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The editing of my second draft of Rock, Paper, Scissors is going well. I’m maybe not progressing as fast as I would like, but at least I am making progress. Now that I have taken out the plot points which made the story too complicated, the book is making more sense. These story ideas alone… Continue reading Bird Talk

No not the floods! Picture taken in Bewdley Worcestershire yesterday. I went on Miranda Dickinson’s Write Foxy workshop on 1 February. One of the things that stuck in my head was her remedy for feeling bogged down in your writing. She advises to write something completely mad. She writes about a wombat. I took her… Continue reading It’s Miranda Dickinson’s Fault.

I hear you saying – ‘You will one day for sure’. Seriously, I sit here in my study with an enormous amount of material – poems, short stories, plays, autobiographical material and at least eight novels. They are piled on my shelf awaiting completion and sending out to publishers, magazines, etc. As I don’t think… Continue reading What If I Die?

In 2013 I read a steady 2.73 books a month, which seems miraculous given the little time I give myself for reading. I rate the books I read – out of 5 for writing and 5 for plot – then I add them together and come up with a score. This year the books I… Continue reading My Favourite 16 books of 2013

I always find dressing the Christmas trees rather poignant and can often shed a few tears at the memories that surface. There are wonky silver bells which big son, now 25, bought home from nursery and similar foam ornaments made by little son, now 10. As I hang the fragile glass ornaments, I remember the… Continue reading Memory Trees

I went to the Festival of Romance in Bedford at the weekend. It was all arranged in a last minute rush when I discovered that I had been shortlisted for the festival’s new talent award. The shortlisting was for the first chapter of a novel and it just happened to be ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’, the… Continue reading Exciting Times

Where has this year gone? It will be the eleventh anniversary of our move to this house on Halloween. I was five months pregnant and didn’t feel well at all. I remember the removal men arriving and I told them I felt ill. They made me sit on a box in the middle of the… Continue reading That Time of Year Again

Have you seen my new wonderful cover picture on Facebook. This was taken by my talented sister and it gives me a thrill every time I look at it. I thought I’d start this blog by recommending a couple of blogs which I regularly find of interest.  Helen Yendall’s excellent http://blogaboutwriting.wordpress.com/ and Sally Jenkins’ http://sallyjenkins.wordpress.com/,… Continue reading Percolation

I imagine this is the question some of you might be asking, or maybe you haven’t noticed that I’ve been gone :-(. Sunset at Llandanawg Beach, North Wales                                           When my mother broke her hip in April, I didn’t realise the impact it would have on me. I don’t necessarily mean in time, but the… Continue reading Where Have You Been?

The Easter holidays came and went. My editing stalled, but my new writing output increased. We had a fantastic few days in Wales with Ellie Swoop (hubbie was working). It was cold, but sunny. For the rest of the holiday I spent a fair amount of time transporting my now 10 year old to see… Continue reading Time Moves On