How to start writing a book in November

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November is the start of National Novel Writing Month which is followed by avid writers around the world. Often referred to as, NaNoWriMo, this event started out in 1999 as a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel during the thirty days of November and it’s grown ever since.

If you’ve always wanted to write a book, but aren’t sure where to start, we have some top tips on making your literary dreams come true.

Create a writing toolkit
If you want to write, you need the tools to help you. Notebooks and pads, a variety of pens and pencils, a writing journal as well as sticky notes and notecards, all help. An alarm clock can block out time, and ensure you have a decent computer too because the last thing you need is a dodgy hard drive swallowing 50,000 words of a book!

Build a vision board
A vision board is a great way to bring your ideas together. Photos of people to inspire characters, snaps of magazines where you’d like to be interviewed, snaps of sandy beaches that could be a beautiful proposal setting, and even film tickets can all lead to something special for your book.

Create an outline
When it comes to outlining your book, starting with the chapter headings is a great way to go. Under each heading, create a list of the content that chapter will contain and build from there. Spacing out small chunks of work will help you start to see your story and ideas come to life.

This is where those notecards come into play, as you can start to create chapter parts on cards and put them in order, reorganising as you go and the story evolves. This can work really well with a fantasy novel, chick lit or a YA story, and you can create the scenes and build the characters day by day.

Use images
A bit like the vision board, but you get stuck for ideas, photos and memes can really help inspire a story. Choose an image, maybe a couple, an old woman, and ask questions about what’s happening. What they’re doing? What’s their name? Are they in a relationship? Use this method as a basis for 15 minutes to write a mini-story, read it aloud and take it from there.

Write everyday
Whether it’s during November, or in the middle of summer, the only way to get your novel done is to write every day. Even 15 minutes each evening will see you make progress and if you can commit to the routine, you will see the words and pages add up. If you really, really want to write a novel, you can do it but you have to write.

Be accountable
It’s very easy to lose momentum when you are trying to complete something as massive as a book, so be accountable. Whether you join a writing group, use an online community, find a book buddy or update your progress on your blog, make sure people know you are on a mission to make a dream come true and they will be there to support you from start to launch!

Good luck and remember – you’ve got this!

Team Pure Beauty

Summer reads we think you will love

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1950s, America, An Anonymous Girl, BBC 1’s Gavin and Stacey, best life, betrayal, books, brave, Camp Macaw, Catherine McKenzie, conquer our fears, dangerous, debut novel, deliciously dark debut crime novel, Dr Shields, dreams, epic thriller, escape, experiments, falling apart, falls in love, fantastic read, game changer, Gay Hendricks, going away, Greer Hendricks, Hollie Bourne, home, How Do You Like Me Now?, I’ll Never Tell, iconic book, Jessica Farris, love, MacAllister, manipulative, money, move on, Mrs. Everything, must read, My Lovely Wife, Never Green, passion, pick this up, psychological suspense, psychology study, questions, reading, reality, regret, relationship, Ruth Jones, Samantha Downing, Sarah Pekkanen, self sabbotage, seriel killer, sitting by the pool, small town, summer, The Big Leap, The Wife Between Us, time out, Tori Bailey, troublesome past, twists and turns, winner, young women

Summer is when many of us devote extra time to reading, so if you are going away, sitting by the pool, or just taking time out at home for you, we have a few books we hope will let you get away and escape from it all.

Ruth Jones is best known for her award-winning television writing for BBC 1’s Gavin and Stacey show, but her debut novel, Never Greener is outstanding. A story of love, passion, regret and betrayal, Jones shows the that the grass isn’t always greener and that going from one side to the other, can have long lasting, devastating results. Spoiler – if you pick this up, you might not put it down.

Samantha Downing’s, My Lovely Wife, is an epic thriller set in a small town that has a serial killer on the loose preying on young women, and one man’s daughter is playing up out of fear because of the situation. When he goes to bed one night, and lies next to his wife, he starts to questions his marriage and wonders if the secrets it holds run deeper than he ever thought. This is a deliciously dark debut crime novel, but only for the brave!

