Bernardine Kennedy

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-18T16:53:00.006Z

Just passing by to drop off Seasons Greetings. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with everything you wish for both materially and spiritually as well as a happy and contented 2012

Apologies for my silence; the past few months have been hectic as I got to grips with my new persona but I'll be back with all the news soon. My New Years Resolution is be more efficient.... or at least to try harder!

In brief: All my Bernardine Kennedy Headline books are now available on Kindle and RUBY by Marie Maxwell will hit both the shelves and Kindle next year.

Love and best wishes to you all,

Bernardine xxxx

Summertime......

2011-07-28T10:52:00.016+01:00

Well it's July and therefore midsummer even if it doesn't seem quite like it. But we did have some summer in June so guess we should be grateful?? Help! I NEED some Caribbean sun...

So what's happening? Not a lot to be honest apart from work and more work!

I've promised myself I'm going to practice some time management to unbog myself as soon as RUBY is finished. I've really struggled with this book, the change of genre foxed me enough with adding in a different era and all the research which I spent far more time on than I could ever have imagined. Then add in some 'poorly' time and I'm way behind........ I think I underestimated it all but I'll get there I hope.

Good news is that all my previous books are going to available on Kindle etc very soon. I'll put up a PS just as soon as I know they're up.

May was the RNA summer party which is always good fun. Catching up with old friends and meeting new and of course a whizz round the shops in London en route. I've so far resisted the handbag I fell in love with in Selfridges Handbag Hall. I just love that place :)

Earlier this month was the Harper Collins summer party at (ahem) Kensington Palace. It was a great night with lots of chanpagne, cocktails, canapes and cakes. There were several famous faces wandering around includiing the Davids Walliams & Baddiel, but more fascinating were the

suited and booted baldies crunching up and down the gravel talking into their sleeves and the

armed police loitering behind the hedges. Would I want to live in a place like that? Oh yes! Someone convert a broom cupboard for me please, I don't mind cramped!

My blog wouldn't be complete without a photo of the ever growing Roxy. She has a boyfriend who lives next door who seems to think he lives here. Because of confusion his name is Maisie but we call him Dyson because he creeps in and hoovers up Roxy's food... Boom boom.

On the left is Roxy being very unladylike on the desk while Maisie is on my office chair.....

xxxxxxx

Layout...

2011-04-22T15:05:00.004+01:00

Please ignore the gaps between paragraphs in the last post. I've tried closing them but it ain't happening. Ignore!
And also ignore the date on the main post, it should be TODAY! GOOD FRIDAY... can't change that either! Gremlins at work... I am a techy idiot but I don't care B x

Heading for Easter.

2011-03-31T15:52:00.032+01:00

Here we are again. See? I always turn up eventually! I hope you're all well and looking forward to Spring and Summer? I know I am. The weather's really rather gorgeous at the moment, very Mediterranean, hope its lasts through to Bank Holiday Monday and then for the Royal Wedding. Fingers crossed!

I'll start off with the cat info as so many people has asked! Yes we did it. We got another cat. Not a replacement for Ollie of course but its hard not having a cat in the house!

This is how she looked when we first got her at nine weeks old; she's a X Bengal and is a real feisty Essex girl.

and this is how she looks now ... she's five months old growing fast!

we're all so pleased with her and she's spoilt already. She has a gorgeous, affectionate temperament and had settled so well but oh the stress of letting her into the big wide world of the garden. But she's been out there and comes when she's called and is locked in all night so lets hope she's okay. All we can do....

But enough about cats.... :)

Writing!

The good news is that:

1) All 7 books on my backlist with Headline are going onto Kindle this summer. I'm really pleased as eBooks have taken off in a way none of us anticipated and the market is worldwide.

2) TAKEN and SHATTERED LIVES were both published in Portugal in January with gorgeous covers.... I think they're really attractive (see below) so I hope they do well.

3) The title of Book One in the Avon Harper Collins quartet is going to be RUBY, the others will all have 'girl's name' titles as well. Fingers crossed for them, everyone is very enthusiastic at the moment and the planning is ongoing with the covers being designed and modelled as we speak! The other names are chosen (sort of) but I'm not absolutely convinced. GRACIE, MAGGIE, VIOLET. Let me know what you think....

RUBY starts in 1945 when she returns from evacuation and continues into the fifties when she is living in Southend.
The next books will then move forward to later in the fifties and then into the sixties.
The research for them is really interesting but very time consuming. So much I didn't know about the history of Southend and the various areas around the town despite living here! I've read so many books and webpages I could be a bit of an oracle if I had a half decent memory but its currently overloaded. And of course, every so often I find out something I didn't know and I have to go back to alter what I've written to accommodate it.

As I think I've said (senior moment?) my name for these books will be Megan Maxwell, or rather 'Bernardine Kennedy writing as Megan Maxwell'.

Whatever the Cost has been on the back burner while I get on with Ruby but I'm back to it in the summer. Maybe I need another cruise first to just confirm my research???

In the run up to the ESSEX BOOK FESTIVAL I was interviewed on BBC RADIO ESSEX. I love doing radio and it all went quite well. (I think!) By chance it coincided with the announcement about library cuts....... this is something close to my heart, I think libraries provide such an important community service that it would be a crime to have a swathe of cutbacks, staff losses and closures. I was asked about it so said what I thought.

Then I did a talk at Hadleigh Library about my new books and the research I've had to do. There was a good turnout and a brilliant audience who asked lots of questions (I love question time). Thanks everyone... There was also the support of a group from the Hadleigh and Thundersley Community Archive Group who have so much information about the area.

Library talks are always such fun... a big thank you to the staff who put so much work into organising the event.

In other news: my website http://www.bernardinekennedy.com/ is currently being revamped so watch this space.... later in the year I'll have the Megan Maxwell website linked in.

Getting a bit complex eh?!
Thats it for the moment. Have a really good Easter and a relaxing break in the sunshine.

Don't forget you can also find me on Facebook and on Twitter @BerniKennedy

Bernardine XXXXXX

INTO 2011

2011-01-05T10:53:00.007Z

2011.
I'll kick off by wishing you all everything you wish yourselves for a Very Happy New Year. Once again I'm sure we're all making resolutions of the losing weight/wagon climbing/nocotine dumping variety. All I want this year is revitalise my motivation and imagination and pour it into my new books. Wish me luck!

The Books.
Book number one of the newly contracted four is well under way but Christmas, and before that the cruise, set me back a bit as you can imagine but both were fun so I'm not complaining. The book still no definite title but the working title is 'Nobody Knows'. and I guess that includes me!
As part of the annual Essex Book Festival, I'll be talking about the new books and the research aspect of writing out of era at HADLEIGH LIBRARY on Weds 16th March at 2.00 pm. Do come along if you're around this way. I'm really looking forward to it as the local history experts will be there and I'm hoping to pick their brains.

The Cruise.
That went really well and we had a brilliant time! The Bay of Biscay only bounced us a bit and we missed the snow by a whisker because we left a day early and stayed in the New Forest for a night before boarding in Southampton. Good timing because the snow fell as we left and was mostly cleared by the time we came back 12 days later.
The ship (Independence of the Seas. Royal Caribbean) is truly beautiful and, although huge, was easy to work out. I loved it and could easily have stayed on there for a few more weeks. Months?? I just loved sitting on the Promenade 'people watching'. Such fun. Accommodation (we had a suite on Deck 9 with a balcony) was great, all the staff were fantastic and the prices of drinks and extras was nowhere near as high as I'd been led to believe. Downside was, IMO, poor value excursions ashore but that's been my experience on all cruises!
Can't wait to get back on that ship asap. (Memo to self: get the book done first, get the book done)

THE KITTENs
We are currently kitten hunting. Ollie will be a hard act to follow but I can't live without a cat in the house any longer. Its three months now so it's time although not quite the right time as there don't seem to be many young kittens around. I feel guilty for not going to a cat-rescue but I have had many rescue cats and dogs over the years and feel its okay for me to choose this time. We've looked at Bengals, Siamese and Orientals but feel that the high cost (around £400) would do more good in a rescue, so am now looking at XSiamese, like Ollie. I know we can't replace him but I do like that temperament. I'll let you know how we get on!

Once again here's wishing you all the very best New Year....
Till next time. xx

Good News, Bad News and the rest

2010-11-08T16:32:00.006Z

I'm currently having problems with Blogger and don't know the answer so I'll update this briefly and hope to solve it soon. Or I may have to move my blog elsewhere. We'll see.

The good news is that I've signed with a different publisher for four books in a different genre and with a different name. The interlinked books will be 'gritty regional sagas' set in the fifties in and around Southend. My name for these books will be Megan Maxwell.

Its all very exciting and I was delighted to get a great write-up about it in the Bookseller but at the moment Blogger won't let me put the link up!

The bad news is that Ollie-cat 'the special one' was run over and killed last month. He was found on the back road and I just wanted to scream at him 'what were you doing there?'. It was traumatic for all of us, he was such an integral part of the family, a huge presence and so attached to us... far more dog-like in temperament that a cat normally is. Very very sad..... RIP Ollie.
He's now buried in the garden next to the plant he's sitting in the middle of in this photo.

The rest of the news is that we've booked a pre-Christmas cruise to the Canary Islands from Southampton (be kind Bay of Biscay, be kind). I shall take my trusty laptop because as I've discovered before, working on a ship's balcony with a nice view and a glass of wine is much more relaxing than in my office-shed in winter! and anyway, I really really couldn't be disconnected from the internet for 12 days!

Below is the ship we're going on.... looks good eh?
It'll be a chance to do some research for the book I'm struggling with (last one before the new 4) and it will also make a nice travel feature.
Now I have to make selection of books to take..........

This week is World Travel Market in London. The industry showcase for everything to do with travel. I love it! It's an excuse to catch up old friends as well as keeping up to date with all things travel.

It's so hard being without Ollie that when we get back we're going to get a kitten. Either a Siamese or X Siamese. It's not fair to get one and then leave it and also not fair on those we're leaving behind to have to tend to it while we cruise! :)

Thats it for now, just hope Blogger lets this be posted!!

Till next time xx

Bet you though I'd been abducted by aliens.

2010-08-24T12:04:00.007+01:00

I've given a lot of thought to this blog lately and wondered whether to I should continue with it. as there are so many brilliant and informative blogs out there now.
But I'm back, ready to once again chatter away aimlessly about life in general and see where it goes....
However, othing screamingly exciting has happened while I've been 'gone'.
We've had the builders in and now have a new kitchen (Shaker style) and a rather cool bathroom; we also have a very useful downstairs cloakroom.

