Epiphanies and how to avoid them

I love the word epiphany. It has such a lovely sound. Anyway, I have not written anything on this blog for ages and it has been woefully neglected. I had lots of lovely plans about what I was going to write about, but I have come to the conclusion that I am Very Easily Put Off and this needs to stop.
I was on holiday last week - a bus tour to Kilkenny in the Republic of Ireland. It was fabulous and I saw lots of nice things and and met some lovely people.

In this picture is a lady called Nancy (the one wearing the hat.) I hope she doesn't mind me writing about her. I had lots of lovely chats with her over the few days I was away and I feel that meeting her has been really important. She was honest and straight to the point and I really liked her. It is terribly disconcerting to be told by someone you've only just met that you're wasting your talents, but I did need to be told. I feel that my life has been lacking in direction, and I think I really needed someone to come along and tell me that I should be doing something different. I am not sure exactly what that something different is, but at least I have realised that I can't go on the way I am doing and something has to change.

I entitled this post 'Epiphanies and how to avoid them.' I am not entirely sure that they should be avoided. We went to the Japanese Garden at the Irish National Stud and they had a Tunnel of Ignorance there. I know they do say ignorance is bliss but I think ignorance is horrible. The tunnel was pitch black and I didn't like it at all and wanted to leave immediately. It wasn't very nice. I would rather know that something is wrong and have the power to change it, than go along and think everything is ok and in reality I would be stuck in a metaphorical pitch black tunnel.

So, what am I going to do with my new found knowledge? The first thing I am going to do is write. I have started working on a story about the Boleyns in the aftermath of Anne and George's executions. I had a really vivid dream about how Anne's mother would have felt about her death, and I decided to write something exploring how the whole family would have felt. Once I finish that I will probably publish it here. After that, I'll be doing National Novel Writing Month in November (I did it last year and it is fab.)
I want things to be different - that includes my job. I will be changing career in the future - not sure what I will be doing but it will be something worthwhile. I was watching 'The Tudors' earlier and I love the quote about how life is like the flight of a sparrow through a banqueting hall on a winter's day.  It is a cliche that life is short, but it's true. Nancy told me that the two saddest words in the English language are 'if only' and it is true.