Category Archives: Blogging

Season’s Greetings!

27 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by in Blogging

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a lovely day with both sons home and my brother visiting. Lots to eat and drink and plenty of silly games.

I’ll let you into a tiny secret – I cooked Christmas dinner for the first time ever. 25 years ago I made the very wise decision to marry a good cook (not just for his cooking skills you understand!) and therefore have never had to do much in the kitchen other than clear up the not-inconsiderable mess he makes.

But this year we decided to do things differently, and so on Christmas morning our younger son and I cooked, while the other three went for a walk and to the pub. And dinner was amazing, though I say it myself.20171225_141816.jpg

Best present received? My dear husband bought me a Lego campervan, to remind me of our travels this year! I spent many happy hours on Boxing Day constructing it, with the help of two very jealous sons who have not quite grown out of Lego and probably never will.

A nice surprise this morning was to see that the ebook version of The Girl from Ballymor is on an Amazon UK promotion, selling at just 99p, and rising nicely up the charts as a result. Here’s the link if you want to grab yourself a post-Christmas bargain!

 

Advertisements

Just call me superwoman…

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Blogging

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Life has been SO busy lately. If we’re Facebook friends you probably know about my husband’s cycling accident, 6 weeks ago. He crashed on a slippery road coming downhill, and broke his hip and wrist. His hip was operated on the next day to pin it, and the day after that he was on his feet on crutches. He’s making a good recovery, though still has to use the crutches for a few weeks yet. So I am having to do a lot extra in the home – all the cooking and cleaning instead of sharing it, all the driving around, shopping, taking him indoors to physio appointments etc.

The day job has been manic lately. I won’t bore you with the details but I’m definitely being pulled every which way and then some. Could do with cloning myself to get it all done.

I’m over the moon at having a two book deal – it’s what I’ve worked towards for ten years. But with contracts come deadlines, and the pressure’s on to get book 1 revised and back to my editor, also to get the first draft of book 2 completed. Both are on target, just about.

With the pier-to-pier swim completed that means no need for swimming training, but him indoors has discovered that a short swim in the sea is really helping his recovery. He hobbles in on crutches, then I take the crutches and leave them on the beach, then swim with him, then help him out of the water at the end. On beautiful Bournemouth beach and in weather like we’ve had, this is no hardship so I’m not complaining. But it’s all time out of my busy day.

Earlier this year I signed up for the Bournemouth half-marathon, which is in early October. So I need to pick up my running – get out there and start building up the distance. I’m so slow a 10km run takes me nearly an hour and a half.

And then today I realised that I have to do the ‘blue’ jobs as well as the ‘pink’ jobs. A U-bend under the in-sink disposal unit (aka the muncher) clogged up. I have never, repeat never, unblocked a U-bend in my life before today. (I have led a sheltered life and there has always been someone around with greater plumbing skills than me.) But I managed it, and then did a silly dance around the house because it is now official – I AM SUPERWOMAN and I can do ANYTHING!

Ahem. All this is really just a long-winded excuse for the lack of blog posts lately.

Two Whole Days!

10 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in Blogging

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

It’s my favourite time of the week – Friday evening with an empty weekend stretching in front of me. Two days in which I can write, run, read, and veg. Sheer bliss! And I’m allowed a glass or two of wine after a non-drinking week.

There’s a couple of things I must do – drop off my son at the station as he’s on his way back to uni (boo), go to the shops to buy the latest writing magazines which include features written by friends, do an hour’s house cleaning (I refuse to do more).

But I should be able to write 2-3000 words, run 10-12 km, and spend some time reading.

It’s at least a month since I had two free days like this, and boy am I going to make the most of them. As long as I can keep off Facebook and Candy Crush Saga (what a blinking waste of time that is!)

There’s a lot to be said for quiet weekends in January, coming after hectic, manic December. What are your plans for the weekend? Whatever you’re doing – enjoy!

A storm is coming

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Blogging, Running, Writing

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, ,

There’s a storm warning in place for the south of England – overnight tonight we will be battered by 80mph winds and lashed by rain, several inches are due to fall. We’re on amber alert. The wind has already picked up, but it was fine this morning so I went out for a run.

And what a run it was! One of my most exhilarating ever. I ran 4km along the Bournemouth cliff top, westwards against the wind. This was very hard work. Then turned around at the pier, and ran 4km eastwards with the wind at my back, along the prom. This part felt like flying!

2013-10-27 11.28.02

The wind was whipping up the sea into a frenzy, and also creating sandstorms along the beach. My back got sand-blasted. After the run I came back down to the beach to try to capture the drama but with only a phone camera it’s hard to do it justice.

I experienced a real runner’s high on the last few km. It was incredible.

And now this afternoon I’m aiming for a writer’s high. You know that feeling, when it’s all going so well, the story is playing out like a film script in your head and all you need do is take dictation from your characters? I’m hoping that will happen today. I was stuck on a scene but in the middle of the night realised that the answer is to write it in a different character’s viewpoint. I’m looking forward to getting inside her head.

 

Marathon

06 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Blogging

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

,

Today is my birthday, and it seems as good a day as any to get this new blog started. I began blogging back in 2007 over on womagwriter but that blog has always stayed reasonably tightly focussed on writing fiction for women’s magazines. These days I write novels, so it’s time to start a new blog, about me, my life and my writing.

It was the first ever official Bournemouth marathon today, and they had glorious weather for it, although I suspect the participants found it a little too warm. We went to see the start, then I went to the cliff top and watched the faster runners go by, then I went down on the prom and sat on a bench, clapping for an hour or so as the whole field passed. The plan is (and if I put it in writing I’ll have to do it!) to enter the half-marathon next year.

2013-10-06 11.01.16

The photo shows some of the front runners on the overcliff, passing the end of our road.

Writing a novel is a bit like running a marathon. At the beginning it all seems so daunting – all that distance to cover, all those words to get on a page. But all you have to do is start – put one foot in front of the other, one word after another and eventually you’ll reach the end. (A little training, or practice writing, helps, of course!) Every journey starts with a single step, and every writing project starts with a single word.

I’m now in training for next year’s half-marathon. And with this post, I’ve kicked off this new blog. Wish me luck for both!