It happened!

Oh poor neglected blog, I've been away too long. But in the intervening time - 4 years since my last post! - a wonderful thing has happened. I signed a publishing contract with Orion and my debut novel The Companion will be published this year, in hardback and ebook on 27th July and paperback in November.

I now have a website and new blog  - it would be lovely to see you there!

The Next Big Thing

I have been tagged for this Q and A by the lovely Linda Green, bestselling author of several novels including And Then it Happened and the forthcoming Mummyfesto. She was also once my writing tutor and helped to inspire me to give this writing lark a serious go.  You can read her answers to the questions here
 

Meanwhile here are mine:

What is the working title of your next book?

omigoddess!

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? 

Fourteen year-old Stella is in trouble, worse than that, her Trouble has got out: she’s called Eris and she’s an ancient goddess who specialises in misunderstandings, conflict and asking really awkward questions.

Where did the idea come from for the book? 

My day job is as a question writer and verifier for quiz shows.  This leads me into reading and researching a wide variety of subjects. One day it led me to Eris, and once I'd found her I just knew I had to write about her. I then had a “what if?” moment - what if Eris was the Inner Goddess of a teenage girl, and what if, one day, she got out…?

What genre does your book fall under? 

Young Adult / Teen fiction

Which actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

As the main characters are all between 14 and 16 I imagine they would be young, upcoming actors rather than established names, which is another way of saying I don’t know of any 14 year old actors that would fit the bill! But for Eris I’ve always imagined a young Agnes Deyn, in spikey elfin hair mode. The main character Stella is Emma Watson circa ‘Goblet of Fire’. The two main boys are Ray / Raven - a teen Richard Armitage and Davey Lord, who would be an ideal role for a Harry Styles lookeelikee.  And my daughter would never forgive me if there wasn’t a part for Tom Felton, so he could be the escapologist Slippery Steve.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve written short stories for years and have had several published in anthologies and one broadcast on Radio 4. I took part in the Gold Dust mentoring scheme with the novelist Jill Dawson which really helped me to get my head round plotting and structuring a longer piece of work. 

When it came to writing this novel the Young Adult / Teen genre seemed to come most naturally. I have a teenage daughter and she loves to share her books with me. I particularly love Jacqueline Wilson, who has made me cry, Louise Rennison, who makes me laugh and Tamsyn Murray who manages to do both.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

I’m hoping to find an agent.  I am just honing my synopsis (with the help of the highly-recommended ‘Write a Great Synopsis’ by Nicola Morgan) and then I will be submitting it.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About five months for the first draft, mainly writing first thing in the morning before starting work.  Then I let it lie for a bit and worked on something else. I returned to it last October and started a substantial edit, which I finished just after New Year.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? 

The book is set at a small music festival, a fictional amalgamation of many I have been to.  I have always loved the magical feel of festivals and the often surreal sights and events that take place. It seemed the perfect location for Eris to make an appearance and I enjoyed combining the modern setting with a thread from Greek mythology. Eris’s story is an ancient one, but the themes of choice and loyalty are still relevant today.

I’m handing these questions over now to the extremely talented Karen Clarke.  I have always loved her short stories and now she has a novel out - and I love that too! It’s called ‘My Future Husband’ and you can find out all about it over at her website and  blog, where you will also find her answers for The Next Big Thing

Synchronised Thinking

I had one of those weird moments of synchronicity today.

My novel has a fair number of mythological references (not too surprising as one of the central characters is a Greek goddess). I was editing a scene today in which one of the (non-goddess) characters is holding a glass of wine like a bowl in her two hands and another character thinks she looks like an oracle looking for answers in a scrying cup. Shortly afterwards the glass breaks and the goddess character has a ponder about bad luck quotas, 7 years for a mirror, how much for a glass?

I decided to Google the whole 'breaking a mirror = 7 years bad luck thing' and discovered that the 7 years bit goes back to the Romans who believed we renewed ourselves completely every 7 years and therefore that's how long a damaged soul (ie one that was broken when a mirror smashed) would take to heal. BUT the superstition goes back further than that, beyond early mirrors and polished shields and slices of obsidian, back to the scrying pools of dark water that were used for divination.

Spooky.

