The Big Shrewsbury Editing Trip - Part 5

Day 5 - Wednesday 8th April - Lots of editing, my kind of retail therapy, and connections with people

After all the exercise I did yesterday, I woke up realising I had overdone it a little, so I skipped my early walk, hoping to keep my step count down to 10,000 today to give my body a rest. I’ve learned the value of listening to what your body tells you, and I pay attention as far as I can. Being on holiday, there is absolutely no reason to hit burnout!

Breakfast

I lay in bed with BBC Breakfast on for an hour after my usual 6:45am wake up, then got ready and headed into town once I knew the breakfast outlets would be open.

I decided to go for Greggs this morning - I miss Greggs, living in Ireland, so I try and pop in when I’m in the UK. I appreciate the excellent value they offer and this morning was a prime example. I had a cup of tea, omelette roll and two hash browns for just over £4. I can’t argue with that really!! What was really nice was that they were playing a radio station with non stop 80s music, which I really enjoyed.

After I’d eaten my breakfast and posted yesterday’s blog post, I headed across to Shrewsbury Library. Once again, all the tables upstairs had been taken, so I made a mental note to get there for opening time tomorrow, in the hopes of grabbing my favourite spot, at least once.

I had a really productive writing session, in which I managed to get another chunk of Chapter 1 edited. I spent around three hours working on injecting more sensory description into the piece, and I feel like it’s reading much better than it was. If feels more relaxed and much more absorbing (at least I hope it does … more on that, once some readers have had a look at it!

Retail Therapy

I’m not usually one for retail therapy, but I can’t resist a quirky and interesting independent shop. Shrewsbury is absolutely full of them, so I was eager to go for a wander around the shops and maybe buy a few cool items that appeal to me.

I have to say, it was one of the most enjoyable shopping experiences I’ve had in a very long time.

The fact that I’m here on my own means that I have the time and space to really take my time over things in a way you just can’t when you’re with someone. As a result, I was able to have some really lovely interactions with the people running the shops and I want to mention a few that really stood out for me as lovely independent business run by friendly and fascinating people, who are selling interesting and lovely things.

On Wyle Cop, I popped into ‘Left for Dead’

Left for Dead is a brilliant book shop selling all kinds of books, many of which I would describe as thematically dark. They also sell records and lots of interesting journals and zines, some of which I intend to look up for submission purposes.

‘La Vie’ is another interesting shop, which has many beautiful items for the home, clothing, and unique gifts. I had a really wonderful chat with the lady who was looking after the shop for the day, in which we really put the world to rights.

Having explored Wyle Cop, it was late for lunchtime, so I stopped off in Stacked - a sandwich shop, where I was able to procure an egg mayo sandwich and some delicious orange tea. The staff were very attentive and friendly, and I was especially delighted that my generously portioned egg mayo sandwich had Frazzles in it! This made me smile so much.

From Wyle Cop, I continued my exploration, by heading into Shrewsbury Market. I had a great chat with Annalin from The Makery and looked at her wonderfil prints and jewellery as well as some absolutely gorgeous items from a range of different artists.

Another fantastic place in Shrewsbury Market is The Little Shop of Joy.

I left this shop full of nostalgia and belly laughs. This shop sells beautiful clothing, and socks, badges, cards, and stickers, which mash up 80s and 90s nostalgia in humorous ways.

A card featuring Skeletor posing as Rose in Titanic, during her nude modelling moment was particularly hilarious.

Next, I went of in search of 'The Enchanted Labyrinth', which I had walked past one early morning and was eager to visit. I love a crystal shop and this one looked amazing. Inside, I found a wonderful selection of crystals, and some beautiful clothing, wax melts, ornaments, and candles, which all really appeal to me in a huge way. Alison and Christian in the shop were just wonderful. We chatted about many things, including loads of great stories about the history of Shrewsbury, various ghosts that haunt Shrewsbury - they sometimes run ghost tours of the town, so do look out for those if you are in town. It was amazing to meet them both. I left with some lovely inappropriate Christmas tree decorations (a haunted house and a cat in a ghost outfit, both made from felt), and two lovely clear quartz crystals to help me when working on my novel.

As I headed off in search of food, I spotted 'The Crystal Labyrinth' - a completely different crystal shop, still with a great range but run by Sparklie Debzz. We were chatting for ages about the history of the witch trials, ghosts, and Shakespeare. It was another wonderful interaction, which I enjoyed immensely. In the shop, I was drawn to a sphere and a bracelet, both made of gorgeous deep turquoise apatite, which is supposed to help with motivation. I bought the bracelet and I'm hoping it'll motivate me to keep going with the novel until it's finally complete!

To end the day, I headed to Floro lounge again and had a nice bowl of Dan Dan noodles with chicken, which was just what I needed. I read a bit more of 'She Rises' and headed back to my lodgings.

Back in my room, I jumped onto a Teams meeting with my lovely Colchester writing friends. We spent some time writing and then sharing what we had written. They read out some fantastic short pieces, which I enjoyed very much.

I worked a bit more on 'Charlotte - The Lady in White' and then read the opening scene to them, and it seems that I have largely achieved what I was hoping to achieve, with the edits I have made so far. This is a huge relief. I have one small alteration to make, and it should be all good.

My goal for tomorrow is to reach the end of the Chapter 1 edit. Keeping my fingers crossed for lots of motivation!