But builders... they're a different breed to the rest of us I'm sure. They just moved in and took over the house, oblivious to my muttering about working at home. I nearly had a heart attack when they first just turned the electricity off when I was in the middle of downlaoding a load of stuff. They didn't understand my rant at all!
Plasterer said 'my missus spends all her time on ebay as well. It's not good for you'. He was a brilliant plasterer so I didn't kill him then and there!

And while the builders were causing havoc indoors we had badgers destroying the garden. It looked like a muddy battlefield as they dug holes all over the lawn and burrowed under the fences! They were so naughty but seem ot have either moved on or settled underground.
Builders and Badgers... has to be a story there somewhere!

'Whatever The Cost' is nearly finished at long; I don't know why I've found this one so hard but it just wouldn't come together and I've probably written the word count ten times over as I've changed, deleted and fiddled. But I'm nearly there. Whether its good enough is of course another issue. Very hard to be detached from the book you've written.

Good news is that TAKEN has been sold to Portugal following the sale of SHATTERED LIVES last year which is nice. Probably be out some time next year.

More good news, I have accepted an offer from a different publisher for four books in a different genre. I can't put the details out there yet but four books really secures my writing career so I'm really pleased.
It's also fun researching something different.
More info to follow!

Last month I went on my annual pilgrimage to the Romantic Novelists Association Conference. It was held at the Old Naval College in Greenwich. What a fantastic building, I'm ashamed to say I never realised how fabulous Greenwich is. Right on the Thames and wonderfully renovated, well worth a visit and I MUST go back. I really loved the area and naturally had a spin round the market. Only problem was that it was soooo hot, especially in student accommodation. Luckily I had the foresight to take an electric fan with me as well as my trusty old-fashioned hand fan!
The conference was of course as good as ever.
If you'd like to check it out then go to the RNA website www.rna-uk.org where you can link to the blog. Many have written fantastic reports and updates on the blog so you can really get the feel of the fabulous weekend.

Before I went to the conference Ian and his brother went on their annual camping trip to Brixham in Devon. They love pitching their tents in a field and being at one with nature. Hah. Not for me. I don't do basic anymore. Bring on the five star.

Have been having a bit of a panic lately with a very painful leg/hip/back. Take your pick! No-one seems to be able to decide where the pain actually and all are interpreting the Xrays differently! Hmmmmm. All I know is that it's so bad!
Hence I'm having an MRI scan very shortly. I've had one before and to my eternal shame, I threw an absolute pink fit! I'd sailed in there not expecting to be bothered but as soon as I lay down and had my head strapped that was it. Full-blown panic attack..... it took three attempts to get me into that machine and that was only thanks to the understanding scanner operator. Not looking forward to repeating it.
Will let you know how it goes. If it goes. :)

No holidays booked until the back is sorted out but have bought a wonderful singing and dancing touch-screen all-in-one PC. Very beautiful and clever! Am a teeny bit in love with it.

So, thats about it for catch up, have promised myself to kee up to date in future.........
Many thanks to all of you who have emailed to check that all was well. As my mother would say, a touch of lazyitis.

Back soon xxxxxxx

Icons on furniture and fittings!

2010-04-05T08:35:00.004+01:00

After reading in the news this morning that a woman in New Mexico has found an image of the Virgin Mary on her bathroom wall I thought, HAH. Mine's better! I've got an image of God himself.

Below is an image from my conservatory floor that I like to think is a message from above to keep me in check although heathen suggestions over the years have included: Shakespeare, Darth Vader and a Cocker Spaniel.

B xx

PS. someone pointed out the date on my spring post is March 14th. It wasn't it was April 2nd (I think). Normally it wouldn't matter but it makes a silliness of me talking about the whole of March doesn't it?

Just ignore. I can't find a way to change it. Blogger is blogger.........

SPRING HAS SPRUNG. Maybe!

2010-03-14T15:48:00.015Z

Happy Spring Everyone! Yes I know its been a long time but I'm really not as good at this blogging thing as I thought I would be when I started it. I know many who blog nearly every day or at least once a week and although I always intend to do better I forget! Maybe because my to-do list is so long the things at the bottom start to fall off and forgotten!

I did start a blog on Mothers Day but it was soon out of date.... here's the precis... I had a lovely day, a gorgeous orchid and full Sunday lunch from Kate the daughter and a bouquet of flowers from Stephen the son who came round without the gorgeous Riley baby who was poorly with a bug. He's better now though thankfully. He's growing rapidly and is well on the move... off like a rocket on knees and bottom. Soon be time to start moving things upwards, there hasn't been a baby around this house for many many years so I'm not prepared!

March has been a funny month taken up with everything BUT writing.
The first two weeks I spent on jury service. Interesting from a research point of view but there was lots of hanging around in between cases. I'm glad I did it though. I now know the inner working of a jury which is always helpful for a writer. I can't imagine how anyone copes with a really long complex trial running into months... my nightmare would be a big business fraud or somesuch. I'm such rubbish at that sort of thing! I do words not figures.

Then the next week it was off to London for the Romantic Novelists Association Awards Lunch at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. I went up the day before and came back the day after managing to turn it into a three day lunch with a quick whizz around the handbag department of Selfridges thrown in!
I always stay at The New Cavendish Club, an olde worlde faded glory private hotel just down from Marble Arch and therefore Oxford Street. I love it there and as the RNA and Society of Authors have corporate membership there are usually several of us there at times like these to sit around in the bar and compare notes and generally socialise. Brilliant.
After the lunch we went over the road to the pub, The Goat, for several hours before heading around the corner to eat. Great fun. Many have blogged about it... check out:

http://romanticnovelistsassociationblog.blogspot.com/

Nope, I'm not in any of the photos anywhere... I now duck when a camera comes near me after seeing one of the most scary pics of me ever up on screen a few months ago! aarrgghh.

The next week Ian and I headed down to the New Forest for a few days. I love it there, I've been many times over the years, initially on Press Trips then just for fun. We managed a trip to Lymington and Burley before disaster struck and Ian went down with a bug of some sort. We ended up coming home a day early but it was nice to get away and we did manage a drive up over Godshill to see the roaming ponies and donkeys.

But when we got home the drama continued... we had intruders, badgers in the garden! They really are a bit thuggish, digging up the lawn, breaking fence panels, chucking furniture around and trying to get under the sheds. But the worst thing they done is kill my toads! We've had toads in the garden as long as we've been here and I'm rather fond of them, all part of the eco-gardening system. (We don't do chemical of any sort out there, no slug pellets etc YUK). The badgers have rampaged over their territory and them.
I've been in touch with the Badger Trust and they'll come round and advise. badgers are so protected it can be hard to know what to do if they start really digging.

Anyway... back to writerly things. Today was the day I decided that the current book was going in the wrong direction and I needed to cull around 15,000 words. That is a writers nightmare. The words have been written and much time spent so its hard but it must be done! I'm also working on another book alongside WHATEVER THE COST. It's a trial project for me in a different genre so we'll see where it goes!

My new website is now up and running. More subtle than the previous one. let me know what you think.
http://www.bernardinekennedy.com/
connect with me on Twitter: @BerniKennedy

Well have a very good Easter everyone....

Bernardine

nearly Febraury 2010

2010-01-25T11:16:00.002Z

Oh my, time is still flying along at a right old rate. Sadly I'm still running along behind it trying to keep up!

I started the new year with the most awful virus that turned into pneumonia. For a couple of days I did think I was about to pop off but thankfully I recovered though even now I still feel a bit fragile. AND I had the flu jab in October!
Hence I am now even more behind with everything than usual, but at least I've remembered to pay the taxman. It always happens that I get my PLR (library payment) notification in the middle of January (yippee) and then have to pay my income tax just after. (Boooo) So not fair.

Just after Christmas we arranged a family get together in our local Toby Inn and Carvery. We agreed to meet at 7.30. The ones that arrived at 7.30 then called us to say they'd been told that the pub was closing at 8.00 as there weren't enough customers. We hot-footed it there and explained there were others en route but no, no reasoning, despite people coming from as far as Milton Keynes. Ten to eight the last bell rang and we were soon booted out. I complained to the company and although we were sent Carvery vouchers to compensate, the email I received said that it was perfectly acceptable and that managers could close their pubs/restaurants whenever they wanted to.
So... think twice before arranging a get together in a Toby Carvery!

My new website is coming along nicely but it is so hard updating it. Much harder than starting from scratch which with hindsight maybe I should have done. The designer is being very patient with me. So far.... will let you know when its up and running but looking good so far.

The wandering family members are all back from their extended Christmas break in sunny Australia. They came back from 39 degrees to freezing temps and the tail-end of the snow which had enveloped us here for a couple of weeks. Not too bad for us as we live on a main road (they have to grit them) but some of the side roads were really treacherous for weeks. During one particular white-out my daughter said it looked like Lapland! Very pretty......

Off now to type a few more words of 'Whatever The Cost' and try to figure out how best to kill a character!

next time.. some book recommendations. So many good books ou there by so many good friends
its hard to know where to start!

Till later.....
Bernardine xxx

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2009-12-31T19:41:00.004Z

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year with a quick pic of my gorgeous Santa Baby hanging out in sunny Australia. Oh okay then, he's not MY baby as such but thats not the point!

news and views next week. Love to you all. xxx

SEASON'S GREETINGS!

2009-12-24T15:37:00.002Z

Just passing by to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

It's been an up and down year for most of us I'm sure, it always is. My highlight was, of course, my first grandchild Riley, born in June. A beautiful little boy who we all adore. The minor downs all fade into insignificance in comparison!

So, very best wishes to you all, I hope you continue to read my blog and to enjoy my books. Next year will see a new website and hopefully, a highly motivated me with a new book to go with it.

As the turkey burns, the pudding explodes, the relatives bicker and the children fight and scream, just remember:

IT'S NOT THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MATTER, IT'S HOW YOU REACT TO THEM.

So chill out and enjoy, it's not that long until next Christmas when you'll have to do it all again!

Love to you all, Bernardine xxx

Pre-Christmas

2009-12-09T10:51:00.011Z

Since the last blog lots has happened so I'm back a bit sooner than usual.

First there was the RNA winter party (I think of it as the first Christmas party of the season). The usual humdinger of an evening catching with friends and fellow authors, many of whom I don't see very often. We're a widespread group!

Had a bit of a shop and lunch in Oxford Street beforehand with crime writer Lesley Cookman; surprisingly I didn't succumb to the temptations of the handbag department of Selfridges which proved I do a teeny bit of will-power. Though I may just have to go back for the glorious red patent concoction that caught my eye on the way past it! In fact it called me... loudly. It even knew my name. 'get thee behind me Satan' I said firmly but.........

