Sunshine!

It makes such a difference to how you feel when the sun comes out, doesn't it? Despite the fact that it's the time of year when the tree pollen is stirring and I need to stock up on my hayfever meds. Life has been a bit sticky here for a few months, employment worries, the Belles and their concerns and commitments and health issues for various family members.
None of that has changed really except today the sun is shining, I have a voucher (just a small one) to spend in M&S and I have critiquing work to do. I do a small amount of critiquing work for private clients and for the RNA NWS throughout the year. I may be able to take some more private clients this year so if you think you might be interested in working with me drop me an email and I'll send you my rates. For now though I need to go and run all my errands before getting back to my list of jobs for today.

Spot the difference!

Apparently the cover for Dangerous to Know caused a few ructions in the world of sweet romance so my lovely editor, Steph and brilliant cover artist Elaina, had to make a slight change. For your delectation and delight here is the new (uncontroversial version!)
I think it's even hotter but then what do I know!

Busy, busy, busy

I know, I am trying to slow down I promise. Life is a bit crazy still with uncertainties in the day job, something I think everyone is experiencing at the moment. Waiting for eldest belle's first lot of exam results (college)middle belle with her option choices and that she's managed to sign herself up to two dance shows and a drama fastival. Then the writing side of my life has been incredibly busy.
Thank you to everyone who's downloaded a copy of Making Waves and sent me nice messages - I'm so glad you like it.
Dangerous to Know will be out on April 12th from Astraea Press and Brief Encounters will be out from E-Scape Press at the end of April/start May.
I'm just finalising the details but hopefully very soon I'll be able to share some really big news with you! It's to do with a certain mss that features a ghost, a cottage and a very yummy hero.

Dangerous to Know

Coming soon from Astraea Press - meet Jerome!

Dyscalculia Day March 3rd

This Thursday is Dyscalculia Day. For those of you who don't know - My name is Nell and I have a maths disability.
Dyscalculia, a disorder which primarily effects a person's ability to work with numbers and mathematical concepts, is a virtually unknown learning disabilty. It is so little known, in fact, that World Dyscalculia Day was not started by a research institution or large non-profit advocacy group -- we dysclaculics don't have any of those in or corner (yet!). World Dyslcalculia Day is a grassroots effort by members of the Dyscalculia Forum online community. World Dyscalculia Day is as effort by dyscalculics, for dyscalculics, to educate others about this learning disability. Dyscalculia is defined by a person's difficulty with numbers and arithmetical concepts. It's estimated (by people who are good at that sort of thing) that between 4% and 6% of the world's population has dyscalculia, but that only 1% has even heard of the disorder.

People with dyscalculia struggle to perform everyday tasks, such as remembering addresses and phone numbers, figuring a tip at a restaurant, or determining exactly what that "10% OFF!" sale will get them. We tend to transpose digits (reading 67 for 76), invert digits (reading 6 for 9), or just get plain confused (3 and 8 might look like the same symbol to a dyscalculic). All that, and we haven't even talked about using numbers to do actual math!

Notice how Dyscalculia Day is on March 3rd -- 3/3? That's because it allows us to safely get the day and month confused (and we will ... we will) -- but we can't screw it up.
It isn't just 'not being good at maths' it is about a real disorder that spills over into areas of everyday life. I can't text, use a cashpoint machine, remember phone numbers or my car registration number. I can't read a digital clock and have to have a calculator where the keys and the numbers on the keys are clearly marked out in different colours so they don't blend into the background. On a bad day, I'm worse when I'm tired or stressed, I can't remember my own birthday. It affects my spatial awareness, I can't tell left from right and my job share partner is perpetually baffled and amused by my complete inability to process even simple directions or to remember my way to and from somewhere.It affects co-ordination and balance - that spatial awareness thing again.
People with dyscalculia aren't stupid - I have four professional qualifications, a string of GCSE and A levels but I can't remember a pin number for a card and frequently get dates and appointment times scrambled.
Some of the explanation above came from the Dyscalculia Forum
I'm not alone, many famous people also have dyscalculia, Cher, Mary Tyler Moore, Henry Winkler,Benjamin Franklin, and Hans Christian Anderson, even Einstein struggled with basic maths.
If you, or someone you know is dyscalculic please visit the forum and raise awareness of Dyscalculia. If it's cool for the Fonz to admit it then I can too - I'm Nell and I have dyscalculia.

Guest blogger - Meet Deborah Melanie!

Deborah is a newly published writer from the UK. I've invited her along to tell us about herself and her new book, 'Winter's Spirit' out now from Solstice Publishing
Here is Deborah's bio:
As I child I loved to create my own stories. I entered my first story writing competition at the age of eleven, but didn't return to writing until many years later. In the past I have worked as a reviewer, but my first love lies with creating my own characters. Thanks to the encouragement of my husband, I am making a life long dream come true.

Deborah kindly agreed to be interviewed;

Tell us why you chose to write this particular story? As someone who grew up in a close knit community, I wanted to write a story about a similar place. Batlington (the fictional community in my book) is much more of a town, than my village is, but I wanted to convey the friendliness of the people and their close relationships. This story also encapsulates a lot of the ingredients I enjoy in book. It made sense to write about a subject close to my heart.

And which authors do you like reading? I enjoy a mixture of authors from JR Ward to Suzanne Brockmann. Occasionally I will dip into a thriller or a gory murder story.

Do you write in silence or to music? As for writing in silence, well.... I wish I could find silence in my house LOL. There's always a lot of background noise, especially from the children, but from time to time, I do like to write with some music on.

What are you working on next? Winter McAndrew, my heroine in Winter's Spirit has three sisters, so I do have plans to tell their stories. I'm currently working on something different, but it's still set in Yorkshire, so I get lots of opportunity to imagine all the beautiful countryside.


If you could choose two fictional characters to take out to dinner, who would you choose and why? If I could dine out with two fictional characters, it would be with Edward Rochester from Jane Eyre and Eustacia from Colleen Gleason's vampire stories. I imagine that Mr. Rochester would make some excellent choices from the wine list and Eustacia would provide some fascinating stories from all her vampire hunting experiences.

Thanks, Deborah - Here is the blurb and a short excerpt from Winter's Spirit:
Winter McAndrew is on the brink of divorcing her philandering husband, Philip, when he dies in a car crash. One year later and with unfinished business; Philip is still earth bound and interfering in his wife’s love life. Trying to make amends isn't always easy when you're dead. Not only has Winter fallen for her old crush, Jack Tobin, but he also happens to be Philip’s cousin. With more complications than a woman needs at Christmas, Winter tries to find peace at her holiday home in The Lake District. However, when she finds herself snowed in with Jack; ghosts, old and new cause quite a stir. Will Winter get her man, or will ghostly Philip put an end to all her festive fantasies?


Excerpt:

“That’s why you’re here isn’t it?” he felt ashamed. “You wanted to feel closer to Philip? I’m sorry. You must miss him a whole lot more at this time of year. You need your privacy. I should go.” Turning away, he placed his key on the small table by the door.
“Jack, wait. I’ve a whole bottle of your wine open and I’ve made far too much casserole. The least I can do is thank you with a good meal for looking after things.” Her hand reached out to touch his arm. Even through the warmth of the parker, it felt like a searing hot heat. “At least stay and eat with me. You’ve had a long drive here, you must be tired.”
Every survivalist instinct told him to keep walking. The idea of being alone in The Lake District with her, felt far more than his body could take. If he did stay, he’d either need to keep the parker on all night, or hide behind the dining table. Erections and widowed friends just wasn’t a combination he felt willing to explore. Damn it.
He turned to look at her. She seemed vulnerable; a lonely friend mourning her husband. He had no right. Yet this friend also just happened to be wrapped in a colourful quilt which brought out the green in her eyes, the pinkness in her lips and the slight blush on her cheeks. You’re setting yourself up for a fall, Tobin. “That’d be great. A good meal should set me up for the journey back.”
She smiled. “Great. Now if you’d grab the mop and clear up your snow, I’ll get some clothes on. I’m hardly dressed for guests.”
As she made her way upstairs, he smiled. She looked fine to him. Beautiful in fact.

To order Deborah's book click the link at the top to Solstice Publishing, and thank you Deborah for being my guest here - it's great to meet other sweet writers!

