attention
• How small businesses can use social proof to get more customers
• How truly terrible AI is at writing
• A travel writing series focusing on video game locations – I game as one of my hobbies and want to do a funny writing experiment. My health means I don’t travel much, so I enjoy “travelling” fictional worlds. I think combining the genres of travel writing and video games will be hilariously strange. Just picture it – a travel agency selling a holiday package to the zombie-stuffed world of Dying Light – frights and thrills to remember your whole life! Zombie-related injuries are of course not the responsibility of the travel agency, but the rugged, intrepid, zombie-wrangling traveller.

I’ve got some rough drafts for these, but I want to get my writing just right. So give me some time, and they’ll be coming to you soon.

Anyway, on to the updates.

I got my new wheelchair and all the wheels are on it and working

Just arrived today.

And with it, I’ve got my independence back. It’s so important to be the driver, not the passenger, in life.

The wheelchair custom-fitted to my spine so it relieves my pain. So I use it at the desk when I’m working.

It wasn’t safe to sit in the broken old wheelchair. So I had to stay in my room most of the time.

But now I have the new one – which means I can work at my desk again!

I solved a Star Wars-themed puzzle book

My parents got me it for Hearing Aid Day (like I said in that post, it’s like an extra birthday).

The Star Wars puzzle book had 100 puzzles in it. Took me about a week to finish them all.

You had to use logic to solve most of them. It taught me a form of puzzle I’d never discovered before – the logic grid.

You start with just a few clues that tell you what you do know. And from that, you work out what you don’t know, using what logically must or must not be true.

The logic puzzles were my favourite part of the book, solving things from only a couple clues.

I liked them so much I decided to get a logic puzzle book, the first in the Murdle series. There you’re solving murders using logic. It’s a great book – I really recommend it.

It’s been nice having a puzzle to geek over. My parents and my brother Alfie got super into Rubik’s cubes over Christmas and I didn’t. Felt kinda left out. But now I’m a nerd too.

Good.

I got my diploma in arts and humanities (two-thirds to a degree)

So in my first post, I talked about how I’ve had to take at least a year out from my undergraduate degree.

I’ve completed most of it already, so I’ve earned a diploma. I got an email from my university confirming I’ve achieved the diploma today, because I’ve completed 4 modules. I’ll get the certificate in a few months.

When I deferred, it stung that things weren’t turning out as I planned. But now, I really appreciate the achievement.

Because of my health, I had to skip my A-levels. (For my non-British readers, A levels are school qualifications you need to study at university.) I chose a university that didn’t need A levels and let me study remotely, part-time.

I started studying English Literature and Classical Studies in 2020, and now I have a diploma!

My educational journey isn’t the same as most students, but that’s okay. Everyone finds their own way.

I can’t wait to feel the certificate in my hands.

Signing off for now – to be continued soon

Hope you enjoyed reading this! And feel free to comment. I might not respond instantly, but I will respond.