Taxing Times

Well, the dreaded taxes are done and my paperwork is winging it's way to the good people at the inland revenue.Hopefully I haven't stuffed it up like I did the year before last. I'm sure they have my file marked with I for idiot when I ring them with my feeble minded questions. They are always so helpful and nice though. I'm hoping this will be my last year for doing them myself - I know I say that every year but it's not that easy finding an accountant type person who can work with someone who is as numerically challenged as me. It's always a load off my mind once the paperwork is done and sent and I tuck my envelope full of reciepts and my scribbled notes away for the year. I must chase down all my bits of paper for this year too - for some reason I'm a bit behind on that this year. I have them, I just haven't checked that I've entered them and put the receipts in the right month yet.

Music to write by

As well as my next Little Black Dress book, Just Look at Me Now I'm also working on another project. This is something I'm doing for fun as the story won't leave me alone, it's a bit bonkers and has all kinds of stuff going on in it and is hugely enjoyable to write. Today I started pulling together my playlist of songs that encapusalte different bits of the book. I do this for all my books and I already have one for Just Look at Me Now - the theme tune for that one is mainly Breakfast at Tiffany's at the moment btw.
For my fun book called You, Me and Him my list so far is:
The theme from Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jnr
All the single ladies - Beyonce
Crazy Horses - The Osmonds
Kiss from a Rose - Seal
I'm sure I'll add more as I go along but as I'm cobbling my synopsis together these are the sounds on my play list.

On with the dance!

Well, we're back in the regular routine again now - dance school runs - show is in November so it'll be costumes and rehearsals again before there's time to blink. All of which is serving to remind me that I still haven't done my taxes and Christmas is sneaking up scarily quickly.
I'm also going to be doing a few extra hours at the day job - great news for my bank balance but not so good for my writing schedule so I need to get a move on. I'm sure I'd work faster if my neighbours would keep their dogs quiet. I love dogs and normally these dogs aren't noisy but just lately they are driving me nuts. It's like nails on a blackboard everytime they start and I lose my concentration. Argh.

Turkish delight

To add to my joy, Animal Instincts has sold for foreign translation into Turkish! Yay, wonder what they will make of Dave the parrot?

Lichfield lunch

Today was lovely, I've been working very hard over the weekend - massive edits on Charlie Darling and then I wrote almost 3k yesterday on the next book for LBD, so today was my reward. I went to Lichfield for lunch with two of my favourite writerly people - Phillipa Ashley and Elizabeth Hanbury. As usual we talked booky and writing non stop - toured the beautiful cathedral, drank lots of latte and ate cake. I also bought a very lovely scarf for my upcoming trip to London in November for a launch party and meeting with my agents. To top of my excellent day out I came back to an email saying that Blue Remembered Heels had sold to Indonesia. Very exciting to have foreign translations!

Edits and edits

More edits over the weekend on Charlie Darling - each round brings the release a bit closer! At least that's what I tell myself when I'm flagging a bit. Some books always need a bit more than others and I think because I wrote this a while ago now and I've learned so much more it needed that extra spit and shine to make it sparkle.
Tomorrow I have a nice writerly lunch lined up with two of my favourite people so I'm planning a head down, fingers on keyboard day today so I can play hookey tomorrow and actually have a day off before the day job summons.

Exciting stuff!

I just learned that the large print edition of Blue Remembered Heels will be out on the first of October. I need to remind all my lovely librarian friends at the local libraries who've been waiting to acquire it for their shelves. I think my mom will be first in the queue to reserve a copy so she can finally read it. Animal Instincts will be out in large print on the first of April next year so not too long for that either! Also, in my quest to find you all a bargain, the lovely people at the book depositary who not only have free delivery anywhere in the world also have Loves Me, Loves Me Not at a steal of a price - much, much cheaper than Amazon!HERE So if you haven't got your copy yet and the copies for your friends, relatives, work colleagues etc for Christmas, Halloween, birthdays etc - rush on over and bag a bargain.

Putting The Black Country on the map

Today sees the launch of a new ordnance survey map and this one finally has THE BLACK COUNTRY clearly marked as an area for the first time! Yay! As you all know I'm very proud of my area, it's a special place and recognition of it's heritage is long overdue. So you can imagine how chuffed I was to be on BBC radio WM this morning with a little snippet saying how pleased I was.Go Here for the Black Country alphabet song!

What happened to this year?

How come it's September? Why does my car have dew on the windows every morning? and why are there spiders spinning their webs everywhere? I noticed some of the shops are evn starting to stock Christmas lines. I can't believe where the time has gone.

Random thoughts

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the woman on the airfreshner ads, you know, the one whose kid wants to do a poo in Paul's bathroom is the same woman in the advert for kitchen towels where the elephant breaks down the fence?
And I want to know how Paul feels about people wanting to poo in his bathroom? I mean, does he charge? is there a queue outside his front door? Is he listed with a brown leisure sign on the main road pointing the way to Paul's bathroom?
It's like the ad for the phone, I think it's an iphone, where they tell you haow to phone Kevin after finding his number - I don't want to phone Kevin or email him.
Sigh, the belles have threatened to ban me from watching the ads.

Back to school

I waved goodbye to the belles this morning as they return for their new school year. Miss La is starting secondary school and for a whole year I'll have all three girls at the same school. Miss La looked very smart in her new uniform, laden down with all her equpment as they don't get their timetable till they arrive today so they have to take everything on the first day - PE kit, swim kit, football boots, labcoats, foodtech apron, bag with general school stuff, and lunch. I think her stuff weighs more than her.
Now I have to wait till after three when I schlepp back to collect them and find out how the first day of 'big' school actually went!

Crystal Clear

Well, the first lot of tweaks are done and I've sent it back to my lovely editor for her thoughts. I've put the first unedited chapter up on my website now - so head over HERE and look in excerpts if you want a peek. It's also on Amazon for preorder and the release date seems to have jumped forward from April to Jan 21st! Yay!

Happy Birthday to...

My Dad, 70 today!
Happy Birthday Dad.

Romance

Longtime readers of this blog will know that Mr Nell is not romantic. This is the man who haggled for a discount on my engagement ring. Next year is our silver wedding anniversary and we've been debating how we should celebrate 25 years of me not having killed him. Well, he surprised me the other day by dropping a brochure in my lap and announcing that he'd booked a few days away for us in Jersey for our anniversary. In a hotel, with an indoor pool and a posh restaurant and everything.
Wow! I guess that means I'll have to get him more than his usual bottle of wine for his present.

Rambling

My edits have now arrived for Crystal Clear - I re read the ms through for the first time since I sent it off at the end of May. My editor writes little notes on the script that always make me smile when I read them and her suggestions are always good. By the time I reached the last scene I was surprised to find I was crying. Not sure why - I mean I know how it finishes, but I think it just took me a bit by surprise. Next stop implementing the three or four small suggestions from my editor before Charlie Darling comes winging back to me.

Getting there

Well, first lot of edits for Charlie darling are done - my editor says she'll have the next round to me in two weeks time. I've read through the NWS script and will get the report done this week when I've read it again. Prepared my workshop thatI'm delivering tomorrow night - I'd forgotten about it till my eldest reminded me. Now to tackle a few more of my cp's chapters and then I can hopefully get some more done on Just Look at Me Now by the end of the week.
I'm slowly recovering from the weekend's running around for the day job. This weekend was the Sandwell show and we made 1,200 eco friendly paper flower pots filled them with herbs and gave them away.

Back to work with a bang

Well, you know I said i would be getting my head down to work on my writing? It's definitely the end of playtime! I just got my first round edits for Charlie darling - my e book for Freya's Bower, an NWS script, a load of critting still to be done for my lovely cp and I'm working on two books, one for Little Black dress and one for a speculative project for my agent. I still have my taxes to sort out and I'm planning some future books.
I got my hands on my copy of Loves Me, Loves Me Not today too. That's the beautiful and BIG anthology produced by the RNA and published by MIRA with some fabulous stories in - wow! I am so awed that my little story, Wishing For George made the cut having read a few of the great stories in there. If you haven't got a copy, it is so worth getting and will make awesome Christmas presents for anyone who loves reading good quality short romantic fiction.

