Round Up

House – For those of you who have followed the aftermath of a dustbin lorry colliding with my house and car in May, (see previous blogs) –  the front wall of the house has been rebuilt, the cracks in the bedroom have been repaired and the room repainted. Just the new garage doors to go (one destroyed by the dustbin lorry, one destroyed by the builders 🙄) and general fixing and tidying. I will be glad to put this horrid episode behind us.

RNA conference – My annual treat is attending the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference. This year it was held in Lancaster at the university. As always it was lovely to be surrounded by romantic novelists, if rather noisy! The sessions are informative, noteworthy this year were Liz Fenwick and Brigid Coady’s session on building an author brand, Freda Lightfoot talking about sagas, Jane Lovering and Rhoda Baxter about putting humour into your writing and Helen Bryant’s insight into working with an editor. The gala dinner is always fun – see above. Unfortunately, I began to feel quite poorly and on the Sunday morning Janice Preston and Lynn Forth, who I had travelled with, decided we should go home early. This made me very sad, but was the right decision. Well done, Jan for driving a strange car on the motorway.

Health – shortly after returning from the conference, I went to the doctors. When she put the stethoscope on my back, she said, ‘Oh dear!’ I had a nasty chest infection, which explains why I was so sleepy and felt so ill.

Edits – Even though I have signed a contract for the publication of my debut novel, Who is Harry Dixon?, it still hasn’t quite felt real up until now, but – my edits have arrived! Suddenly it feels very real. I’m going to be published! The two items above might explain why I’ve been a little quiet on social media of late.

Lisa Hill – Lovely news broke at the weekend, my friend Lisa Hill won the latest Choc Lit Search for a Star for the publication of her debut novel. Congratulations, Lisa and I’m sure my blog will feature more news about you soon.

Lynda Stacey – Another Choc Lit author Lynda Stacey has her debut novel out today, 19 July. Her novel House of Secrets, which I’ve been privileged to read in advance is a great book, with a memorable hero – look out for interview with Lynda on the blog next week.