Wouldn't it be satisfying though if my novel ever gets published and I get a letter saying, "Did you know....?"

It's Good to Talk

The edit/rewrite continues. I'm loving adding to my word count in the side bar each day. Over 14,000 words edited so far. And I'm actually really enjoying it. The lovely Anna Chilvers author of the splendid Falling Through Clouds told me I would and I should have just believed her - thanks Anna.

Had a particularly chewy scene to deal with today. On the original draft I had scrawled 'what is this scene trying to do?' across it. After reading this post on Calistro's blog and doing some big doodling with a sparkly purple pen borrowed from the daughter's pencil case I found the answer. Then I looked at the scene. It wasn't doing it. The characters were there, Id set the scene but 'it' wasn't happening.

What to do?

I was so mired in the original scene that I found it really difficult to imagine rewriting it even though I knew it had to be done. Then I remembered an exercise we did recently at my Stephen May writing class. I got a blank piece of paper and a non-sparkly pen (optional) and wrote the scene completely as dialogue. I didn't worry about style or precision. I just let the characters chat, pretty much as I thought they would do in real life. Their conversation veered off in various directions but in the end after pages and pages of chinwagging and confabulation I knew that in amongst it all I had managed to tell 'it'.

It took me the rest of the day to edit it down, getting rid of lots of the dialogue in the process, especially the 'Well yeahs' and 'What do you means?' and the bit when they started discussing house prices in York (?!). Then I put back in all the description and action bits.

The scene is now so much better. There is a point to it. The reader learns more about the characters and their desires and fears. It moves the story on. It has a beginning, a middle and an end - yay!

A sigh of relief and a new technique learned. I imagine it won't be the last time I will be using it. 66,000 words to go.

Editing

Yeuch its a bit dusty in here. Where've I been? Working mainly but also, ahem, on Facebook. Have decided however that the occasional two-liner on FB isn't doing it for me, so am planning to blog more regularly again.

Couple of things brought me back here.

One was wanting to talk about reading out loud.

I've been told many times that reading your writing out loud is a useful part of the editing process but I've never really taken it on board. Then last week my writing class (taught by the splendid Stephen May) had a reading session in the cocktail bar of a local pub. It was a brilliant night, with some fantastic stories (and the cocktails weren't bad either).

Earlier in the week I chose the story I wanted to read. It was one I had recently entered into a competition and was quite pleased with. I practiced reading it out loud. Eek. How come I hadn't spotted the repeated words, the clunky sentences, the dodgy dialogue. All fixable and I did alot of editing before I read it in the pub, but I really wish I'd done it before entering it into the comp.

Ah well, lesson learned. In future I am going to make reading aloud a compulsory part of my editing (might even progress to taping myself and playing it back - gulp!)

Second thing was The Novel. Still Novel #1 although Novel #2 does exist in a skeletal form.

Quick catch up - wrote novel in 2008-9, March 2009 started sending out initial chapters and synopsis. Throughout 2009 I received 6 rejections - but all with positive feedback- and one request for the full manuscript. Nothing (not even a rejection) has resulted from the request for the full ms despite me sending a follow up enquiry.

Anyway I sort of decided to shelve novel #1 and get on with #novel 2. But novel #1 wouldn't stay quiet. It's a story I really want to tell, and has a central character who just won't stay quiet. So, I got out my rejection letters and tried to work out exactly what they were saying. Turns out they were all saying pretty much the same thing, they loved the concept, they even said they loved the writing BUT they didn't 'fall in love' with the book.

I re-read my novel.

I didn't fall in love with it either, and with the benfit of a six month absence from it I saw the glaringly obvious - no bloomin' conflict. At least not enough of it, not of the immediate and necessary kind anyway. All my conflict was in the past and my characters were just dealing with the repercussions . One of the knock on effetcs of this was that most of my characters were pretty flat. I wasn't showing them at their fictional best ie when they were under real pressure and facing immediate conflicts. This is all basic 'how to write a novel' stuff that I'm theoretically well aware of and yet had somehow managed to miss out on in practice.

So. Major rewrite about to begin. I have gone through my ms with a pen and scribbled sweeping edits - 'drop this character', 'completely rewrite this scene', 'do I really need this chapter?', as well as a few ticks here and there for bits I'm happy with. It's almost like starting all over again.