Almost done

No, not the books, Big Brother. I must admit I was a little bit sad when C4 announced the next series would be the last. As an ardent people watcher Big Bro takes some beating. Admittedly this series has been disappointing, with only Marcus, objectionable though some of his habits may be, saving the day from complete boredom. I hope he stays tonight and Siavash is the one to go. I don't even have a favorite to win this year. Lisa is horrid, Sophie is dimmer than a ten watt bulb, Siavash has no spine, Dave is just annoying, Charlie is sneaky and two faced, Rodrigo is hotheaded and I think could land himself in trouble if he won. All the same, the psychology of seeing how people react in different situations is something I find fascinating and I'll miss it. I'll even miss Davinia 'Shouty' MCall and her totally rubbish interviews.

Return of the prodigal writer

Well, I'm home complete with Mr Nell and the belles. Our summer touring is over and it's all systems go back to school, work and the usual everyday round. That means writing too. I really need to pull my finger out and chock up my word counts. I also need to tackle the dreaded tax return too - cue much whinging and muttered cursing as I try to find all my bits of paper and add things up.

Bra talk

Mr Nell was hiding behind the paper the other day while the belles discussed their figures. After enduring about half an hour of lingerie discussions he poked his head over the top of his paper and said.
'What you need is a sheepdog bra.'
They all stared at him for a moment then he added 'Rounds things up and points them in the right direction.'
I was telling my Mom about this on the phone the same night. When she'd stopped laughing she said, 'Or they could get a biblical bra like mine - all is safely gathered in.'
No wonder Mr Nell often says he's going to leave home and live in the tourer.

kicking babies

Today was the kind of day that to quote or misquote Douglas Adams, 'would make St Francis of Assissi want to kick babies'. Tomorrow promises to make today look positively joyful.
I think I need wine.

life with the belles

I discovered this weekend that Miss La was under the impression the the words to Coom by yar were:
Coom by yar, my Lord, Cucumber

Go on try singing it!

Here we go again

I'm off again this weekend in the caravan and then again the following weekend. Mr Nell and the belles are staying the whole time - some of us have to come back to go to work. This time it's to one of my favourite sites at Chirk on the Welsh borders. Trips to Wrexham, Chester and Shrewsbury will no doubt ensue and the belles are already hinting at going to the zoo again as it's been a few years since we last went. Mr Nell is taking the bikes so he and the belles can cycle when they're away. Sadly, due to the dodgy hip my cycling days are over so I guess I'll have to sit in the (hopefully) sunshine by the caravan and read and write. What a hardship that will be.
The fishsitters are looking after the house and poor Angie my angel fish who still has popeye in her one eye despite a seven day course of fishy biotics. She hates the medicine and tries to dodge it by hiding in the weed when she spots the bottle in your hand.

More pics

The beach again - loved this beach and the sea was so warm and nice.

Miss La inside our caravan

View from Kidwelly Castle

Holiday pics

Me and the belles at Kidwelly Castle

La, Shaggy and a friend

The belles at the national botanic garden of Wales

Cef'n Sidan beach

Last day

Today is the last day of my holiday. Mr Nell and the Belles are due back this afternoon so my nice orderly quiet will be shattered. Tomorrow I'm back to the day job and my job share partner is off on her hols for 2 weeks so there will be tons to do. So today I'm puttering about and taking my Mom for lunch before the madness and, no doubt the dirty laundry descends.
Had a lovely time last night with my friend, we caught up on gossip and had a nice meal. Pudding was yummy, lemon pannacotta with blueberries. My one indulgence so not bad.

Busy Bee

I've been very virtuous in the absence of Mr Nell and the belles. I've written two chapters of Just Look at Me Now and by the end of today I'm hoping to have a chapter done of Me, You and Him done too. I've read and critiqued 5 chapters for my cp and 2 for a writing friend. I've read and written a report for the NWS, sewn all the labels on Miss La's new uniform and cleaned out the bottom of my wardrobe.
Tonight I'm planning on going out for dinner with a friend, waves to Susanne, so we can catch up on gossip. I'm hoping to catch up with Phillipa, Liz and the coffee crew soon too. I'm still following my healthy eating plan though so I'll be choosing something good. I'd like to have lost a bit more weight by November as there's a possibility of a launch party in London for Loves Me, Loves Me Not and I plan to go if it comes off. It would be nice to finally go to something like that and even nicer if I could go looking like there was less of me.

John Hughes

RIP John Hughes
John Hughes's films defined the eighties. He'll be much missed. Not so long back I blogged about introducing the eldest Belle to Pretty in Pink. Classic

Permission to write

Mr Nell and the belles are off to Malvern tomorrow for a few days. This means I'm free to do all the stuff that I'm way behind on - like cleaning - oh hum, and writing. I'm hoping for a really good writing weekend without having to worry about running out of bread or taxi-ing various offspring to their social commitments. Instead it'll be me and my computer and the fish.
Talking of the fish, we've lost all our loaches in the hot weather and several platys. My poor Angel fish, Angie isn't very well either. She has Pop-eye in her one eye and she isn't keen on the fishybiotics. Fingers crossed for her to make a full recovery so we can get the tank settled and get some more loaches. I miss them so much. Some good news though, we have a baby fish of indeterminate parentage, not sure if he's a Platy or a Molly.

School uniform

I've been kitting out Miss La with her new uniform ready for high school in September - so far I've spent aprox £250. This includes trainers, shoes and football boots as well as stationary. What has really ticked me off is that the school has opted for a new PE kit. Instead of the generic pale blue polo shirt that I used to get from M&S for £3.99 as a 2 pack now it's £11.50 for one from the only shop in the area that supplies a specially printed top. Hmm, wonder if the fact that the shop is giving the school fund 10% from all it's sales of their kit is anything to do with the change? I only know this because I saw a notice for staff in the back room when Miss la was trying on her swimsuit - £9.99 for a plain navy costume. What a waste of money when I got her a nice costume for her holidays for £2.95 from George at Asda. Equally annoying is £14 for a navy school sweater just because it has the school name embroidered on it. The kids wear blazers all the time. They could have a plain navy jumper for less than £5 and they would still look smart.
Don't get me wrong, I think uniform is great but I hate the rip off that happens over trivial stuff like this.

Crystal Clear

Squee! The back cover blurb is up and a review quote - OMG! Sorry ahem, momentarily carried away there..
Here's what it says on Amazon.
Review
‘A brilliantly fun read that will have you hooked!*****’ (OK! magazine )

Product Description
Sometimes you have to go back to move forward...

For years Zee has tried to ignore her real name (who calls their kid Azure Dawn?) and her mother Marla’s alternative lifestyle. A million miles away from all that new-age nonsense, she’s got a reliable teaching job, a perfect life plan and sensible accountant Simon for a fiancé. But when Marla gets sick, the foundations of Zee’s rock-steady world are seriously shaken. Soon she’s back home, in touch with the boy who broke her heart and even being sucked into one of her mum’s hare-brained schemes. What about Zee’s plans for the future?! Could they ever include a free-spirit from her past?

Did ya miss me?

I'm back! I'm hoping the weather will stay dry long enough for me to dry the laundry mountain. Yesterday was a lovely day. We visited Kidwelly Castle which really is fabulous, then we hit the beach - Miss Boo tried out her boogie board. Then we finished the day with a barbecue - perfect last night for the hols.
As soon as Mr Nell finds the camera cable I'll try and get some pics up for you. I'm all set now for a good wekk of writing - in between finishing house chores and sorting out school uniform ready for the new term of course.
I did a lot of thinking this week about both my stories and I think I know where I'm going now - all my books have quite deep psychological layers which underpin the plotting and my external conflicts mirror what's really going on internally so I find I have to spend a lot of time early on in my books just getting the foundations right or the whole story will collapse in on itself in the middle. Hopefully I'm pretty much clear now on what threads I need to take up to make the books work.