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks is a total winner at any time of the year. This iconic book is about how we self-sabotage ourselves and Hendricks explains how we start to notice it, and make changes so we can conquer our fears. It’s a game-changer and a must read if you really want to move on and have the best life for you.

Hollie Bourne’s, How Do You Like Me Now? follows Tori Bailey, who looks like she has it all, and some. The reality is very different because behind closed doors, her relationship is falling apart and her best friend is close to leaving her behind, and so she must find the courage to follow the path untrodden.

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, the authors of The Wife Between Us, have written An Anonymous Girl and it is a fantastic read. It tells the story of Jessica Farris, who signs up for a psychology study conducted by Dr Shields. Jessica thinks, as you would, she will need to answer a few questions, collect her money and leave – what she doesn’t know is Shield’s experiments get more manipulative as they go on, but where will they end?

Mrs. Everything is the story of two sisters living in the 1950s and trying to get to grips with finding their place in the world, while diving into an ever-changing America. When Jo and Bethie Kaufman were born in Detroit, the opportunities for them seemed to be endless, but as the twists and turns in this book show, the truth ends is very different from the dreams.

I’ll Never Tell is a tantalising novel of psychological suspense and Catherine McKenzie has written it so well. Twenty years ago, Amanda Holmes was found dead in a boat at the MacAllister family’s Camp Macaw. No one is ever arrested for the crime but after the McAllister parents die, their adult children want to solve the death before they can settle the estate.

Got a book we should read? Drop us a line, would love to know about it.

Team Pure Beauty

How to get back on the dating scene

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absent, app, blank canvas, cheat, click, clingy, cloud, compare, confidence, date, dating, dating app, dating scene, deal breaker, deep, dreams, duvet, emotional maturity, ex, Facebook, football, full-on relationship, fun, gamer, grow, gut instincts, heart broken, hobbies, hurt, intense relationship, interests, kids, lie, London, love, love affair, love at first sight, marriage, married, meet, new, opposites attract, past experiences, perfect, perfect partner, red flag, relationship, rose tinted glasses, rush, scare off, serious relationship, shattered, stability, Sydney, take it slow, the one, top tip, trust, Vegan

Anyone who has had their heart-broken, and let’s face it, most of us have, knows that getting back on the dating scene can be tough. Your confidence may have been shattered, you may not feel like trusting anyone again and seeing your ex on Facebook with someone new might send you crashing back under your duvet not wanting to face the world ever again.

The thing is, time really is a healer and at some point you will start to feel better and will want to get out again and even meet someone new.

The temptation for many people is to get carried away and jump into a full-on relationship with the first person you meet. We aren’t saying this never works and love at first sight doesn’t happen, but if you don’t know someone very well, then getting into an intense relationship too early could spell disaster in the long-term.

We have put together some top tips you may want to consider before going out there and dating someone new.

Don’t compare them to people from your past
When you first meet someone new, it is hard not to compare them with your ex, but you need to. For any new relationship to stand a chance of going somewhere, it is best to start with a blank canvas that doesn’t have the cloud of your past experiences overshadowing the possibilities of something new. Just because your last partner was a cheat, it doesn’t mean that everyone else will have a roving eye or everyone will lie to you. You may still hold a candle for someone you thought was ‘the one’, but they weren’t and if you compare everyone to them, you could be heading for a table for one.

Put the deal-breakers on the table
You don’t want to scare someone off but sounding out deal-breakers such as marriage, kids and location is something you may want to do early on, but not in the first five minutes. If you really want to have children in the future and your date is totally against it, they aren’t going to be the one for you. If you are happy living in London and their long-term plan is to sit in the sun in Sydney, you might want to consider what life with them would be really like and if you are willing to give up your dreams so they can make theirs come true. We aren’t saying only go on one date, but if you aren’t willing to compromise, and they aren’t either, this won’t work out, so have fun, but don’t get in too deep!

Are you on the same page?
If red flags are flying, there is usually a reason for this and we would suggest that you follow your gut instincts. Maybe they’ve never had a serious relationships, it could be that they have been married four times already or maybe they are addicted to dating apps. We all have a past, but you will soon get an idea of what someone is like and whether they are on the same level as you when it comes to emotional maturity and stability.