I've got a month off work and I'm determined to finish this edit by Easter. I'll keep you posted.

Yes I know I should be working or writing but...

The Guardian Book Blog is just too distracting and it was from there that I pinched this:

42 Essential Third Act Twists

I especially like 'Reverse Robot Reveal' and 'Dark Lord Reasonable'

Wonder if I'd get away with either of them in my act three...

My first ever book review

Apologies for the blog gap, all the usual excuses, plus I have been busy reading this


If there's anyone left out there who isn't aware of this new novel by the very talented Cally Taylor, then listen ye - its fab!

I'm not too hot on book reviews, in fact I've never written one before. I have that problem with non-fiction generally (except my blog but then I'm JG not SD so it's OK). And indeed my contributions to my monthly book club meet-ups are usually along the lines of "Sorry I didn't get round to reading it", "Yeah, it was good, erm yeah, I especially liked the bit, you know..." and "These crisps are great!" But here goes:

I read a whole lot of stuff across all sorts of genres (except horror cos I'm a scaredy cat) but this is my first 'supernatural chick-lit' and - I loved it. What makes it so good? - (I mean apart from the fact that I just bloomin' well enjoyed reading it and was torn between wanting to get to the end and not wanting it to finish).

OK, totally real main character. Lucy is someone I know, I mean she must be cos I feel I know her so well, she's 100% believable and rounded which is not a bad feat considering that she's dead. The supporting cast are fabulous too, all with enough personality for you to want to get to known them better (even smelly Brian). The premise of a 'wannabe ghost' (in fact a whole house full of the) is brilliant and the plot unfolds in a way that keeps you wanting to stick by Lucy through everything that the afterlife throws at her. The pace is page-turning and the dialogue and observation, witty and clever. Erm, what else - oh yes - wonderful ending, and I don't just mean the last very satisfying couple of pages but all the twists and turns that build up to it.

Yes Cally is a blog friend (and I've even once met her in the flesh!) but that wouldn't be enough for me to praise her novel, or to buy multiple copies for family and friends this Christmas (including hopefully one in Spanish - it's been translated into at least seven languages already) - but that is what I am doing.

So go and hound your local bookseller for it. It's already waiting for you in Waterstones and Borders and it's hit the charts at WHSmith. It's also flying into baskets like hot buttered scones over at Amazon. Look I've even provided the link

No News Good News?

Last week I finally got round to sending a polite email to the agent who has had the full ms of my novel for the last five months.

It took me so long 'cos, hey guess what, I couldn't find the right words. I didn't want to sound too pushy or desperate but I also wanted to make it clear that I really would like to know how my novel was doing. I got a prompt reply from her assistant saying that the agent was 'still reading it'. Hope that's not a euphemism for "Manuscript? What bloomin' manuscript? Oh you mean the one we've been using to prop up the wobbly desk."

As a student years ago I had the privilege of entering the den of the editor-in-chief of a major publishing house. He showed me his enormous slush pile (no, that's not a euphemism). It was a-teetering and a-tottering in the corner of his book-lined room. He told me that he was unlikely to find anything publishable in it and didn't look too happy at the prospect of having to wade through it. I hoped for his sake and for at least one wannabe writer that there might be a gem hidden in there.

I would love to know if my offering is in a corner of an office near the pinnacle of a wobbly tower still waiting to be read or whether it is already well-thumbed and lying on the agent's bedside table. Or whether at this very moment her assistant is putting it into a return envelope.

I must be patient.

Meanwhile have done lots of planning for novel 3 which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I said yes to a major work project yesterday which probably scuppers my chances of doing NaNoWriMo, but at least thinking about that has made me make a start. So current writing plan - Be Patient and Write novels 2 & 3 simultaneously (or at least on alternate days).

