Changing Seasons

So summer is officially over and winter is here... despite it being eighteen degrees outside with a cloudless blue sky! It's hard to believe it's going to be November on Saturday. Long may the warm weather continue because I HATE the cold with a passion. Although I do like storms. And wind. And rain. 

I have this week off work and despite having bronchitis, I am determined to get lots done. Decorating my daughter's bedroom is priority number one. She wants a swish, gold, hotel bedroom. Don't we all. Next comes a spa day, followed by trick or treating, a spectacular fireworks display and furniture shopping.

I always thought this week would be deadline week for The Fourteen Years Between Us but seeing as it's done and dusted, I can actually have a holiday from writing. Not that I want to. I feel a bit lost at the moment, to be honest. I feel like I should be tapping away in my bedroom, being creative and concocting story lines. I do have several ideas for my third novel, one of them being a sequel to TFYBU, but that very much depends on whether I manage to get lucky and get a publishing deal.

Realistically, I know how hard that is going to be. With the average agent receiving two hundred manuscripts a week but only taking on one new author a year, the chances of me signing on the elusive dotted line are pretty remote. But, ever the optimist (about my writing, anyway... nothing else!!) I'm hoping upon hope that this book is 'the one'. I'm certainly very, very proud of it. And I totally love the heroine of the story, Loveday Girdlestone. She is so funny and weird and geeky, she could go places ;)

So for now, I will take a back seat, relax and let my mind wander for a while...

Fanfare moment No 2!

The title of my second novel is... The Fourteen Years Between Us.

It was dreamt up whilst walking around a very beautiful graveyard back in the early summer, which is very apt seeing as the book is based around a cemetery and features lots of graves, a murder, a suicide and a ghost! It's very cheerful! :)

Here is an extract from the second chapter...

Mum said I wasn’t allowed to have another bath because she’s not made of money. Apparently, from now on, I’m only allowed one bath a week. I knew I’d get told off for using all the hot water up. So I had a shower instead, which I actually liked just as much as having a bath. The water falls on you like warm rain. It feels so soft and gentle. And there’s a seat in there too. Although I’m not quite sure why you’d need to sit down in a shower. Nobody is that lazy, surely? I asked mum afterwards why the seat is there and she said she has no idea but she’s going to use it for shaving her legs. I don’t need to shave my legs yet. But I do need to shave under my arms. Mum says I’d smell like a French woman if I didn’t. They don’t shave under their arms in France. They don’t even use deodorant. Or very much soap. It’s a well-known, documented fact.