I’ve also been obsessed with assembling the best space-themed outfit I can, ready for my events about The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

My video of my June reading just went live:

Books mentioned (all links to Amazon UK):

Wilde like me* | Girlhood* | Other Minds | The Power | The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson* | False Lights* | Truth or Dare| The Pearl Thief* | The Book of Dust | Days of Grace*

*books provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

I’m in the middle of writing a first draft, and to say I’m finding it difficult is an understatement. One of the main reasons is that I find it so hard to actually sit down and write. Here are some tips I’ve learnt for making writing easier, even if you’re not feeling in the right mood.

1. Don’t prioritise admin

At the start of each day, it’s tempting to answer your emails first, which are often easier and quicker than writing. But this puts your brain in a different mindset than the creative zone you need to be in to write. It’ll be harder to switch over when you need to start writing. Often, admin is less urgent than writing anyway. It can wait.

2. Avoid social media

Delete your apps. Log out of your accounts. Don’t let yourself check any social media at all until you’ve achieved your daily work counts. The internet these days can be such a negative space, it’s hard to stay upbeat and write. You have to shut out the rest of the world to get things done, however difficult it is at first.

The only exception for this is probably myWriteClub, which allows you to update your writing total, and follow your friends who are doing the same.

3. Give yourself an outlet for breaks

Whether it’s a walk around the garden, a colouring book by your desk, or just waiting for the kettle to boil for tea, give yourself something to do that takes a set amount of time when you need a break.

I use newsletters for this. When I need a break, I pick one from my inbox and read it. I prefer these to social media because they’re usually a lot more upbeat, contain lots of interesting links, and are a finite length – there’s no way to get sucked into mindless scrolling.

Here are some of my favourite writing-related newsletters:

Misfits & Daydreamers | Snacks in the stacks | Dog Ear Half A Dozen 

Getting Clever | Witty Title Here | Zan Romanoff | The Black Cardigan 

I subscribe to a lot of these, so if this is your thing, check out my own blog over the next few weeks – I’m going to be posting a full list of my favourites.

4. Trick your brain into entering the writing mood

I use music, essential oils and candles to give ‘signals’ to my brain that now is the time to work. I also try to restrict recreational time online to my ipad, so whenever I sit at my desk, I know that it’s time to work.

5. Sometimes, you just can’t write.

If you’re not in the mood, you can’t force it. Answer your unanswered emails instead, or file your taxes, or write some blog posts or make some playlists or moodboards to inspire you and share with readers.

Don’t beat yourself up for not writing, because being an author has other responsibilities too.

Good luck with your writing – if I can do it, you can too!

I’m really into email newsletters at the minute. I love that they’re a great way to take a break from writing, and get a social media fix, without getting sucked into mindless scrolling. They always contain lots of interesting links to things that get me thinking.

As I’ve become a bit of a connoisseur of them, I thought I’d share some of my favourites. All links go to the latest entry, where possible, and you can also subscribe at the link. My favourites have *** next to them.

Books & Writing: ***Misfits & Daydreamers | ***Snacks in the stacks | Dog Ear Half A Dozen | Getting Clever | Witty Title Here | Zan Romanoff | The Black Cardigan 

Fandom: ***door | *** The Rec Center | Better than words

News & politics: ***The Ann Friedman weekly | Above the Bottom Line | Proceed Until Apprehended | Goodnewsletter | #awesomewomen | Women aren’t funny

Beauty: The Iris Letter | ***Girls’ Night In

Pop Culture: ***Bravo & Buchanan | ***This Week’s Work | Deez Links | Pop Warrior | Read Look Think | Emma Gannon Weekly

Introspection: The Sunday Letters | Grief Bacon

If that isn’t enough newsletters for you, you can also subscribe to my own here – it updates once a quarter, and I’m really enjoying writing them.

I’ve been experimenting with a new style of reviewing over on my youtube channel, where I combine garden tours with book round ups! I’m going to do this every month, so if that’s your thing, you can subscribe. Here’s the latest video:

Books mentioned (all links to Amazon UK):

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy | Arrival by Ted Chiang | Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi | The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal | Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia | A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers  | Strong Poison: Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L Sayers | Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari | The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley | The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

The Next Together (part 1) | The Next Together (part 2)  | The Next Together (part 3)| The Next Together (part 4) | The Last Beginning (part 1) | The Last Beginning (part 2) | The Last Beginning (part 3) | Another Together | Another Beginning | The Loneliest Girl in the Universe | The Quiet at the End of the World | Book 5 (ghost house) | Book 6 (loneliest 2) | Book 7 (earth) | Book 8 (fandom) 

I am writing a scene with Clove and Ella for something exciting…and I’ve missed them SO MUCH. I’m getting emotional.

