Just because...

I told you the proofs were done for The Broken Circle, yes? Nick's been reading it as a double check and he's come up with a query. Isn't that typical of a man? Fortunately, I have the best copy editor in the world so I'll see what she says about it. Anyway, I've posted a picture of the cover just because I can. And just because I love it. The trees are so atmospheric - the ideal place to find a dead body...

I had a lovely day out yesterday with fellow members of the RNA. Thanks to Bill Spence, aka Jessica Blair, we had a fascinating discussion on 'names'. This included why we used pseudonyms and how we chose them, the importance of titles and how we came up with those, characters' names, place names, etc. Fascinating stuff!

The drive home from the meeting was, um, interesting. The mist on the hills and the dying light was spectacular - perfect atmosphere for a mystery novel. Then it began to rain in earnest and I managed to arrive in Burnley for monsoon season. Time for all those living in Lancashire to build the Ark, methinks.

I may do some work over the weekend. Tomorrow, though, Burnley FC are playing Manchester City, the richest football club in the world, away from home so we'll watch that in the local pub and probably spend the rest of the day drowning our sorrows. Maybe I'll work on Sunday.

Have a good weekend, all!

A tidy desk

That's what I hope to have by the end of the day. The proofs are done - yippee - and instead of getting back to Shades of Evil, I'm going to spend the day clearing my desk. Tidy desk, tidy mind and all that. If only I could get in the habit of filing, dealing with accounts and correspondence, etc., on a daily basis. Does anyone have an idiot-proof way of keeping an office tidy? If so, I need you.

I have drawers, folders, envelopes - but I don't put things in them when I should because I don't want to interrupt the writing flow. I have a lovely box of paperclips - but have lost the lid among the clutter, upturned the box and scattered paperclips all over the bottom of a drawer. I have a lovely tub for my pens - but the pen I really need is hidden under one of several piles of paper. I have half a dozen books open at certain pages because I need them open at that particular page. I have several notebooks in which I've scribbled ideas - but which notebook did I scribble The Good Idea in? Buried beneath piles of paper, never to be seen again, are sticky notes on which I've written Very Important Reminders to myself. At the moment, I have a dog lying in front of the filing cabinet - and I know from experience that, instead of actually moving said dog, I'll put all stuff to be filed in a big pile that will eventually topple over on top of her and which she will then convert to a nice comfy bed. I have another dog lying in front of my 'stationery drawers'. I have a cat acting as a paperweight on household bills that need filing in the cabinet. The cabinet that I can't open because there's a great big dog lying in front of it...

But I will have a tidy desk by the end of the day. I will!

Tomorrow, I'm out to lunch with fellow members of the Romantic Novelists' Association's northern chapter. Lots of writerly talk while consuming lovely food. What could be better? Quite a shock to discover that we'll be choosing from the Christmas menu for the next meeting though. How has that crept up again? I gather it's only 51 days until Christmas. And not a card bought. Yikes.

Right, back to the desk...

Proofs

I didn't do any work over the weekend. Nothing. Zilch. I watched Burnley FC beat Hull City (I think Hull will be feeling a tad cheated), I did a lot of reading and I watched quite a bit of TV, but no work. Which means I still have proofs to do.

I have a busy morning, too. I'm off to the hairdresser's, then I need to nip to the bank and the post office. This afternoon, I must take myself away from all distractions (i.e. the internet) and concentrate on these proofs. I must.

Muffet's gone to the doggy salon for his trim this morning and we have rain and gales. I expect we'll both return from our beauty sessions looking like drowned rats!

The Final Goodbye

At the moment, I'm working on the proofs for The Broken Circle. I know everyone has their own way of doing this, but I always start by reading through the book to make sure that everything is in the right place and that it makes sense. So my question is this: Why, when I've spent about 8 months writing, reading, editing, writing, re-reading and editing this book, do I find that I've got a character's name wrong? In Where Petals Fall, the typesetter, bless him, spotted this deliberate error. This time, I spotted it myself. But how can that happen? How difficult can it be to get characters' names right?

When I've read the whole thing, I then check that chapter numbers are in sequence. (I've known too many authors end up with two chapter eights.) Then I go through it page by page, line by line, word by word and check every single letter, comma, etc. There's no way that a mistake could slip through, right? Place your bets here.

Then, when I'm satisfied it's ok, it goes back to the printer and that, for me, is the final goodbye. The next time I see it, it's a real book with a lovely cover, but I never read it again. I might, if pushed, read an opening chapter if I'm speaking in a library or something, but that's about it. People ask if that makes me sad and my answer is a resounding 'No!'. Quite the reverse. After spending so long on it, I'm always glad to see the back of it. Of course, I'm lucky in that I'm not really saying goodbye to some of my characters. Jill and Max will live on to solve another crime.

I may work on the proofs over the weekend. But then again, I may not. Apart from going to watch the football, I have no plans for the weekend at all. Perhaps I'll fit in a bit of retail therapy.

Whatever you're doing, have a good one.

Bad blogger

I can't believe a week's flown by since my last post. I especially can't believe that I haven't done anything interesting during that week.