Sun and showers

Today we visited the Welsh national botanic gardens. The rain held off until late this afternoon which was good. The gardens were quite nice, especially the double walled garden. Sadly the food in the restaurants wasn't so great so we were all starving by the time we left. Tomorrow it's forecast to be a dry day so we're hoping to hit the beach again.

By the seaside

At last T moanbile has finally let me onto my own blog! We're here beside the sea in lovely and, at the moment, slightly damp Wales. Today we visited Swansea, where there is a lovely Waterstones but it had a very tiny romance selection. Yesterday we visited Camarthen, where with the exception of TK Max, we had a lovely time. If you go to Camarthen, only shop in TK Max if you have a lot of time to spend standing in a huge, huge queue. The beach here at Pembry Country Park is beautiful and the sea is gorgeous and warm. We've had a couple of lovely hot days mixed in with the rain.
I haven't done any writing as yet but I have so many things working out in my head that I can't wait to get home and get cracking.
In other news - Big Brother! Save Marcus - vote out Noirin!

Wales!

We're off to Wales for a week leaving the housesitters minding the fish. This time we're going to Pembrey and the site is supposed to have WIFI so maybe my gadget will work this time. It's right by the sea so I can't wait. I'm hoping the weather will improve but Wales is famous for it's changeable weather so we'll see. I'm hoping to visit Kidwelly Castle and the National Welsh botanical gardens while we're there but most of all I'm hoping to write, and read and just enjoy the sea with Mr Nell and the belles.

Nice warm glow

A few years ago I stumbled into the strange surreal world of the Bat Cave over at eHarlequin. The friends I made there will hate me for saying this but they are the most generous, warm, supportive group of people. Through them I heard about Moonlit Romance and one of the bats was also my editor. Without Laura and her unstinting patience through the many rewrites and edits of my first book I would never have been published. Not only is she a superb editor she is also a gifted writer herself and she's one of the people, along with Jess, Kimberly and my editor and agent, who's opinion of my writing I really trust. So I was especially thrilled when This appeared, as I know even though she's my friend she wouldn't say it if she didn't mean it.

Last day of school

Me, Lizzie and Trisha Ashley

Me - dressed up.
Miss La breaks up today - it's her last day at her little village primary school and they are holding their traditional football and fairies event. This means the girls dress as footballers and the boys go as fairys complete with glitter and wings. It's a ton of fun and gives them all a great memory to take away with them.
Talking of memories, the lovely Lizzie Lamb took some cool pics at the RNA conference that she's given me permission to share. On one of them I almost look normal.

Schools not out

Argh, I was convinced that all the belles broke up on Friday - wrong. Miss La still has two days to do. Roll on September when for a whole lovely year they will all be at the same school. This weekend is the first time in ages that I was home, with four clear days and Mr Nell wasn't on nights so I could catch up on some much needed jobs. What happens? My stupid back goes. So I'm dosed on painkillers, hobbling around and muttering rude words under my breath everytime I look at the dustbunnies and piles of stuff that need to be moved, cleared and sorted.
Next Saturday we're off to Wales so it won't get done then either.

Handy Hints

In a weaker moment I somehow found myself being persuaded to help judge some short story contests this summer. The contests remits are very different but I have found the following issues so far to be pretty universal - here follows a public service broadcast on how not to win a short story contest or get yourself published.

1. Do not copy and paste a story from the internet complete with pictures and write your name in pen on the work.
2. Do not use a font so small that the reader needs a microscope.
3. Do not use anything other than Arial, TNR or Courier as your font.
4. Do not print your entry in bold.
5. Do not put a poem in the middle of it.
6. Do not write a covering letter explaining your story.
7. Do not write a cover letter that's longer than the short story giving me your autobiography.
8. Please give your story a title.
9. Stick to the word count.
10. Do not blame the computer for your spelling and grammar errors.
11. Do not print your entry on paper with a fancy background.
12. Do not put your story in a fancy binder.

Thank you

Conference report pt2

Where was I? Oh yes, After Saturdays lunch came more workshops. First a round up for the New Writers Scheme, where we all look at what works and what can be made better. Most of the published writers have experienced the scheme themselves when trying for publication and know how it feels to be anxiously waiting for that precious feedback. Then came Jessica Hart's workshop on character, plot and emotional tension. If you visit here regularly you'll know I am a huge fan of Jessica's, not only is she a great writer but she really knows her stuff when it comes to sharing her expertise with other writers so it was a really useful workshop. Then I have to admit I skived the last workshop in favour of a quick chat with Jessica before she dashed off and then I had a quick shower - taking care not to fall through the damaged floor of my bathroom - and a nice lie down before the Gala Dinner.
The Gala dinner is always a highlight with everyone dressing up and photographing one anothers shoes. We did take pictures of cleavages one year but I think we'd been in the bar for a long time then. The food at dinner was a bit of a disaster - we learned later that there had been an accident to one of the kitchen staff - but the only edible part of the meal was the soup and roll we had as a starter and the mint that came with the coffee. We did contemplate sending out for pizza on our table but decided it was too late at night. Luckily Sandra Forder came to our rescue once more as it was her birthday and there was cake in her kitchen.
I made it back to my room round about midnight by which time it was raining. Biddy and Anna arrived a few minutes later. I went out into the hall when I heard mild shrieks and giggles from the upstairs landing to find Biddy - dressed in a rather lovely black bra - perched on a chair and waving a pipe from a hoover at the open skylight while Anna hung onto her legs. They managed to close the skylight to stop the rain from pouring in and we finally went to bed after we'd had a conversation about the sex appeal - or not - of the Top Gear presenters.
Sunday saw some rather sore heads in the dining room for breakfast. Next workshop was Freda Lightfoot's 'Creating a Brand', another superb workshop. Then it was Linda Gilliard on exploring all the senses when writing. I'm in two minds about that workshop. The exercises were very good but there some statements made that as someone who has clients, colleagues and friends with vision and hearing issues, troubled me a little.
This was followed by the conference round-up and lunch before the lovely Judy Jarvie gave me a ride to the station where I spent a very happy half an hour comparing bookshelves with Allie Spencer where we discovered we both loved Chaucer and PG Wodehouse.
So there you have it, the insider goss on what we did last weekend. The wonderful Liz Fenwick is giving superbly detailed accounts of all the writers tips she gleaned on her blog - link is in the sidebar.
Now to save up ready for next year - and I think I may have volunteered to deliver a workshop.

Conference report pt1

Longtime regular readers will know that I'm not the world's best at writing these. Other bloggers do a far better job when it comes to detailing workshops and who had the best shoes, but here goes!
I made it to Penrith on the sardine special - aka Virgin Trains - too many people for not enough train. I shared a cab from the station with three other lovely novellists including fabulous new Little Black Dress author and recent winner of the Joan Hessayon prize, Allie Spencer.
The campus at newton Rigg is in a gorgeous spot and the staff there are lovely. The food however and my room were another story but at any conference it's the company that counts and I had the best company.
I was chuffed to be sharing a block with Nina Harrington, new M&B romance author and my good friends, Anna Louise Lucia and Biddy Coady. I soon met up with other online friends,and we went to the panel meeting on How much is too much? with Melanie Hilton, Liz Gill, Helen Scott Taylor, Sue Moorcroft and Veronica Henry.
Ten to six found me, Biddy and Anna joining the queue outside the bar where I met the lovely Sue Rix and her hubby Graham.
Dinner was less than stellar as they ran out of food by the time we got inside so I ended up with a Cumberland sausage four tiny potatoes and some orange stuff that may once have been carrots but by then you could have used them as rubber bullets. Fortunately Sandra Forder had a stash of biscuits in her room.
Saturdays workshops were fab - really, seriously good. I went to Myra Kersner's Non fiction proposals - excellent workshop on selling, publishing, writing and promoting non fiction. This was followed by Hugo Summerson's brilliant talk on How to do public speaking really well. I really needed this one!
Then we had a plenary session with one of my favourite writers - Veronica Henry.She told us all about her scriptwriting for the Archers, Family Affairs, Crossroads, Holby, Heartbeat etc and how this has informed her novel writing. Fascinating stuff.
I'll tell you more in part 2!