#the last beginning #another beginning
4TH JUN 2017

I’ve got a special announcement coming your way tomorrow. Here’s a clue. Can anyone guess what it is? 👀

#another beginning
20TH JUL 2017

walkerbooksya: Let’s celebrate YALC with some FREE eBooks!
We’re thrilled to announce that to celebrate YALC 2017 we are going to be publishing three novellas by authors Alison Goodman, Lauren James and Non Pratt in eBook format. These will be available FOR FREE, and we’ll be publishing one a day over the YALC weekend. You can find more information about each of the eBooks below:

Lusus Naturae by Alison Goodman, publishing Friday 28 July

Experience Lord Carlston and Lady Helen’s first meeting from Lord Carlston’s point of view in this compelling novella, a companion to The Dark Days Club.

London, April 1812. Lord Carlston, a man of dubious reputation and infuriating manners, has recently returned from the Continent. He is in London to assess whether Lady Helen Wrexhall has inherited her mother’s Reclaimer abilities, which would mark her as a protector of society. These abilities would also take Lady Helen from the glittering ballrooms and bright lights of her first Season into a world of demonic creatures and deadly power. Not the usual aspirations for a young lady in Regency society…

Perfect for longstanding fans and readers new to the series, the novella also includes a chapter from The Dark Days Club, so you can experience the same scene from Lady Helen’s point of view.

Another Beginning by Lauren James, publishing Saturday 29 July

Featuring the much-loved protagonists Clove and Ella, Another Beginning is a companion story to The Last Beginning, set during the siege of Carlisle in 1745.

“Elenore Walker, ancient literature thief. It makes an odd sort of sense, actually,” Clove said.

Clove is working as a maid in the Finchley household while she spies on Katherine Finchley and Matthew Galloway. But her mission is briefly interrupted when fellow maid Ella persuades her to help steal a valuable historical document from the main defence in the city – the castle. The two girls embark on a risky adventure involving scaling castle walls and hiding in the most unlikely of places! A fast-paced and fun read, perfect for Lauren James’s existing fans, and readers who enjoy historical fiction and romance.

Includes the first chapter of Lauren James’s third novel, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

Truth or Dare: Sef’s Deleted Scene by Non Pratt, publishing Sunday 30 July

Get Sef’s side of the story in this deleted scene from Non Pratt’s gripping new novel Truth or Dare.

In this previously unpublished scene from Non Pratt’s gripping love story, Truth or Dare, get a moving insight into Sef’s family life before and after his brother Kam’s life-changing accident. Sef looks back to choosing the name for his family’s new kitten – a moment that seems very far away from his life now, as both he and Amir struggle to come to terms with what’s happened to their brother.

Includes the first two chapters of Truth or Dare, one story told from two sides.

Excited? So are we!

If you’re at YALC next weekend, don’t forget to pop along to the Walker stand to say hello! And if you can’t be there, we hope these three eBooks will help to ease the pain a little bit.

So ready for all of these, @walkerbooksya 💪

#another beginning
13TH AUG 2017

Free short story!
So who would like to see more of Clove and Ella? What about Clove and Ella pulling off a heist? And revealing why Ella was really in Carlisle? THEN I’VE GOT SOME GOOD NEWS 4 U BUDDIES.

As of right now, you can read a free novella by me on Amazon Kindle, or any other eBook retailer, which includes not just one but ALL OF THOSE THINGS. Kate and Matt got their own short story in Another Together, so I had to give Clove and Ella one too! It’s about Clove and Ella pulling off a heist in 1745. It’s pretty fun. Here’s some more information. Enjoy!

A short story set in the world of Lauren James’ Next Together series.

Featuring the much-loved protagonists Clove and Ella, Another Beginning is a companion story to The Last Beginning, set during the siege of Carlisle in 1745.

“Elenore Walker, ancient literature thief. It makes an odd sort of sense, actually,” Clove said.