Last week was busy, busy, busy trying to get Shades of Evil running more smoothly. I can confidently say that it's coming along fairly ok-ish now.

The weekend was spent shopping and watching Burnley FC get well and truly beaten by Wigan Athletic.

Yesterday, our poor cat, Tojo, had yet another visit to the vet. Despite having nine teeth removed, she's still having terrible problems with inflamed/infected gums thanks to an over-reactive immune system and is now on steroids to control it. I expect she'll be better in a couple of days - until it flares up again.

This morning, I've been very brave. (Well, not that brave because Nick had to come with me.) I've been for a dreaded blood test. Before going, I'm always convinced I'd rather be visiting the dentist. And before a trip to the dentist, I always wish I was going for a blood test instead. I hate both equally.

Given that I've survived the above, I must get cracking and up this word count. Tomorrow, all being well, the proofs will arrive for The Broken Circle so I'll be busy with those for the rest of the week (i.e. wishing I could re-write the whole damn book, I expect).

An age thing

I had the weekend from hell where the only plus points were that no one died (although Nick came a lot closer than he knew) and Burnley managed to finally score a goal away from home. In fact they scored two and were only beaten 3-2 which was respectable enough.

Last night, we went to see the 'Legends of Rock' which was The Strawbs (the acoustic Strawbs) followed by Wishbone Ash (Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash) and Focus. Now, every time I get to a concert venue I think 'Blimey, what are all these old people doing here? We must be in the wrong place...'. And then of course that awful sinking feeling hits me and I realise that those old people are actually my age.

It was a great concert though. I remember buying Wishbone Ash's Argus when it was first released and playing it over and over. Nick still listens to it a lot. So why do I always forget what a brilliant album it is? Great to hear it performed in its entirety last night. I'd seen the Strawbs and Wishbone Ash before but Focus was a first for me. An extremely talented band and a stunning version of Sylvia. I did spend a few moments looking at the two guitarists and thinking, 'Hey, you two weren't even born when I was clutching my Focus album...'

I think I'm turning into my dad who, when he had to suffer The Rolling Stones blasting out all over the house, would shake his head and mutter: 'Music today? Rubbish!' His complaint was that you couldn't hear a word and they all looked like girls. It does seem, though, that all the bands I see/listen to have been around for ever and I despair of hearing anything new that I like.

But I've actually come across a new (to me) artist. How exciting is that? I was surfing the web (i.e. procrastinating) when I stumbled across a mention of Finlay Morton. (It's worth visiting the website just to see the photo of Mr Morton walking through a graveyard.) I'm not even sure how or where I found this mention but there were comparisons to the greats - Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. So I downloaded the Back to Basics album and it's brilliant. I just love it! How do I describe it? Well, that's tricky. It's rock with a touch of blues and a dash of country all blended with some sharp, witty lyrics about love and loss that come straight from the heart and really make you stop and think. The opening track, Scary Monsters, has a Tom Petty feel to it and Come Along With Me is a little reminiscent of Neil Young, but really, it's all Finlay Morton. You don't have to take my word for any of this though. You can listen to samples of the music here.

So why is she banging on about music, I hear you cry, when she has a book to write. Good question. The answer, I suspect, is because it's a damn sight easier than writing a book that refuses to be written. Assuming I ever finish it, this book will always be The Difficult Fifth to me. No matter what I try, it refuses to come together. The good news is that I actually have an inkling of whodunnit. That's always useful when you're writing crime/mystery. All I have to do is put bum on chair and fingers on keyboard. Simple, eh? It probably would be if I didn't have the concentration span of a gnat right now.

Keeping healthy

Last night, I paid my doctor a visit, basically to remind him that it's been over 2 years since my last blood test and shouldn't it be checked more often to make sure I'm taking the correct dosage of medication for my underactive thyroid? (Yes, it was my fault for not pushing for an appointment, but, hey, I don't volunteer for blood tests.) He agreed that they'd been "a bit lax" for some reason, looked at my details on the computer and decided I hadn't had anything checked recently. While he was giving me a list of tests that I needed appointments for, he decided he could at least check my blood pressure. It was way too high. So while he was telling me I'd have to have that checked again very soon, my face was getting longer and longer. He looked at my glum expression and said in exasperation 'It's because you so rarely visit a doctor!'

Um, there are reasons for that. There are several reasons for that but the main one is that I only visit a doctor when there is something wrong with me. I thought that's what people did. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps we're supposed to drop in every couple of months of so just for the 'fun' of it.

So my calendar makes for very depressing reading - i.e. there's very little on it other than 'health' appointments. Yesterday, Nick was at the dentist. Last night, I was at the doctor's. This morning, Tilly and Muffet went for their annual booster vaccinations. My blood test is booked for the same day that Tojo has to go to the vet to see if the problems with her (remaining) teeth have cleared up. Then I have an appointment with the dentist and hygienist. That's followed by another trip to the health centre. And so it goes on. Sheesh. No wonder my blood pressure is high.

Moan over. Stay healthy and have a good weekend!