From the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in Birdcage Walk (where the RNA parties are held) on the Thursday to the Institute of British Architects the following Monday, the night of the Colman Getty Pen Quiz. I guess the copious amounts of champagne didn't do us much good as we did V. BADLY. But it was for charity so we consoled ourselves with that. The team from the Times were the winners. (Boooo)

http://tinyurl.com/lap33x link for RNA blog. (always a good read)
http://tinyurl.com/yfj8mdk link for PEN

(Memo to self: must learn to link properly. Offers of help anyone techy? x)

below is the Team pic taken beforehand at the New Cavendish Club.

left to right back row: Catherine Jones, Veronica Henry, Catherine King, Melanie Hilton. Front row:: Janet Gover, Katie Fforde, Judy Astley, Bernardine Kennedy. (team member Jay Dixon took the photo. where was Liz Harris??)

Forgot to say previously that my whinge onblog about Mercedes Loughton worked and my car was taken away, fixed and cleaned from top to bottom. The power of the web! I also had a singing/dancing stereo.cd changer fitted. Does anyone know if this will be obsolete when the digital changeover happens? Never occured to me at the time.......

I'm having a new website built so watch this space. will link as soon as its up and running. I'm going for grown-up and informative. The web-designer has done websites for several authors so I have good vibes....

Below is a pic of my waterbaby grandson at only five months. He's doing so well in the water which is so great, especially as he (along with his mum and dad) is en route at this very moment to Australia to spend a month with his Australian grand-parents who live near Canberra.

Okay, off to catch up with something or other from my very long to-do-list. Back soon.

Bernardine xx

PS for the man in the US who contacted me through this blog about the orchid (not) named after me! I deleted your mail by mistake. could you mail again? many thanks and many apologies!

BACK AGAIN

2009-10-14T14:34:00.015+01:00

I'm back! I've been having had a blogging break while I tried to get on top of everything else that has been loitering on my assorted to-do-lists for so very long.

I did post that I was intending to not blog for a few weeks but then didn't realise for yonks that a glitch in the sytem meant it wasn't visible! it would be so nice to have a techy brain... mine goes so far then says 'Too much information'.

Thanks to those who have mailed me via my website while I've been gone to check I was still alive (!), much appreciated even if I haven't answered everyone. Sorry! I've still got a backlog of emails but the rest is now more manageable. or it would be if Christmas wasn't just around the corner.

Baby Riley is off with his mum and dad to Australia for Christmas, I certainly envy them Christmas in the sun. One day we shall go somewhere hot over the holiday, maybe even go on a festive cruise; last hot Christmas I had was when I lived in Nigeria a long time ago and everyone used to go to the beach for the day. I had many a hot Xmas Day in my youth. Ah... nostalgia.

Talking nostalgia, I had an email and phone call from a guy who is writing a book about the Beatles touring around cinema venues in the 60's, he'd read somewhere that I was THERE. Now that was something to remember. Queuing for three days and sleeping on the pavement to get tickets and then of course, going to the show itself. And there was also the trouble I was in for bunking off school and also lying to parents because I knew I wouldn't be allowed. Deep Joy!

I remember the cold of the nightime queueing, the fun of just being there and the noise of the show itself and the surreal feeling of being just a few feet away from John, Paul, George and Ringo!
Yes, I saw the BEATLES live on stage at Southend Odeon and have the tickets and programme to prove it.

I love this pic of them. So young; but then so were we all!

'Whatever the Cost' ground to a halt for a while when I think my brain shut-down for a rest. I watched much daytime TV and read many trashy magazines and I'm up and at it again now. Have to wait and see where the whole book goes; I'm taking a chance with this one so am on rsiky ground. Hope to have it finished by Christmas but there are several party nights in between so we'll see.

Below is the Portugese cover of 'Shattered Lives'. I really like this cover also, tells the story quite well I think. It's out over there this month sometime.

TAKEN is currently with a US publisher. Fingers and everything else are crossed but I'm not sure how my books would suit that market. Still, wait and see.

Below is another pic of Riley who is growing fast and turning in a real water baby already having swimming lessons. Brilliant. I was a competitive swimmer once upon a time and also used to teach swimming so I love the idea of getting him in there asap. And of course his mum is Australian and his dad has always loved swimming. Olypic Games, here comes Riley!

Right, I'm off but will be back sooner rather than later! xxx

Bank Holiday Time

2009-08-28T10:44:00.011+01:00

Another Bank Holiday Weekend is here and, at the moment, the weather looks promising. Hope it stays that way as daughter Kate is away on the annual Reading Festival pilgrimage along with many friends, tents and assorted equipment.
It's becoming a bit of a habit in this family, Husband Ian went off to smaller festival last month, Togfest' in Milton Keynes, and thoroughly enjoyed it. He was there with his brother, the second half of 'the camping boys' who go to Devon each year and attract calamities. They're off again next weekend. Moi? I only do five star nowadays and preferably in the Caribbean.

And in the meantime I stay home and argue with car dealers. Those who know me know that I've had a SmartCar for several years and loved it. Adored it in fact! I loved it so much I passed it on to Kate and bought another one, an ex-demo car, last november. Now I know I was dumb in that I took delivery and didn't check it over at that instant but I believed him that it was pristine and perfect! NOT! It was grubby inside, there was glass on the floor which to me meant a window had been broken, there were bits missing and worst of all there was a small cigarette burn on the stained drivers seat.
9 months on I'm still waiting for Mercedes Loughton to come and sort it out. Month in, month out, they promise so this time I promised. To blog. Watch this space! I am so disappointed that I'm thinking about getting rid of it if I ever get the bits and pieces done.

Still thinking about getting another kitten as company for the very spoiled Ollie who hates being on his own even for an hour. Over the years I've had so many rescue cats that I really want to choose a kitten this time but at the same time I feel guilty about not homing a homeless cat. Will carry on thinking. Suggestions?

On September 14th I'm off to do Jury Service. I was 'summoned' for Sept 1st but then they changed it. I'm actually looking forward to it; brilliant research IMO, the inner workings of Crown Court and its inhabitants. I know it can involve a lot of hanging around so I'll have plenty of guilt-free reading time! Bonus.
Kind hearted people keep telling me how to get out of it but I don't want to.

Back to work now; I really have to motivate myself and increase my wordage which is not what it should be. Typing is more a chore these days with dodgy wrists and shoulders. How I wish I'd learnt to type properly when I was considerably younger!

Summer is here!

2009-07-25T14:00:00.014+01:00

Hello everyone!

Hope all is good with you all wherever you are. Here it looks like summer, and it feels like summer so it must be?. It is August after all? Even if we've recently had a tropical monsoon, hailstones like golfballs and, just a few weeks ago, a heatwave. I put the central heating on last week and the ceiling fans the week before. Yesterday there were floods though fortunately not here. Can't help wondering when the hosepipe ban will be announced. Like night follows day......

Yep. The Great Unpredictable British Summer is on a roll.

Since I last posted, I've received my copies of the Large print version of Shattered Lives. I really like this cover, what do you think? Eye-catching enoough to fly off the library shelves?

Still waiting for news and views of the Portugese edition, I'm looking forward to seeing the cover and getting a publication date and then its fingers crossed for sales. It's my first time in Portugal so it will be interesting to see what happens.

My latest, 'Whatever the Cost' is generally coming along okay (??) although I am finding it heavy going right at this moment, so heavy that I'm well into any Work Displacement Activity that comes my way. I tell myself that watching daytime TV and reading trashy mags is good research but I know that I'm putting off the moment of 'moving the story along'. Hopefully it'll start to flow again soon. Take no notice, 'where do I go next?' is my regular cry as I sit front of the screen!

In the absence of anything exciting enough to make you all sit up and take note here's a piece I did for someone else's blog, 'meandmybigmouth' (link to the blog is below). Let me know what you think.

Right now I’m tearing my hair out trying to write a couple of personal press releases that can be sent out to the media to prove that I’m really very interesting and worthy of a few column inches that will help promote my next book. You know the press releases I mean, they delve into the personal rather than the professional and are written to catch the jaded eye of the journo assigned that day to sifting through them all.
Once the crack-high of acceptance and publication has died down, there comes a stark realisation that the next step for one’s lovingly crafted book is for it to actually sell in enough numbers to keep the publisher happy. The loyal purchase of the first book by family, friends and curious colleagues (after the debut they lose interest) just won’t do it; the book has to be lobbed forcefully out into the big wide world and the general public have to hear about both it and the author and then they have to be persuaded that they really, really have to go out and buy it. Complex stuff.
This is where publicity and self promotion comes in. Publishers and agents will do some of the touting around but on the whole it’s down to the author to try and fire up some interest. Any interest.
Self-promotion is a necessary evil that even the most shy and retiring has to get to grips with but it can be a dangerous balancing act trying to find the happy medium between being ordinary and uninteresting and giving out ‘too much information’, some of which is possibly (accidentally?) exaggerated and which will one day return to bite the author on the bum. Trust me, there’s always someone somewhere ready to rain on your parade. So just how much personal information should you give out about yourself and your nearest and dearest in the quest for that ever elusive publicity? Where does a Joe Bloggs author, not normally in the public eye, draw the line between doing everything possible to get mentions and quotes, and going too far?
It seems to vary greatly from person to person; I cringe sometimes when I read an in-depth confession of something so deeply personal, tragic, humiliating or devastating it brings a lump to my throat and then see the little note at the bottom of the piece about the authors latest book that is out that very week.
Cringe I might but at the same time I can understand it. Authors want their books to sell and so do their publishers but in these days of gossip magazines and tabloid newspapers publishing increasingly salacious details about celebrities, being normal, ordinary and hard-working doesn’t cut it.
‘Happily married mother of two point four children who lives in a semi and works part-time in a bank writes a novel’ isn’t going to grab any headlines unless she was moonlighting as a high class call girl at the same time. (N.B.High class call-girl is good, heroin raddled street walker is bad).
Same as ‘Disabled dad whose wife ran off to Turkey with a toy-boy leaving him with five kids managed to find the time to write a heart-rending account of his struggle when they were in bed’ will have them all gagging for the details. Especially if the wife now wants her share. Bring on the tabloids!

