WORD COUNT AND OTHER STUFF

GREAT NOVEL RACE WORD COUNT. 18,000.

A posting in haste as a mad typing spree has left me with achy wrists! However I now feel as if I'm getting somewhere and the story is starting to roll along. I love that feeling when it starts to take off all by itself.

Sadly I can't say the same about Yahoo which has decided I am a spammer and won't let me post on their groups. It was after a day of no posts going through that I realised that I may have a problem.. not so much a Yahoo problem as an addiction problem.
Not being able to post to my 'friends' sent me crazy. I still can't post on most of them but I'm starting to come down a little; at least I can receive the mails even if they go straight into my own spam box. I can also post privately. Phew.
I did however have trouble trying to post messages onto blogs but that seems to have been resolved.
Weird huh??

My gorgeous little baby Apple laptop that Chav-cat destroyed is being replaced by the insurance company. Bet the story appears in one of those 'things people say to their insurance company' features at some time. 'Cat threw a laptop on the floor'.

Line edits of PAST CHANCES have gone back to whence they came so all is set for the hardback publication date of May 3rd; paperback will be in November and will be in the sightly larger B format.

Anyone who lives that way, come and say hello at Tye Green Library in Harlow on march 19th @ 2.30. I'm giving a talk and having a chat there as part of the Essex Book Fest.

More when my wrists recover. Wish I had learnt typing at school!!

Normality

bruising gone, stitches out, excuses obsolete! Many thanks for all the good wishes... much appreciated!
Re: my appreciation for Moorfields; it took me a mere three and a half hours to get from home to station to Liverpool Street to Moorfields; see consultant have stitches out and do the return journey. I've spent longer than that in my local hospital which is five minutes away. Its so nice to have an appointment time that's real.

My baby Apple has been sent to the laptop hospital for assessment so I now have to get on with the old one again which seems quite lumpy by comparison. Although I type I'm not a typist (very quick two-fingers) so I find the smaller keyboard faster. Now I'm back with the old Compaq.
Lovely young man at the insurance company computer doctors surgery downloaded the stuff I needed from the sick machine and posted it to me on CD. Such good servce. I LOVE good service especially over and above the expected.

Chav cat who broke the Apple is in double disgrace now, he got into the bedroom today with muddy feet and did the round and round cat thing on the cream quilt cover! What is it about cats and arrogance?
Lately I've been seriously thinking about another Siamese. My late departed Romeo was so vocal.. I really miss the feline conversation and of course the company of a cat that liked me, but I know that Chav-cat would be vile to a kitten! Any hints on how to make it possible would be valued.

I'm trailing in The Great Novel Race in much the same way as I used to trail in school but I shall catch up in the end. No choice if I'm going to meet my deadline! I'm good at the sprint finish though and the book itself (provisionally TWO LIVES)
is coming together very well in my head.... much of my preparation is in my head so I can never prove that I'm really working but trust me, when I'm in a trance I'm working! (or maybe thinking about George Clooney!)

My 'Different Genre' wip which I'm working on for pleasure (and to see if I can), is coming along okay (I think) we'll see how it goes. It may of course never see the light of day but I felt I had to have a go.

Have recently received the large print copy of Old Scores as well as the audio version. V. intersting to see the different interpretation of the covers!

The slightly altered cover of Past Chances is up now (again, thanks to Mandy)... the wording on the cover is to change but apart from that I think we're there. Opinions?
Also my website is up to date so if anyone wants to take a look at the newsletter its at:
www.bernardinekennedy.com.

Till next time xx

Eyes and Website

Surgery is done and dusted and all is well apart from the huge 'black eye'that covers half of my face and an eyelid of stitches! Sedation was wonderful and I could really use some of that occasionally when lives gets a tad stressful! (anaesthetist said no)

Moorfields Eye Hospital is brilliant at all levels and I think many an NHS executive would benefit from a quick spin round the place.

Why are black eyes called black eyes? Mine is red/purple/orange/yellow. A very attractive look. Not!