Clove is working as a maid in the Finchley household while she spies on Katherine Finchley and Matthew Galloway. But her mission is briefly interrupted when fellow maid Ella persuades her to help steal a valuable historical document from the main defence in the city – the castle. The two girls embark on a risky adventure involving scaling castle walls and hiding in the most unlikely of places!

A fast-paced and fun read, perfect for Lauren James’s existing fans, and readers who enjoy historical fiction and romance.

Includes the first chapter of Lauren James’s third novel, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe.

Goodreads | Amazon Kindle | iTunes | eBook providers |  First Chapter

Subscribe to my newsletter to find out about other bonus content about my characters.

Tumblr tag
#another beginning
1ST AUG 2017

https://laurenejames.co.uk/2017/07/29/free-novella-%f0%9f%8e%89%f0%9f%8e%89-can-clove-ella-raid-a-castle-under-siege/

#go go go #another beginning #the last beginning
30TH JUL 2017

Seeing these covers together is the most satisfying thing ever. Wow.

#another beginning
21ST JUL 2017

theparisreview: Behold: the first written use of fuck, from 1528, inscribed by a monk who seems to have been pretty pissed off with an abbot.

#another beginning
15TH JUL 2017

englishable: Old English just has some wonderful words and kennings. I mean, really:

Their word for sea? It was often swan-rad or “road of the swan.” Spider was gangelwaefre, literally “the walking weaver.” They had the simple and now-obsolete word uht, which describes that time just before sunrise when mist still hangs heavy over all the fields and lakes and the last few stars are still out.

…Also, they didn’t say body. They said ban-cofan, which means “bone-cave,” and if you don’t think that’s some hardcore shit right there then you need to get out of my face before I turn your skull into a mead-cup.

In the commentary on his translation of Beowulf, Tolkien argues that translating ‘rád’ as ‘road’ in the context of kennings for the sea is incorrect. On the subject of ‘hronrád’, which is often translated as ‘whale-road’, he says:
“rád is the ancestor of our modern word ‘road’, but it does not mean ‘road’. Etymology is not a safe guide to sense. rád is the noun of action to rídan ‘ride’ and means riding – i.e. ‘riding on horseback; moving as a horse does (or a chariot), or as a ship does at anchor’; and hence ‘a journey in horseback’ (or more seldom by ship), ‘a course (however vagrant)’. It does not mean the actual ‘track’ – still less the hard paved permanent and more or less straight tracks that we associate with the ‘road’…The word as ‘kenning’ therefore means dolphin’s riding, i.e. in full, the watery fields where you can see dolphins and lesser members of the whale-tribe playing, or seeming to gallop like a line of riders on the plains. That is the picture and comparison the kenning was meant to evoke. It is not evoked by ‘whale road’ – which suggests a sort of semi-submarine steam-engine running along submerged metal rails over the Atlantic.”

13TH MAR 2017

I just hit 40,000 words on my WIP, which is a miracle because I’ve belatedly hit The Fear Paralysis. It usually hits around 20k, when I can’t write because I become convinced it’s all terrible.

Things I usually worry about during The Fear Paralysis:

1) By this point in the book, I should really know more about the characters than I do! Am I a fraud?

2) All the “plot twists” I’ve included are REALLY OBVIOUS & everyone is going to guess what happens immediately and get bored. Am I a fraud?

3) I’ve worked out what novels/films/tv shows most heavily inspired the story in my sub-conscious. It’s all been done before! Am I a fraud?

4) I don’t have enough plot to keep this going for a whole book/I have TOO MUCH plot to fit in one book/I have no plot. Am I a fraud?

5) I’ve reread it so many times that its not funny anymore. Everyone is going to find my “humour” lame and embarrassing. Am I a fraud?

I could carry on…. I guess the point is that I’ve done this five times now, and I think this stuff every single time. But in the end it always works out fine & I’m really proud of my drafts. So you’ve just gotta wrestle your self doubt into submission.

And no writer is ever a “fraud”. All you have to do to be classified as a writer is WRITE.

https://twitter.com/mstiefvater/status/863914124748759041

https://twitter.com/mstiefvater/status/863916668552175617

In other news:

Proofs of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe go out to bloggers tomorrow. I may or may not be freaking out about it. They’re going to be pretty fancy though, and look like this:

Cuuuute! There’s a giveaway of a signed copy running on my blog until the 9th, if you want to snag a copy.

