One of the reasons I love living in Gothenburg is because of all the wonderful cafés that you will find on nearly every street in the city. Even though I am from England, I am much more at home in a café, slurping a caffeinated beverage than I am in a pub. Being English, I definitely drink more tea than coffee though.

However, I love the ritual of having a coffee in a café. I love the different beans you can choose from. I love the smell of freshly ground coffee. I love the squealing noise the milk frother makes. I love the patterns the barista makes with the hot, frothy milk.

Here is a picture of one of my favourite patterns. This was done by a very talented barista in café in Haga.

I also love people watching, and cafes in Gothenburg allow you to sit for hours with your laptop plugged in, writing. Perfect for when I need a change of scene from my kitchen table, where I usually write. Then there are the cakes! But that is for another post.

I have always been interested in café culture and I stumbled on this today. It is about the most expensive coffee and the importance of café culture in Vietnam. If you are a café, coffee lover too, then this is worth a watch!

I had a lot of fun writing Delilah Dusticle’s Transylvanian Adventure. I really let my imagination go wild and I often found myself laughing at what was spilling out onto the page.

One of my favourite scenes from the book is when the Dustbusters get in the elevator after meeting the flamboyant Count Dracula. Elevators are usually quite boring for adults, or even quite frightening. However, for small children they are fun ride with lots of buttons to press. I wanted to push this idea of a fun ride even more and make it just as appealing to adults.

Here is the illustration of the buttons found inside Count Dracula’s amazing Elevator Experience 3000.

Unlike an ordinary elevator, the buttons do not take you to a different floor. Instead, they actually transform the elevator into something else. While inside, the Dustbusters become curious and start to press the buttons. Each time they do, the elevator turns into a disco, or an amusement park and so on. Making their journey much more exciting, and it gives them a taste of all the magic and adventure yet to come.

Every time I get into an elevator now, I think of the Elevator Experience 3000 and I smile. What button would I press if I were in an Elevator Experience 3000? Definitely Disco. Which button would you press?

A few years ago I read a couple of self-help books. At the time, I was thinking negatively. I realised that my thoughts were restricting what I thought I could do and what I thought I should do. This was making me unhappy and when you think about the word ‘should’, it usually comes with a big dose of negative.
 
I didn’t know how to stop my negative thinking, so I searched on the internet about changing thought patterns. It was cognitive behaviour therapy that popped up first and I bought a book about it. What really stood out was a chapter on the word ‘should’ and to this day I remind myself of the dangers of this word. I even wrote a poem and called it The Exhausting Perils of Should.

Here is my poem.

If you think about it, when has the word ‘should’ ever served you? ‘Should’ is what you think you should be, ‘should’ is what you think others think you should be, ‘should’ is the what you think you should of said, ‘should’ is the things you think you should of done and ‘should’ is the thing that you think you should be doing. Exhausting, right?
 
The self-help book highlighted that instead of ‘should’ put ‘would like’ in its place. By doing this, you are more likely to see if it is something you actually want. Or is it something you think you should want. At the time, I had a thought that I should be married. When I switched ‘should’ with ‘would like’, I realised that it actually wasn’t that important. My relationship was good enough as it was, and I realised what joy it gave me. The realisation made me happier. 
 
The moral of this post? Don’t let the ‘shoulds’ get you down!

I think it is important to reflect on the progress of women and the lack of progress women suffer from around the world. In June, the UK will hold a referendum on whether to stay in the EU. I will be voting. Each time I do vote, I remember those who can't. Tonight, I plan to watch Suffragette. A film about those who courageously fought so that I can vote. Here is the trailer!

I was asked the other day how Delilah is. I replied she is not very happy, she has been stuck on my desktop for almost a year and is desperate to break free. Delilah is the main character in a series that I am writing. So far, I have published two stories. There is the unpublished one I mentioned and two other stories that swirl through my head intermittently, waiting to be written.

It is Delilah Dusticle and the Cursed Tempest that is impatiently sitting on my computer. The story is done and has even been sent to a beta reader. But for some reason the project stalled. Holidays, illness, work, you name it all happened, along with some self-induced procrastination. I have now tried to kick start the process of publishing again, by sending it to Bridget Gevaux at ABC Proofreading for a proper grammar health check. Also, six out sixteen illustrations are done, so I am hoping for an April or May release. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I am now pushing myself to write something new. I have been lulled into not writing stories, which worries me. I think writing is like a muscle, if you stop writing, your muscle begins to weaken. But what should I write about? My ideas in the past have come from everyday things. Delilah Dusticle came from a puff of dust, Eliza Bluebell from my love cafes and tearooms and A Fairy Extraordinary Christmas Story came from helping my Mum bring the decorations from the attic.

There is one idea I have. A few years ago I bought a little hedgehog soft toy. I am not a cuddly toy type of person, so this was unusual behaviour for me. It was just so sweet. Like a child, I have even given him a name. I have called him Igelkott (sounds like eaglekott), which is hedgehog in Swedish.

Here is Igelkott.

I have been considering writing a story about him for a while and a beautiful snowfall in January has given me a plot idea.

Here is that snowfall from January.

I logged into Facebook earlier and saw lots of photo's of my friend's kids dressed up as their favourite book character. Of course! It is World Book Day! For me, if I were to dress up today it would have to be Pippi Longstocking. To find out why, please take a look at my earlier post, 'I am an Astrid Lindgren wannabe'. I guess the question is, who would you dress up as today? Until next time, have a great World Book Day! Love from all of Delilah Dusticle's spiders!