Squee!

I'm home and Crystal Clear is listed on Amazon!
PREORDER HERE!
April 1st 2010 lol

I'm off

to the conference. I really can't wait. Lots of people I'm longing to see. Lots of people to congratulate on all kinds of things. Gossip to catch up on, wine to be drunk, workshops to be attended.
Have fun while I'm gone and as they say, if you can't be good, be careful.

RNA conference

I'm off on the train again tomorrow to the RNA conference at Penrith. I still have no case - wondering now if I'd be better with my back pack. My nails aren't done, I can't find my conference schedule that I know I put in a safe place ready, my phone is on charge and I already read the magazine I bought to take with me to read on the journey.
Oh hum, good job the train isn't till mid day tomorrow. You never know I might be almost organised by then.

Addiction

My name is Nell and I am a Blueberry addict. I love this time of year when those tempting little boxes of fruity juiciness appear in the supermarkets. I really don't eat much chocolate at all - maybe the odd Bounty bar if I'm feeling stressed but Blueberries - yum.
One more day to go and I can focus on the RNA conference at Penrith. I need Mr Nell to rescue my case with the wonky wheel from the loft and I need to ensure that I'm packing extra caffeine in my handbag and I'll be good to go. I travel pretty light as I don't possess a huge choice of clothes and I only possess four pairs of shoes altogether and one of those pairs are my green work wellies. So I'll be the scruffy woman with the dodgy suitcase and the coffee in her bag eating blueberries at the railway station. I am harmless and if you come and talk to me I might even offer you a blueberry.

Errand day

Day off today from the day job - I'm supposed to have Mondays and Tuesdays off but like yesterday things get moved around. I made it to Warwick and back despite missing a connection in Birmingham and cutting it a bit fine. Today is a bit of a run around day, schlepping the belles to school, work experience, Morris dancing etc.
I need to dig out a case to pack my stuff in for the conference. I don't actually take much with me but I tend to bring a lot back - mainly books - so I need to make sure I can manage everything.
I'm hoping I can get some writing done today too. Have started the new project and need to make sure I stay on schedule for Just Look at Me Now. I usually find going to the conference really boosts my productivity when I come back as I get all enthused after listening to other writers and hearing about how they tackle different issues. Just lately having written a load of academic stuff it's really knocked me off my creative writing stride.
I can't even get into Big Brother this year. They are all so unlikeable. The only people I quite like are Marcus and Servash. The rest are just either creepy, unpleasant or bitchy with no redeeming features. On the other hand I love watching Supersizers - I was livid last week when they took it off because the tennis over ran. I hate sports and tennis is so deadly dull, I wish they would spare a thought for those of us who really don't want to watch it. Last night's Supersizers was set in France at the time of the revolution. Giles and Sue are hilarious and the shows are so interesting.

Food and Warwick

I'm off to Warwick today to do a presentation with my lovely jobshare partner at a conference for Food Security. I had intended to drive but that means three different motorways and the combo of me, lots of changes, psycho Sally the Satnav and an inability to understand left, right, north, south and how many yards? is a very bad idea. So I'm taking the train and then a taxi. I'm more nervous about the journey than making the presentation.
I'm looking forward to Friday's train journey to Penrith with much more confidence. Pop over to Nina's blog if you haven't already and join in her launch party - see the post from a few days ago for directions. Down a bit, down a bit - there it's a clicky link - you got it. Why can't we just do that to get to places in reality - 'Beam me up, Scotty.'

Verdict

Well, as you all know I had a real wobble last week about my writing and where I was going. My lovely agent has helped me clarify a lot of my thoughts and basically I've decided to shelve 'A Scattering of Leaves' for the time being.
I'm focusing on Just Look at me Now and finishing off edits when they come in for Charlie Darling and Crystal Clear. I know now where my strengths lie and I've a new project i'm really excited about. It's another speculative thing and it's going to be so much fn to write that I just can't wait. It's working title is 'Me, You and Him.'The story is just falling into place and I'm just so jazzed about it.
I think I'll be making a playlist and hunting up some inspirational pics in the next few weeks but I'm definitely going to be diving head first into the unknown!

Congratulations!

It's always a special thrill when someone you know sells a book and even better when you see their precious baby launched into the world.
Look out for Nina Harrington's 'Always the Bridesmaid', available from eharlequin!
Go congratulate her yourself HERE and don't forget to grab yourself a copy!.
Congratulation's Nina!

ants and sticks

Do you ever have days where you feel a bit like one of those ants that you see scurrying around carrying a big bit of twig? They never put the twig down but are just busy, busy, busy. Well, that's how I feel right now. I might as well move in at the high school, I'm there so often for one thing and another - inductions, awards, parents evenings.
Then work at the day job is manic - interviews, abstracts, academic papers, visits, research and hands on garden stuff.
Somehwere in the craziness I'm going to the RNA conference soon at Penrith, am writing my contracted book, editing - two sold books and playing with my speculative almost half done book which my agent is feeding back to me on in the next couple of weeks.
I'm looking forward to the end of term and my next holiday then maybe I can put this twig down for a bit - it's hard work being an ant.

Sticky

Everywhere is so hot and muggy at the moment - with the showers and the heat I feel as if I'm trapped in a giant sauna. Today I worked at my day job - I don't usually do Tuesdays but we had two schools booked in at our project so I spent today with fifty plus ten year olds, showing them how their food grows, helping them taste new to them foods and watching them plant and harvest some of our crops. We dodged the showers, got very hot in the polytunnels and laughed when a frog suddenly appeared in a tunnel making them all jump.
Now though I'm very tired! The belles are very busy too at the moment. Eldest dd is on work experience - she was very surprised to discover that this means doing work, but she's enjoying herself. She has also won an award at school for - drumroll - maths. Yes, she doesn't take after me. Middle dd - Miss Boo - has won two awards one for RE and the other one - to Mr Nell's embarressment because you know how much he loves this - Morris dancing. She's going to be morris dancing soon at Birmingham botanical gardens, which reminds me I have to find her a long sleeved white shirt. They said they will supply her with a Baldric - I'm assuming this isn't the guy from Blackadder but is something Morrisy.
Miss La - not to be outdone has just learned she's going to be in the top stream when she starts her new school in September.
Maybe I'll let them off the untidy bedrooms and mountains of laundry and that someone ate all the bread again last night making toast.

Happy Dancing

I just heard from my editor and she loves Crystal Clear - yay! There are the usual tweaks on the way to me but that's cool as she is great at spotting things that will make my story even stronger.
I figured out what was wrong with the new story too so I've added a scene and twiddled with the edges and it's starting to come together a bit more now. So for now you can colour me happy!

Fish

We went and fetched some new fish for the tank today to replace some of our losses, so now we have three red Mickey Mouse Platys, Three Blue wagtail Platys and a strange whiskery fish which Miss La has called Mr Whiskers - hopefully he'll play nicely with the clown loaches. Angie the angel fish is decidely put out by the new arrivals and is guarding her patch of the tank. The clowns are watching from the pineapple house while Mr Molly is beside himself with excitement at the prospect of new females to flirt with.

The things you do

Yesterday was fun. As part of my day job I work with the local health authority. Part of my role is undertaking research which is why last night myself and my jobshare partner where hanging around a snooker club interviewing and talking to men about physical activity and diet. We had a blast, everyone was so helpful and fun. I'm not sure that we got the answers that the authority thought we would get but it was a very positive experience. We've a load more of these to do so if you are out and about in the Black Country and get accosted by two strange women asking you about diet and physical activity don't panic! We're harmless really.

shrinking

I wore some trousers today that I'd forgotten I'd got. I haven't worn them for about three years because they were a bit tight but now they fit! Yay. I'm glad my scales aren't working because I think if I weighed myself and I was heavier than I think I might be then I'd start to get disheartened. This way, just knowing how my clothes are fitting is really motivating me. I'm not dieting, just trying to have smaller portions, watching that my calories aren't mega excessive, trying to eat more salad and vegetables, making sure I have breakfast everyday and walking more on the flat whenever I can.
I tried on my navy suit that I had for the Savoy today too. It was a snug fit when I bought it but today I had to take the trousers in just a little bit and it fits the best it's ever done - not loose - but comfortable. Hope this keeps up, I might even get back to my prechildren weight in time - only another umpteen million pounds to go.

