Back from my hols...

Want lots of this in my garden!
Sea Holly rather than Thistles, but you get the idea!

...having spent a glorious week in Oxfordshire and the surrounding area, reading, eating much good cake, admiring lovely gardens with fabulous spiky plants in them (see right) and writing.  I even managed to squeeze in a sneaky trip to Stratford on Avon: no theatre, sadly as we were on our way home, but a fabulous costume exhibition.

 

As usual, the holiday proved fruitful in that I've managed to smash the dreaded 30,000 word barrier and at the moment things are flowing smoothly! I've got Partridge into an awkward spot and things are unravelling around him quite nicely and there have been a few interesting twists of plot on the way.  Having the map has really helped: somehow the geography has become lessy soupy and I can accurately work out distances, timings etc. Mentally, I keep adding bits to it as well.  

 

I've given myself the deadline of August 2014 and I'm determined to get as much writing under my belt before I go back to work because I'll also be working on my university dissertation this academic year and I'm not entirely sure how well the two will sit together with a full time job. (I think I probably do know the answer to that but I'm in denial!) However, the summer is not yet over: tomorrow I get my annual Ian Rankin fix in Edinburgh and then towards the end of the holiday there's a little road trip planned... I'm not going into details yet but it will be very helpful from a G&P point of view!!!

 

Yesterday found myself stranded in a bookshop during a thunderstorm (convenient, no?) and, browsing, found a children's book by Dan Smith which has just been published by Chickenshed called 'My Friend the Enemy.'  Had to purchase it as Dan was on the same MA writing course as I was and once said some nice things about something I'd written.  He's doing very well in the world of 'real' publishing and I'm really looking forward to reading it.  (And yes, I did feel a twinge of envy!! But only a teensy one - he's worked really hard for the success and deserves it!).

 

Cake of the month?  My very own cherry and almond cake, taken away with us, which got incrementally better as it got slowly eaten!  Must be a moral there somewhere.