About Me

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A fiction writer and mum to three great kids, also lucky enough to be married to the man of my dreams. In spite of that mushy comment I do not write flowery romance - I like a nice helping of real life grit in my work. I have a Diploma in Literature & Creative Writing from The Open University and remain a member of the wonderful Watford Writers, despite moving on several times. I am a big fan of Swanwick Writers Summer School which has taught me a great deal and where I have made many great friends. I have yet to reach the dizzy heights of becoming a published superstar but will continue to send my work out into the world.

Tuesday, 27 December 2011

Holiday Tuesday

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day which included catering for 9 people hubby and |I decided to have a few lazy days.  Day 2 of lazy has been bliss.  I have been incredibly idle but refuse to feel guilty about it !  I had a bit of an emotional day yesterday, Carl bought me 'The Lion King' on DVD (which I asked for) but I'd forgotten it made me cry.  I used to watch it with my son and daughter no 1 when they were very small and just after my Gran died.  The part where Simba sees his father in the clouds gets me everytime.  I had just about got over that and pulled myself together when 'Becoming Jane' was on.  Now this is daft, I knew it would make me cry, because it always does, but I sat and watched it anyway - Doh !

No sad films today, but we did watch 'Rise of the Planet of The Apes' which was very, very thought provoking and a brilliant film with a lesson which SHOUDd be heeded, for us all.

Off out to look at Sofas tomorrow, not sure if I am looking forward to it or not but the fresh air will be good at least.

Friday, 23 December 2011

Christmas Countdown Pt 2

I have been so busy and sadly have neglected my blog.  Realistically I expect my posts will be patchy over the Christmas period but I hope to be back on track before the new year.  I hope you can bear with me until then.

Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Christmas Countdown

I thought I had planned things reasonably well this year BUT I am still running around chasing my tail and tomorrow looks no better.  The shops are packed, the roads are busy and my feet are killing me.  I have not managed any meaningful writing but hope to bag some time towards the end of the week.

Some good news, my son is coming home for Christmas.  He arrives tonight with his girlfriend and I am really looking forward to having him stay.  Daughter no. 2 is back tonight as well so it will be a real full house !!

Last night I went out to the Watford Writers Christmas meal and had a really good time.  They really are such a great group and I am so glad they allowed me to join them.

Tomorrow I am going to see my friends week old baby, I am hoping for a really big cuddle.

Saturday, 17 December 2011

Friendship Friday

Last day of term for both the girls today and, neither of them were well enough to go in.  Nothing serious but they were both so tired (and moody) I think it did them both good.

I had a lovely surprise.  My friend Linda phoned me and we had a great chat.  I met Linda at Swanwick Writers Summer School and liked her immediately, which isn't often the case with me.  We have kept in touch via email but this was the first time we have spoken to each other since August.  Over that time we have discovered we have a lot more in common that writing, she is an inspiration is so many ways.  I am looking forward to many more phone calls in the coming year.

Not as much work done today as I would have liked but I did manage to develop a few ideas which had been on the back burner.  Well, you know the old saying, big things grow from small acorns.

Thursday, 15 December 2011

This & That Thursday

Such a busy day today.  I was in the shop this morning and we were one man down for a few hours, but of course that meant that more people came through the door.  Once we were back on board and fully staffed it got quieter, typical.  Don't get me wrong I love my Thursday's but this one was manic. 

On the way home from the shop I needed to pop into the post office for a few bits and it was packed in there too.  It is only a sub-post office so as you can imagine there is just the one queue.  I couldn't go and come back later because I only had half an hour before school run time.  Made it to the school with 10 minutes to spare.

I am hoping for a less busy day tomorrow so I can sit and make up time on my writing. 

Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Writing Wednesday

Today has been a good day.  I have been working on a pen portrait for Mslexia magazine and today I stopped dragging my heels and actually sent it off.  Of course, I won't be notified if they will use it or not for the Spring issue until Feb/March time.  So I have pushed it to the back of my mind for now.

There is still no word from Woman's Weekly or The Weekly News regarding the short stories I submitted but then as the stories are not seasonal they are probably lingering in somebodies pending tray.  Everything comes to he who waits and in this writing game there is an awful lot of waiting.  That is why it is a good thing to have several projects in the mix at once.  I tend to have ideas for stories stomping around in my head for a while before I actually draft anything.  I find it easier to scrawl it down on paper rather than stare at a blank computer screen, paper allows you to ramble more.

Tuesday, 13 December 2011

'I Told You S0 ' Tuesday

During my mothers meeting on Friday I told my friend Lesley (whose baby is overdue) that she would go into labour on the 12/12 and the baby would either be born on that day or in the early hours of 13/12.  Well, her beautiful baby boy arrived this morning after going into labour yesterday !  I cannot wait to say 'I told you so'.  No, seriously, I am looking forward to my cuddle with the new arrival.

Spent the morning looking around on-line for exciting writing competitions for next year.  Surprisingly there are quite a few out there with closing dates as far away as March.  Still I shouldn't use that as an excuse to leave it to the last minute as I have done in the past.  Too much time and all that, I have been known to leave it until the week before the closing date then spend the next five days pulling my hair out.  Perhaps that could be a new year's resolution, well one that I can keep.