An Evening With Mr Darcy

Fab night last night at Dudley Central Library. Huge thanks to the librarians who had recreated a regency tea room complete with gorgeous cakes. There was a Jane Austen quiz with prizes and a wonderful excerpt by Dudley Little Theatre of their upcoming performance of Pride and Prejudice.
It was great to see so many people there - standing room only at one point!
Sadly, the delectable Mr Firth was absent but a good time was had by all anyway and you can still catch DLT's version of Pride and Prejudice at the beginning of March at Netherton Arts Centre - I highly recomend it!

Strange sensations

All day today my psychic warning system has been twanging and I've felt very spacey and disconnected from things. Most peculiar. I think I need to slow down a little - okay, I know, the chorus of 'I told you so's' is even reaching me from here. I do promise to be good and in fairness I do try and plan out what I'm doing both in my day job and in my writing life. It's simply been that both have been incredibly busy for the last few months, and as Mum to three teenage girls, family life is always pretty hectic too.
I have a couple of days holiday left to take so I've booked those so I can spend time with the belles and sort out some of my admin and I promise I will take a break too.
In the meantime why not check out Making Waves or some of my lovely fellow authors books over at Astraea Press

Catching my breath!

It's all been a bit mad lately. First I had the release of Making Waves from Astraea Press Have you got your copy yet? How about now? You can read it on kindle and now on a Nook too. Anyway, then I sold Dangerous to Know to Astraea too - this is one of my slightly longer novella's that was previously in print from Moonlit Romance. There was the launch of Brief Encounters and the announcement of our upcoming anthology of short romantic stories. The news that Just Look at Me Now had won an award, a radio interview for BBC radio West Midlands defending libraries and next week I've been asked to help at 'Meeting Mr Darcy'. This is a fab event being staged on Thursday 24th Feb at 7.30 at Central Library in Dudley. Excerpts from Pride and Prejudice performed by Dudley Little Theatre and a chat from me talking about historical influences on contemporary fiction.
Today I also packed up the wonderful Betty Neels rosebowl that's been sitting on my windowsill for the last year so the new recipient can get it at the RNA Pure Passion Awards in March. There are some wonderful books and authors shortlisted this year and I know whoever wins will have a truly magical time. I feel so very honoured and privileged to have been lucky enough to win the prize twice, it changed the course of my writing career.

An award for Just Look at Me Now!

Wow! I just learned that 'Just Look at Me Now' is the winner of the Catanetwork single titles reviewers choice of the year award as one of the best books they reviewed in 2010

A new place for romance

You remember that secret project? The small one I was so excited about? Well, here it is Visit Here

Happy Valentines!

Making Waves out Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day! Apart from it being my birthday, you can get your copy of Making Waves from Astraea Press or if you own a kindle you can visit Amazon!
Here's what the reviewers said about it first time around.

Making Waves by Nell Dixon is a most wonderful read. The emotions of the characters really stand out pulling the reader into the storyline. Josh and Cassidy are compassionate and warm who have had bad relationships in the past. The reader shares their sorrows and the way they wish to break any barriers that keep them from finding real love. Ms. Dixon creates a beautifully told read that spins the heart with love in a terrific summer romance that is sweet, romantic and awe-inspiring, don’t miss this one.
5 Angels from Fallen Angels Fallen Angels


Ms. Dixon has a knack for creating characters who are living and breathing to the reader. She paints us a picture of a wonderful summer romance. From Robyn at Once Upon a Romance 4 stars Once Upon a Romance

Josh and Cass are very sympathetic characters who both got a raw deals in long term relationships. They are employer and employee, but really did not get to know each other until this holiday. I enjoyed reading about both of them trying to enjoy their stay and at first enduring and then enjoying the other’s presence. This is a very sweet love story.
4 coffee cups from Maura at Coffeetime Romance Coffeetime Romance

Still not sure? Here's the blurb!
Cassidy Jones needs a holiday and her friend's cottage in New Bay sounds perfect. The beach could heal the bruises from losing her job and her fiancé. Perfect for some time alone to gather her thoughts and heal her broken heart.
Josh Parker is also looking forward to a much needed break after eighteen months of non-stop work. His out of town friend offers her cottage and Josh thinks it would be just right for some time to let his hair down and revive his social life with his old surf buddy's.
One cottage, two unsuspecting occupants, a recipe for romance or disaster?

How cold?

It registered at -5 this morning when I took the eldest belle to catch her train for college. I don't do cold, in fact for most of this week my brain and my fingers have been frozen. Not helpful when I'm incredibly busy both with the day job, my writing and with the belle's stuff.
Making Waves will be released a week tomorrow! Eek, this is the reprint from A Taste of Summer but I am so excited about it being back out there. Astraea Press Go Herelaunches tomorrow with it's first titles going on sale. If you like sensual romance that's firmly on the sweet side then head over there and check out the titles.
The finishing touches are being applied to another writing project I have cooking and there'll be an announcement about that in a couple of weeks. This is part of the putting the fun back into writing for 2011 project and is something I've been wanting to do more of for a while.
Somehow I'm working on three wips at the moment. Okay, so one is just a fuzzy fragment in the back of my head, One is going to be a novella and the other is a longer piece. I've lots of plans for this year. Now, if I could just find a few more hours in each day...

Making Waves

Out on February 8th from Astraea Press.

Washington Post Mensa Invitational

This came from a friend who knows my sense of humour.

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time

2. Ignoranus : A person who's both stupid and an a**hole.
3. Intaxication : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of having sex.

7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8 Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon : It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido : All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16 Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

And the winners are:

1. Coffee, n.. The person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.

5 Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.

6. Negligent, adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

7. Lymph, v.. To walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

Happy Birthday eldest belle

The eldest belle is 17 today - I am NOT old enough to have a child that age.

Zoom! Was that a week gone already?

Wow, last week went by fast! Eldest belle has her first lot of AS level exams this week - 7 exams - ouchie, it's her birthday tomorrow too. I am not old enough to have a daughter who has just sent for her provisional drivers license!
I wrote a staggering 8.5k in total last week on top of being out three nights with commitments and three and a half very hectic days at the day job. Writing short stories seeems to have uncorked my imagination. What I need now is more time to write down all the stuff thats whirling through my head. I'll probably do one or two more shorts this month and then start one of the novella's I have planned plus get going again on allotment wars.
I am loving my kindle - what I've found so far is that I am much more open to trying new genres and authors with it. So far this last week I read a YA - okay, a steamy historical - meh, an oldfashioned cosy detective - enjoyable, a Liz fielding - Fantastic!

Snow

It's snowing again. Eldest belle has gone to college, other two have gone to school, if this keeps up I can see me getting phone calls to go and collect them. Should be my day off today but I booked an appointment for the day job which looking at the weather I think I'll have to move.
Writing wise I'm off to a good start this year, I spent sometime once the worst of my flu was over sorting out some of the business side of my writing life. Still more to go but I feel really happy about the directions I'm taking this year. I finished revising 'An Uncivil War' and I wrote a 5k short story set in Venice which I'm actually quite pleased with. Again it's different from my other work, very romantic and wistful. I'm busy working on a few more short stories as it seems to be liberating my writing and firing me up again. I'm also working on a special fun project which you'll hear more about over the next few months. Then it will be back to writing Allotment Wars and hopefully a new short length novel too.

Happy New year

to all my friends. I hope this coming year will give you good health and happiness. I suspect my own new year will take me on new adventures, some sought and others which are totally unexpected. I always feel at this point in the calendar that old shades of the past seem closer than during the rest of the year but beyond the ghosts and the whispers there is the promise and sparkle of future magic yet to come that lies ahead.
I wish for all of you some of that magic in the coming year.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my friends, readers and fellow writers a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year. I'm pleased to say I am feeling a bit better now so hopefully will be up to cooking Christmas dinner. However you celebrate the season, I hope yours is great.

Uncle Bulgaria?

I had two early prezzies this week in the form of my publisher telling me that Just Look at Me Now was going to be in large print, then today I heard that it's going to be translated into Bulgarian. Wow! how cool is that? Look out Bulgaria in Spring next year when it goes out with copies of Cosmopolitan magazine. So exciting - and a little tinsy bit strange but in a good way.