I took the opportunity of the glorious wisteria to do a lil The Loneliest Girl in the Universe photoshoot.

You can follow the blog of Commander Romy Silvers from Loneliest on Wattpad: http://my.w.tt/UiNb/qPQJ654qrD

Also, it was announced that I’m going to be at YALC again this year! I’ll be there on the Saturday and maybe a bit of the Friday too.

I’m experimenting with vlogging some book reviews, and recorded a test run on my instagram stories, uploaded to youtube here. I’m going to make it a regular thing on youtube (on a proper camera!) so subscribe over there if that’s your thing.

I love this picture of Katherine and Matthew by Deni at supermixer.blog.cz! It’s based on a drawing by @aliceoseman and I’m obsessed. Thank you Deni!

Some foreign rights news:

On June 13th, the US edition of The Next Together is finally released! It’s been a long road to get here (my original US publisher shut down before the book could be released – hence the long wait!) but it’s almost here now.

I don’t have any copies of the lovely hardback to show you yet, so for now, here is the dust jacket. I’m still not over that beautiful sunset.

Posledni Zacatek, the first translation of The Last Beginning to be published, is out now in Czech with Cooboo Redakce.

I’ve also seen glimpses of the Russian and German editions floating around instagram! I don’t have copies of these yet, but it’s lovely that my book is being published to the point where I’m struggling to keep track of all the editions. Here’s to many shelves full of copies, one day!

I think that’s all of today – talk soon! (When I’ve defeated this writing paralysis…)

I’m very excited that this year I’m going to be appearing at Edinburgh International Book Festival this August, on a Schools Programme panel with Philip Reeve.

Lauren James and Philip Reeve take you on an incredible journey of imagination involving extraordinary beings, complex characters, thrills and thoughtful moments. Both authors have created stunning sci-fi novels that explore time, space, love, loneliness and the end of the universe. Join them on an intergalactic adventure exploring everyday human emotions.

You can view the programme here. Tickets are only available to Scottish students right now – but I think the spares are sold to the general public, so keep an eye out!

My other upcoming events are all listed here.

In other news: Look what’s landed…. 🚀 

I am so proud of this little book! 👽

I’m pretty proud of the fact that by the time I turn 25 I’ll have 13 books published. I would never have thought that was possible when I was a kid. I thought writers were supposed to be in their forties!

Here’s a post I wrote the last time I got a proof, back in 2015, which was a very emotional experience. There’s nothing quite like it!

If you can’t wait for Loneliest, you can follow Romy’s blog and read her fanfiction on tumblr here.

I’m also making good progress on the first draft of my next book.

I made a series of tweets late last night which got a good reaction, so I thought I’d share it here too. This advice pertains to FINANCE, SECURITY and other adulthood things. Basically, here’s 24 things I’ve learnt in 24 years of life.

(1) If you are planning to buy a house at any point in your life, you’re gonna want to open a Lifetime ISA asap. If you’re planning to buy within the next year, make sure you open that thing as soon as they start running on April 6th. You’ll get 25% of your deposit extra from the government. Forget your Help to Buy ISAs. Do this, even if you just put in a quid. Deets.

(2) You should increase your online security. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been using the same password since you were 12. Download an app like KEEPER and each time you log into your sites, add the passwords into the app.

THE IMPORTANT PART: use the app features to change each as you go to a randomised 16 digit password with numbers, letters and symbols. It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember it, it’s all in the app. If you’re worried about forgetting them, write them all in a notebook too and keep it somewhere safe.

You can take your time changing over passwords for social media etc, but do it ASAP for your email & bank accounts. Trust me, you want to do this. It is worryingly easy to crack a password.

(3) If you’re someone who feels constantly stressed by everything you have to do, I cannot emphasise enough the freedom of good organisation. Get some kind of list-keeping software like Workflowy (my bae), Evernote, or even just a good old planner, and make lists of everything.

The key to good To Do lists:

a) Split them into categories. I go for Work/Personal and split them down further into Admin/Health/Creative &c.

b) Don’t list big things like WRITE DISSERTATION. That will freak you out more. Make a DISSERTATION sub-list and write small actionable things like LOOK UP RESEARCH. Focus only on the tasks you can get done immediately. The rest will flow.

