Diary
This is my online diary where I publish updates on my writing life....and sometimes my non-writing life
04/02/10 : Happy New Year - even if it's February!
Belated greetings to all those who read these entries. I can't believe it's February already. Where did January fly off to? I cocooned at Christmas during the snow and spent some lovely times in January engrossed in eat, pray, love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. The rest of the time, I've been enjoying the simple life - walking, watching old films, screaming at Jaws which I'd never seen, watching the wonderful, wonderful 24, Desperate Housewives and NCIS (from scratch)oh and yes, doing a bit of work!
25/09/09 : French translation!
Good news! Monsters has been translated into French, ready to go on sale in Canada. I bet I sound much more sexy nagging Jack and Crossy in French than I ever did - and still do as a regular part of my daily schedule - in English. Au revoir for now.
06/09/09 : Happy Autumn!
I can't believe it's Autumn. Where did that summer go? But, like most mummies, I do love September and that lovely back-to-school feeling, when you rein in the chaos of August and become all orderly and organised.
I suspect life in our house will never be that orderly again.....because there's a new man in my life. He's brown, he's handsome, he's happy, we go for long romantic walks together and he has the waggiest tail. Yes, he's a puppy doggy called Buddy. He's actually Jack's, but I've already banned Jack from leaving home and taking Buddy with him in ten years' time. Some people have told me I mustn't become a doggy bore, so I won't go on about how Buddy has just graduated from Puppy Training School (with honours), how he won 5th prize in a waggiest tail contest and how he swam for the first time in the sea in Cornwall this summer. There! I've said it, it's off my chest. I'll move on....
Been a busy old time journalism-wise. I've worked on features on Suzy Greaves's new book, The Big Peace, and I did a traumatic week (traumatic for anyone in our house who was hungry) working on a feature on Economy Gastronomy, the BBC2 TV programme which aims to cut our food bills. Because we live in the middle of nowhere, ie, about 3,000 miles from a shop, I do a massive bulk buy, often online, then chuck stuff away so the idea now is we use everything we buy - bread gets whizzed into breadcrumbs, bananas go into muffins, you get the picture? I was supposed to make our own bread (didn't have time), bake our own biscuits instead of buying Kit Kats (they came out of the oven looking thin, black and hard) and knock up some calorie-laden puddings (didn't want to get too fat). Got there in the end, and am doing okay now....but oh the stress of being hungry, trying to master about 15 new recipes, answer the phone, work, look after children.... Both of those features appeared in the Daily Express, where I was called a "kitchen no-hoper", bit of an understatement actually. The best Jack comment was about my escalope of chicken with sage and lemon (I can't believe I've just said that)and it goes like this: "My mum makes the best ever chicken. She just burns the breadcrumbs, then puts the chicken in." I obviously still have a lot to learn from the Economy Gastronomy gang.
Bookwise, I've had some lovely messages - people are STILL buying and reading Monsters, after all these (two) years. Thank you to all those who've been in touch - from as far afield as South Africa, Gibraltar and Guernsey. Some said they'd laughed, some had cried, others said it had helped them a lot so thank you for telling me.
Everyone's asking this - I'm still working on number two book, and hope to get it cracked once and for all over the next few months. Dragged my heels a bit and have done lots of ironing instead of writing, which I'm told a lot of writers do.
Had a lovely treat and read Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me on the beach in Cornwall, while Jack built a sandcastle and dug a moat the size of the M25 and Buddy weed on passers-by (I pretended to be so engrossed in my new book not to notice all passing trousers ended up damp from the knee downwards). On that worrying note, steer clear of Border Terriers, especially boy ones with excitable bladders, and enjoy the Autumn.