And it fascinates me that total strangers feel able say stupid things like 'has the old man been beating you up?' So weird. Even the woman on the checkout at Tesco felt obliged to say 'oooh, that looks painful. Did he do that?' She nodded her head at hb and chuckled in what she thought was a sisterly fashion. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

As many of you have noticed (oops) my website is still not up to date. It really will be v.soon, I promise! Headline are getting there...
Just as soon as I can focus for longer persiods of time I'll put my news on here as well as the slightly amended cover for PAST CHANCES.

My novel counter remains unchanged... I'll be back into the flow as soon as the stitches are out. (Next friday. Yuk) They don't hurt but I can SEE them which is a bit of a dstraction.

Normal service will be resumed asap

Great Novel Race and Eyes

If anyone has looked at my blog today they will have seen all sorts of things there. Yep... at long last nearly everything is as it should be. I can't however take the credit even though I did manage to get the word counter up there! Kate did the list for me. So big thanks to Kate and Mandy who are probably soooo cheesed off with me!
Just one cover to go.... Gee this blog stuff is so exciting. Maybe I'm not to old to learn new skills after all.

I'm now waiting for the man from the insurance company to contact me about my laptop. Someone is going to come round to look at it. And the cat?? Maybe I shall get a new one or maybe a new cat? Only kidding.......

I shall be 'off air' for a few days from tomorrow. I am having eye surgery at Morrfields Eye Hospital in London tomorrow morning so seeing will be a bit of a prob, as will sleeping upright for 10 days until the stitches come out. Hey ho....

I'm being a very brave girl, I'm having a local anaesthetic with sedation, mind you the sedation is (usually) very effective on me. Last time my wonderful surgeon said I snored all the way through and distracted her students.
I'm a big supporter of Moorfields and I adore the doc who is a blunt and amusing woman who has the unusual knack of talking to her patients as if they are actually comprehending adults. I've yet to come across an indifferent/bossy nurse or doctor there. Unlike my local general hospital which I steer clear of!

So its a late night for me tonite to ensure I'm well and truly knacked tomorrow then the 6 am train with nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Good job I'm first on the list!

Fingers crossed for me!

No Links, Shopping and Chav Cat

I'm not going to mention links etc. I now accept that I am technically subnormal.

Now shopping is something else altogether. I can do that, I'm good at it, I can walk the walk and talk the talk! In the past couple of weeks we've been to Outlet malls in Freeport in Braintree, McArthur Glen in Ashford and Dockside in Chatham. I love roaming round the shops and fortunately so does hb.
I bought lots of things I certainly don't need but had fun collecting. I'm not a designer spender, I love bits! I especially love the Kipling shop and Whittards at Ashford... Did I need a Kipling duffle bag with monkey? A pretty pink Kipling handbag with another monkey? Did I need a mug proclaiming me a Domestic Goddess (ha ha)? a set of six mini expresso mugs? No, no and no again but isn't it fun doing it??!!

I also love PCWorld which brings me to crisis of the week.

Just over a year ago I fell in love with and bought, the pretty Apple mac iNotebook. All white and shiny and tiny. It took me ages to figure out mac and in the end I had to buy the Word for mac programme but Hey! it's pretty. Or it was.
I was working on it the other day at the dining table (too wet for the office down the garden) when the Chav-Cat decided he didn't want it in his way so he chucked it off the table. Open!
He jumped up, skidded on the tablecloth from one end of the table to the other and pushed laptop and mobile phone off the table and onto the wooden floor! Loud screams all round but Chav Cat just looked smug and started to nonchalantly wash himself.
Lid now doesn't shut and there is a blip between screen and base..... it flickers! I guess I was destined not to have an Apple! Phone is okay though which is lucky as that is also my complete phonebook and the achingly trendy little 'red' number so loved by Bono . (memo to self.. back up numbers)
Chav cat is now on his very very last life.

THE NOVEL RACE. My word count on TWO LIVES (working title) is slowly going up and is now at 8500, but I have to transfer the doc to another PC because I don't trust the one that came under Cat-Attack now. I wish I was Barbara Cartland, wandering around dictating to my assorted scretaries. Bet she didn't worry about links. I bet she didn't have bad wrists either!

So, I'm off to transfer and do some work.
Today I will not play on the internet; I will not play on the internet...........