So would I tell tales on my kids to get a two line mention at the bottom of a page? Would I rip into my ex-husbands who are also the fathers of said kids? Reveal personal details about my childhood, adolescence and marriages that will embarrass not only me but also everyone close to me? No I’m sure I wouldn’t. Well I haven’t done so far. But would I drag up something from my past that makes a good tale, doesn’t impact on anyone else and won’t come back to haunt me? Oh Yes.
All I have to do now is think of something catchy! Back to the drawing board of my ratchety old past!
---

http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack/2009/07/guest-blogger-bernadine-kennedy.html#comments

To sign off here's the latest photo of the gorgeous Riley laughing his little socks off at only one month old. Clever little boy!

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

2009-06-29T20:22:00.003+01:00

hey everyone! Big news. I'm a Grandma!

Stephen and Belinda are now the proud parents of baby Riley (see Rock Kid above) who was born on June 26th. All is well, he is gorgeous and I'm in lurve! He weighed in at 7lb 2 oz and is a happy little man.

Can't remember anything else at present so will leave Riley as the star attraction.

Back later xxx

Hoping I'm back.

2009-05-27T09:26:00.006+01:00

Thi is going to be short and sweet while I make sure I am definitely blogging!
I'm hoping that I've now conquered the gremlins that stopped me posting. Seems someone reported my blog as spam and I was threatened with ex-communication. Spam? Moi? I used to eat it once upon a time but that's the closest I am to it. Oh well... takes all sorts I guess. I've had several problems with a couple of nutcases trying to post daft comments on the blog (hence moderation of comments) so maybe its all connected? anyway Blogger now accepts I am who I am!

Work has been taking priority lately and I haven't done much else for a while now.so although I said we wanted to go to Jersey we haven't actually got there. Maybe soon....... I also want to go back to Singapore and also to Dubai... so many wishes!
Daughter Kate is currently in Mexico and texting about dolphins and hammocks and making me feel quite envious so maybe I'll have to go back there. It seems you're more likely to catch swine flu in London than Cancun right now!
We did go to Derby for two days where step-daughter is moving to shortly with her fiance. I've been near to derby before but never into the town. Managed a few hours shopping at the shopping mall..........

I have had one bit of socialising since the last blog at the RNA summer party last month. Great fun catching up with lots of old friends and also meeting new ones that I'd only previously 'met' on writers groups. Now looking forward to the winter party in November.

Baby grandchild is due so very shortly so thats an excitement, I'm having fun shopping at the moment but having to exercise restraint as we don't know if its a boy or girl. Due July 5th so not long to wait.
Will have to keep Ollie the cat away from it though, he's a naughty boy and I don't think he could be trusted with a baby. He is also now officially a serial killer of wildlife. Something different every day although he doesn't savage them, just brings them in and drops them if I shout. Very strange behaviour. But he's a character........

Off now as I'm pushed for time but will try and add some more later....

B xxx

PS don't forget you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace!

PS

2009-05-13T11:16:00.000+01:00

I don't understand the big gaps on my previous posting and can't seem to do anything about them for some weird reason. Hope to have the problem solved eventually, meanwhile just ignore!

GROWING OLD IS INEVITABLE..... GROWING UP IS AN OPTION.

Sheds again and Womans Hour.

2009-05-12T19:03:00.009+01:00

hello again everyone. Just a quick news update but first, very briefly on sheds as I know this can be so boring to non-shed lovers..... Ian is not happy that my shed is now famous and is deemed better than his so now he wants another one that is bigger. And of course, if that happens then so will I. let battle commence!

Re: care of the Elderly.

Following on from my letter in the Mail there was this interview in the Sunday Telegraph:

http://tinyurl.com/ckd54y

Then following on from that was a visit to Womans Hour for me which sounds very grown up and as everyone who knows me knows, I don't usually do grown up!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/04/2009_19_tue.shtml

I know everyone views it differently (see comments on the previous post) but its good that the topic is high up in the media right now. Care of the Elderly is just as important as Care of Children but the elderly do get overlooked when it comes to government funding. IMO both groups are equally in need so its important for it to be discussed.

My mother wasn't a dear little old lady but I still admire the way that, well into her nineties, she still put on the lippie and posed for the camera holding her stomach in. The below pic (taken when she was 94) is in her memory. I hope I'm still kicking ass at that age!

Wednesday is the Romantic Novelists Summer Party in London so I'm off to party and eat and drink with lots of friends, many of whom I don't see often enough, time and distance being an issue. Can't wait. Shall I go shopping first? Is that Selfridges I hear calling me? Is the handbag department waiting to welcome me? Hmmmmmmmm.

Since writing the paragraph above I have made the decision NOT to go shopping and lunching beforehand. So much work to do and last time I was in Selfridges I so nearly bought a ridiculously expensive handbag; get thee behind me Satan, I'm stopping home and working until teatime.

Sheds and other bits and pieces

2009-04-29T14:40:00.011+01:00

Bet you can't believe I'm here so soon after the last blog! I'm determined to catch up on myself with EVERYTHING. We'll see. This is just a short blog though!

Below is a link to the piece about my Shed/Office that is on the Shedworking Blog.
http://tinyurl.com/calse6 I think I mentioned this last time.
Ian is not over-impressed because he thinks his shed is better! Of course it isn't........ Ian's shed is below and mine is below that. Mine is obviously superior and I also have a Buddha to look after me. He only has a squirrel.

Now I have to get to grips with the Old School piece.

On friday we're all going to a 'Glitz and Glamour Ball' in aid of daughters friend Jessicas charity in Vietnam that supports orphans. Should be fun. I'm not doing a ballgown and tiara but hope to scrub up a bit! I'm excited to be going out after having to miss a few nights out recently.

For anyone who wants a laugh,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3rwVZIZA8k
I so remember the film and the song and even now people of a certain age break into song when I tell them my name!

Anyone been following the sad story of the elderly lady who was taken from her daughters home by what i can only describe as a snatch squad from Social Services. Well it reminded me of how badly my own mother was treated so I penned the following to the Mail and it was printed on Monday.

..............................'Why am I not surprised that Social Workers / police et al stormed in to remove an elderly woman from her daughters care?
when my mother, who still lived independently with our support, was taken into hospital it turned into a nightmare and not just because of the lousy state of the ward and the indifferent attitude of the Care staff.
The assorted services were determined she wasn't going back home, they held meetings without me and even went so far as to call in the owners of local nursing homes to find one to take her. When I said that there was no way she was just going anywhere without my approval they over-rode me and tried to arrange it anyway.
All they were concerned with was how much her property was worth and how much she had saved.
My mother was 95, lived just around the corner to me and had constant support from the family with all of us visiting, doing her shopping and caring for her. All was well until she was taken to hospital following an attack of diverticulitis.
Yes she was difficult and demanding, yes she would shout and be rude to the staff but hey! at 95 she deserved a bit of leeway!
Her health went downhill rapidly and she died on the ward before they could cart her off to a care home against her, and our, wishes.
I feel the way Mrs Figg and her daughter were treated is abominable but at the same time I'm not suprised. The system now comes before the individual and that is so wrong'................

Any comments? Experiences?

Must go and do some work after playing around on twitter etc for far too long.

Spring and Twitter

2009-04-22T10:44:00.005+01:00

Spring has sprung. I know this because the sun is shining and also our 'fit' postman has got his shorts on. Brightens up the moring no end!

I don't know how many of you are on Twitter.... but I've got to grips with it now. You still won't find me listed for some weird reason or other but if you want to follow me / be followed then its: www.twitter.com/bernikennedy
It's yet another 'work displacement activity' for me along with Facebook, MySpace and assorted Yahoo groups. I'd do so much more of everything if I was surgically removed from the internet!

WRITING UPDATE......
Portugese edition of 'Shattered Lives' as well as the large print edition should be out later this year;
Currently writing a piece for my old convent school (St Bernards, Westcliff) on 'memories'. Good and bad I guess but on the whole I quite enjoyed it. Sadly I was easily distracted even then and read far too many novels and nowhere near enough school books. The Angelique books and also Harold Robbins books were my downfall!
Also doing something on 'working in my office shed halfway down the garden' for a blog on sheds. Will post the link as and when.
'Whatever the Cost' is coming along nicely and just maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel that is not an oncoming train!

Till next time. Enjoy the sun! xxx

Soon be Easter!

2009-04-08T14:12:00.003+01:00

Hello again. brevity will be the buzz word today mainly because I've done nothing except work recently.

WHATEVER THE COST was thundering along quite nicely when I had one of my 'moments' and decided to change it all around. All very time-consuming but I think / hope I've changed it for the better.
Sometimes just the briefest mention of something means heaps of research to make sure I get it right so I've been reading up on OCD, a fascinating subject, and adoption in Ireland in the sixties.
It makes me realise what a truly wondrous invention the internet is, everything is there at the touch of a button. I LOVE Google so much, though I do often get side-tracked and go off at a tangent.

I've recently tried to sign up to TWITTER but I have a problem that my name is too long. I'm used to having it spelt wrong because of the dreaded second 'r' in Bernardine but the fact that Bernardine Kennedy is two letters too long is really weird. Guess I'll have to give it up, its no good if no-one can find me. Bernardinekenne isn't something that rolls off the tongue withe ease.

Holidays are at the forefront again, this time we're thinking of taking a brief break in Jersey. I haven't been there for yonks and Ian has never been. Its only a short hop from our local airport which is just around the corner so is convenient and I also really want to go to Jersey Zoo. I'm not a zoo supporter but many years ago my parents and I travelled on the same ship as Gerald Durrell and a film crew.

We were going to Nigeria and he was going to Sierra Leone to film a documentary on the Colobus monkey which he also used in his book 'Catch Me a Colobus'. He was a terrific man who loved animals, liked his triple gins and kept everyone amused for nearly two weeks.
I want to go to his zoo but I am also worried I may be disappointed! Maybe I shouldn't go? I'm not sure now.

I feel the same about Monkey World in Dorset (Jim Cronin). I've been watching the programme (Monkey Business / Monkey Life) for so many years now I feel part of it so will I be disappointed at the reality if I go?

And there's Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin) but doubt I'll be getting ther in the near future!

Yes I know, I must stop analysing everything and just do it!

I hope you all have a very Happy Easter regardless of the inevitable bank holiday weather.

Till next time xxxx

BACK FROM SAILING THE SEAS!

2009-03-10T19:01:00.023Z

OCEAN VILLAGE TWO in Aruba

We arrived back on thursday but its taken until now for my brain to get back into the right gearand my body to get over jet-lag which I swear is getting worse as I get older. The first few days were spent trying to stay awake but I'm back to working today. So many mails to do deal with and Facebook stuff to catch up on as well as checking back to see what I'd written before we went away.