Dear Simon Cowell,

Whilst not doubting your knowledge of the music industry, TV and light entertainment I am however concerned re your rather hazy grasp on geography. I would like to point out that Cher is from Malvern - not Birmingham. You, and One Direction did a gig in Wolverhampton - not Birmingham. Oh, and Merry Hill is not in - guess where? - Birmingham.
I realise it is difficult to keep track of ones location whilst jetting across the Atlantic and you probably share the view of many people from the South of the UK that anything past Oxford is occupied by Wolves, Bears and Mancunians. However it is rude and disrespectful to the people who turned out in the freezing temperatures, who made you welcome and supported you and your act to keep getting the name of the place you visited WRONG.
In fact, whilst I'm here I would like to point out to Best buys - who are American so could be forgiven for not checking a map, and to Heart radio, to the BBC news team and indeed to anyone else who might wish to know - The Merry Hill shopping Centre is not in Birmingham.
It is in Dudley - in the Black Country. Birmingham is the city about twelve miles away.

Time to put up the tree

The belle's are clearing up their stuff from the lounge so we can put up our Christmas tree. This is a pic from last year and as you can see it's so very stylish, colour coordinated and small - not!

It's LBD week at Chick Lit Reviews

Check out an interview with me and a fab giveaway for UK readers!Here

Early pressie!

Which book do you think this might be in German?? Isn't it totally fab?

Brrr

Getting home from the day job yesterday took almost two hours so I played safe today and came home at lunchtime armed with a huge stack of work that I could manage at home. So glad I did. I returned to find we had a problem with the plumbing in the drain on the drive which needed urgent attention and then the snow just kept on falling! Wombourne Writers is cancelled for tonight - our guest speaker Dr Bob Bibby has rescheduled for February and Miss Boo's theatre reheasal has been cancelled too and rearranged for a longer session on Sunday. At least that means I don't have to go out again.
Can't quite believe it's the first day of December today! I've so much to do and no time to do it both in my day job, my writing and in my Christmas preparations. Where is that cloning machine when you need it?

No snow show

Well, there was a tiny dusting of snow overnight, but only enough to resemble a very heavy frost. The forecast predictions seem to show it passing all around us but not on us. I guess we'll have to wait and see if it moves further into the midlands. It's flipping cold here though. The fluffy socks are out and the belles have ransacked the coat cupboard to dig out scarves and gloves. Everything suddenly feels very wintery and Christmassy.

Crystal Clear in large print

I have the most gorgeous new cover for the large print edition of Crystal Clear!

What happened in London - part 2!

We made to the party fashionably late thanks to the cab crisis so by then it was jammed with people. I mean literally jammed. It took us five minutes to locate the lovely Jan Jones and Roger Sanderson so we could sign in and collect our name tags and a rosette. This party was the final one for the clebration of fifty years of the Romantic Novelists Assoc. All those of us who had joined the association as unpublished writers, and had gone on through the wonderful NWS scheme to achieve publication become eligible for the Joan Hessayon award. In my year I think there were about 12 of us and the fabulous Fiona Harper was the winner. Winners of the award had very sparkly rosettes so Phillipa looked very glittery. We posed for pictures on the stairs which you can see over atJan Jones blog I'm at the back on the big group one and waving my hands around talking to my friend, Brigid Coady on another one. The evening whizzed past far too quickly and I missed talking to lots of people. People I did get to chat with included Cat Cobain, she bought my first LBD book, Blue Remembered Heels and I always enjoy talking with her as she is great fun and very wise. My fabby LBD editor, Claire, so excited to see her, Broo - who is Phillipa's agent, looking lovely as always. I met up with Sandra Forder, my good friend who I informally critique for and the ever glamerous Liz Fenwick, Cara Cooper, Catherine King, Diane Pearson, Lorelei Matthews, Lizzie Lamb and a whole host of other people.
The volume as ever was deafening so I struggled a bit to hear what people were saying and I was glad I'd left my walking stick at home as I probably would have legged someone over with it in the crowd. The drink flowed and the canapes were delicious especially after I accidently discovered the best spot in the room to stand to get offered them first - yum!
It was a fabulous party and Vik, Phillipa and I were buzzing as we left, like good little Cinderella's, a bit early to taxi across to the station and our ride home.

What happened in London

Vik, a friend from Wombourne writers, and I set off for Euston in time to meet my cp, Kimberley for lunch. Kim is an American, living in Italy and although we've been working together for a while now we'd never met. This is a special week though as her wonderful debut novel, Ask Me If I'm Happy was released from Diiarts press and she was over for the launch.
We met up at Euston and set off in a cab for John Lewis where we'd arranged to meet Phillipa Ashley, one of the coffee crew authors. Lunch lasted three hours that just zipped by in a flash. Kim is every bit a beautiful in real life as she is in her emails and we had a blast.
Once Kim had left to dash off to a literary event at Oxford, Vik, Phillipa and I went girly window shopping around the beauty department. Somehow we ended up in House of Fraser where the wonderful Laura, who was brilliant, gave us all a make-over with her gorgeous mineral make-up. (That is so going on my Christmas wish list).
Smelling delicious and immaculately made-up, Phillipa sprinted off for a meeting with her agent whilst Vik and I went in search of a cab to take us to Waterstones in Piccadily where we had been invited to a Tweet-up with Jane Holland, Talli Roland, Kate Nash, Jenny Bardon and Barbara Alderton. We were at the taxi rank when one of the cycle rickshaw cabs pulled in. So, we took our life in our hands and were pedalled away down Oxford Streets dodging in between the buses and admiring the posh shops and Christmas lights all the way to Piccadily.
We met up with the rest in time to celebrate Jane Holland's birthday which was made even better by a phone call from her agent telling her she had just landed a three book deal for her historical novels!
By the time we'd celebrated we were running late for the RNA winter party. We managed to grab one cab and half our party set off in that. Vik, Talli and I tried to find another cab. With time ticking on and no luck, Talli suggested we walk down to the Ritz as there were sure to be cabs there. Using her charm Talli then persuaded the wonderfully helpful doorman complete with his frock coat and top hat to stand out in the traffic and flag us down a taxi, so we were escorted into our vehicle in style.
After that came the RNA party and I'll blog about that tomorrow!

RNA Winter Party

I'm off to London with fellow writer Vik Moriarty and we're meeting Kimberley Menozzi, my cp and author of Ask Me If I'm Happy (out this week, Diiarts Press) and Phillipa Ashley, author of Dating Mr December (out now with Source books) for lunch. Then after a spot of shopping we're off to the RNA winter party and I know loads of my friends are going to be there so it'll be fab to catch up.

Ch ch changes...

Channelling a bit of Bowie. I'm being a busy bee at the moment making all kinds of changes to all kinds of things writing and non writing wise. You'll be seeing some new things hopefully on my website over the next few months and I'll be blogging about some of the things I have planned soon. I know, I'm such a tease!
First up though is to remind those of you who like large print that Crystal Clear will be released in LP format on December 1st. As soon as I see the cover i'll post it here for you!

Friday

The weather yesterday was really wild and I'm surprised there wasn't more damage when I drove eldest belle to catch her train to college this morning. I must admit I quite like lying in bed late at night and listening to the wind howling around the chimney. I always feel very snug especially if i have a good book to read.
Next weeks calendar is mad. I seem to be horrendously busy for the whole week including a trip to London on Wednesday to meet my cp, Kimberley Mennozi as her fabulous book, Ask Me If I'm Happy, releases this week from Diiart press. I'm travelling down with a friend from Wombourne writers and we're meeting Kim for lunch. Then later it's the RNA winter party. Very glam and exciting - well, the party will be, I'll probably be windswept and achey from schlepping around London all day but I'm so excited! It'll make a change from my usual outings which tend to be just to drop the belles off at various places.
Friday is my middle belle's birthday - she'll be 14. How did that happen? What happened to my cute little baby girl who cut her baby sisters hair when she was playing hairdressers? She used to say she wanted to be a ballerina hairdresser when she was small. Then her dream job was to work for Disney as Cinderella in the Disney parades, singing and dancing down Main Street. Maybe she hasn't changed too much after all.

Proud Mama moment

Congratulations to my lovely and talented middle daughter on being cast in her first stage play with Wolverhampton City Youth Theatre as the Envy Snake in their upcoming production of The Ashgirl in December!

