It's not been a week for writing!

What a beautiful, warm, uplifting week we've just had! It took me a day or so to ditch the woolies and get my legs out but how lovely it was to feel the sunshine on my skin after what seems like a lifetime of shivering! This winter has been horrendous, I've put on ton of blubber and my skin is as white as snow. Ok, slight exaggeration, but I need to start eating salads and banging on the St. Tropez asap.

Because I have spent every day this week overhauling the garden, spring cleaning and sunbathing, I've had very little time for writing. But I have today reached the 25,000 word milestone and The Tow Path is really starting to take shape. I am just about to write the pinnacle of the story, the murder of my two leading ladies, which is going to be interesting. I've researched the story so much I now feel as though I know them personally. I knew very little about their characters apart from little snippets gleaned from newspaper cuttings so have had to create personalities for them. I hope I have done them justice. It's just a shame I am about to kill them off...

With rain forecast for the whole of this coming week, I hope to get a fair amount of writing in – sandwiched between work, parent's evening, a trip to the optician, grocery shopping and sorting through my youngest daughter's growing collection of clothing, that is. I sometimes wonder how I manage to fit it all in! Something to do with being an expert juggler, I expect :)

Not my usual blog...

My daughter Scarlet left primary school with her Year 6 teacher telling me 'she'd struggle at secondary school'. She got 9 GCSE's. Then, because she left and didn't stay on to do A Levels, she was told 'people who don't go to uni never amount to much'. She did a year at college but then quickly realised further education wasn't for her and we spent the summer holidays looking at all the different options available to her. In the end, we found a 2 year Level 3 apprenticeship with Mencap, training to be a Talent Acquisition Specialist. She applied and after a very long process, she beat 19 others to get the role. She started her apprenticeship and loved every single second of it. She excelled in all areas and completed all of her qualifications 6 months early. So two weeks ago she decided to take the next step and apply for TAS roles...

She applied for two jobs and got two interviews. She was offered one position on the spot but held out for the second of the two, her second interview being yesterday, because she had a gut feeling that was 'the one'. She had The Phone Call yesterday afternoon and they offered her the position. Apparently she impressed everybody and was told she is well on her way to an outstanding career. She will now be recruiting for all in-house managerial positions for Hotel Chocolat. The job has a multitude of perks and she now earns significantly more than me. She is 19-years-old.

I would just like to say that not only am I the proudest mummy in the world right now, I would also like to add that if you have a child who others have given up on, don't YOU give up on them. Not everybody wants to go to uni (I didn't and that decision served me very well) and indeed, university life is not for everyone. Scarlet is now a mature, intelligent, professional young woman. The transformation from school leaver to now is astounding. She knew what she wanted and she went out there and damn well got it. She's an asset to any company and Hotel Chocolat have just hit the jackpot.

Well done Scarlet. You are AMAZING.