For everyone I owe mail to.... I'm getting there!

We had a great time on the cruise doing not a lot except lazing around. We went ashore at every port even though for some it was only for a walk around and a bit of shopping. Lots of sun, sea, relaxation and food 24/7. Oh my.......

We took coach trips on Barbados, (loved the wild north east Bathsheba coast there) and Tobago where we saw an old sugar plantation and hundreds of bats as well as the statutory Fort. Everywhere in the Caribbean has forts and cannons! Also went out on a small boat whale watching off the coast of Dominica and saw loads of them, also dolphins. Its a popular area for pilot whales and sperm whales. No photos of the whales though, every time I focused the camera they dived! We were excited out of all proportion to see the tails come out of the water. Impressive creatures!

We went to the beach on Isla Margarita, a very expensive shopping mall in Aruba and got lost walking in Bonaire! The trolley tour on Curacao was interesting but too short for such a pretty island. The Dutch influence is huge in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao... the Dutch Antilles islands. (ABC)

Martinique was cancelled as there were civil riots (reminded me of the assorted coups when I was living in Nigeria) as was Mayreau as the sea was too rough too lower the tenders to take everyone ashore. (the ship was too big to dock there).

Oh, and on Bonaire we saw the most fantastic yacht docked in the harbour.... the toy of Paul Allen (Microsoft) with its own helicopter! I don't know, boys and their toys! Yes I was impressed, yes I am that shallow, yes I took photos! (see below) I want that yacht...

In St Lucia and St Vincent local bands came aboard; St Lucia was reggae but in St Vincent a steel band came on and they were fantastic. I love steel bands at the best of times but on the top deck of the ship under the stars overlooking a Caribbean vista? wow. A brilliant night, probably the best of the trip.

Thats enough of holidays, apart from the photos of course!

Paul Allen's 'Octopus'. Note the helicopter on the back! Classy eh?

Bathsheba Beach, Barbados.

Leaving Bonaire

I took the opportunity of limited internet access to read a lot. I took my baby Asus PC with me but access was soooo expensive. I did go beserk and take loads of trashy magazines with me but I also read 5 books.

Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell. I enjoy her books but this one didn't grip me quite as much. Enjoyed it though. Maybe just familiarity and I need a break from her books for a while?

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben. Now he is probably my favourite right now, this was great. I loved it.

Love of my Life by Louise Douglas. I knew nothing of this book or the author but the title grabbed me; romantic and sad as well as being unusual. Great first book by the author.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adiche. I chose this because it is about Nigeria and the Biafran War and is also a huge selling award winner. It starts at a time when I was living in Nigeria and then carries on to cover all of the war. I left when the war started but my parents stayed there for longer. This is a novel but based on fact. An interesting read.

4th of July by James Patterson. Another of my favourites. This man is just so prolific he leaves me breathless. Loved it.

And that is it for the time being. apart from poor Ollie who had been battered the day before we got back by the local Thug-Cat and cost £65 in vets bills as a welcome home gift for us! grrrrrr. But he's worth it! Pic is of Ollie amid the valentine roses that he thought were his!

Till next time........ xxxxx

Holiday Time.

2009-02-13T14:16:00.015Z

Just a quick catch up before going off on holiday tomorrow morning. We fly to the island of Aruba then board our ship for two weeks of sun, sea and excess. Once again our cabin is just one deck away from the restaurant that is open 24 hours although I have promised myself that I won't go in until I have walked once around the jogging trail on the top deck. Hmmmmm. I mean well.....

Our stop-offs are:

ARUBA, BONAIRE, TOBAGO, GRENADA, ST LUCIA, MARTINIQUE, BARBADOS,

ST VINCENT, DOMINICA, MAYREAU, ISLA MARGARITA, CURACAO.

Lots of interesting islands to visit there and it will be nice to go back to my favourite, Barbados, even if it just for the day.
I'm taking my gorgeous teeny laptop with me so I can keep in touch with the world (the internet is such an addiction) and maybe do some work?? again, hmmmm. I mean well......
I'm also taking several books along for the trip so will talk about them when I get back. One of the best bits of a holiday for me is reading purely for pleasure and leisure!

I belong to the Romantic Novelists Association and have had many great times at assorted events but I missed the big lunch and the following pub party this year because of a double booking I made after I got the days mixed up. Grrrr. However, congratulations to award winners Julia Gregson and India Grey.

The RNA did a poll of sexiest male celebs 2009 and the results were:

1 Richard Armitage 2 Johnny Depp 3 Hugh Jackman 4 George Clooney 5 Daniel Craig 6 Sean Bean 7 Alan Rickman 8 David Tennant 9 Pierce Brosnan 10 Gerard Butler

My voting was (roughly) :

1 Gorgeous George Clooney (who else?)

2 Alan Rickman (Truly Madly Deeply King John!)

3 Keith Richards (I know, I know, but I adore him!)

4 Gary Sinese (CSI New York. Right)

5 Johnny Depp (but only as Jack Sparrow)

6 Paul McCartney (old Beatle crush from way back! I'm loyal)

7 William Petersen (Gruesome Grissom ofCSI Vegas)

The rest of my list is along the lines of the RNA voting so there I'll finish there. Comments would be appreciated??

Here's Keef..... This is my favourite Stones pic. Daughter Kate bought me a large linen print of this for Xmas.

Shattered Lives continues to do well and I've had some great emails. Do keep them coming, I become neurotic very quickly when there is silence. 'Whatever the Cost' is coming along nicely, I'm really enjoying writing it which is goo. I just need an extra pair of hands and a masseuse for my shoulders.

Now I'm off to do the packing and tie up the loose ends before going. I'm going to miss Ollie the cat but he's in safe hands here.

Till next time.... B xxx

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

2009-01-08T09:30:00.008Z

Before anything else I'd like to wish A Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2009 will be good and bring you everything you wish for. XX

Many thanks to everyone for all the emails and good wishes for both Christmas and for Shattered Lives, every word is always much appreciated, I am always so grateful to you all for taking the time to mail me.
I know I've missed a few mails that have gone into the dreaded spam folder so I may well have missed others. If I haven't replied that's why! The best way to avoid that is to always put a reading / writing related heading that can't be misinterpreted by the spammer as something dubious.

Well, another Christmas been and gone, a New Year started and resolutions broken already. No, I'm fibbing. I've learnt now that NY resolutions are a waste of time and far too stressful so I don't make any anymore. I did once make a resolution not to go to the gym and I've kept to that one okay. The 'lose three stone by the end of the month' one was always going to be tricky.

Shattered Lives is out there in the shops and the response has been good. There was a great review in Now Magazine (big selling weekly celeb-type mag) last week which gave it four stars. Yay! Every little helps. (isn't that an ad on TV?)
It's also been sold for Portugese translation and for large print which is excellent.
I recently received my PLR (Public Lending Rights) figures and the books are all doing well in the libraries so thats good also.

Also, just in case you think I've forgotten, I shall be getting my web-site updated very soon; the newsletter is already overdue.

Where does all the time go I wonder?
Whatever The Cost is going well now and I'm enjoying writing it though I definitely have to move a little faster to try and get it under my belt before our cruising holiday in mid-feb. I've gone back to my original writing style for this one... fingers crossed it works. I shall be taking my new baby laptop (Asus eee) which I am in love with and my internet dongle with me on the ship so I can easily stay in touch. If it all works properly I may even update the blog from the high seas just for the hell of doing it!

However, me and technology aren't always best friends so we'll see. I'm very good at buying all the latest gadgets... its understanding how they work that is the problem!

The big personal news is that I'm going to be Grandma! Son Steve and Belinda are expecting a baby in July and I am so excited. We have no babies in the family, just a cat! He's a gorgeous cat and I love him dearly but........ Right now I'm having to sit on my hands to avoid baby shopping..... what age do they have laptops now?!

Must off now... till later,

B xx

Back Again!

2008-12-17T13:08:00.004Z

I've made it back! I left it for a while because I hadn't any news of any relevance and then couldn't get on to post. Instead of dealing with it, I ignored it thinking it would resolve itself but of course it didn't. But I've got it sorted now.......... I hope! All I have to do is remember the password.

Well here we are again with Christmas on the doorstep and not a lot done. Its scary to think that 2008 is almost over, my, how time flies when you're getting older! I haven't written my cards yet, let alone posted them but trust me, I do wish everyone a really Happy and Peaceful Christmas break with lots of gifts and wishes.
My thoughts are especially with those who've had a really bad year. Much love and good vibes to you. You know who you are!

SHATTERED LIVES the paperback is out at the end of December so do head off to the shops with your book token or to the library. The reviews of the hard-back have been good so fingers crossed.
I'm into the next book (number 8) which is going along nicely if not fast enough. I must re-learn how to multi-task. That skill seems to have disappeared lately.

Now, what's happened since I was last here? Not a lot really, no more holidays until February when we're off on another cruise. It's similar to the last one we enjoyed so much but this time we start in Aruba and do more of South America as well the usual ports of the Caribbean. I can't wait. Everytime I say Aruba I think of the Beach Boys song!

Oh yes, and we had to buy a new toaster. Now that might sound mundane but the reason for it isn't. Ollie the cat (who used to be a dear little kitten but isn't now) brought a mouse in and let it go! Next day I put some toast in the toast and wondered why the slider wouldn't go down so I pushed and pushed and....... horror of horrors.... I inadvertently battered to death the poor little mouse that had taken refuge inside. Oh god, I felt so bad, I felt sick, I had nightmares. So new toaster and a closer eye on the catflap......
Pets eh? can't live with em can't live without em!
Last night... sixty pounds vet bill because he was beaten up by a neighbours cat. Aaarrgghh.

Oh and I bought a new car! Like you do in times of recession but it is economical and the Road Fund Tax is only £35 a year. Its another Smart but this time it's red and silver. I love it. I was so fond of the other one I had that I'm delighted its still in the family, my daughter has it and they do look good on the drive together. Pics next time.

I'll leave it at this for now but will add things in when I think of them. I'm just so pleased to be back in the land of blogging again.

Till next time.......... don't forget, I'm also on Facebook and MySpace.

Books and Holidays

2008-09-08T14:07:00.004+01:00

I seem to have settled into a 'once a month' routine for the blog.... maybe I'll get back to once a week soon. lol. Life has been hectic one way and another so many things have been left!

SHATTERED LIVES. Today is hardback publication day! Yay. A bouquet of flowers was delivered from my publishers which is always nice.
I think the book looks good and feedback so far has been positive which I hope bodes well for the all-important paperback which will be out in December. The new one is under construction with the working title of 'Whatever the Cost', but that may well change. The titles usually do.