Find common ground
They say that opposites attract, but if your date lives and breathes football, and you hate it, how will you feel when it takes up every weekend and three evenings a week? If you are a vegan and they love a burger for dinner, how does that sit with you? You love being outside and they are a keen gamer – will that be a winner for you? No one is perfect, but you do need to be with someone who shares some of your interests and values or it could be a lonely love affair.

Take it slow
Many relationship grow organically over time, alongside trust, so don’t be in a rush. If you are feeling that they are too clingy, absent or let you down time and again, address that sooner rather than later, and if you think this could be it, just take your time and see where things are going.

You deserve to be happy, so enjoy dating, find someone you really click with and trust, and once you take off the rose-tinted glasses from the past you may well find the perfect partner for your future.

Team Pure Beauty

How to deal with a break up

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alone, angry, bed, betrayed, bike, blocking, boost your mood, bottle things up, break, break-up, broken heart, chatting, Christmas, cinema, coffee, confused, connected, cry, dance class, delete, distraction, dumped, easier, erased, Everybody hurts, ex, Facebook, facial, family, feel, feel good endorphins, feelings, friends, girl, GP, harsh, heal, holiday, home, Instagram, let go, love, love yourself, natural responses, nioce, once, pain, photo, quick fix, reboot, recluse, relationship, relationship status, run, sad, sad films, share, smile, social media, sorry, space, stress levels, sunshine, supported, talk, time, time is a healer, timescale, trust, worse, you’re worth it, your song

If you received a broken heart for Christmas, we really feel your pain because we know only too well that dealing with a break up can be really tough.

Whether you are feeling sad, angry, betrayed or confused, don’t worry, these are all natural responses when a relationship ends, and while we know there is no quick fix, we do have some ideas to help you get back on track again.

Press delete
Social media makes it possible to hold onto your ex for longer than you may have done in the past, so we suggest you delete them for once and for all. Yes, you might want to see what they are up to, but the more you check Facebook and Instagram, the harder it is going to be to let go, so delete them right now. Blocking might feel harsh, but it has to be better than agonising who that girl is in the photo and if you are still feeling upset several months down the line and they change their relationship status, you don’t want to know. So go on, do it now and ask other people not to tell you what is happening with you ex too!

Cry
Everybody hurts sometimes, so after a break up spend some time alone and have a good cry, get those feelings out there and yes, feel sorry for yourself, it’s allowed.

Give it time
Whether you were the one to make the break, or the one who was dumped, you need time to get over the end of a relationship. You have been on holiday together, maybe shared a home, have the same friends and then there’s ‘your song’ and none of those things are going to be erased in a few days. Time is a healer, so give yourself that space and over the coming weeks and months, things will get easier and you will start to see the sunshine again.

Talk about it
Yes, you will want to be alone to heal your pain, but you don’t want to become a recluse. Spending time talking to the friends and family you love and who make you smile, is so important and will help you feel connected and supported. Whether you talk about your break up, the reasons why or what to do next, chatting with people you trust not only gives you another point of view, but it can be a distraction from your thoughts which can be a huge help. Try not to bottle things up as that can make things worse and if you get to the point when you just can’t see the wood for the trees, maybe speak to your GP.

Get moving
Yes, watch those sad films and get into bed with your hot water bottle and onesie, but it is also important to get up and move about. Having those feel good endorphins pumping around your body can be a great way to heal and help you to move forward. Going for a run, taking a dance class or jumping on your bike can all help deal with your stress levels, boost your mood and you will be distracted from your heartache.

Treat yourself
After a breakup you might not want to do anything nice for yourself but it is one way to reboot, and you have to love yourself before you can love anyone else again. Now is the time to treat yourself to something that will make you feel good, and whether it is a facial, coffee with friends or a trip to the cinema, doing this is key to healing and will help you to smile again. Remember – you’re worth it!

Do it in your own time
While we have given you some ideas of how to feel better, there is no timescale for this. You are human and will deal with your emotions in your own time and own way. Mending a broken heart is a marathon, not a sprint, so don’t compare yourself to anyone else, go at your own pace and as you are kinder to yourself, you will start to feel happy again.

Team Pure Beauty