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After a fretful night wondering how publication day would be for Moonbeams in a Jarmy nerves were settled by this delightful review. Many thanks, Anne for your kind words and huge thanks too, to everyone for all the support today.

Are you in the mood for love? I’m optimistically hoping that you are and that the power of love which brought everyone together for Meghan and Harry’s big day might send one or two of you in the direction of my new novella, Moonbeams in a Jar which is released tomorrow, 22 May.

The premise for this story is that love arrives unexpectedly, often inconveniently and rarely according to plan... rather like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar.

I’m a very visual writer in the sense that ideas often come to me like still pictures from a film and this a story I’ve wanted to write since I ‘saw’ Chloe, the heroine, sitting at the end of a wooden pontoon with Wilma, her dachshund, beside her. How, I wondered, could I make her and the handsome bearded man heading towards her with his dog, Fred, see that they were right for each other?

As regular readers of this blog will know, I also love writing about places; I’ve been lucky enough to visit Hong Kong so some of our experiences there may well hav…

After very long, and in Lily’s case, exhausting wait, the midwife tells Lily that it’s nearly time. ‘In about thirty minutes, let’s say,’ she announces. Unfortunately - and Lily tells me later that my face fell, although I was convinced I was staying upbeat - it’s time for me to meet Tom and collect Bee from nursery. Whilst my back is turned, Lily and Russ put their heads together, make a few phone calls and enlist the help of Lily’s lovely friend, Ruth, to assist Tom with Bee so I can stay with Lily. Huge thanks to all of you!

An hour later, I’m thrilled and overjoyed to meet my beautiful new granddaughter who is a very cross little lady indeed as she greets us. I feel immensely honoured to have been present at her birth and I’m so grateful to Lily and Russ for sharing such a precious moment with me. Welcome to the world, baby Iris!

Poor Bee is left with the strong suspicion that Nana and Grandad’s arrival means Mummy and Daddy will disappear - probably to Hospital - so when we arriv…

No winter lasts forever… and nor, thank goodness, does every lurgy. After ten weeks of wondering if I’ll stop coughing, the infection loses its grip and I’m well enough to tackle my first Park Run with Helen in the beautiful grounds at Llanerchaeron. Park Run, of course, is not a race but it doesn’t stop Helen and I blatting along each week in pursuit of new PBs.

Tom and I have both been busy at work. One week there’s a strange juxtaposition when I proofread my novella and then check Tom’s draft thesis! I begin ‘Cyborg Music:A Future Musicotechnographic Aesthetic’ with some trepidation about how I’ll cope with the deep philosophical concepts but by the end I’m fully on board and bursting with pride. Tom makes his final amendments and takes three copies to the post office where he pays a whopping £15 to send it on its way. Now ‘all’ he has to do is sit back and wait for the date of his Viva Voce…

Lily’s second baby is due… ooh… tomorrow, so excitement’s running high here and we both j…

Twelve days before the Llanelli Half Marathon and two and half years since my last visit, I see my GP. The ongoing cold/cough/lurgy I’ve had since Christmas shows no sign of clearing up any time soon mainly, it turns out, because it’s a chronic sinus infection. I mention my race and receive a long, hard look in return but the GP doesn’t actually tell me not to take part.

Race day arrives and the chilly conditions are perfect. I absolutely love this route which is an ‘out and back’ along the coastline beginning and ending at Parc y Scarlets. There’s a great atmosphere and the camaraderie among the runners is fantastic. For the first six and a bit miles I have an absolute blast and clock up excellent times at the 5k and 10k marks… and then, at mile seven, I feel sick and faint. For the first time ever in a race, I wonder if I should retire.

A couple of sweets later and I decide I’m well enough to press on. Six miles isn’t so bad, I tell myself, it’s a distance my dear running friend Helen…

Like my last post of 2017, my first post of 2018 is about a birthday present and a holiday. In Rome, I open my cards to discover that my gift from Lily and Russ, Rose and Si is a four night family break in a fabulous treehouse in the Forest of Dean booked for the end of January.

I love New Year and the idea of starting afresh but this year nothing seems to have gone according to plan; at Christmas, I’m struck down with what feels like a never-ending cold and cough, my beloved iMac seizes up and has to go to the MacHospital which in turn sets back the edits I’m working through for a new novella. After a deep, dark wood of a January and a few more trials and tribulations, I can’t wait to set off for our treehouse holiday!
And my goodness, it’s brilliant! There’s a luxury cabin large enough to accommodate the little families, and, across a wooden bridge, there’s another small cabin for me and Tom.

Oh, and there’s a hot tub! (No photos, you'll be pleased to know.) Two-year-old Bee - …