This is short and sweet to mark Shattered Lives.

Back soon when I shall post the second half of the 'twenty thinks to do......'. xx

Summer Holidays and assorted stuff

2008-07-24T08:46:00.003+01:00

Hello Everybody.
Well I do try to be more efficient but somehow it never quite works out the way I intend it to. Hence another big lull in my blog! hey ho.

I have been busy though. What with the proofs of SHATTERED LIVES to check and a new synopsis and story-line to plan. I have so many ideas spinning around all the time that I try and write them down when I think of them but then when I need them I have to unscramble the crazy notes and make sense of them again.

So far I'm working with the title WHATEVER THE COST.... I like that. I really need a working title before I can get on with the actual manuscript, even if it changes further along the line. (And most of them do.) Its another of my writing quirks, like completely editing a chapter before I can move on to the next one. I just can't move on if its not right.

I'm also working on some short stories and travel features that I should have done by now. Will let you know what happens to them in due course.
Memo to self.... take a course in time management! I have the time, I just don't manage it properly!
memo to Chris my accountant. I'm doing it, I'm doing it!

If you've mailed me in the past few weeks and not had a response it is probably because I managed to lose an email file with them in. I now have it back (thanks to someone more techy than me) and I will be working my way through them all shortly. Big apologies for the delay. Also... could I ask that you put a title heading in the post? if its blank it sometimes gets whisked away by my super- spammer.

We went to McArthur Glen Outlet Shopping Mall a couple of weeks ago; it's a whiz down the M20 from here, there are lots of shops, easy parking and open-air. We really like it there. Anyway..... on the way down we were overtaken by a convoy of Bentley Continental Convertibles. Eight of them. Now this car is my my 'lottery' car, my 'one day maybe' car. I love it and lust after it but eight together? who was in them? where were they going? Any suggestions anyone? A clutch of premier footballers off on a beano?

We ourselves passed a convoy of classic cars (which I guess were off to a show) that included my all-time favourite the MGA. Aaahh, such nostalgia and envy. Not many of them around now. I looked it up in a car mag and they cost a fortune. Not as much as Bentley Continental though. (Dream on Kennedy-Dream on and Move On!)

Tis the festival season and accompanying camping. Not for me though. Unless I can be allocated a five star Winnebago in the VIP section with a backstage pass and access to the air-con marquee at the back.
The braver members of the family are off the V and Reading having already visited a couple of smaller ones. Fingers crossed for them for a lack of mud.

next month I have the deep joy of seeing the 'skin doctor' to see if I need yet another dubious surface lesion removed. This time on the front of my leg.
This is a legacy of my time in Singapore and Nigeria when I would fry every weekend in the hope that one day I would develop a golden tan! Wrong! I think I am on my last layer of skin now so I'm careful. Barn doors and bolting horses spring to mind.
I do however get tired of medico's remonstrating with me as if it's something I can back and change! Yes, I know NOW it was daft, but I didn't then!

Will list the second half of my 'Top Twenty things to do before I'm Pat It' list next time and I'll also tell you about my latest toy. The ASUS EEE handbag sized PC. very gorgeous.

On that note I'm off again. xx

Quote of the day: AGE AND TREACHERY WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER YOUTH AND SKILL.

STOP PRESS

2008-07-08T13:44:00.002+01:00

MY NEW WEBSITE IS UP AND RUNNING AT: www.bernardinekennedy.com

do take a look and let me know what you think.

News And Catch Up

2008-07-01T09:25:00.004+01:00

Well, I'm back from the annual RNA conference at Chichester University and what fun that was! Old friends, new friends, good food and nightly kitchen parties! How retro is that? Did I think I was 20 again? Oh yes!
Of course there were also very good speakers and a cross section of interesting talks in between the socialising.

A good time was had by all. Sadly I had to leave on Sunday (I had booked until monday but sometimes things happen to get in the way of FUN) so missed sunday night's revelries.

The weather en route home was horrendous; not since I drove across Alligator Alley in Florida on the outer edge of a hurricane have I had to negotiate such a nightmare drive. But Hey! I made it back though I doubt some of the lunatics who overtook me at ridculous speed did!

Same again on Monday on the road out of London. Thrashing wind and rain and idiot drivers; Are we going tropical in the UK? I have managed to grow a rather large and very gorgeous Palm in the garden so maybe we are.

Sadly came back to find our family of robins who were nesting in the holly bush wiped out by Ollie the kitten-cat. Mum, dad and fledgelings. I guess the torrential rain had them foraging on the ground for insects and he somehow got the lot of them. He is a very hunting-orientated feline, maybe because his mummy was a Siamese?? Sometimes I hate cats but, as Ian said, it's nature.
Okay. sometimes I hate nature then!

Of course the birds also come in for my wrath sometimes.... one minute the cherry tree was heaving with fruit then whoooosh, in comes a swarm of starlings! No cherries for us this year. I tried to hose them away but they pulled in their wings, closed their eyes tight and sat it out. Second year running they've caught me out! Must learn to pick earlier.

Currently reading the latest book by Andrew Gross who used to be a co-writer with James Patterson. AG's first book was brilliant and this one, 'The Dark Tide' is shaping up the same. I've brought a stack of books back from the conference to add to my already heaving To-Be-Read pile but must, must, get my new storyline going before I read anymore.

I would like you all to join me in wishing a pox on the thieving git who stole my credit card details from the internet and spent a heap of money on tools /mobile phones / having his/her car unclamped in Liverpool. Top marks to NatWest fraud department who realised and phoned me to check! Phew......

Must make a quick mention of Aunty G who dies recently aged 98. Great old lady, great old age. RIP.

Now I'm away to work on my new outline..........
Till next time

Bernardine xx

Mid-summer

2008-06-14T14:29:00.007+01:00

How time flies. One minute it's Christmas, then I blink and we're almost at mid-summer. I like to think time flies because I work so hard but apparently not so according to the magazines, it's just an ageing thing. Sort of all downhill from now on?? I hope not but just in case I'm currently working on my top twenty things to do before I'm incapable. (List at the end)

Next I suppose, come sentences that start with... 'I remember when........' 'kids today...........' 'when I was your age......'

I don't mind it really. I just avoid reflective surfaces and tell myself over and over that although I can't help getting older I don't have to mature.

New colour blog... pinky shade to blend with what will be the background colour of my new, soon to be unveiled, website. Let me know what you think of the colour and how easy it is to read.

SHATTERED LIVES is to be published in hardback on September 18th and in paperback on December 29th. It received a good mention in The Bookseller magazine so fingers crossed. I'm now in the process of plotting number 8 and also writing up some features and short stories.

I must admit, I enjoy the small lull between writing books because I can also read books. I like to read away from my own genre so I've just finished Kathy Reichs latest BONES TO ASHES. I enjoy her books; alway ripping good reads and she never disappoints; I guess it's because she writes about what she knows, Forensic Anthropology. I also read Karin Slaughter's SKIN PRIVILEGE. Sometimes Karin can be very graphic (!) but again a brilliant story-teller. Next on the list is Mark Billingham and then Martyn Waites. Then back to my own!

TOP TWENTY THINGS TO DO BEFORE I'M INCAPABLE. (First ten in no particular order)

Write a multi-million best-seller!!!
Snorkel off the Great Barrier Reef and take the train across Australia.
Go shopping in the Mall in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. (Largest in the world)
Take a helicopter along the Grand Canyon.
Take a few months to go travelling and catch up with all my friends spread all over the world.
Go to Madagascar and meet an Aye-Aye face to face.
Take route 66 across America.
Go to the Edinburgh Tattoo.
Stay at the Burg Al-Arab in Dubai.
Meet (?) Keef Richards.

Anyone else got a 'must-do' that i should know about??!!
Till next time.

Bernardine x

Cats

2008-05-20T15:19:00.003+01:00

Again I've left this too long but there's a limit to how many times I can repeat 'not done much... working hard'! Sooo boring but sadly true.

I love animals but there are times when I hate having pets. Last week was one of those time when my Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know ChavCat (Skippy) was run over and killed. Everyone is devastated and even Kitten Ollie (not such a kitten now) wanders around looking for him.

ChavCat was an RSPCA rescue cat some years ago and he had been battered and damaged to the extent that he had wonky back legs and would fight and bite and spit but he was still such a character and is sadly missed, especially by his local vet to whom I have paid a small fortune in repair bills!

ChavCat on his fake Burberry blanket!

On thursday I went to the Romantic Novelists Association Summer Party. Brilliant to catch up with so many friends but again there's never enough time to speak to everyone I wanted to. Hope to catch up with them again at the conference which is less frantic as its spread over 2/4 days. Its at Chichester Uni in July.

I was very well behaved and didn't stay in London to carry on partying afterwards as I usually do...I went straight home on the late train. now there's a first! It was in the library at the boringly named but very interesting Institute of Mechanical Engineers in Birdcage Walk near the Houses of Parliament. Lovely old building.......

Apart from that I have been working and dealing with all the other stuff that life chucks up every now and then to throw me off course! Come the beginning of June I'm taking the first two weeks off to sit around and do nothing I've decided. maybe!

I'm in the process of having a new website built at last so hopefully I'll be able to link to it soon. Be good to have an up-to-date one at last.

Now I'm off to have an ice-cream on the seafront as its such a lovely day!

Till next time.

It's Spring! Maybe.

2008-04-17T11:20:00.002+01:00

A quick update.

Well I thought spring had sprung, the daffodils have been and gone, the hyacinths are blooming and........... then suddenly we had hailstones the size of peas and it was back on with the winter woolies! Weird. But then I guess spring is the unpredictable season. I do like warmth so lets hope we're in for a good summer.

This week has been the London Book Fair at Earls Court. I didn't go but I know from my agent that my books were there. Fingers crossed for some more foreign sales.

I had my dreaded appointment at Moorfields last week and have a six month reprieve from further surgery. I was so concerned that I would fall further back on my deadlines but all is well.

Sadly though I have to cut back on my time in front of the computer screen as I was spending far too long both reading and writing on screen. I've stepped away from a couple of forums and am now going to be more aware of time management. (Well, I'm going to try!)

Moorfields is a hospital I can't praise enough. Well managed, well staffed and clean. I can see why its one of the best facilities in the world. I am full of admiration.

I'm currently trying to decide which conferences to go to this summer. RNA and Southern Writers are both in Chichester but at different venues, Swanwick is in Derbyshire as always and Caerleon is in Wales. Time restrcitions mean I can only go to two. Decisions, decisions.