On the non-writing front - I have started going to a weekly sewing class and in typical fashion have decided that I don't want to spend weeks and weeks making bags and cushion covers (as generally recommended for beginners ) but have embarked on this:



Have so far reached the point where I have all my pieces cut out (from lovely shimmery but unslippery wine red satiny fabric) and tomorrow will begin the 'pinning it together' and maybe even some actual sewing! Hope to have it finished by Christmas (tho' there's a possibility that I may end up going 'oh bugger it' and turning it into a bag and a couple of cushions after all)

NaNoWriMo

I'm seriously thinking of doing it. A novel in a month. In previous years I have been ever so impressed when fellow bloggers have gone for it (and succeeded!) but I have also, I must confess, thought they must surely be a little bit mad. But this year I get it. Or at least I get why I should give it a go.

Novel #1 is still with an agent, novel #2 is, hmm, well not exactly simmering - the gas is on but I haven't chopped up half the ingredients yet and I can't find the oil. Meanwhile a slightly bizarre novel idea (in fact idea for a series of novels) has popped into my head - crime mysteries set in a world that I'm very familiar with. I think it could be fun but I'm not convinced I want to shelve #2 and spend a year of early mornings working at this new idea only to discover that actually it was a bit daft.

Sooo NaNoWriMo - I splurge it out over a month - 2,000 words a day. I like a challenge, deadlines etc and I think this one (hey lets call it novel #3) is the kind of project that will benefit from having its first draft written that way. Could be dreadful of course, but then if it is at least I will have got it out of my head so I can focus on the burning onions in novel #2

Inspired

By my new writing class. It's run by Stephen May, author of the indispensible Teach Yourself Creative Writing and the award winning novel TAG (Both great books and I'm not just saying that cos I know him :o)). Who fortunately for me and other local wannabe writers just lives down the road.

I wasn't sure what to expect, having been to several writing classes/groups over the last couple of years but I got back home last night buzzing and full of ideas. Stephen didn't waste a minute of the hour and a half and had us doing lots of fantastic writing exercises that all cunningly linked together and really worked. I found voices and characters I'd never imagined I had in me and came away with three pieces of writing that I'm sure will lead on to something more. The other people in the class were equally impressed - even /especially the woman who said she had never had to work so hard at writing in her life.

For anyone in the area who is interested in coming along the sessions are at Hebden Bridge Library on a Monday and Thursday evening 6-7.30.

Now I'm going to go and introduce my favourite new character from last night to the motley crew that are assembing for my Murder Mystery.

Back

To blogging that is, rather than yet another post about my sciatica. I'm feeling much better and can now sit comfortably at my desk for a decent period of time (so long as I keep a good posture and get up and walk round a bit every now and then), so I really have no excuse.

Also a return to writing as after a bit of a break I'm raring to go with lots of enthusiasm for the new novel and also, unexpectedly, an idea for a murder mystery series that just won't go away.

All good unless of course I start procrastinating and following distractions such as those offered in this Guardian blog post which points to the rather wonderful 'Weird Book Room' at Abe Books. I really must not buy The Great Pantyhose Crafts Book or The Lost Art of Towel Origami, but how can I get through life without How to Avoid Big Ships or The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America ?

Happy Browsing!

Out of Bed

Hurrah no more back pain posts - for now. On Saurday I decided I'd had enough of lying around and made my first attempts to hobble up and down the street. On my fourth attempt, accompanied by hubby and daughter, I made it to the rather splendid pub at the end. So chuffed by my progress that I had a large glass of wine despite the 'avoid alcohol' warning on my meds. Felt a bit stiff on Sunday but continued with hobbling and this time made it to the swimming baths. Felt just like the Little Mermaid, in agony on land but pain free and full of energy in the water.

So life pretty much back to normal now but at a slightly slower pace and accompanied by a walking stick (which hubby a bit perturbed by - think it ages me a bit!). All systems go now for camping trip to France starting tomorrow. So no more blogging for a couple of weeks but hopefully lots of writing in between the swimming, cycling and sightseeing.

Happy Summer everyone!

Friends

Aren't they great. I've felt so lucky this week to receive so many visits, phone calls and emails. My bedroom is quite tiny but its been lovely having it filled wih friends, and quite often their children too, bearing cards, flowers , chocolates and magazines. I also received an unexpected but very lovely email from a fellow Saffer which really cheered me. My favourite gift so far has been a cafetiere mug - so the daughter can now safely make me coffee as well as tea! She has been a complete and utter star through all this and we have had some serious talks about all the children out there who are full time carers for their parents. Fortunately of course this situation is only going to be temporary so she can give up her nursing duties soon. This morning I joked that this was good practice for when I'm old and she replied "When you're old I'm putting you in a home!" Methinks she's had enough of the caring lark.