I'm melting

I don't do heat terribly well and today was hot. I had five back to back appointments most of which involved me being outside - in the heat - talking. Whimper. So now I'm home and ate one of my mini Haagen Daz tubs of Baileys icecream - yummalicious.
Yes, I did count it in with my food totals so I'm still being good and healthy. I positively glow with virtue - either that or it's sunburn - not sure which.

Time out

I was getting on my own nerves so while I was out having my eyes checked I went shopping - for me - by myself. Not something I do often. I don't actually spend much on clothes and I only possess three pairs of shoes in total. I bought a nice John Rocha top from Debenhams sale, a top from Per Una and some lovely evening trousers from the Jacques Vert sale to take to conference to wear at the gala dinner. My other evening trousers were given to me by my mother when I was pregnant with eldest dd, so I'm well overdue for a new pair.
Turns out my everyday glasses were fine, which is what I thought, and I was right about my vision being worse on the computer and for reading, so I now have to wear the stronger lenses for computer work and I should get another pair for reading. I don't really like glasses so I'm going to see the consultant in a few weeks to see if I can have contacts - squee! I'm a bit excited about that, I think I'll feel more 'me' as in the old 'me' if I can wear them and if I can't at least I'll know.
Still thinking on the new book - I think c4 will be the decider as to how it needs to go. No news on any of the other projects.

Ho hum

I'm still in a really restless mood. I'm putting it down to the weather. I did eat a little bit of a lovely M&S strawberry Compote trifle which lifted my mood for a while but since I'm still endeavoring to be good and eat more healthily I didn't go wild. I think I may have lost some weight as I've gone down a jeans size back to the size I was last year so hopefully that's good. I would weigh myself but the battery has gone in the scales and really it's how I look and feel thats more important to me than the number on the dial.
I'm still researching stuff for the new book and thinking about the structure of how it will work. So far I haven't used the hero's pov and I think I may be missing a scene that would show that things aren't as Tia perceives them. Or as Juliet wants her to perceive them. I think it might become clearer when I do the next chapter when Josh makes his first physical appearance, I just don't know.
I'm getting my eyes checked today too, I think I mentioned I have been getting fuzzy vision and headaches and it's definitely more of an effort to see clearly so I think my eyes have taken a sudden deterioration. I'm going to ask about contact lenses too as glasses really annoy me especially when I have to keep swapping for reading.

Some days

are good, some are great and others are just meh. Today is meh, not sure why. I think the crows are pecking at me at the moment over the new book. I have three chapters now and I think it works but then again maybe not. Perhaps it's because this book is in third and my others are in first, maybe it's because I'm still hanging out to hear on my other stuff, maybe I should just knock it all on the head. I dunno, it's just that kind of a day. I think I'll go and eat something calorie laden and bad for me and then I'll feel better.

Parents evening

Tonight was parents evening for Miss Boo. Her evenings are always interesting as we're never quite sure what to expect. She is my special baby who came into the world very small and quite a few weeks too early. She also has a very specialised language diability which means she has to work extra hard just to prove how wonderful and clever she really is. Luckily for her and us she has some wonderful teachers who have picked up on how she learns. Amongst the many lovely comments this evening were several teachers saying they had never had a pupils grades improve so much in the course of a year. For her favourite subject - science - several of her tests came out at level 7. Average for her year would be a mid 4. The same with her other favourite subject, Drama, again way above where she was expected to be. Unfortunately her math gene seems to come from me so you can't win them all. Even so it just proves that a small adjustment to how information is presented to a child with a learning challenge can make a huge difference. I'm so so relieved that the acadamy was knocked on the head.

feeling ick

I don't know what's wrong with me today. It started yesterday evening as feeling generally not well and today I've felt awful all day. Funnily enough my jobshare partner has also felt ill all day too and we both had similar symptoms yet we haven't seen each other since last wednesday - strange huh?
So, we've kind of muddled through today with both of us feeling less than stellar. We've also decided that we do far too much so we are trying to streamline our workload. I say trying because we are both people that pride ourselves on doing a good job of work and consequently tend to take on far too much because we feel that what we do is important. Sigh, we will do better I promise. We made a start today by taking a proper lunch break out of the office.
I think I'll be having a early night tonight and my word count won't be very high this week until I get back to feeling more like myself again. My partner said she knew I was ill, I only had two cups of coffee all day lol

Talking

Thank you to all the lovely readers I met at Thimblemill library on Monday. I had a lovely time talking with all of you. I'm still deep in research for the next book as I need to get the first part of the setting right with who is responsible for what. I think I have all the main characters straight now except Josh who is still off screen at the moment but about to make his appearance at the end of chapter three although we are already aware of him.
Today has been another day of errands. My watch battery died so I had to get that sorted, another trip to the bank, booking my eye appointment as I suspect i need new glasses which is why I've been getting headaches, migraine and fuzzy vision. Loads of little fiddly businessy type things to sort out too all of which eat up time. I am hopeful of finishing chapter three this week though and the rest of my immediate research.

Thimblemill Library

If anyone is in Sandwell tomorrow at 2.30 call into Thimblemill Library if you want to hear me waffling on about writing, books and well, anything else you want to ask me. Just don't ask me anything mathy - you know the advice won't be good.

Research

Sigh, have done tons more research getting myself into the right mood for this story. Tia ia a very different heroine from Zee in Crystal Clear. So far I've been reading beauty columns, fashion mags, Cosmo and surfing on Friends reunited and on Facebook. Yes it is all in the name of research and getting back into what it was like to be at secondary school. It's felt very strange digging up things that I'd kind of forgotten but will give me the right flavour for the story. How the different groups worked and what's happened to people since then, all of which is hugely important for Tia and Josh.
I also read Freya North's Pillow Talk. It kind of reminded me of the Time Travellers wife. There were aspects of it that I liked but the head hopping and weird tenses kept jolting me and I couldn't get deep enough into it to turn off my internal critic. So a good read and i'm glad I read it but not a keeper. I will look out for a few more of her books though and give them a shot.

Half-wit or Sophia?

Okay, so if you don't watch BB then you won't get what I'm talking about but for those of you as sad as me who do you think will go? The poison pixie or the vacant one? My bet is on Half-wit simply because Sophia will be a real thorn in the obnoxious Safia's side if she stays.
Most of my errands run today, bought new jeans, PJ's and my favourite items for cheering myself off (yes, I'm talking knickers)I love my new bag - now to empty all the crap out of my old bag and use my lovely cute green Radley one with matching coin purse and little pale blue Radley dog.
I've done a ton of research today too for the new book - why do I never learn? Why do I insist on setting books in areas and subjects I know virtually nothing about? I got a load of magazines for research too while I was running errands. The new edition of Cosmo is giving away Freya North's pillow talk - bargain for £2!!

day off

I have tomorrow off as I worked Tuesday instead this week. I say I have the day off, in reality by the time I've collected a parcel from the sorting office (new Radley handbag, Kate!)tracked down orthotics to see if Miss La's shoes are back, run the belles to their various destinations, been to the bank, bought yet more grocery, done some washing and planted out my butternut squash plants into the garden I guess there won't be a whole lot of 'me' time left. Did I mention I have this book I need to write too?

More images

This is one of Evan Rachel Wood, an actress and she's perfect to be cast as Juliet - Tia's teenage nemesis come back to haunt her.

This is a pic of beverley Craven and really it's perfect for Tia, the heroine of Just Look at Me Now. This is a girl with a lot of secrets.