Catching my breath

I'm sorry, I know I've not posted for a while. I had one day between getting home from holiday before I had to sprint off to Oxford for a course for two days. We had a fab week away, we did some Christmas shopping at Clacton shopping village and at the designer outlet village near Stansted. We went metal detecting on the beach at Walton-on-the-Naze. We played bingo on Clacton pier with the caller dressed as a monk. We climbed to the top of the tower at Orford and walked around the walls of Framlingham Castle. We went swimming in the pool at the caravan site (indoor). We visited Frinton and went bird watching from the sea walls at Point Clear. We played scrabble, did jigsaws and laughed a lot.
In short we had a great time. What do you like doing best on holiday, and where is your ideal spot?

Off we go

This will be my accomodation for the next week, our lovely caravan. Planning all kinds of nice things whilst we're away. The house/fish sitters will be taking care of things whilst were gone. When I get back it will all go a bit mad again. I have a two day course at Oxford UNI on evaluating qualitative research, the belles have dance exams, sports tournaments and a play to rehearse. Most importantly though I'm going to be meeting Kim, my cp for the first time on November 17th in London! Squee. Her wonderful book, Ask me If I'm Happy is releasing from Diiarts press that week and I'm going to the RNA winter party - extra squee!

Sunny Sunday

One week to go to my holiday - I'm looking forward to it so much. This October we're going back to one of our fave places that we haven't visited for a few years - St Osyth on the Essex coast. We plan to get our Christmas shopping organised at the shopping village and in Colchester. To visit Frinton on sea and walk along the sea front at Clacton, go on the pier, eat lots of sea food (well I do) and generally chill out for a week before we come back to the hurly burly of dance exams, show rehearsals, school events, tons of work stuff and just life generally. I'm hoping this lovely sunny weather keeps up while we're away

Feeling silly

I'm not sure where this came from but it seemed to sum up my day.

Errands

I took yesterday as a writing day - I'm on chapter six now and loving my new story. That means today is errand day - sigh. Visit to the bank which I hate with a passion was much improved by the discovery of one of my fab former Asda colleagues working there. Then to get a few ingredients for tonights casserole. Bought my new little purse diary for next year so I need to fill that out. These are fab - I've been buying them ever since I was a student nurse - they cost 50p from Clinton cards, open out to a month on view at a time with a box for each day just big enough to make a note and are small enough and flat enough to slip in the side of a purse, or when I was on the wards, into my uniform pocket.
Now to renew my RAC subscription - I'm supposed to get this free with my bank account but I'd hate to put it to the test. Finally I'm back doing my Flylady routines which I'd let slip this year and have missed so much. If you don't know about Flylady check out her website - great for busy people - her Christmas planner is ace.

Pleasant Valley Sunday

I appologise for the lack of blogging lately. Life has been even more hectic than usual so I've been a bit remiss in my efforts to bore you all rigid with the mundane trivia of my daily life.
This weekend I've barely been in the house, by the time I'd dropped the middle belle at dance class, scooted round and done the grocery shop, picked her back up, dropped her and the shopping off at home, collected the other two belles for a dentist visit - eldest for a tiny filling, youngest to have three milk teeth removed, dropped eldest off at cinema to meet her friends, gone home, helped a friend of mine complete a mountain of dss forms for her daughter, then gone and collected eldest belle, Saturday had vanished.
Then today, I needed to get the laundry on, visit my parents, come back to hang out laundry, take middle belle to theatre group, come home and grab coffee, then go back to collect middle belle then cook Sunday dinner, my Sunday will have disappeared too.
Somewhere in the midst of all this I really want to finish the chapter I'm working on, and I suppose I opught to attempt to clean the house.
How was your weekend?

X Factor?

I don't watch much TV but as you know I do love me a crappy reality show. Well, watching X Factor last night I certainly got the crappy part. Cheryl Cole was clearly much iller with her malaria than we were led to believe. The poor girl was still so affected by it she managed to take through the only two singers in her category who couldn't sing. Katie 'I think I'm Madonna's love child' and half girl, half old lady, Cher.
Gamu who most of the population of the UK had marked as their winner of the series didn't go through. Simon picked his made up groups on the grounds that they looked better than the groups who had bothered to work hard, rehearse and could actually sing. Dani chose an italian bloke with an ego to rival Katie whats her face and poor Louie has Tesco Mary, a bloke in a hat and Storm Drain. The best thing all weekend was the return of Sharon Osbourne.However there are now rumours of a judges wild card pick next week. Pah! I won't be bothering to watch.
The one bright spot on the horizon is that next week Harry Hill is back!!!

Writing into the mist

It's been ages since I wrote a post purely about my writing. I've recently started a new ms. At the moment it's called allotment wars but I have a sneaking suspicion that may turn out to be another book entirely. This is very much an into the mists book. I have no plan - I never have much of a plan, but for this one I haven't even done a rough blurb or outline. So far I have three chapters which I really like - they are still lacking the details to make them sharp but as regular readers here know that's something I do in my edit stages. Chloe, my heroine, is a radio reporter - she gets to go out and record interviews at the local baby show, meet the grower of the biggest leek and at the start of the ms she's about to abseil down the walls of a castle. Except, Chloe hates heights and has misguidely taken too many of her friend Shelly's tranquillisers in a bid to calm her fears.
So, that's what I'm working on - for the writers amongst you, what scene have you just written? And, for the readers, what scene have you recently read that's stayed in your memory?

Monday moaning

Either it's the damp miserable weather or I really am turning into a grumpy old woman. Random irritations on a wet morning:
False eyelashes - I mean really, why do you think anyone would glue something that looks like two spidery toupees for a bald man to their face to go and work in a bank? Most disconcerting for the customer on the other side of the counter especially when coupled with orange fake tan and the false nails.
Queues - everytime - Dear Halifax - you need more staff and why do the machines never, ever work?
Drivers with no lights - You are in a black car, it's dark, it's raining, please put your lights on.
TV in the bank - Dear Lloyds, I don't want to watch the Labour party conference whilst in your queue. I shouldn't be there long enough to watch TV. And I don't care who won the leadership contest - the ship is sinking I don't care who is on deck. (Disclaimer, in the interests of equality there are other political parties, and no, I don't want to watch them either)
Heart radio - For the love of Mike please change the playlist - I can only stand so much Lady Gaga, Michael Buble and Alicia 'New York' Keyes before I lose the will to live.
What minor stuff is irritating you at the moment?

Peaceful Sundays

I hope everyone is having a peaceful day. Mine is rather noisy. My neighbours have some people in to relay their patio. Unfortunately my office is at the back of the house so inevitably I have the merry sound of the grinder, the slab cutter, tuneless whistling and football commentary coming from their radio.
I really hope they finish it today. I can't concentrate when there's extraneous outside noise. I've been trying to drown them out by compiling my playlist for the new ms in progress. So far I've got:
Sweet about me - Gabriella Cilimi
Radio Nowhere - Bruce springsteen
It must be Love - Madness
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Upside Down - Paloma Faith
Gotta be somebody - Nickelback
Only the good die young - Billy Joel
What about Love - Heart

Whatya reading?

I've been on a bit of a reading spree lately, some nice M&B's by Penny Jordan and Roger Sanderson. The Beach hut by Veronica Henry, A selection of short stories by Maeve Binchy, a nice group of historical short stories by Elizabeth Hanbury. Next up is a debbie Macomber followed by a real treasure - I managed to get one of the forerunner series by Andre Norton for my collection - and it was one I haven't read before! I'm also waiting for Amazon to bring me the new Jenny Crusie book.
How about you? What are you reading? Any good recomends?
Ps I like happy endings, no horror or misery lit, don't care for vampires werewolves or stuff like thet.

Just Look at Me Now

This afternoon I turned on the computer and found a review which actually made me cry. Happy tears, not upset ones. I always value the reviews from SingleTitles.com as Julie is a thoughtful and experienced reviewer. I'd been worried about this book as it was in third person rather than first person and is probably the most chick-litty and tongue in cheek of all my books.
Julie gave it 5 stars and said: 'I polished off Nell Dixon’s irresistible new novel in a single sitting! Fabulously readable, highly engaging and immensely enjoyable, I was hooked from the very first page and didn’t stop reading until I reached the satisfying conclusion!'
Then she added the bit that made me cry:
'With a wonderful heroine, a drop dead gorgeous hero, an enchanting cast of supporting characters, laugh out loud comedy, moving pathos and non-stop action, Just Look at Me Now is another winner from an outstanding storyteller who always leaves her readers with big smiles on their faces, eagerly awaiting the next rip-roaring romantic comedy from her very talented pen!'
I owe a huge debt on this book to Charlotte Maclain from Romance Diva's who gave me a wonderful insight into the world of magazines and also an even huger one to my CP, Kimberley Menozzi who has her own fabulous women's fiction book, 'Ask Me If I'm Happy', coming out in November from Diiarts books.
You can read the rest of Julie's review HERE

Seasons

Autumn is definitely in the air, the mornings are cooler, the evenings darker and the spiders invading my house are larger and hairier. My greenhouse is full of lovely little cherry tomatoes and the patio pots of large tomatoes and peppers need harvesting. Our birdtable looks like Heathrow for Bluetits and the squirrel is back in the corkscrew hazel helping himself to the cobnuts.
Looking towards the barrow from my office window there are subtle changes in the leaves on the trees. I love this time of year, especially ondays like today when the sky is blue and the sun is shining with just a hint of crisper, cooler air.