Fortunately another lovely friend has whisked her off to play at her house for the afternoon so she can enjoy just being a nine year old girl again.

I think she was quite traumatized yesterday. I forgot to take my pill cocktail at lunch time and over did things a bit, ie went downstairs a couple of times. Result was me curled up on floor in tears in complete agony unable to get into a position that didn't make my body scream with pain. The daughter called 999 and a lovely paramedic arrived almost immediately. He was able to make me comfortable and calmed both of us down, but I felt so sorry for my little one. Hubby came home from work and took her out for a walk and she seemed quite happy when they got back.
So I'm especially pleased that she is off having fun this afternoon although she did make me double promise to take all my pills and not get out of bed unless I really have to.

Oh dear I fear I am becoming a back pain bore. Will blog about something writerly soon I promise. Have managed some novel writing in between friend/paramedic visits and still feeling excited and daunted by it, which I think is a good combination

Anagrams

Guess who's spending too much time lying in bed with nothing but her netbook for company? Anyway in between reading blogs, playing spider solitaire and of course writing novel 2 I rediscovered my favourite anagram solver site.

I used it for a quiz show that I worked on recently that had an anagram round. Mindless but titillating fun to be had finding anagrams of names and places etc. As an anagram I can be Red Sauna Hanky or A Naked Ashy Urn.

Below are some of my favourite anagrams that I came across while doing the show

1. A two word phrase that has the following anagrams:

Antarctic Clever Toy
Cancel Victory Treat
Carnal Corvette City
Tartan Tricycle Cove
Recontact Rectal Ivy

(Clue - CAR)

2. A classic 1930s film
Entwined Thigh Ow
Hot Whining Tweed

3. What I'm too fond of
Sir Top Carnation
Nip Or Castration

Answers if you haven't worked them out at http://wordsmith.org/anagram/

Has any one got any particularly amusing name anagrams? Hubby's is Brisk Horny Toot!

No change

Hmmm Doc's prediction that I would be on my feet again in a couple of days hasn't come true. Still flat on my back,can't sit up and in pain if I move at all. I have an impressive pile of drugs by my bedside now - most of which just send me to sleep. Have postponed holiday to France which has taken some of pressure off as I now have a whole week to get better instead of just 24 hours.

Family, friends and bloggers/facebookers have been fantastic. Hubby brought home a take out Thai meal for tea last night, daughter made me a splendid breakfast and lunch today and a friend popped round with a cappuccino from my favourite cafe. I've had some lovely online well wishing (inc my brother who reckons this is my cunning plan to avoid swine flu) I also had a couple of lovely emails from work saying that although the show didn't fall apart in my absence on Friday I was defintely missed. So still feeling pretty lucky and not too sorry for myself.

Intended to do some writing yesterday but drugs sent me to sleep. Today will try writing and then take sleep inducing medication.

Weird thing happened yesterday actually. Daughter was out with friends in the afternoon so I was on my own. Front dooor was unlocked because I was expecting visit from doctor later. I needed the loo so went through my regular routine of crawling to bathroom on hands and knees, then had a lie down on the floor to recover for a few minutes before crawling back to bed and lay there silently screaming (ow ow ow). Then I heard a noise downstairs, a thump followed by a sort of metallic ring. It was too early for doc and hubby and daughter not due back for hours. I called out "Who is it?" in a big brave voice and then shouted my husband's name. No reply.

I was convinced there was someone down there. So - I got out of bed and walked down the stairs to the first floor. There was no-one there. I then walked down to the kitchen on the ground floor. The front door was closed and there was nobody there. I then sat down on the sofa in total shock at what I had just managed to do. Not wanting to be stuck downstairs in my nighty I seized the moment, headed back up the two flights of stairs and collapsed back on my bed.

Cured? Nope. I haven't been able to manage it again and am back to lying flat in bed and only managing to crawl when I get out of it. Hubby reckons it was adrenaline, like when people lift heavy objects off themsleves or others in an emergency. Isn't biology / physiology amazing?