Shoring up the pictures

I mentioned in my last post the amount of thinking I do when I'm starting a new story. To help me build up a sense of that story and who those characters are i make myself a playlist of music that helps me define certain moments or characteristics of the story. Here's my list for Just Look at me Now:

Love Scenes - Beverly Craven
It's all coming back to me - Meatloaf
Shape of my heart - Sting
I get the sweetest feeling - Jackie Wilson
I will never fall in love again - The Noisettes
If I could turn back time - Cher with Cyndi Lauper
Shes got the look - Roxette

I usually add to this as the book goes on and over time one song will come to mean that story to me. For Animal Instincts it was the Sugababes - Cos I know how I feel about you now. For Crystal Clear it was Girls in their summer clothes by Bruce Springsteen.
Oh, and I found a picture for Josh - my hero, yep, that's him at the top. Apparently he's an actor called Matthew Goode but I've never seen him act so i don't know if he's famous or not. I'm sure one of you more worldly people will tell me lol.

Thinking Time

I think I mentioned I'd written the first chapter of the new book? I'm halfway through chapter two now and hope to finish that this weekend. At this stage a lot of my writing time goes on thinking. I'm thinking through my characters stories, the plots and subplots and the routes for the various personalities. I also need to work out my playlist too. I find a few key songs can really set the mood for what I want to write. I've heard a few tracks that might work but I really need to go play on Youtube and make sure I've got it right. Also while I can 'hear'Tia, my heroine, very clearly I don't see her yet or Josh, the hero so I'd better look for some pictures too.
Oh the hardships of a writers life!

It's back!

you knew I would be watching! Yes Big Brother is back with another collection to entertain me for the summer. This group appeared to include the childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Wolverine, a girl with an inflatable bust, a punk and one of my best friend's nephew! (He's the Russell Brand lookalikee Chris) I thought he looked familiar but last time I saw him he had a crewcut and really you don't expect to see someone you know - albeit vaguely - on TV.
The first night included a Brazillian boy shaving the eyebrows off a pretty Irish girl then drawing glasses and a moustache on her face with permanent marker. I love that BB never pretends to be something it isn't. It doesn't pretend to be educational or to expose some sad seedy secret. Instead it provides a brilliant and bonkers sideshow of human behaviour.
Davinia 'Shouty' Mcall was there too of course, dressed in a binbag and pretending everyone going into the house was sane. Looking forward to the next few weeks to see how everyone shakes down.

X marks the spot

Today is polling day in the UK for the European elections. I know a lot of people are very disenchanted right now with politicians of all parties. Even so please use your vote. I personally don't care who you vote for, even though there are some factions out there that clearly are not very desirable, but I do care that people exercise their democratic rights. If you don't know who do vote for then choose the party you think will do the least harm.
If you don't vote then don't complain that you don't like the policies that affect your life. Do something about it - Go vote!

On a roll

Finally got the shoe problem sorted - in the end I had to go down there with the shoes and not move until I got an answer. Shoes are now gone to be altered so Miss la will have to have a note for school and permission to wear sandals for a week until tbey come back. Not ideal but better than nothing.
I finally got on top of some of my mailing today too - a huge haul to the post office of official forms, parcels and other writerly bits and bobs that I needed to sort out.
I also braved the child tax credit line and dealt with updating and renewing all of that info - always a challenge when you have dyscalculia and there are a lot of numbers involved.
I finished the first chapter of Just Look at me Now. I think I quite like it - it's very different again from my other books and definitely different from Crystal Clear. Even better yesterday I got my sticky mitts on a copy of Jessica Hart's Honeymoon with the Boss. Rush out and get a copy - it's a lovely summery sunshine feelgood read that whisks you off to a tropical paradise.

shoes and the NHS again!

For all of you that remember the last saga of Miss la's shoes well, guess what? Sigh. Miss La has hypermobility of her joints, this especially effects her feet so she needs wedges fitted to the outside of her shoes to help with her balance and stop her feet turning in and an arch support fitted inside the shoe to stop her feet from hurting. She's been having this done since she was two - until she was seven she wasn't een allowed shoes, she had to wear boots.
Fast forward to two years ago when Mac, the experienced pillar of the othotic dept retired. Ever since then it's been hell on wheels to get her shoes fixed. The last time, they changed the rules and didn't tell me then insisted she had to be seen again before they would fix the shoes even though she wasn't due to be seen for another six months. That took ages to sort out.
This time I called my GP and asked him to write and ask if they needed to see her this time before fixing the shoes or could I just drop the shoes in as it had only been six months since they last saw her.
That was April - since then nada - zip. I've called and called and either get a nice man who says they have the letter but the girl who does appts insn't there or I get cut off then the phone is off the hook, or noone answers or the line is busy. It's absolutely ridiculous - so guess how I'm spending a lovely sunny afternoon?

Travellers return

We had a lovely time in the Devon sunshine. My appologies for the lack of posts - not only does T Moanbile struggle with me being over eighteen but the web and walk didn't walk very far - it proved to be more of a slow and pathetic crawl that ground to a juddering halt every few seconds. I'd forgotten the reception down around Torbay is so patchy.
Still, the sun shone and we did - well very little actually. We pottered around places during the morning then went back to the van on the afternoons to barbecue and laze around in the sunshine while the girls put on their bikini's and hit the pool.
I still haven't been inside Greenaways - sigh. Partly because it's so tricky to get to. It would be okay if I was on my own but a busride and rivertrip for five plus all the entrance fees is very expensive plus I don't think my hip will allow me to manage the uphill walk from the boat through the gardens to the house. Maybe next time.
We had lovely times in Dartmouth, Torquay, Paignton and Dawlish. We also visited Plymouth to the new Drake's Circus shopping centre during the only showery day. Not impressed at all by the centre - from the outside it looks great but inside it's very poorly planned - not enough lifts, no signs - they rely on electronic booths, not enough toilets and all the refreshment stands together on one floor - the top floor. I don't recomend it. It was also very expensive compared to Exeter, which is a much lovelier place to go.
Now I'm back to a mountain of washing - as per usual but at least the sun is shining so I can dry it and the wait for my editors verdicton Crystal Clear - I sense tweaking.
Also waiting for my agents thoughts on A Scattering of Leaves. In the meantime I'll plough on with Just Look at me now and keep my fingers crossed!

Travelling

Yes, we're off again. This time to Devon for a week leaving the house with our fish sitters. Fingers crossed my laptop thingy will work and that I can update the blog while I'm away. Maybe T Moanbile will believe I'm over eighteen this time. Have a nice bank hol and if you're visiting from the US - a good memorial weekend.

Back to school

Tonight was interesting. I accompanied Mr Nell and my eldest belle to her school where we found out more about the maths help available for the GCSE students. For those of you who know me really well and know my challenges with numbers I can already hear you sniggering. All I can say is that I am so happy that I don't have to do my GCSE now. I couldn't do it back then either and if I went to school every day from now till forever I would never, ever fully get it.
Sigh, we looked at the computer programme they use to work through the problems and I fell straight into the same trap I always went into when I was at school.

Question - Jaya spins a coloured spinner 500 times it lands X number on yellow, X on green, Y on red, Y on pink and Q on blue. What is the probability of it landing on Pink?

Already they lost me - I'm thinking Jaya has too much time on her hands and why did she want to make a spinner anyway? Did she convert a cocktail umberella and where is purple? I'd have put glitter on it and oh, what was the question again?
Oh yeah um, 500 right, and what colours? or was it 05?
I don't think I like Jaya, what an odd name to choose, wonder why they didn't just put Jane. Jane sounds like a mathy name or maybe not, what was the name of that girl in the easy reader books at primary? Was she a Jane. No, that was Dick and Dora. Dora could be a mathy name. If Jaya had a brother what would they call him? Is the next question a boy name? Maybe that one will be easier?

So now you know why I'm a writer and not a mathematician. Mr Nell says the inside of my head is a dark and scary place. I think it's more sort of pink and fluffy with little sparkly bits.