And breathe out...

Life finally seems to be settling down a little here in the Nell household. My Mum was given the all clear after her recent cancer surgery, my eldest dd is loving her new college and the other belles are back at school. Mr Nell's job is secure again for the moment and, fingers firmly crossed, no more major appliances or vehicles are about to die on me.
My job is still uncertain as we are dependeant on our funders so just keep thinking good thoughts for our projects and, should you know of anyone who would like to help sponsor a really worthwhile project with a terrific track record for helping people then give me a shout.
I'm slowly settling back down to working on my new writing project. I've one and a half chapters down so far and hopefully now life is steadying up a bit I might get some more chapters down before halfterm and the start of the preChristmas chaos. I've seen my calendar pages for November and December and they are scary now even without any extras being added in.
So, how about you? How is your new term going?

Reminder!

The book signing, silent auction, raffle, sale etc to raise funds for Malthouse and Salop Drive therapeutic gardens is tonight - 6-8.30pm
Hope some of you can make it!

Things I wished People had told me

Check out an article I wrote for my friends at The Wild Rose Press Go Here

Book signing and auction

If any of you are in the Midlands on Tuesday 14th September then you're very welcome to come along to Malthouse Garden, next to the Independent Living Centre, 100 Oldbury Road Smethwick B66 1JE between 6 and 8.30pm. I'll be signing copies of Just Look at Me Now and reading excerpts and you can ask me all kinds of questions.
In addition you can bid in our silent auction to win one of the following signed by the author books!
1. Honey Trap by Julie Cohen – Paperback RRP £5.99 – Julie is a Holt medal award winner, this is a smart funny tale involving rock bands and honey traps.
2. A Most Lamentable Comedy - Janet Mullaney – Paperback RRP £5.99 – Janet is famous for her regency romps and this is chick lit with a difference.
3. Girl Racers – Janet Gover – Paperback RRP £6.99 – Janet writes fast paced stories set in her homeland of Australia.
4. A Wedding at Leopard tree lodge – Liz Fielding – hardback RRP £13.99 – Liz is one of the most famous and best loved of the Mills and Boon romance authors and this lovely story won’t disappoint.
5. Dangerous Waters – Jane Jackson – Hardback RRP £18.99 – Privateers and slave revolts in regency times.
6. Devil’s Prize – Jane Jackson – Hardback RRP £18.99 – Cornish smugglers in the 18th century, love and danger.
7. It Should Have Been Me – Phillipa Ashley – Paperback RRP £5.99 – Phillipa’s book Decent Exposure is now filmed as the Twelve Men of Christmas and this story for the Joan Hessayon award winning writer is guaranteed to brighten up your reading.
8. The Wise Woman’s Tale – Phillipa Bowers – Paperback RRP £6.99 – Young adult magic and realism combine in an enchanting historical novel.
9. Rainbow’s End – Eileen Ramsay – Hardback RRP £18.99 – Well loved best selling novelist Eileen delivers a tragic and beautiful romantic tale.
10. Another Woman’s Husband – Sarah Duncan – Hardback RRP £19.99 – Another cracking story by one of today’s best selling contemporary writers.
11. Stage by Stage – Jan Jones – Paperback RRP £7.99 – A warm and witty tale of life in a theatrical boarding house.
12. A Old-fashioned Arrangement – Susie Vereker – Paperback RRP £7.99 – Set in Geneva an ordinary woman faces an extraordinary dilemma.
13. Hardback by Elizabeth Hanbury – details coming soon
Huge Thanks to all of the authors who have generously donated their work. There'll be a raffle, lovely handcrafted cards for sale, some second hand books and of course some plants.
Monies raised are going to Ideal For All's Growing Opportunities programme which is a project for disabled people. It promotes health through horticulture and we need new tools, benches and to replace some of our older shrubs within the gardens.
If you didn't see it, there is a fab review of Just Look at Me Now and an interview with me over at Trashionista.Here
The reviewer said,'Just Look at Me Now is a fantastic read... ...This is yet another wonderful gem from Little Black Dress with a great plot and great characters.' 5/5!

Summer's end

The eldest belle is off to college for her first full week. The other two belles go back to school on Wednesday and I go back to the day job tomorrow. At least I feel better this week and I'm itching to get stuck into the mega pile of work that I know will be on my desk.
Yesterday was my Dad's birthday so despite the drizzle we had a nice barbeque at home. Today already feels as if the season is changing, the Magnolia at the end of the garden is swooshing and swaying in the breeze, the Magpies are chacking at each other from the gutter above my office window and the sky is that pale grey blue which tells you there is a chill in the air.
I have half a chapter done on my new project - hopefully I'll get that done and maybe a synopsis later this week once the day job days are out of the way - have a feeling I'll be too tired to think straight when I get home from work.

Random stuff

Having three teenage girls home for six weeks certainly makes life interesting - here's a few random comments overheard over the past few weeks with no attribution in order to protect the guilty.
'I have two baguettes and I plan to eat them both just because I can'
'OMG if you lick my arm one more time'
'I smelt your hair and touched your feet, there is no way I plan to sniff your socks'
'Stratford upon Avon is near Cornwall, isn't it?'

A question of Faith

Regular readers know that I don't often discuss politics or religion here. This last week however there have been two things which have disturbed me deeply on a personal level. The first was during Ultimate Big Brother - yeah I know - and John Mc's diatribe to Makosi dismissing the existence of God. Then, today, This article appeared on my screen.
There has always been a clash between those who have to have scientific proof, hard facts and the evidence of their own ears and eyes before they can believe in something. Yet, the ground of religious belief is Faith. A faith that can withstand doubt and which places trust in that, clever as man may be, we are not all that is within the the universe. Not just this universe but others which may be far beyond our sight, comprehension or imagination. How arrogant are we that we can say this is all coincidence? Chance? A fluke?
We are but little specks in something huge, infinite and timeless. Everyday, all around if we care to look there are miracles, things which can never be explained or dismissed by science, medicine or rationality.
Every day when I look into the faces of my children I see evidence of God's grace.
This post is not to start a discussion or to provide a platform for those people who have different beliefs to mine. You are welcome to your beliefs, I do not seek to convert anyone to my way of thinking. This is simply something I felt strongly that I had to say, to redress the balance maybe. A question of Faith.

Down by the station...

Eldest dd has gone to catch her train for her induction day. She starts full time at sixth form on Monday. The other two belles don't return to school till Wednesday morning. Youngest belle is still in France. I feel better today than I've done in ages despite the stopped up sinuses and the deafness. I know I feel better because I'm itching to get back to work - or maybe that means I'm not better and it's the fever talking lol.
This virus has been very odd but I can feel my energy coming back. Hopefully the chaos that's been my life for the first part of this year will settle down too and I can have a few months of calm before Christmas and all that madness hits.

Feeling crappy

I thought holidays were meant to make you feel better. I'd been feeling tired since we got home but thought it was just from travelling, then today it hit me. Cottonwool head, drippy nose, hot and cold temps and an irritating cough whenever I try to talk. I guess this is my immune systems way of making me slow up for a week. Since I don't want to spread this around I called in sick, something I hate doing, but since I've only had one day off sick in 2 and a half years then I guess I haven't done so badly. Better a few days now than giving it everyone else and spending more time off.
It doesn't help that workmen have arrived just down the lane and started to Jackhammer the tarmac up on the road. Don't know if it's my head pounding or the generator.

