Holidays...

are wonderful things! About to start my writing day at the very civilised hour of 11.15 - this is much more my time of the day than my usual rising time! I know the week is going to fly past - they always do - but this morning it has been really nice to take things slowly. Hoping this week to sketch out the basis of the christmas story for this year because I don't want to leave it all thill the last minute. It is hard, though, turning your thoughts towards Christmas in October - I find that once I start thinking 'Christmas' it takes over and I'm too much of an Autumn lover to want to hurry it away! Resisting the temptation to head Scotland-wards as well this week: we're planning a possible trip in May next year to ride on the 'Jacobite' steam train and maybe revisit Killin -I might actually get onto the island this time!

Getting On A Bit...

It was my birthday on Friday, which inevitably meant cake. It was excellent cake - or actually cakes - lovely cupcakes with strawberry icing and sparkly sprinkles - and they were completely delicious. And then there was the wonderful Lemon Meringue Pie my sister-in-law made me. And the delectable cakes which had come back from Spain in my brother's suitcase... I'm not expecting good things out of this week's weigh in!

Grouse and Partridge re-writes are going slowly. Very slowly. In between confidence crises and other demands on my time, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm barking up the wrong tree entirely by even imagining there'd be an audience. I know when I start thinking like this, I need a holiday!!

Seasons of Mists...

This is the entrance to the MacNab Burial Ground on Inchbuie, taken when we were there in 2007. I've only just got round to transferring photos and files to my lovely new laptop and so the next few posts will probably have Scotland pix to accompany them!

I love October, probably because I'm an Autumn baby. And so far, October's been rather good, with a trip to Birmingham to see the wonderful ballet 'Cyrano' and some really lovely sunshine.

I'm working hard at weekends to re-edit - and in places completely rewrite - SCOTCH MIST. When I re-read it this summer with my critical hat on, I could see some very big mistakes which needed addressing. It's been quite fun to do and I'm hoping the work so far is an improvement on the original. I'm still scared at the prospect of sending it to anyone, but I've realised if I don't no one's going to come and knock on the door to demand it! The 'usual suspects' have been egging me on to do something about it for months now, and if no one actually wants it, I won't be any worse off than I am now, will I???

Had a disappointment with the last batch of books from Lulu.com. Usually they are of a very high standard and are beautifully finished, but the last parcel I got looked as if it had been rushed through: there were three books which I felt were sub-standard and they'd got the order wrong (right on the invoice, but the invoice didn't match!) However, I cannot fault their customer service who offered a refund or a reprint and were very apologetic. I'm sure it was a blip and nothing more...

I'm still getting requests for copies which is very gratifying: so far I've sold 187 copies between the three titles which I find quite amazing!

Still largely cake-free, I'm afraid, but I did manage to sneak a slice of Druckers' delicious Apple Cake in Birmingham. It's cake of the week by default, but it would have won the award on its own merits anyway!