Happy Birthday La

My youngest belle, Miss La, is 11 today. In September she starts senior school and I can't quite believe she's that old already. When she was born I already had two children under four years of age, one of whom was a prem baby with health issues. Mr Nell was seriously ill with a longterm medical complaint that was still being stabilised. We had a business to run and I was working as a health visitor in a very demanding post.
Fortunately I managed to carry her to term although she was my third caesarian birth but she was actually quite a good baby. Now she's getting all grown up and ready to take on a whole new set of things that will be very different from the sheltered environment of her tiny village school. One things for sure though, she'll always be my baby.

Post book blues

I always feel a bit flat and kind of lost when I've completed a book. At the moment my agent has two of my projects so I'm waiting for the verdicts before I work any more on those. I hadn't planned to start my next book for Little Black dress till after my holiday but the opening scene has been nagging and nagging at me so yesterday I caved in and wrote 700 words.
Just Look at me Now is already looking to be very different from my other three Little Black Dress books, for a start this story is unrolling in third person wheras Blue Remembered Heels, Animal Instincts and Crystal Clear are all first person. Hmmm, I'll see how that goes as I get a little more into it but I already feel a bit perkier just knowing I've got a project underway.

If it's Monday

It must be Halesowen library reader group. Meeting at 2pm today in Drucker's coffee shop in the Cornbow Centre. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and talking books.

Eurovision

Last night was one of our family's favourite nights of the year. The musical carcrash that is Eurovision. Naff costumes, ott frocks, mournful dirges and athletic youths leaping about the stage whilst attempting not to set their hair on fire while the wind machine blows a gale. Whats not to love? Sadly, Sir Terry Wogan's commentary was missing last night and we were left with Graham Norton - still he only managed to insinuate three or four gay puns into his commentary so maybe there's hope.
Our entry was Jayde, a girl who would have been booted from the X Factor in the early stages singing a song which had only three lyric lines and featured Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber playing piano. He'd wisely done a runner it seemed when it became apparant that Norway - who had a guy with eyebrows like two wayward caterpillars - was going to storm it.
Our favourites were Turkey - who had lots of belly dancers in red singing what we all though was 'shake your tictacs' and Ukraine who seemed to have raided a fancydress shop and had roman soldiers and discobeat. Azerbaijan were also good fun as was Denmarks imitation Ronan Keating. Best fun of all though was Greece, featuring a guy who looked like Chico's twin who sang and danced on top of a giant stapler.
Marvellous - roll on next year!
Watch Norway Here

Lemmings in lycra

What is it about donning a cycle helmet and skintight lycra that seems to rob cyclists of any kind of road sense? This morning I encountered two of them on my way to work. Bear in mind I work in the inner city on the outskirts of our second city so not exactly your quiet country lanes. It was foggy enough to require headlights.
Lemming number one in requisite lycra and helmet comes cycling out of a bus lane, across a red light and hasn't any lights on.
Lemming number two is on a busy duel carriageway weaving in and out of the temporarily halted traffic, no lights and cuts across the three lanes at the island because he's in the wrong lane.
Sometimes it's like Deathrace 2000

Talking about books

Nice time at Wordsley library this afternoon and looking forward to Monday with Halesowen readers group. There's nothing nicer than talking about books with other people who love books too. Have already zipped through my TBR pile so I think I'll have to go and treat myself to a few more.
I loved Katie Ffordes Wedding Season - I think it's her best book yet. The Betty Neels were lovely satisfying comfort reads as always. So I need some reccomendations. I like heart warming romances with a splash of comedy, a great plot and a happy ending. I don't mind the heat level if it's important to the plot so the bedroom door can be open but I can do without the mirrored ceiling and handcuffs. I don't really like Vampires and Shapeshifters. I like some historicals but Contemporaries are my favourites.
Tell me what to read...

Finished

Yippee!!! Crystal Clear is done. Whew. I intend to take a couple of days break to reclaim the house then press on with A Scattering of Leaves for a few weeks before I start the next Little Black Dress book.
If anyone is in Wordsley tomorrow btw I'm talking at the library there at 2.30 as part of Big Book Fortnight so pop along and say Hi. Next Monday I'm at Halesowen libraries reader group at 2pm - we're going to be at Druckers coffee shop in the shopping centre as the library is being refurbed so I think cream cakes might be on the schedule.
Now to catch up on my reading, two Betty Neels and Katie Ffordes Wedding Season are on my list.

Almost there

Well I've started my backwards edit. Began on C32 and am now on C26 added almost 2k worth of emotional description, dialogue etc and the end of the book is now looking much, much stronger. Hopefully by Tuesday the book will be done, polished and shiny ready for my agent and my editor.
I plan to work on A Scattering of Leaves then for a few weeks to ramp up my word count with that before starting to write my next Little Black Dress book - Just Look at me Now.
The Belle's have received their dance results - highly commended's all round so they're very happy. My youngest belle starts her SATs tests this week and that should then be the last of the exam angst in the house for a little while.

Backwards

Since Jess and a few other people have been a bit surprised by my back wards method of working I thought I'd try and show you what I mean using a short excerpt from Animal Instincts. Be warned it is quite painstaking as a way of working but It works for me. To show this properly I'm going to reverse the excerpt round to demonstrate how I check from the end

“Pay the man, Clo,” Immi ordered and staggered sideways, flinging her arm around the driver’s neck to steady herself.
“Whoops!” She giggled.

In this bit I wanted to show Immi was drunk but I didn't want to use slurred speech or a long description so I checked to see that her actions revealed her condition. Her dialogue shows her as a happy drunk at odds with her emotional state later on when she reveals the events from earlier in the evening



He must have driven her quite a distance to want sixty pounds and it was typical of Immi not to have any money with her.

This sentence reveals Immi's habitual habit of acting without any regard for the consequences a hint towards the chat show issue



“That’ll be sixty quid, Miss.” The taxi driver supporting my sozzled step-sister leaned her against the doorframe, a look of relief on his florid features.

Again this sentence shows Immi's state and the taxi driver isn't a character that will feature again - I just need to give the reader a word picture of the scene without a huge description and to show she must have come a long way to run up such a big fare - something out of the ordinary and a foil for Clodagh's perilous finances.

“Surprise!” Immi wobbled on her heels and blinked owlishly at me, “I’ve got a present for you.” She waved an unopened bottle of champagne in my face.

This contrasts the two sisters, immi with champagne which Clodagh would probably never drink and it gives an early indication of Immi's generous nature even if she doesn't think things through

The light from the hall spilled out into the night illuminating the two figures on my front doorstep.

This is the opening line of the book. It had to have something of a hook - who were the two figures? and why were they there in the night?

So, after that - in the right order as you would read it.

The light from the hall spilled out into the night illuminating the two figures on my front doorstep.
“Surprise!” Immi wobbled on her heels and blinked owlishly at me, “I’ve got a present for you.” She waved an unopened bottle of champagne in my face.
“That’ll be sixty quid, Miss.” The taxi driver supporting my sozzled step-sister leaned her against the doorframe, a look of relief on his florid features. He must have driven her quite a distance to want sixty pounds and it was typical of Immi not to have any money with her.
“Pay the man, Clo,” Immi ordered and staggered sideways, flinging her arm around the driver’s neck to steady herself.
“Whoops!” She giggled.


All the way through I'm looking to catch any repetition, have I foreshadowed something? Have I repeated a phrase that I overlooked on my forwards edits? Have I got enough emotion or does a phrase seem flat when I look up to the one before it? Is the description clear enough to give the reader a picture in their mind of the scene?

I write quite a sparing, clean first draft so my backwards pass tends to add in odd words here and there. For other people they might need to cut things out. I like dialogue and action tags that show a scene and reveal character. How about you? For the writers out there how do you edit?

