30 stages of getting back into dating

1. Right, breakup schmakeup, let’s get back onto the dating scene
2. Hmm I work in a 99% female environment
3. I’ve also already dated all eligible friends-of-friends
4. Ok, back to the internet we go
5. Going to stick with just Bumble, I mean I’m the one who needs to make the first move here, so that’s me reclaiming my power right?
6. Yay setting up a new profile, fun times
7. Looks like no one’s taken a decent picture of me since 2014…
8. How do I sum up myself in a couple of lines? #existentialcrisis
9. Ok photos chosen, witty-yet-modest profile written, COME AT ME BOYS
10. **Swipes left for half an hour
11. Beginning to remember why I deleted this thing in the first place…
12. Oo hello tall guy working in London with a cute dog, righty swipey for you
13. WE MATCHED I AM ON FIRE
14. Crap, need to come up with an opening line that is suave and funny and flirty and not at all desperate or boring
15. Shit this is really hard
16. Does sending an emoji count? How does Bumble qualify these things??
17. ‘Hi how’s your week going?’
18. Good work Charlotte, good work
19. Now the guy has only 24 hours to respond?! Most of my friends take at least two days to reply to WhatsApp messages, let alone someone I’ve never even met!!
20. What’s the etiquette on swiping right on someone you matched with on Tinder about a year ago?
21. At least it’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one trying and failing to meet someone
22. Oo hello new match, let’s see who you are
23. Hmm.  Must have been a drunk right swipe…
24. Ok chats are developing with Cute Dog Guy, I feel a date coming on
25. **2 days later** Christ I’m not here for a pen pal, just ask me out for a drink dammit
26. Oh hello, look at all these new matches
27. Three chats going on, such a player right now
28. And all three of them have asked me out for a drink! Get in
29. Hmm, this week and next week are already pretty busy. Forgot how time-consuming this dating thing is
30. It’s Friday night and I’m meant to be going on a date but all I want to do is get into loungewear and eat pizza and watch Netflix. Maybe I’m not so ready for this dating thing after all…

An absence of time and energy

Hi there, long time no see…  It’s been well over seven months since I last wrote a blog post, which has been niggling away at the guilty corners of my brain.  I doubt this has been any cause for concern for anyone other than myself (I won’t entertain any notions of a devoted readership), but going AWOL for this amount of time probably deserves some sort of explanation.

1. I got a new job.  And not just any job – THE job!  In December I started as a PA at what is termed as the World’s Biggest Selling Fashion Magazine (I’ll leave you to Google that yourself).  All jokes about similarities to The Devil Wears Prada aside, my new role is demanding, entertaining, exciting and tiring, which hasn’t left much energy for the whole writing thing.
2. I lost my motivation.  It’s no secret that many blogs are started in the hopes of turning a hobby into a career, and I won’t hesitate to admit that such a thing has been a long-held dream of mine.  Moving into the publishing industry, and especially into a company that is so well-known, gave me a certain degree of complacency and therefore a lack of motivation to write for myself.
3. A lack of inspiration.  Over the last couple of years, my blog has definitely been more focused on the trials and tribulations of dating.  Just before Christmas, I got dumped and took several months to get over it, which resulted in a lack of interest in dating and therefore a lack of writing material.  Plus, I was probably getting a little too ‘all men are bastards let’s just mock them’ – hardly a positive outlook on future relationships!  I’m happy to report that I’m now back in the dating game, so watch this space…
4. A lack of energy.  So far, 2015 has been BUSY!  Off the back of the aforementioned break-up, one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to ‘be more dog’, aka say yes to doing more, go out more, see more, be more active.  Which has resulted in hectic weekends, busy week nights, a lot more time spent in the gym, and a general motivation to spend less time sitting alone in the house.  The downside to this has been that the rare times I have had a few hours at home, I’ve wanted to sleep, eat, shower and watch Netflix, which isn’t exactly conducive to attempting witty blog posts each week.

So there you are, mea culpa.  Time for me to buck up my ideas, ingest more caffeine and get the writing juices flowing again.  See you soon!

Charlotte x