House-Hunting As A Wheelchair User & Other Stories

First, thank you to those of you who have emailed asking about the writing prompt that I was supposed to introduce on the first of the month.

This is not a test, but I sometimes forget that people care what I have to say. What I don’t forget is that I should deliver on my promises to you groovy people.

In related blogging news, I’ve been hanging out on Twitter more and I answered this thread from Jon Sennett (not a new blogger) asking for advice for new bloggers.

I tweeted, Write in your own voice, as if you’re talking to friend.

Much like when I said blogging is like a cup of coffee.

27 people liked the tweet before I noticed the typo. So I didn’t delete it.

But I also tweeted, When will we be able to edit tweets without deleting them?

And so, if we were friends, which I hope we are, I would tell you I’m kind of struggling.

Not with blogging.

But life is affecting my writing time and posting time, and my anxiety is affecting my thoughts on whether what I have to say these days means anything.

Do you really want to know…

How we’ve taken two trips to Edinburgh to see ultimately unsuitable houses and flats, and we’re waiting on more appointments.

How listings are perfect for us until I scrutinise the photos, looking for steps no one thinks about.

How we call and get, ‘But there’s no lift in the building.’

How we check out a family house with neighbours, and 4 bedrooms, and this bustling coffee place on the corner.

And we’re in another house all excited. Until I don’t fit in the bathroom.

How we show up to another place and I’m greeted by someone who says, ‘Let’s see if this is actually accessible.’

Like I’m some object, or some trailblazer. Instead of a regular wife, and mother, and a writer who REALLY wants her own home office.

How I love the house we’re actually in, and if I could replant it in Edinburgh, that would be a thing.

So, I’m not feeling sorry for myself, really.

My need for an accessible house, around good schools, with neighbours and friends, and a coffee shop, is what it is.

And really not too much to ask.

Take yesterday, for example. We called for a viewing. Got a time and directions. The listing said ‘Accessible.’

Now. I know that sometimes that’s a word thrown around by people who don’t really know what it means.

To me it means no stairs, at the least. A bungalow goes a long way.

I didn’t see any stairs in these photos. The house looked too small for two storeys.

‘Call it in,’ I said to Neil, who arranges house viewings down to the minute.

We got an appointment.

And then we got a phone call.

‘All the bedrooms are upstairs.’

I had so many questions for these people, you guys.

Like:

Don’t you know what you have on your books?

Don’t the people in your office talk to each other?

Why does the listing say ‘accessible’?

I could have asked those honest questions. But this was the ninth or tenth house where I’ve to ask those questions, and I’m tired.

Last night on the phone, all I had was ‘SORT OUT YOUR LISTINGS.’ With the added bonus of another word in there somewhere.

Neil hangs up. ‘They’ll keep us in mind,’ he says.

So, yes. A lot of my recent screen time is taken up by scrolling through listings.

I have plans to blog, but don’t. One of my main blog goals is to connect with people, I’ve always said.

Strange that blogging more would make me feel less frustrated, and yet I don’t blog as often as I’d like.

I have some road trip posts coming up, including our recent stay at an actually accessible holiday cottage.

And I think it might be ironic that my last post was on finishing the first draft, but yet I stopped writing.

So there will be more writerly posts as well.

Like for instance, I’m moving my writing prompts to a monthly thing. And the new writing prompt is DREAM HOUSE. What would yours look like?

You have until Friday March 15th to share your dream house. I will update this post with an easier way to add your link to your own post on the prompt. (The roundup for the writing prompt can now be found here.)

My post introducing our writing prompt project is over here, and my most recent writing prompt post, before this one, was over here.

And so, more road trips and writerish posts.

But mostly, more words on the messy, always interesting, but sometimes unpolished view from where I sit.

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I was motivated out of my blogging slump by listening to Faith Mariah’s interview on Ruth Soukup’s Do It Scared podcast. Give it a listen, and as Faith says, don’t be a jerk to yourself…