Now I have to get back to edits. till next time.

Bernardine xx

MySpace + Facebook

2008-04-03T18:01:00.003+01:00

Just a very quick note.... I've updated my MySpace and Facebook pages so if you're on either / both of those then do go and have a look.

Don't forget the second R in Bernardine. Bernard + ine.... named after my mother's cousin Bernard hence the spelling. I know its often spelt the other way but Hey! it's my name and that's the spelling...

Till next time. x

Website + Library Talk

2008-04-02T14:03:00.004+01:00

Several readers have asked me recently about my very static website! Because I'm in the process of changing the 'manager' it's still up there, but has not been updated. I can't do it myself. I so wish I was techy minded!
As soon as the new website is operational I'll let you know, meanwhile, the background info remains the same and the latest news is on the blog.

On Sunday I gave a talk at Canvey Island Library in Essex as part of the Essex Literary Festival. It was a brilliant event that I enjoyed so much thanks to a big, interactive audience of avid readers. I just hope they all enjoy the books of mine they borrowed and bought.
Many thanks also to all the staff who worked so hard to set it up.
I love going to libraries!
The Essex Festival is a brilliant showcase for authors of all genres, fiction and non-fiction. I am a keen supporter and look forward to it every year. Well done Essex. Roll on 2009!

This is a gratuitously 'aaaaah' photo from Singapore Zoo, 2006. Don't we all know someone just like that?

Bernardine x

Shattered Lives

2008-03-31T18:36:00.003+01:00

The new cover that I shall move to its rightful place with the others just as soon as I can figure it out!

More later, I'm currently trying to figure the blog out from the inside. I'm easily confused.

Cruising

2008-03-27T11:13:00.010Z

The ship. Ocean Village.

Well, I'm back. We had a great time and I'm now quite taken with the idea of a world cruise. maybe one day! 6 months home and six months away. The joy of being an author is that H can work anywhere.

Cruising was just perfect for us. We enjoy relaxing and doing not a lot and that's what we did. The ship was large but accessible and how lucky for our cabin to be so close to all the restaurants eh? Food was good and the informality suited us.

We flew to Jamaica to board and then went to Mexico (Progreso and Cozumel), Belize, Honduras, Cayman Islands, back to Jamaica, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica then back to Jamaica. (Montego Bay and Ocho Rios)

Brilliant.

I read lots of books, did lots of people watching and generally went into sloth mode. (we saw several of them... I felt a connection!)

It was so good to wake up and go out onto the balcony and look at either the sea or another destination. There was good and bad in the various towns. Excellent was Costa Rica, the rain forest and banana plantation. Also Grand Cayman and swimming with the stingrays which are HUGE. Oh and shopping in Cozumel. I've been there before and love it so instead of going on a trip we took a cab into town and shopped.

Not so good was Columbia and Jamaica and the slightly edgy feeling that we both felt ashore.

Just a few pics (don't want to bore you all! Below is the Blue Train that is a hundred years old and trundles through the rain forest in Costa Rica. We went on it and also over the bridge below. It's called the 'Hail Mary Bridge' because as soon as passengers realise the train is going to go over it they start saying their prayers. (allegedly!) My, that was so scary. A rusty old train going over a rusty old bridge! But we survived it, as do all the tourists who trog along it. We also went up one of the canals and saw all manner of wildlife. Even a crocodile.... I've seen alligators in the Everglades but not a croc before.

Below is Ian and friend in Columbia.... I really really wanted to snatch that piece of melon off her head. It was so hot that day.

Have you noticed I don't usually post pics of me? My naturally frizzy hair and freckles do not take to the heat and sea so I just look frazzled! However, here is one with a stingray. Not that good but hey it gives an idea of the size of the stingray! From my right arm across to surfer boys left shoulder. BIG. Stingray City is actually on a sandbank around a mile off-shore and the rays are semi-tame. Unlike the one in Florida that got me on the foot several years ago.

The publication date for SHATTERED LIVES has been put back to September as I still have some edits to do but the info is up on Amazon. www.amazon.co.uk Which reminds me.... I must get the new cover up on here asap.

The problems with my eyes affected so many things but they are now a little better and I can see the PC. Hurrah! Onwards and Upwards from now on, fingers crossed that my appointment on the 11th at Moorfeilds Eye Hospital will be the last for a while. I no longer look as if I am doing an impersonation of Donald Pleasance in 'The Great Escape'.

Books read on hols.... Harlen Coben X2, James Patterson, Dean Koonz, Leslie Pearse. All very good but I love Harlen the best!

Back to work now,

Till next time,

Bernardine xx

HOLIDAYS!!

2008-02-25T19:30:00.001Z

We're off on our holidays tomorrow... cruising the Caribbean.

I'll tell you all about it when I get back in a couple of weeks!

Catching up. 2008

2008-01-31T20:11:00.000Z

Well here I am again. late again.. blah blah blah. Usual excuses so I won't make them. You all know my intentions are good, I am just so disorganised!

Christmas came and went as it always does as did New Year. Phew for another year. And I've dealt with the taxman so all is in order! Yay.

SHATTERED LIVES has got a great cover that I will post next time along with the blurb. Not sure of the hardback publication date right now........

I had eye surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital at the beginning of the month and its not been entirely successful so far and may have to be repeated. Unfortunately it was on my good eye and I haven't been able to see properly since. This is an absolute nightmare for an author as you can imagine. I have to peer at the screen and then focus out of the corner of my eye. Not a good look! Still it makes everyone laugh.
And of course I can't drive. That is so limiting!

Fingers crossed also because we finally got round to booking our cruise... we are off on February 26th. We're sailing from Jamaica and then doing the rounds of Central America.... Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Columbia, Caymans plus some more that I can't remember. We're going with Ocean Cruises because they are informal and we can just laze around and not dress up. Not sure about how safe I am going to be with a 24 hour buffet? Oh my.

Ian wants to go to see the ruins at Chichen Itza in Mexico and I want to swim with the sting rays
in the Cayman Islands....... must remember to act my age and not get burnt this time. Going to give the zipwire into the jungle in Costa Rica a miss though.

I'm really looking forward to it and hope eyes are sorted by then. Never mind, its just one those things that will be okay in the long run. (fingers double couble crossed!)

It means I'm going to miss the RNA awards lunch on monday, the first one I've missed in several years. Bummer! This year its not at the Savoy but at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. Should be fun for all those lucky souls going!
Good Luck to all the short-listers, any one of whom will be a worthy winner.

Ollie the kitten is growing rapidly to cat-size though he is, as of yesterday, missing a couple of his vitals! Not that he noticed of course. Maybe he'll now stop running up the curtains and hiding on top of the wardrobe waiting to pounce... I doubt it though.

Enough for now, typing is hard work at the moment.

Back soon xxxx

Quote of the day... I don't do skinny dipping.. I do chunky dunking!

SEASON'S BEST WISHES

2007-12-23T05:33:00.000Z

Yes I know I've been lurking, not posting, not being sociable! Sometimes life gets in the way and other things get left. I am not an organised person.

But next year will be different!

I will not be side-tracked by the minutae of the internet (eg shopping websites).

I willll update my blog / myspace / facebook with regimental regularity.

I will write an allocated number of words each and every day regardless of whether I want to or not. Self-Motivation will be my Mission Statement.

I will do my accounts monthly instead of dragging the shoe box out in January with mere days to spare before the taxman's penalty axe falls..

I will write all the letters / emails that I promised my friends and family and my oft used phrase 'Must catch up in the New Year' will mean just that.

In other words I will be organised and efficient and quite unlike the old me!

By way of explanation, this has been a strange year personally with far too many deaths of friends, family and acquaintances of assorted ages. Very sobering times.

On a more upbeat note, Past Chances did well this year and Shattered Lives is out next year.

Meanwhile, as I contemplate my last-minute Christmas shopping list which will naturally be completed well in advance next year..........

I cheerily wish everyone:

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A EXCEPTIONALLY HAPPY NEW YEAR

and RIP to my favourite Uncle Brian who died a few weeks ago. Christmas in heaven will be a lively old do this year!

PUBLISHED

2007-10-21T15:02:00.000+01:00

Well, Past Chances is now out in paperback as of October 18th. Available at all good bookshops, on the internet via Amazon etc and in some supermarkets including ASDA/Walmart.
I love to say that as Walmart is an addiction of ours when we are in the US.
We often spend half a day (or more!) pottering in a super Walmart. We're very easily pleased really....

For anyone who lives down my way and who has time to spare, I'm doing a signing in GRINDLEY'S Bookshop, Leigh Broadway, Leigh on Sea, Essex, on Saturday 27th from 1-2. I'd love to meet anyone who can make it.
I'll put up more news as I get it. Right now its fingers crossed that firstly readers buy it and then of course that they enjoy it.

I escaped my writing prison on thursday and went to the launch of Faces, the latest by massive seller Martina Cole in a rather swish London nightclub last week.
It was a great night and it was nice to catch up with so many friends. I love writing but it can rather solitary and author friends live all over the country. All over the world even.
Long live the internet I say! Such a brilliant communiation medium.

None too pleased right now with Olly the kitten who did a little dance on my open/turned on laptop and managed to (very cleverly) delete the whole of SHATTERED LIVES.
Most of it was backed up (phew) but only most of it. 30,000 words approximately were lost. Mr Computer Man, who instantly understood my hysteria and came out very quickly, did his best and found some in the memory but am still over 20,000 down. aaaarrrrgggghhhhh.

Olly had: deleted.. overwritten with random letters... saved. Oh My. But gone is gone so I'm just trying to remember and catch up again. Computer Man said it was like winning the lottery in reverse... outstanding odds. I then checks the lottery number and lo and behold.... Nothing. Zilch. as usual.

Hard to stay cross... see below! And anyway it was really all my own fault leaving the laptop open, on, not backed up!

We are now cautiously approaching the garden with him courtesy of a harness and lead. We live on a busy road so can't let him out independently too soon. Neighbours think I'm nuts roaming around with a cat on a lead but then they probably though that anyway. All I'm doing is reinforcing!

Till next time..... xxx

Cats and mumblings

2007-10-05T15:54:00.000+01:00

Its Friday and I'm here! Yay.
Again it will be short because I've got not a lot to say having not been anywhere!
I really can't wait to get SHATTERED LIVES out of the way so that I can rest poor aching wrists. I wish I'd learnt to type properly, I type quickly but I'm not a typist so my hands are all over the keyboard and I make loads of typos that I then have to correct. I wonder if its too late to move away from two finger typing? Maybe night-classes? I shall think about it.

