A Spot of Sunshine

Lovely Juliet Greenwood whose novel Eden’s Garden, published by Honno, is officially launched tomorrow, has kindly nominated this blog for a Sunshine Award. Thank you, Juliet and congratulations - the postman should be delivering my copy of Eden’s Garden very soon, I hope! Juliet has asked me to post some random facts about myself, but I’ve also seen bloggers posting about things that make them happy in response to this award so, as it’s been one of those days, I’m writing about random things that have made me happy today.

At this very moment, as I type this, Turning the Tide is #1 in Kindle Store Books Contemporary Romantic Fiction which, I can tell you, has made me pretty jolly happy.

…especially after a rather bruising online incident at the weekend when my fellow Choc Lit authors rallied round me, picked me up and dusted me off again. I haven’t met all of the Choc Lit team and I’ve hardly met any of the friends I’ve made through social media, but the kindness and support of people I only know through the internet, astounds me and cheers me up every time. Thanks to all of you. On that subject Novel Racer friend Liane Spicer, our own Wordtryst, has invited me to be a guest at Novel Spaces ‘a universe for writers and readers’ and I’m honoured to be appearing there tomorrow.

You'll notice from the ad on the Amazon screenshot, that I've been searching for something to wear for my daughter's wedding. I am what Susannah and Trinny would have called a cornet shape ie I have wide shoulders and slim hips. In practice this means that any dress that clears my rib cage flaps like a sail round my hips. It also means that I’m beginning to panic about whether the shops make Mother of the Bride dresses for freaks of nature. Finding the right outfit so I can stop worrying about it would make me very happy indeed!

I was putting a card together for Ma’s birthday last week when I came across the above photo. It’s probably the earliest picture of me on a boat (and no, it wasn’t when dinosaurs roamed the earth, although you could be forgiven for thinking so from the photo!). That’s me on Ma’s lap, with my uncle on the right and two of my cousins!

After three days of being blanketed in fog, the sun’s just come out! Hurray!

AND FINALLY… This morning, I saw the cover for Move Over Darling and it’s bee-yoo-ti-ful! It’s Wednesday Hottie time on the Choc Lit blog today, so the big reveal will have to wait until tomorrow. Do come and have a look if you’ve got time.

Happy Endings, New Beginnings

Blended families come with conflicting loyalties and at Christmas time nearly everyone has somewhere else they feel they ought to be. Throw partners into the equation and it gets even more complicated. Since Tom and I aren’t especially hung up about Christmas we’re happy to let our children go with the strongest flow, but I have to say it was a great delight to have the girls and their partners staying with us this year. When such moments are few and far between they become very precious. My stepsons weren’t far from our thoughts either, not least because we had the very happy news on Christmas Day that my elder stepson and his girlfriend had become engaged. Congratulations Dan and Gill, here’s wishing you every happiness together. Tom and I end a year that has seen the fruition of many years work, both of us crossing important thresholds within weeks of each other. I’m really looking forwards to seeing Turning the Tide published next year and it’s been so satisfying, after al...

Fly Free, Dottie Do

‘How many days to my birthday?’ Ma asks. I do a quick calculation. ‘Eighteen,’ I reply. ‘Eighteen days until your ninetieth birthday.’ Ma pulls a face and shakes her head. Every sentence is hard work for her now, when each breath is a struggle. ‘You’ll have to write a book about this, you know,’ she says, with one of her quick, mischievous smiles. ‘“Carry On Dying”. Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry.’ The smile fades. ‘Who knew,’ she adds wearily, ‘that dying would be such a palaver?’ It’s only eleven days since Ma was diagnosed with a high-grade, aggressive lymphoma, four days since she was overwhelmed with pain and breathing difficulties and was admitted as an emergency to hospital. Until a few weeks ago, she lived completely independently; shopping, cooking, cleaning and tending her much-loved garden. The deterioration in her health is shockingly rapid. The eight days preceding her death are a living hell, a constant battle with the ward staff to get Ma the pain relief she’s been p...

Since You've Been Gone

Well, Ma Mère, There have been so many times when I’ve gathered up all the little shiny moments I’ve collected during the day, ready to present to you in our evening phone call and then I remember all over again that you’re not there. But, Mum, so much has happened since you’ve gone - maybe you know, maybe you don’t - that I’ve decided to write to you instead. A few days after you died, we sold our house! After all those months! We even joked about you rattling cages somewhere. At first, nothing happened and then suddenly everything happened at a breathless pace and the next thing I knew I found myself driving (yes, me, driving!) along the M4 to Bridgend and the Time Capsule House, the one you said you and Dad would have bought. I remarked, when we first viewed it that if it was meant for us, it would come to us. Over a year later, when it had been under offer twice, we moved in. Oh, Mum, you and Dad would have loved this house; it’s peak Seventies and the decor - the pampas ensu...

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