While I was gone

Well, the eldest belle managed to get 9 GCSE's A* to C grade and is enrolling in college this Tuesday. She's going to a local sixth form college and is really excited about starting her A level courses. The youngest belle is in France with her friend and is entertaining us with her daily texts. I'm busy ploughing through the laundry mountain. I had a lovely email from a reader telling me how much she loved Just look at me Know which made my day for me.
I also met some lovely people while I was away - a big Hi to Brix Books on the harbourside at Brixham and to Jill at Waterstones in Exeter. If you're quick both shops have a small amount of signed stock of my books but you need to be quick as they are going fast.
We had mixed weather while we were away but on the whole it was pretty good. All of us were sad to leave Devon, fingers crossed we'll be able to be back there again soon.

Waiting

posting this from the lovely Shoreline cafe in Paignton while we wait with eldest dd for her grandparents to call with her GCSE results.

Five go off to Devon

Hopefully this afternoon we're collecting the new to us towcar - a lovely Volvo XC90 in shiny metallic black - then we're finishing loading up the caravan and we're off tomorrow morning. Notes have been written for the house and fish sitters, Miss La's case is ready for when she comes back early to go to France with her friend's family. I still have my taxes to do but all the bits of paper are now in one pile in my office ready for me to check they've been entered in my notebook so I can fill out the forms.
I must remember to collect my holiday reading books from the boot of my car where I'd locked them to stop me reading them before I left. I've Veronica Henry's the beach hut and a collection of short stories from Maeve Binchy to look forward to. Should last me at least a day.
My Mum has her surgery this afternoon so all good thoughts for her are much appreciated

Paperwork

I seem to be swamped by paper at the moment. I'm getting euro's, sorting out all the stuff the youngest Belle needs for her French holiday with her friend. I'm gathering all the bits I need so I can do my tax return - shudder. We're changing our tow car so I'm chasing down all the documents for that as we'd like the new to us car before we go away on Thursday. I'm writing instructions for the house/fish sitters, supervising packing, finishing up my critiquing work and filling out my returns for Irish PLR which has to be in before the end of this month.
I thought this was supposed to be my holiday?
Still, on Thursday we're off to Devon to one of my favourite places, just outside Stoke Gabriel and I'll be surrounded by lovely rolling green hills and best of all I'll be by the sea. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it.

Fat fridges

Most of the appliances in my house are rather like me, a bit elderly, a little eccentric and inclined to work at their own pace. This week two of thenm decided to die. My microwave went first. It looked as if was cooking, the turntable went round, it made the right noises, the light was on but alas no cooking. Fortunately Sainsburys is having a sale so we picked up a lovely shiny silvery one for £50.
Next to go was the fridge freezer. I'd noticed for a while that the fridge was only slightly warmer than the freezer section and the light hasn't worked in it since 2004 but the final straw came when Mr Nell fetched his bottle of flavoured water out and discovered an iceberg the size of the one that sank the Titanic inside the bottle.
So, for the last few days we've been attempting to eat the contents of the freezer so we can get it all emptied out ready for the new one which is coming tomorrow.
It took quite a while to find a new fridge freezer because sometime in the last twenty years fridges have become fatter and of course we have fitted cupboards so fatter fridge freezer = not fitting in fridgefreezer sized gap. Luckily we managed to track one down that seemed like a good make.
I'm now eyeing the other kitchen appliances wondering which will be the third to go - or do you think the fridgefreezer counts as 2?

To tweet or not to tweet?

In a fit of madness last week I joined Twitter. As you know I went to Liz and Kate's very helpful workshop while I was at the RNA conference and then after so many people there kept telling me how wonderful it was I thought I ought to give it a go.
I am not very technical as you know and I can only access Twitter from my desktop since I bought my mobile phone in 2003, it doesn't even have a camera on it and no, I don't want to change it. I use it to make phone calls and that's it - bear in mind that due to my dyscalculia I can't text.
Twitter was always going to be a leap of faith. Well, at the moment I seem to be following 95 people and 60 people are following me - some of them are people who don't know me and will probably stop following me when they discover how boring I really am. It's a weird place the twitterverse. The only way i can describe it is that it's like going to a party and being in a room full of people, some you know and others you don't. Everyone is chatting, some in groups and some one to one. Clutching your glass of wine you look around for a friendly face and every now and then you catch someones eye and can answer a question or join in. The rest of the time you eavesdrop or talk to yourself, a bit like Shirley Valentine talking to the kitchen wall.
Hopefully I'll get better at it and feel a bit less wallflowerish. I downloaded tweetdeck and frankly am not impressed so far. I'll press on though and let you know how it goes when I've had a bit more practice - maybe I need to be less shy and retiring - and yes, I heard you all snigger when I said that!
Oh, and if you're there and I haven't found you then come and find me - I promise to say hello and show you where the peanuts are.

What a week

Well, actually it's been a pretty crap fortnight. Major stress in the day job, the company that employs Mr Nell went into administration - hopefully that's now been resolved and his job is ok, eldest belle still hobbling around on crutches, fridge freezer is on the blink and my Mom has now had a malignant cancer confirmed again, this time on her nose.
On the upside, Just Look at Me Now is out and selling well, His Darling Nurse is on kindle in the UK now and at least Mom's tumour isn't connected to the retinal cancer she had a few years ago and it sounds as if it's fixable. Mr Nell is still gainfully employed and, provided I don't have a nervous breakdown from all the stuff I need to do this week, I'll be off on holiday soon to Devon.
I might even write something while I wait for the verdict on Me, You and Him. I may even get the pictures from Jess's wedding downloaded sometime this century - sigh.

It's out!

Just Look at Me Now is out today!
And in other news go HERE and congratulate my lovely and talented friend Judy Jarvie on her sale to Embrace Publishing! Judy, like me, is a former Moonlit author - there were some talented people writing for Moonlit and Judy is one of them!

Home again

I'm home from our short trip to Denham. We had a nice day out in London on Thursday - this was Miss La's reward for working hard at school so we spent the morning at Covent Garden browsing the shops, watching the street entertainers etc. Then in the afternoon we went to Hamley's. This was a curious mix of wow! and umm. The store is badly in need of a major refurbishment but the staff were nice and there is quite a good range although it wasn't as big or as varied as I'd expected. Didn't see any bikes, scooters, skateboards, very few board games although I could have missed them. Lots of TV themed stuff but disappointing range of Sylvanian family things and none of the bigger Barbie themed stuff. Didn't see very much in model trains or airfix either.
Friday we went to Henley on Thames where they were readying the town for today's regatta. It was interesting playing spot the yummy mummy.
Friday night was the big event - Jessica (my former cp) and Simon's wedding reception. Jess looked gorgeous in a white strapless classically styled dress with her three adult bridesmaids in an eau de nil shade of green. Very simple but very lovely. Little Charlie isn't so little any more - why do kids have to grow up so quickly? and we had a fabulous time. Once I can get hold of the camera cables I'll download some of the pictures.
The last week hasn't been great here for all kinds of reasons so it was nice to get away for a few days doing things that really matter, being with family and seeing friends. Here's hoping this next week gets even better.

Re- entry

It's always weird when you finish a book. I've been so immersed in Kate and steve's life at Myrtle cottage that I've kind of lost touch with what's happening in the wider world. Today though, I cleaned my desk - hey, there was wood under all that paper - who knew?
I'm attempting to fill out passport applications for the belles. This is a challenge - they have the 'wrong' sort of birth certificates, and were entered on my old passport when they were babies something which appears to throw HM passports into a bit of a tizz over which bits of paper I need to submit. It's all very complicated and very expensive.
The eldest belle is still recouperating after her toe surgery - she has to go back on Wednesday to have the dressings changed and see if she can be a bit more mobile.
My former cp, the talented and lovely Jessica is getting married on Friday to Simon and we're heading off to the wedding! So excited and thrilled for them both.
I'm so looking forward to my holiday at the end of August - I really need to be by the sea now and to have a break - it's been a very busy year. Plus we have the eldest belle's GCSE results yet to come.
My advance copies of Just Look at Me Now are here and Amazon are shipping already! Plus, it's £2 cheaper on there than the shops!I hope people will like this one :)

Just pressed send

It's finished. Me, You and him is now in my lovely agents in-box to wait for her verdict. Now the nail-biting begins.

