Skip to main content

Success!

Hurray! With a lot of help from the bride-to-be, I’ve managed to find the makings of an outfit for my daughter’s wedding. 

 Basically the secret seems to be to try everything on, something I’m not very keen to do by myself but which was much more fun with Lily to help. 

 Along the way we rejected The Intestine Dress (a dusky pink shade which I love but which drains me of all colour, in a tube design which was probably meant for someone seven foot tall) several Frumps R Us numbers (just because you are the mother of the bride doesn’t mean that you’re ready to look as, only Milla could put it, like a sofa cover) and a couple of Trying Too Hard dresses (just because you can, doesn’t mean you should). In the end I bought a shift dress and jacket in a sea-green colour (which, by amazing coincidence, MiL tells me is just the colour she’s been looking at) that seems to hit the right note between mumsy at one end and mutton-dressed-as-lamb at the other. Now all I’ve got to do is find all the bits and bobs to go with it…

In other news, despite the bug still washing me out, (see picture below!) I had a very enjoyable trip to London for the Romantic Novelists’ Summer Party. 



 I have to say that in the past I’ve been worried about feeling like Billy No-Mates on these occasions, but this year I had a wonderful time catching up with old and new friends (Hi Debbie! ). But what a night it turned out to be for Choc Lit! We’re so proud and pleased for Evonne Wareham, who won the Joan Hessayon New Writers’ Award for her novel Never Coming Home ...



and Jane Lovering who triumphed in the Romantic Novel of the Year Award for her romantic comedy, Please Don’t Stop the Music


And as you can imagine the celebrations when the Choc Liteers met up for lunch the next day just kept going!

Today I’m also blogging at the Choc Lit Author's Corner, where I’m waving goodbye – with some relief – to the controversial ‘Wednesday Hottie’ slot and introducing our new Wednesday feature.

Thanks to Tom Tomos for the epainting, Sea Mist (which is what we're looking at this morning!) and to photographer Marte L Rekaa for kindly allowing me to use her wonderful photos of the RNA Summer Party.

Comments

Flowerpot said…
Glad you're over the bug Chris - I'm laughing over the Intestine Dress!!! Sounds like a good RNA do and congrats to all the Choc Litters.
Jenny Beattie said…
I love your descriptions of the different dresses. I think you're right about trying everything on; it's amazing how different things look on the hanger and on a body. Still, I loathe trying it all on though...
Another fab painting!

Thanks for the great pictures. I was so thrilled to see Evonne and Jane doing so well. What an evening for you Chocolateers!
Lins' lleisio said…
Oooh I hate trying on too, but the end result really does sound divine. Looking forward to the pictures when the time comes.

Congratulations to all the Choc Liteers
Fennie said…
Best of luck, Chris, I am sure you will look gorgeous whatever. Do hope the bug clears up. Maybe you are just working too hard. It does happen!

I must say I will miss the wry amusement of watching the various Chotliteers work themselves into a frolic and lather over the latest 'hottie,' but congratulations to all concerned on their success and I am so looking forward to reading MOD when it comes out.
Maggie Christie said…
I'm still laughing at the idea of an intestine dress. I love your other outfits descriptions. Oh the minefield that is mother of the bride - I remember looking at some horrors with my mum before my wedding. And the price tags too. Eek.

I hope the bug finally departs very soon (and the eye thing gets better too.)

Well done to all the Choc-Liteers!
Sarah Tranter said…
Lovely post Chris - your outfit sounds perfect - need to see a photo here! Yes the RNA party and lunch the next day were wonderful. It's rather cool to be part of Choc Lit isn't it? :) XX
Frances said…
Well Chris, you've made me smile, even laugh a bit, reading your dress selection report. (From the viewpoint of someone who's tried to find a wonderful dress for special occasions in the shop over the years, it is such a shame when we truly know what the lady is looking for and know that we don't have it. And...jubilation when somehow we really do have it...and the fit is good, too. We can sometimes get a bit emotional when we know we have just the right outfit.)

I do love Tom'e e-picture. One of these days I guess I'll head over to that technology. This century...I promise.

Best wishes to you and all the other Choc Lit authors!

Thank you for your comment over at my place.

Glad you do seem to be feeling so much better. xo
Pondside said…
Now that you've found THE outfit you can sit back and relax a little. I felt better just knowing mine was in the closet!
I still have a houseful, but the wedding day has come and gone - went by in a flash!
Chris Stovell said…
Thanks Sue, I hope I'm just about there with the bug! Good luck with your Novelicious Undiscovered entry.

Jenny - it's taught me (rather belatedly!) that it's very hard to judge a dress on the hanger so I suppose I'll have to try things on in future. I live in jeans most of the time, but still!

Thanks Debs, it's lovely isn't it? It really captured the morning mood. It was a great night - none of us could quite believe (despite Evonne and Jane's talent) how well such a small publisher had done. Amazing!

Thanks Lins - I can quietly forget about it until then... well, once I've got shoes, bag etc...

That's very kind of you, Fennie. It's all been a bit mad since we moved here so maybe the bug is a sign to just stop for a while - or at least take it easier. Tell you what though - I won't miss the Hotties! Always had mixed feelings about that one!

Mags, thanks - yes, those price tags, sheeeeesh! The dress I wore to the RNA Summer Party cost £7 from Tesco which is more my usual budget.

That's us, Sarah, hip and happening... ahem. It did feel good though, didn't it, to be on the winning team! I had a lovely couple of days and was so pleased to meet you.

Frances, I loved your comment - so fascinating to hear it from the other side. The customers who visit your store are very lucky to be in your hands - I have to say customer service in the big department stores here was non-existent. I have to thank my daughter for having such an excellent eye and steering me to the right choice by letting me try on all the mistakes!

Pondside, I've been thinking about you and keep flicking over to your blog for news. I do hope you all had a lovely day and I'm really looking forwards to hearing how it went (in good time, when you've had a rest, of course!).

Popular posts from this blog

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

Reconnecting

I hadn't realised it until now , but it’s probably no coincidence that my last post was about our trip to Norwich, a city I’ve loved since studying at UEA. I wrote, then, that coming home was a hard landing, a feeling that took me completely by surprise as it’s been such a privilege to live in this beautiful, remote spot on the very edge of the west Wales coast. A trip to Skye at the end of October - Tom’s choice - with Ma, was a truly lovely holiday. The weather was kind, the colours of those breathtaking seascapes will stay with me, as will all the happy memories we made that week. And, because our small cottage had been so beautifully modernised and worked so well for the three of us, it was easy to imagine what it might be like to live somewhere different. If travel doesn’t broaden the mind, it certainly brings a new perspective. By the end of the year, Tom and I had decided that it was time for a change, time to move closer to a town (we are neither of us, as they say, getting

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 presc