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