Endings

I've finally finished my first round of aditing on You, Me and Him. In the process I removed the epilogue and added over 7k to the main book. I changed around the order of events in the last two chapters so they made more sense and strengthened the ending. I layered in more emotion and upped the stakes in some key scenes. I smoothed some transitions and enlarged on the dialogue sequences.
My next round now is to seek and destroy the words I love a little too much and make sure the story is hanging together well. This bit is like sanding the whole thing down to get rid of any splinters or snags that might snare an unwary reader.

Does anyone like synopsis writing?

I suspect there is a resounding no echoing back towards me. I've come to regard them as a kind of necessary evil. I'm lucky in that most of the books I've sold I've sold on a blurb rather than having had to produce a proper grown up synopsis. Every now and then though marketing, or my editor needs me to be a bit more definite about what I intend to write. Then it's tricky. I started off writing synopsis after the book was done but that clearly is no good when you are hoping to sell on proposal. The problem I had was that once I'd written the outline or synopsis I felt like I'd told the story and the book was done. Then I tried writing just the first three chapters and then the synopsis. That worked better although I often find the finished book isn't quite the same as my original plan.
I struggled a lot with the format of synopsis writing. I went to lots of workshops including a wonderful one by Sarah Duncan, a few years ago at an RNA conference. Now I've evolved my own set of rules. I never write one thats longer than two pages - more than that is a novella and really - who needs that? I don't describe every little incident or character - I stick with the hero and heroine and any secondary character who is key to a turning point in the plot. I make sure the growth in the character arcs is clearly shown through the plot turning points. I make sure the resolution is clear and the conflicts are clear.
Here is my original synopsis for Animal Instincts - you'll see the ending is different in the book, but hopefully this shows what I mean:
Down-to-earth Clodagh Martin is quite fond of her glamorous actress step-sister Imogen, providing Imogen isn’t actually around her for very long. So when Imogen shows up drunk on her doorstep at two in the morning with a bottle of champagne announcing that she’s come to visit for a while, Clodagh isn’t very pleased.
Staying at the Rainbow’s End animal sanctuary with a disapproving Clodagh isn’t Imogen’s idea of fun either. She would have preferred somewhere less smelly and infinitely trendier to hide. Unfortunately, a combination of debt, a humiliating public scandal involving a live TV show and too much alcohol has left Imogen with very little choice but to throw herself on Clodagh’s mercy until everything blows over.
Clodagh has enough problems of her own to worry about. The sanctuary she loves is broke and the animals she has, a foul-mouthed parrot, two gay donkeys and a goat called Mr Sheen, aren’t enough to draw in visitors. Former bad-lad-made-good property magnate Jack Thatcher seems very keen to acquire the land. He also appears very keen to date Clodagh, but she’s not sure if he wants to get his hands on her or her property. A worrying string of arson attacks and vandalism have left the sanctuary in a perilous state and she’s not certain that Jack is as reformed a character as he’d have her believe. A disastrous relationship some years before had made Clodagh very wary of getting involved with anyone again.
Co-ordinator of the volunteer helpers, Susie, is another thorn in Clodagh’s side. While her help with the animals is invaluable, her fetish for all things ‘green’ and apparently irrational disapproval of Jack are driving Clodagh mad. Jade, her colleague is more amenable and friendly.
Imogen, however, is convinced she can turn around both her own and the sanctuary’s fortunes. She decides she can resurrect her acting career and save the sanctuary by proving to the public that she’s a reformed character. Much to Clodagh’s despair Imogen sets up a series of events designed to convince the world that she’s now a dedicated and sober animal activist.
Journalist Marcus Keyes is certain there’s a story behind the new Imogen and much to Clodagh’s dismay he begins to turn up like a bad penny every time something happens at the sanctuary, either planned or unplanned.
Imogen secures a television appearance for herself and Clodagh where she announces an open day at the sanctuary. Immi also begins to date Marcus. The ensuing publicity from the television appearance brings in more money but also more press attention and not all of it is positive.
Jack finally persuades Clodagh to trust him and she tells him about her past, including her previous abusive relationship with her university tutor. In turn he tells her the truth about his father and how he came to inherit his property business.
Things take a more serious turn back at the sanctuary when the entrance kiosk is targeted for the next arson attack. Clodagh and Jack discover the blaze as they return from an evening together. Clodagh becomes convinced that the attacks are linked to a bid to force her to sell the sanctuary’s lands. The prime suspect is a building company who have bought up the neighbouring ground and secured permission to develop it for housing.
Marcus does some investigating as Immi suspects that one of the volunteers may be the saboteur. Suspicion initially falls on Susie but it is her colleague, Jade, who turns out to be the prime suspect. Marcus discovers Jade’s father is a councillor with financial interests in the firm of house builders who acquired the fields.
With autumn approaching and the peak of the tourist season almost over, Clodagh and Imogen need a last push if they are to keep the sanctuary running through the winter.
Together with Marcus and Jack the girls press on with the last event, a barbeque, car-boot sale and open day at the sanctuary. At the same time they set a trap for Jade, knowing she will be unable to resist trying to sabotage the event.
When a firework goes off inside the donkey’s pen, setting fire to the stable, Imogen, for once, puts aside all thoughts of her appearance and helps Clodagh rescue the frightened animals. Marcus and Jack catch Susie red-handed as she leaves the scene.
The press coverage of the fire helps Imogen resurrect her career and offers of work for her flood in. With the both Immi’s career and the sanctuary both safe Clodagh is finally able to see her future with Jack.
So you can see - it's sort of the same but different. How do you find synopsis writing?

My writing Process

Since I've had a few people asking me about my writing process I thought I'd talk about how I write. There is no right or wrong way to write, everyone develops their own way of working. I always find it interesting to hear how other writers work myself, and often I'll pick up a few tips or think 'yes, I do that'.
I think all of my stories come to me from the central character. I'll often have read something or watched a TV news programme or overheard something that sparks the idea but the important thing to recognise is those are often the triggers for the external aspects of the plot.
For instance, in Animal Instincts one of the catalysts was knowing about a local animal sanctuary that was always struggling for funds, did great work but needed a lot of help to keep going. Clodagh, in the story is faced with just that dilemna - she needs to raise money or she loses everything.
But although that features in my plot - the crux of her financial woes is that she has trust issues (internal conflict) So when Jack offers to help, is it because he has an ulterior motive? Will he try to take advantage of her weakness (as she sees it)?
The external plot alone wouldn't provide enough interest to drive the story and make it an engrossing read. The emotional journey between Jack and Clodagh around the issues of trust do make it sustainable over the course of the book.
The theme song for the book was the Sugababes - Because I know how I feel about you now.
So, I get the external aspect of the plot idea - then I usually hear the heroine's voice in my head and I'know' who she is and what her issues are - this tells me the course of the emotional journey she needs to make during the book.
At this point I usually write a blurb - this is a back of the book type paragraph that sums up the story - what will make it interesting - the hook for the book. I also do a lot of thinking at this point about the shape of the story and the elements I need to include.
My agent or my editor might ask me for a synopsis at this point and I'll talk about those tomorrow. For now I'm interested in your process? I write funny - how do you write?

More aditing

This part of my writing process is always for me the most intensive part. I enjoy seeing the characters really round out and start to live rather than exist on the pages. I'm currently at chapter twenty-two and I've added 3.5k so far. This has been as tiny nuggets of backstory, extra lines of dialogue, small pieces of description to set the scene better, rephrasing of clumsy words and making sure I'm showing and not telling the story so that the pace continues to move on. When I reach the final part of the process - my backwards edit I'll ensure that each scene has moved the plot forward and that the end of the book is as strong - if not stronger than the beginning. It takes a long time and it's painstaking work but the results are very satisfying. I'm really excited about this story - it's a bit different and out there but still within the expectations I think from readers of the kind of story that I write. On to the next chapter!

Aditing

Sigh, so I axed the ending of the book. It wasn't the true ending, at least not for me and subconciously I think it was colouring the whole story. I chopped the last 1.5K and popped it into a separate file for now and I'll look at it again when I reach that point. I then started over with my revisions process at the beginning and now it's all flying again. The story is making sense and I think Kate and Steve's relationship is better, stronger and more believable. Even with losing 1.5k I'm still almost 1k up on where I started and I'm only on chapter seven. I should easily hit my target word count. I always adit rather than edit my work as I write really quite sparingly when I do the first draft. All the colour and emotion gets added later as I gradually layer in what I want. For me the process is like making a watercolour - you make a sketch then add softer colours and hues washing them in until you build a picture.For other writers I know it's more like working in oils where they build the first draft with a palette knife and then take off the layers of paint to reveal the details. Both ways work but I'm an aditer, a water colourist. Which one are you?