OK going to do some novel writing now, got to make the most of all this free time!

A change of plan

When I woke up yesterday morning I had the full day ahead mapped out. Get up, shower and dress, cycle to station, read Robert Harris on train, spend a busy day in studios recording five episodes of the quiz show I'm working on at the moment, finish about 8.30, have a couple of beers with the rest of the production team then go home to Hubby, a whisky and bed. However my body decided to scrap that plan.

I got up. Instantly excruciating pain shot down one side of my body, my vision tunnelled, my head started fizzing and I collapsed on the floor. Fortunately Hubby was on the case, realised I'd fainted and raised my legs and let the blood return to my head. Getting back into bed made me cry in agony. My lower back and left leg were shot with stabs and cramps of pain.

All the worse case scenarios went through both our heads but fortunately my lap top was to hand and after a quick google we diagnosed sciatica. An advice call from a doctor afterwards confirmed it. Basically it's a trapped nerve at the base of my spine - but a particularly long nerve right down my leg. So yesterday, and so far today, have been spent lying flat on my back taking a carefully rota-ed selection of painkillers, one of which I didn't know was even legal. I'm OK as long as I stay in one very flat position. Eating is dificult, typing tricky and I won't traumatise you with details of how I manage to go to the loo.

The doc seems pretty certain that I should be on my feet again by tomorrow and then I will need some physiotherapy to try to prevent such a horrible attack again. Sciatica has numerous causes but I'm pretty certain that the hours I spend sitting badly in front of my computer have been a major contributor. Doc called it a wake up call and it's certainly been that. Better posture and more exercise are on my post recovery to do list.

Its certainly made me appreciate simple things like just going for a walk or pottering in the garden, or having a shower - all of which I am desperate to do again. Fortunately I have a lovely view of the garden from my bed and the nodding roses and buddleia have been cheering sights. I have also done lots of reading - Robert Harris The Ghost, Sara Paretsky Bitter Medicine and Julie Myerson Out of Breath. Might even get some writing done this afternoon if I can get past the doze inducing effects of my drug cocktail.

Hubby and daughter have been fab - bringing me food and tea and things to read. Daughter made me a card and some yummy fudge and took a photo of downstairs to remind me what it looks like. Even the cat has been sending me sympathetic looks from the end of the bed. I feel very lucky, and when I'm back on my feet again will hopefully be able to use this experience in a positive way.

Edited to add: It's now Monday morning and I'm still in pain and still in bed. Grrr. Trying to stay positive despite having to postpone family holiday in France. Am going to spend this afternoon writing and not feeling sorry for myself.

Poetic transference

Me and Poetry. Bit of a disappointment. I love reading it and hearing it. It has made me laugh and cry and blush and once (thank you Rosie Lugosi) choke on a drink. But I can't write it for toffee.

Everytime I've felt stirred to give it a go I have produced little beyond adolescent mush (not that I'm criticising adolescent mush when written by adolescents, but when written by a woman of 40, it's just crap).

But things may be about to change. Last night Carol Ann Duffy (aka Poet Laureate aka Fab Poet) made an appearance at our local Arts Festival. She read from The World's Wife and other such luscious volumes and all the while she rested her books, and her finger tips, and at one point her arm, on - my daughter's music stand!

(The venue was lacking a lectern of any sort and at the last minute the music stand was called into action.)

Afterwards Carol Ann thanked me profusely and signed a copy of her book with some lovely words of thanks to The Daughter (who was the chuffedest 9 year old in the school at 'show and tell' this morning)

So. The plan is to stand at the, erm, stand and wait for the muse to land on my shoulders. Will I feel vibrations, a resonance? Or just a complete prat?

Only the poetry will tell.

Back to Life and Blogging

Phew, tis over. A 13 week contract that sounded like a bit of a doddle way back in March but which ended up taking over my working life and giving me some very bizarre dreams. I feel like I suddenly have an extra three hours in my day and can finally get back on track, especially with my writing.

No news yet from The Agent but I have been reliable informed that up to three months is a normal wait time so I am trying to be patient and not going all dry throated and choky when the phone rings in the middle of the afternoon.