Spit and polish

Crystal Clear is shaping up I hope. I've almost finished taking out my hit list words that I love to over use and I've smoothed a few anomalies, just one last one to rewrite so it becomes clearer and helps make more sense of the ending. Then once it's all stripped and clean I start the big adit, where I work through backwards looking at each phrase to see if the emotional impact is there and adding in the final parts that will hopefully make Azure and Drew's story come to life. I'm quite fond of Azure - she makes a big journey during the book. Next comes the nailbiting bit - sending it to my agent and my lovely editor for their verdict.
In other news though I've seen a mock up for the cover of Charlie Darling and it's wow! Completely different from any of my other covers but in a good way! Exciting stuff - no news on the release date yet and I know I have edits etc to come but still exciting.

Noses

While we were at the ginormous car boot one of the stall holders asked Mr Nell if Shaggy was his daughter. When he said she was the man said 'she's got a nice nose. My daughters just paid 4k for a nose job and it looks just like your daughters.'
mr Nell, ever the diplomat replied 'she got hers for free, walking into a metal post at school.'

Here again

We're home. As I haven't got a nice Cotswold pic to show you here's another one from our hols - this time of the view to the sea from Compton Acres.
We had a nice weekend pottering about, we visited Stow-on-the-Wold on Saturday morning and spent the afternoon at Hailes Abbey, where close by was an amazing early church with fantastic medieval wall paintings. The pictures showed a man hunting a hare with dogs on one side of the church and a giant figure of St Christopher on the other side. Above the choir stalls were pictures taken from the Beastary of strange mythical creatures. It was a very magical space.
Yesterday we went to Broadway for the Italian market which was absolutely rubbish - about four stalls, no bread, no icecream, no pizza and precious little of anything else - very disappointing. We also went to Cheltenham for the huge carboot sale which was great fun. The belles found books and neon socks to buy so they were happy. Next stop now is to refill my empty pantry and tackle the laundry monster again before I finish my aditing and polishing of Crystal Clear.

Travelling again

Here's another lovely pic taken by my eldest Belle while we were in Dorset. This weekend we're going to be in the Cotswolds. On Monday it's mine and Mr Nell's twenty-fourth wedding anniversary. Hopefully the weather will be nice and I've bought a gadget for the laptop so as the site is supposed to be WiFi enabled I should be able to get t'internet.

Indie Day

Tomorrow is May 1st. It's also support an Independent bookstore day. Independent bookstores are a vanishing breed, yet they are to be treasured, offering choices of books that the chains and supermarkets don't carry. If you have an independent book store near you go in tomorrow and buy a book. It can be for you, a present for Father's day, something to tuck away for that friends birthday that you always forget, a present for one of your children, or a neighbours child. Go and buy a book, support a book store they and the author will thank you.

Almost May

I can't believe we're almost at the end of April. Where did the year go? I've been in my new day job over twelve months now and it still feels like I just started. It won't be long till Miss La's bithday and she'll be 11. It was bad enough last year when she went into double digits but 11! How did that happen?
On a political note, thank you to everyone who has signed the Gurkha's petition. I hope that someone will soon have the moral backbone to do the decent thing on this issue. Hopefully principles and justice will prevail.
My writing time this week is being eroded and I'm woefully behind where I intended to be so if I become a little bit scarce or my posts become briefer for a while it's because my nose will be firmly attached to the grindstone.

BBC Radio WM

Well, we're back from our big day out to the big city. We set off like Wallace and Grommitt, me and Mr Nell armed with psycho Sally the satnav. The radio station is situated alongside the TV studios in the Mailbox which is in the city centre. (For anyone not from Birmingham, the Mailbox is so named as it used to be the central sorting offices for the postal service now it's an ultra posh place full of shops which have three items in the window and no prices showing. Plus lots of restaurants and a hotel)
Once we'd mastered Birmingham's road system and Sally's last minute instructions - this involved lane changes and bad words from Mr Nell - we arrived. There was a big dalek in reception which was cool but sadly for our eldest belle we didn't take a picture.
Mr Nell accompanied me into the studio which made for very interesting research for me as I've never been inside a studio before. Big Hi at this point to Joanne, Anna and the lovely lady in blue who looked after us and made sure we didn't get lost. Joanne was very kind and time seemed to fly past. If anyone new is stopping by after hearing the show then hello and welcome to you please don't be shy.
We ended up talking not just about blogging but Animal Instincts and also my day job project managing the therapeutic community agriculture gardens. So radio WM may be visiting us there to meet our staff and see the project which would be cool.
Big hugs to all of you who sent me emails and left messages of support. It was good fun and hopefully I didn't say 'um' or witter on too much.

Here's the listen again link - speed through till just after the 11 am news if you just want my bit CLICK HERE

Nervous - moi?

Okay, so I am, actually I'm slightly terrified. Tomorrow I'm going to be chatting with Joanne Mallin on BBC radio WM at 11am. In a bid to take my mind off it I've cleaned all the bathrooms. Hopefully I'll sound coherent, it'll be too much to hope for that I'll sound intelligent. Mr Nell has threatened, um I mean offered to accompany me. I think that might be a good idea as I have no real clue where I'm headed. You all know I'm geographically challenged. I think we're going to be talking about blogging so if tommorrow some new people pop by here 'Hello' and honestly I'm not as daffy as I sounded, honest, really.

Busy, busy, busy

Everything has been hectic since we came home. The belles have tap dancing exams tomorrow so the house is being turned upside down while they hunt up shimmer tights and skirted leotards.
I'm getting a bit nervous now about the radio thing on Tuesday for Radio WM. Fingers crossed I'll find where I'm supposed to go in the centre of Birmingham and don't make too big an idiot of myself.
I've been sorting out Charlie Darling ready for publication, art forms, contracts etc. I'm so thrilled this story is finally going to be published and very excited to be working with Freya's Bower.
I'm also working on Crystal Clear - aditing and polishing ready to send it off to my lovely editor at Little Black Dress. My deadline is June but time seems to have a habit of running away and I know the ending especially will need tweaking and I have some pacing, emotional kinks to wotk out in the first third - nothing mega but I like to try and get it right before my editor sees it. Especially as Animal Instincts didn't get any revisions - somehow I don't think Crystal Clear will be as fortunate although I'll do my best.
By the way if you live in the UK please go HERE and sign this petition. This gross moral outrage makes my blood boil and I'm ashamed that as a nation we are behaving so badly - this single issue more than any other cock up engineered by government illustrates the lack of true moral fibre in our current government

Some more pics

Here are some more pics from Compton Acres - the garden we visited at Poole and a couple more of Lulworth Cove.

Holiday pics

So here are a few pics of what we got up to on our trip to the New forest.

Easter Sunday we visited these beautiful private gardens just outside Poole.

Easter Monday found us at Lulworth Cove

We also spent a morning at Stonehenge which was a little disappointing.
And we went to Beaulieu - Mr Nell took lots of car pics but I thought you might like this pic better.

Big Yay!

Regular readers here will know about my category length novel Charlie Darling. I'm thrilled to announce that it's been acquired by Freya's Bower, part of Wild Child Publishing. I'm really thrilled it's found a good home and as soon as I know more details I'll let you all know.
I'm downloading my holiday pics - courtesy of Mr Nell - so I'll be back tomorrow with some lovely snaps of the Isle of Purbeck and what we did on our hols. In the meantime I'm celebrating with a mug of coffee and a slice of swiss roll - I'm in work tomorrow so I can't tap anything too strong.

Home

Home! Wow! My inbox is stuffed with emails so if yours is one of them then bear with me, I promise I'll get to them. Already I found that Animal Instincts has been bought for large print! Yay! My Mom will be able to read it. I'm going to be talking live a week tomorrow on the Joanne Mallin show on Radio WM eek!! Little Black Dress books are out in e book format - yay! and drum roll I got another wonderful review for Animal Instincts from the lovely Julie Bonello over at Singletitles.com READ IT HERE I'll be back soon with pics of where we've been and everything I've been up to.

Happy Easter

"Jesus said unto her
I am the resurrection, and the life;
he that believeth in me,
though he were dead,
yet shall he live;
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die.
Believest thou this?"


John 11:25-26

Happy Easter - I'll be away for a few days leaving our housesitters in command. My net access may be a bit patchy but I'll try to keep you all updated.
PS Mr Nell took the above pic the other day just a couple of miles away,