One home

Miss Boo is now back from Germany, complete with dirty washing, what looks like a whole new wardrobe and a new pair of shoes. The eldest belle is enjoying her tour of Scotland with Mr Nell. We get daily phonecalls plus we also got a video and a postcard. Miss La enjoyed being a lonely only but secretly I think she's glad to have her sister back.
I'm working my way through my adits. I'm undecided about the ending of the book but I think my thoughts are getting clearer the more I progress. I'm halfway through my first round of changes and I know I need to tinker with the first third a little tiny bit more once I've gone through once. Then will come my grammar and tightening edit where I lose all those words I love too much. Right now I've decided they spend far too much time drinking tea so I'm losing a few of those scenes so I can rework them and make them more interesting. A good few days should have the story where I want it and then I'll have to see what my agents verdict is - gulp!

What the postman delivered!

Yes, I have a copy of Just Look at Me Now in my hot little hands. It's a real book - all pink and girly and pretty. Sometimes pink, girly and pretty is good.

What I did in Greenwich - part Two

Workshops! The conference was opened by Katie Fforde and she was followed by the lovely Jan Jones with a celebration of members achievements. I love this part of the conference. As a unpublished writer I absolutely loved to hear who had made sales, got an agent, won a contest. It gave me hope that my name might be one of those read out one year. We then had a panel of members with one author representing each decade of membership from the sixties onwards. This was fun as we noted what had changed and what had remained the same.
On Saturday the first workshop I attened was Jay Dixon's Adding Colour to your novel. As someone who writes a rather sparse first draft I found this interesting especially when she discussed colour in the Middle Ages and the symbolism of colour.
Then I gave my own workshop on secondary characters.
Then it was the fabulous Kate Walker talking about conflict - a useful reminder to me on internal conflict and upping the stakes.
After lunch I played hooky for an hour and went for a wander around Greenwich so missing one of the workshops I'd planned to attend. I returned in time for Imogen Howson's talk on What Samhain are looking for. As a Samhain author I was interested to know if they were going to be interested in taking more romances at the heat level that I write at. A big factor in why I haven't sent them anything new for a long time. Immi is always a mine of information and I love working with Samhain so that was good.
Then I went to Liz Fenwick and Kate Johnson's Social Media workshop. I am very undecided about Twitter and I'm still undecided about it but at least now I know more information.
Sunday was a fab day - Two brilliant workshops.
Sarah Duncan - Mind the Gap crossing the publishing divide. Very useful tips and good practical advice as always from Sarah.
This was followed by HW Fisher Money Matters - financial advice for writers - very useful!
I wish I could have stayed longer but maybe next year...

Phew - or what I did in Greenwich part one

I'm back from Greenwich. It was a very hot weekend. I was totally convinced in the small hours of our first night there that I was going to die. Our rooms were so unbearably hot and sticky. I had so many showers I'm sure I've shed at least five layers of skin. The setting was stunning, totally fab and there is a real buzz about Greenwich itself, loved the market. This year the gala dinner was at the Trafalgar tavern on the Friday night. Gorgeous inn - olde worlde, very lovely views across the river. Unfortunately Olde Worlde meant no air con or even fans so we were as cooked as the chicken we got for the main course. What bit of food there was was quite nice but it took forever to be served. We sat down at 7.30 and it took till 10.30 before pudding reached us, in the heat. Alcohol however flowed freely so we all felt very merry but starving. So starving that our table went to Mc Donalds on the way home to sit in the air conditioning and scarf french fries. (There seemed to be a potato famine at the Trafalgar - never had a main course that was just chicken and peas before. I did however have a bean on my plate so the rest of the table were jealous)A few of us went on to the Comedy club which turned out to be an olde school type disco where several M&B authors who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent danced around there handbags till the small hours. The rest of us collapsed in the upstairs room where it was cool and there were comfy sofas.
Thankfully my workshop seemed to go okay the next day and we had some lively discussions as we dissected the character arcs of secondary and minor characters in Pride and Prejudice and looked at how they worked within the main story.
After lunch a few of us went for a wander around Greenwich market and along the river cooling down, acquiring cute dresses and tops and generally recovering from the day before. Dinner that evening was a barbecue in the courtyard. There was a lovely breeze and the barbecued food was quite pleasant but was hopeless for some of my friends who had dietary restrictions. Sadly also for me the jugs of Pimms had been contaminated with apple so after my first sip when my tongue started to swell up I decided to pass on the drinks. By now with the walking involved around the campus which was very spread out my hip had begun to rebel so a group of us retired to the stickiness of our kitchen for tea, coffee, biscuits and cake. There wasn't any pudding at the barbeque although there was a rumour that some people had found profiteroles.
We had a lovely and lively discussion on all kinds of things before finally getting some sleep.
Sunday arrived all too soon and after two fab workshops (which I'll tell you all about tomorrow)we were graced by an address by Joanna Trollope (Who was scarily and painfully thin to the point of looking seriously ill)She gave a thoughtful and intelligent speech with some provocative statements. We then had the best meal of the conference before returning home via a complicated route involving many escalators, and trains.
Jan Jones and Roger Sanderson do a fantastic job organising the conferences and this was a wonderful setting which I'm sure we'll all remember for a long time. Their hard work was much appreciated by all of us and we're looking forward to Wales in 2011

And we're off!

I'm off to Greenwich and the RNA conference - see you later!

Packing!

I now have lists everywhere. Shopping lists, to do lists, packing lists, timetables argh! I'm packing for tomorrow's RNA conference at Greenwich. I'm travelling with a fellow Wombourne Writer and new to the RNA friend, Vik. My eldest and hubby are packing the caravan with stuff for their trip to Scotland - they also leave tomorrow. Middle belle is heading off to Germany on Saturday so I have to pack all her stuff and get everything ready for her grandparents to take her to meet the coach. Youngest belle is staying with the house/fish sitters so I have to get her some treats so she doesn't feel left out until I get home on Sunday.
I must remember to charge my phone, put Boo's euro's ready, check my powerpoint and load it on a stick, take my notes, make sure Mr nell and eldest have their cycle helmets as they intend cycling a lot while they are away.
I also need to decide what stuff I'm taking and get my nails done (very important)I'm so looking forward to seeing all my writing friends again and catching up on the gossip and news.

Hump day already!

Time seems to be accelerating again. Last night my middle belle took part in her schools talent show, modelled after Britains Got talent. She'd passed the first audition and was one of the ten acts in the final. She sang all on her own on the stage in front of 200 people - pretty good for a very shy person. Today was the eldest belle's pre-op check appointment ready for her toe surgery in two weeks time and tonight it's my local writers group. Somehow I fitted in the day job too.
Once i get home from the RNA conference I plan to start my read through and adits of Me, You and Him ready for my agent to see. I've thought of loads of things I need to work on and I'm itching now to read through and get cracking but this resting time is really important in my writing process. It gives me time to look objectively at what I've written and can see more clearly what i need to work on to make it better. I have got another story though now niggling at the back of my mind so I gave way yesterday and opened a file for the first paragraph. I think Allotment Wars will be my next wip.

The mysteries of life

Such as where is all the youngest belle's washing? What happens to all the odd socks? Who used all the milk? And why do you always know where something is until you actually want it?
It's all too much for a Monday morning. I need to go and have my hair cut so that I look human in time for the RNA conference on Friday. Oh, and I need to buy more milk.

That Friday Feeling!

The lull between finishing a first draft and tacking the first read through and adits is always a strange period of readjustment. Add in how crazy busy my life is and it's no surprise that I feel a bit like an underwater swimmer who's suddlenly popped out onto the surface of the pool.
Today is a day off from the day job and I need to get various bits and pieces ready for the middle belle's German trip and eldest belle and Mr Nell's Scottish tour. I also need to finish my preparations for my workshop at the conference and plan my hair and nail appointments. Those are my treat to myself after the past few weeks of mayhem. My aditing of Me, You and Him will start as soon as i get back from conference and my aim is to get it completed by the end of July. During this time I also have eldest belle having her toe surgery and a trip to my lovely friend and long standing former cp's wedding - can't wait! Hope I don't cry - weddings make me go all mushy. We're combining that with a trip to take youngest belle for a day out in London - sightseeing tips and ideas very welcome!