I use the same software to keep extensive notes as reminders. If you can collapse your bullet points, this is a good way to aid your memory without stressing you out even more. Trust me, knowing something is written down will instantly help with your worrying.

(4) Never buy a new car!! Don’t do it, even if you have the cash! After a year it’ll have depreciated by a few grand even in perfect nick!

Do some market research and then get on the Manheim website. Look up local used car auctions and go bid on one. You can get a car that’s literally a year old and looks new, for half the price.

Car auctions can be kinda scary though so take a dad/brother/confident person with you if you’re nervous about bidding. They’ll love dropping your cash.

(5) Credit ratings are EVERYTHING. You will struggle to buy a phone, car, house etc without one. Even if you have a couple of grand in the bank, get a credit card as soon as you turn 18. Set it up with a direct debit to be paid off in full each month. Use it for all your purchases.

Credit cards are better protected against fraud than debit, but also – having years of reliable payments on your credit rating will do wonders. It’s no good having money if when you’re 25 and looking to take out a mortgage, creditors look up your name and there’s no payments there. There’s no evidence that they can trust you with a loan.

(6) RELATED: shop around for a credit card! Lenders want your business, they will offer some really great deals. Look up how many points they offer to the pound you spend. I’m with John Lewis, who give me ~£15 every quarter. MAKE YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU.

(7) If you travel by train a lot, check http://www.splitticketing.co.uk  before you purchase. Play the system! If you’re spending >£50 it is worth 5 minutes to see if you can knock a tenner off that. If doesn’t always work but it’s worth the hassle.

(8) Also, if you travel by train more than once or twice a year you really need to get a 16-25 railcard. Duh. If you order your last one just before you turn 26, you can make that stretch to 27 too.

(9) If you’re booking any kind of travel tickets – flight or train – remove your cookies for that website each time you visit. They put the prices up if you’ve looked up a journey before.

10) Ask questions in job interviews. Most interviewers will never be asked a question by applicants. It will show you aren’t intimidated, are serious about the position and it will make you stand out. You want them to come away thinking they’d be lucky to hire you, not the other way around.

Some ideas:

• What do you like most about working for this company?
• What have past employees done to excel in this role?
• Can you give me some examples of opportunities for collaboration with my manager?
• What are the first priorities for this position?
• What is the most challenging aspect of this role?
• Do you have any hesitations about my qualifications?

Memorise these. Role play an interview at least three times with a friend to practise.

(11) Over-hype yourself on your CV. This is not the place to be modest. Be as cocky and overconfident as you can possibly be.

Baby boomers can barely use Excel. As a millennial, you have so many skills that don’t seem like skills to you but are VERY VALUABLE IN THE WORKPLACE. If you use social media, you have experience in marketing and publicity. If you’ve ever changed a Tumblr theme, you have experience in HTML coding.

Even just being able to google how to teach yourself new software is a skill that older generations find baffling. BIG YOURSELF UP. YOU’RE WORTH IT.

(12) You don’t have to wear heels!! Ever!! Even if you work in an office, BUSINESSES CANNOT IMPOSE SEXIST CLOTHING GUIDELINES. It is unethical to force women to wear heels. Do not feel like you need to. Don’t give yourself a workplace disadvantage just to appease social customs, you’ve got enough disadvantages already. Your feet will thank you in ten years.

(13) Install flux on your laptop and keep your phone on minimum brightness. You won’t notice the difference after a day and you’ve gotta protect those eyes. If you read a lot of documents for work, consider investing in a kindle with an eInk display background, so you aren’t staring into a white light all day. You email any PDF to a Kindle in seconds, so you can read it at your desk without any hassle. Just – maybe tell your boss that’s what you’re doing (!).

(14) You could be saving a lot of money by being savvy. Use comparison websites before you make big purchases.(Compare the Market gives you the best deal AND two for one cinema tickets all year! For a purchase you are making anyway!)

If you’re thinking of buying something online but aren’t sure, log in and leave it in your basket for a few days. A lot of sites will email you voucher codes or reduce the price. If you’re getting business cards, Vistaprint are so thirsty for sales that they’ll email you a code for 40% off the next day.

Save up big purchases until Black Friday. If you really want an iPad or fancy brand but know you can’t afford it, you might be able to if there’s 25% off. Plus, I kinda like having something to look forward to like that?