Had lovely time last night at the Calderdale Short Story competition prize-giving evening. There were 430 entrants and mine was one of the 30 shortlisted so I was pretty chuffed. The three winners read from their stories and they were all excellent, especially the winning story which I hope ends up being published somewhere as I want to be able to recommend it to people to read. The judges were the writer Jane Rogers and the publisher Ra Page (of Comma Press). They both talked about what they look for in a good short story and it was really useful and inspiring. I managed to talk to both of them afterwards too, over wine and nibbles.

Our local Arts festival is about to start and there are lots of literary delights on offer. I have a ticket to see Carol Ann Duffy and also for a talk by Katie Fforde and Eleanor Moran. There is also an opportunity for a 'literary lunch' with Katie and Eleanor which could be fun.

Next week I'm going to a 'Writer's Roadshow' - a full day of workshops, forums, readings and 'meet the authors'. As part of the day I get a 'one-to-one' hour with the author Mark Illis. I have to send him some of my work in advance and then we will discuss it. It's a great opportunity, but I'm a bit nervous. I know Mark as our daughters go to school together and the thought of him reading my novel is a bit daunting (number of people who have read any of it so far is still very small). But I love his writing (just finished Tender which I can highly recommend) so his comments and criticism will be very valued.

But before all that there is a weekend of costume fittings, dress rehearsals and performances - not for me but The Daughter who is in both a dance show and a play. And I also only have two days to get my oufit ready for the DIY fashion show in town, which is also part of the festival. I have a dress in many pieces and several lengths of ribbon. Now I just need to get sewing.

Eeek!

In the middle of a tidal wave of work deadlines and after one of my worst workdays ever I was stopped in my tracks this morning by... a request for a full manuscript of my novel! And it was from an actual agent, not my mum or anyone :o)

Totally over-excited now and completely unable to concentrate on the finer points of Renaissance Art wot I am meant to be researching.

Yippee - it is only a tiny fairy footstep but at least it's in the right direction

Delusions of glamour

Every now and then in Italy I get a flash of La Dolce Vita, those moments when I suddenly feel as though I'm on the set of a classy film and something wonderfully romantic is about to happen. There was a drive along the coast last year, when everyone we passed seemed impossibly glamourous and carefree (and were they really all driving sports cars and wearing big hats?(maybe I'd had too much sun)). Anyway it happened again this week in the Garzoni Gardens near Collodi.

The gardens adjoin the Parco Pinocchio and our 'Biglietto Unico' admitted us to both. For the benefit of the daughter we headed for Pinocchio Land first. As theme parks go it is fairly tame, but the daughter loved it and there are some lovely sculptures and mosiacs telling the story of Pinocchio (although I suddenly realised I only knew the Disney version and felt a bit lost). There were pointed hatted grinning Pinnochio's everywhere including a giant 16m high one one that towered above us watching our every move.

After becoming pinnochioed out and foolishly eating our picnic in the midday sun (it's true what they say about Mad Dogs etc) we headed for the tranquility of the Garzoni Gardens.

They were designed in the 16th century and are heavy on marble sculpture, sweeping staircases and hidden corners. It was a beautiful blue sky day, which set it all off perfectly. It has been used as a film set and backdrop lots of times and I confess, in my vintage '50s sundress and big shades I had a Dolce Vita moment. I leaned against balustrades and gazed wistfully up at the muscled marbled gods on display while the daughter and Hubby reclined under the orange trees. Just think Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn and a young Judy Garland ;o).

Sadly it was the one day so far that we forgot our camera so instead of pictures of a pasty English family looking a bit sundazed and confused, and wearing considerably less clothing than any of the be-coated and be-mused Italians, I thought I'd share this with you instead (this is what it looked like in my head!)


In lieu of photographs I bought lots of postcards including the above and this one of some rather scary looking Spanish ballet dancers


The above pasted above my computer today has kept me jolly as I'm not feeling quite so be-glamoured anymore. Hubby and daughter flew back to England yesterday so now it's just me and the dog. And they even took the sunshine with them! Apparently they were frolicking naked on the allotment this afternoon (or maybe that was just the daughter) while here the skies have been an Eeyorish grey and threatening rain. Still I've got loads of writing done and have a whole week of only dogwalking and writing to come, so I can hardly complain.