(15) Always check eBay at the last minute before you make any purchase. Order by Ending Soonest & Auction and see what you can buy within the next 30 seconds for CHEAPS.

You can set up your Nectar card on eBay too, so you can get points on anything you buy there. I get ~£20 a quarter in Nectar vouchers (but I’m obsessed with doing all my purchases for as cheap as possible on eBay even if I have to wait months for the right deal).

My fave eBay trick: spell things wrong in your search – e.g. molskine, burbery, La cruset. You’ll have less competing bids as no one finds it. If you’re into bargain hunting, you can set up a million alerts for these misspelt listings for things you want. It will change the game.

Make sure with eBay you always check the seller has a feedback rating above 100 though, otherwise it may be dodgy. eBay are good at returning money in these cases, but just be wary if the deal seems too good to be true. More often I’ve been conned as a seller by dodgy buyers, than as a buyer myself.

Also, be careful of buying things internationally for unexpected custom charges. China to the UK is usually fine, but be wary of US purchases. Always assume you’ll have to pay £16 customs charge on anything you buy from the USA. It’ll always get you, and if it doesn’t it’s a nice bonus. If postage is ridiculous for a brand site, consider getting a Borderlinx account so you only pay domestic shipping.

(16) If you are a book lover, eBay is your BEST FRIEND. Get on there on holidays and search up National Book Tokens. People who don’t read will sell gift cards for a fraction of the price for quick cash after christmas.

You can apply these to purchases online at Foyles. In the past I’ve bought a £100 gift card for £60, which is £40 free books AND I feel good buying from not-amazon.

(17) Another for readers: Black Friday is a great time to do all your book preorders for the next year using your xmas/holiday money with a discount code.

When I was a bit more penniless and a bit more obsessed with ~~keeping up with the publishing industry~~ I used to do this and read books as soon as they were published, then list them on eBay at retail price the same week. Because I bought them at a discount I got my money back and usually made a bit of profit too.

This is a lot of work, and nowadays I don’t bother as I have more money and less time (plus I’m auto-approved for lots of publishers on Netgalley because I spent a year reviewing everything immediately, so I get most releases as ebooks anyway.) But for a student this is an A+++ plan and I would be proud to be told you were taking over my eBaying legacy.

(18) KEEP A BOTTLE OF WATER (and maybe a cereal bar/sandwich) IN YOUR BAG AT ALL DANG TIMES. If you buy food/drink on the go every other day at £1 water+£3 sandwich that’s £730 in a year! For something worse than you can make at home!

If you did this in your twenties, by the time you turned 30 you would have £7000 extra. THAT’S YOUR HOUSE DEPOSIT RIGHT THERE. Plus, until you buy a house you could invest that in an ISA or premium bonds & be getting £££.

(19) I’m not much of a drinker, especially not now I drive, but if you are then get yourself a hidden flask. It’all save you a fortune at gigs or concerts or theatre where drinks are £7 a pop.

(20) If you know what time you have to get up, use an app to calculate when you should go to sleep so you don’t wake up in the middle of a REM Cycle. Even if you get a full 8 hours, you’ll feel groggy if you don’t sleep in integer 90 min cycles.

(21) I cannot over-emphasise the joy in having good sheets/towels. If you’re getting by on old family cast-offs, you might think it’s a waste of money to buy new ones until you’re in your forties. TRUST ME. GUYS. Get yourself the thickest ply Egyptian cotton bath sheet you can find. It’ll change your life.

(22) Use a separate device for social media/entertainment than for work. The best thing I’ve done for my productivity in a while is get an iPad. HEAR ME OUT.

Before, I used to go on my laptop and mess around instead of working. But now, I do all my social media stuff on the iPad. So when I sit at my desk with my laptop it’s like YOU GOTTA WORK NOW. My brain immediately goes into ‘work mode’ when I turn it on. I hadn’t realised how much I had to force myself to focus until suddenly it got really easy.

(23) Family accounts are a gift to the world! Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime – enlist your friends to join together to reduce your monthly charges a LOT.

(24)  Finally, GO TO THE DENTIST EVERY YEAR. Use mouthwash and floss as often as you can bare it. Look after your teeth!!!

If this list is overwhelming I recommend you do (2) and (5) at the very least. Build up from there. GOOD LUCK.