Life with Chav-Cat the thug and Olly the cute kitten has been really strange. Instead of ripping his head off and tearing him apart (as I expected) Skippy has gone back to kittenhood and plays with the young usurper who is more than happy to get the occasional cuff around the ear when he goes too far. Most bizarre... I had expected warfare. Maybe the long-wanted Siamese is a possibility after all.
It is such a time-waster though, we all sit and watch!!

Tonight is the night we are DEFINITELY going to book that cruise...... DEFINITELY! I'll let you know.

Now back to the coal face.... xxxx

Don't forget... PAST CHANCES Octoner 18th.

Happy Friday!

2007-09-28T09:59:00.000+01:00

So its friday again, I've got the jist of the day, just having some problems with which friday.

I really don't have much to blog about as I am still in self-imposed isolation while finishing SHATTERED LIVES. I maybe need a psychiatrist to explain why, when the end is in sight, I get the most fantastic idea and just have to change everything around?? Why don't I get these ideas at the beginning? Oh well. Too late for me to change now!

The Camping Boys arived back a day early after a couple of mishaps!

Lesson one. Do not cut open a glow-stick with a leatherman tool. If you do you'll have an explosion of bright yellow phosphorous all over your face and in your eyes and have to seek medical attention!

Lesson two. Beware the guy ropes that hold the shelter up. If you trip over them and the shelter disintegrates then there is no shelter under which to shelter!

But they enjoyed it and I spent the week doing nothing except write!

PAST CHANCES is out in paperback in three weeks... I'll update with any info nearer to the date. The finished copy looks really good and its in the slightly larger paperback format. Fingers crossed for me everyone.

Over the past few months, I've been hopping on an off an internet forum discussing the mystery surrounding the missing Madeleine McCann.

The original purpose of my visits was to harvest some research for my next novel but boy is it compulsive. When I 'retire' shortly I may need to head straight for my local addiction clinic! It's been an interesting insight into how the new accessibility of the internet has empowered so many people to discuss so many issues.

It throws up class, race, religion and politics in a way that no-one would dare do in a face-to-face group.

A very interesting insight into human nature across the board.

Now I have to figure how to incorporate my new knowledge!

Finally, we have a new kitten. I didn't intend to do it again, pets cause so much grief and we have the Chav-Cat but, by defualt because his new owner was allergic and I couldn't say no, we now have Olly. Tje prettiest, naughtiest, noisiest kitten ever.

Chav-Cat still doesn't know what's hit him but he's been far better behaved than I expected. The occasional clip round the ear to the young pretender seems to be about it. aaaaaahhhhhh.

Now I have to work!!

Till next time xxxxxxxx

ISN'T IT FRIDAY?

2007-09-10T11:08:00.000+01:00

Isn't it Friday? well I suppose three days late isn't bad by my history. I would have posted yesterday (two days late) but again Blogger didn't want to be my friend. I really must have serious words with Blogger or I may have to take my business elsewhere! Hurumph.

SHATTERED LIVES is going to plan, hopefully I will be finished with the tinkering and it will be ready to go at the end of the month. My changes have made me feel better even though I'm hurtling to the finishing post and don't, at the moment, have a life.

PAST CHANCES in paperback is getting nearer to publication date, I'm looking forward to getting advance copies in the next couple of weeks. Its still a thrill to have the finished copies in my hand!

I'm really hoping to get my website updated very soon. I just have to find someone else to take it over and thats so hard without decent recommendations. I'm looking though..... I've had so many comments about nothing happening on it but its getting there.

Husband Ian and his brother are off camping in Brixham in Devon. One in a tent and one in a teeppee so if you pass them give a wave... though realistically the pub in town is probably the best place to find the great lesser spotted campers!

A friend/ex colleague and a group of friends are currently on a cycle ride across Yorkshire, 132 miles, fundraising for his twin sons to be able to receive therapy for their special needs as a result of very premature birth I wish them luck in their ride and also in the fund-raising.
Its such a deserving cause though there's no way you'd catch me on a bike ride across Yorkshire. Even camping seems attractive by camparison. I did hear that gel saddles are the order of the day. Actually they should be about finished by now... must check it out.

Crrently ready DIRTY BLONDE by Lisa Scottoline. Great title and a good book. I'm getting to know far more authors since signing onto MySpace and FaceBook.

Well I'm off back to the laptop. Come October I'll be more chatty and will even think about things like competitions with book prizes.

TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN!

www.myspace.com/bernardinekennedy

School hols are over!

2007-09-03T15:49:00.000+01:00

I am such a blogger... I have no school age children! I do however wonder where the summer has gone and how I've managed to spend a lot of time doing not a lot that is constructive.
The fruit trees now need cutting back and I feel really ashamed about taking the apples and damsons to the tip in with the garden mulch. Very wasteful but I really can't bring myself to prepare little delicacies of fruit compotes etc. It is just so not me!

I DO apologise for the delay in getting this up, I keep starting to write something, go off and do something else and then forget what i was saying and have to start over. I have decided now that this is going to a weekly blog rather ad hoc as it has been. Once a week, On a friday. Well that's the intention. Fell free to mail me and tell me when I don't! My brain isn't as good at multi-taking as it used to be.

Husband Ian is off to Devon camping at the end of the week with his brother and a teepee. I will then be having an intense writing week to try and pull this latest book into line ready to send it in in time. (Maybe!!)
I chopped and changed the storyline around and added a few extras (sorry Clare!) but I think it will be better in the long run. We'll see. It'll be nice to get it finished.

I'm off to London tomorrow to talk about PAST CHANCES which is out in paperback on October 18th. (available in all good bookshops). This is the important one so fingers crossed for me everyone.

BACK ON FRIDAY. I PROMISE.

BACK INTO THE SWING

2007-08-09T14:23:00.000+01:00

Well! How about this?

It's taken me so long to get into blogger I had thought I was going to have to get Mandy (my blogging saviour) to do it all over again for me. Blogger refused to accept I was who I said I was and that my password was RIGHT. But I made it. Gee I HATE techy stuff when it doesn't work.

I have to say though that not a lot has happened as I have been working hard.
The current book that had the working title of TWO LIVES is now titled SHATTERED LIVES which I think rolls off the tongue quite nicely. Do you agree?
Its coming together quite nicely now. I had to delete some 30,000 words that I KNEW were not right. That was hard but it had to be done. I'd started to fumble around a bit to make it right but it was still going wrong. Still, done now and I'm on a bit of a roll.

PAST CHANCES had a publication date of October 18th in paperback and is also going into large print, probably next year.

I'm still having fun on MySpace and Facebook. I mean, how else am I going to have friends like Russell Brand and Harlan Coben? sadly George Clooney took his page down (something I said?) but I can live with that. I think I posted the links to my pages before? I shall check!

Am trying hard to think of a blog competition so I'll let you know when I come up with something truly amazing and original. (I may be gone some time...........)

Husband Ian and his brother are going camping in Devon next month so that'll be some good reporting as the teepee gets another outing! I shall stay home of course. Nothing less than five star for me. (!!!)
I'm hoping we'll fit in a quick shopping trip to the US before Christmas. I HAVE to have some Walmart Christmas deccies again and the dollar is low so I see Happy Spending ahead.

We were going to book a cruise, a big over the top Caribbean jaunt on a ship the size of a small city but we may be moving house so cruising will have to wait till next year. Something to look forward to.

Other than that my big excitement is that my Aloe Vera plant has got lots of babies and my Hot Chilli Pepper plant has lots of Hot Chillis. WOW.

For those of you who have commented on the lack of activity on my website.... as soon as I can find someone to teach me what to do, I shall be managing it myself. Ha ha ha ha ha. Watch this space.

The day at Kate Walker's blog went well and a signed copy of Old Scores is en route to Utah as we speak. Great fun.

Till next time...... xxxxxxxxxx

STOP PRESS

2007-07-26T19:32:00.000+01:00

I'm posting this in haste and will blog properly tomorrow after the event below...........

anyone who is around tomorrow, if you go to Kate Walker's blog, I'm hanging around and doing a bit of guest blogging.
Kate is celebrating her 50th book published (IMPRESSIVE HUH?) so it'll be fun and there's a competition.

http://kate-walker.blogspot.com/

SEE YOU THERE..........

THE JOYS OF THE INTERNET

2007-07-14T12:22:00.000+01:00

Well! Haven't I just got carried away with my new hobby / work displacement activity, playing on MYSPACE and FACEBOOK. The virtual meet and greet places to find old friends and new friends.

For an author they also come under that wonderful umbrella of NETWORKING. You know what I mean, get your name out there, get your book out there and maybe gather in a few new readers.

For me it also means delusions of grandeur on a scale I could never have even dreamt of as I sit here impatiently waiting for the likes of Keith Richards and George Clooney to accept me as a friend! Check out www.myspace.com/bernardinekennedy to see my new friends.
Some really are friends, others are just my own little fantasy. GOK WAN, he of the 'How to look good naked' show is my virtual friend, I fell in love with him when he said women over 50 should wear whatever they want! Just what I wanted to hear. Validation of my crazy, age inappropriate wardrobe!

The authors of the diet book 'SKINNY BITCH' are also my 'friends' and they told me its never to late to become a skinny bitch. I've never been one so I'd like to believe them but I don't, however I'm not too unhappy because my new best friend Gok likes fat backsides and wobbly thighs. Lovely young man!

While I was away at the RNA conference last weekend some of us had a chat about writers bums. My theory is that they are a bit like bean bags and that eventually they retain the shape of where they spend most time. Mine lives in an office chair and is therefore that shape. I guess it needs more exercise to return to a normal shape but then again life's too short!!

The conference was great fun as always with a good cross-section of both delegates and speakers.
The socialising was as always v.social (!!) which once again was fun!
the Uni staff seemed to be anticipating a group of little old ladies who would partake of a sweet sherry and then retire. NOT. The solitary lad manning the bar was soon reduced to a wreck when he discovered that when we drink we buy by the bottle NOT the glass and a stockpile of half a dozen bottles for four days just wasn't good enough. He had to go off find more..... v.quickly. The first night! Nice boy.........
that'll teach em not to categorise.....

Leicester has been added to the expanding list of university bars across the country who have got it wrong!
However, I do have to say that the staff (mostly students on their hols) were brilliant throughout and the campus was excellent. Veggie food was good (YAY)

I did keep sneaking off to read THE BLUE ZONE by ANDREW GROSS. He was a co-author with James Patterson and this is his first solo. Brilliant. Give it a go....

Now I have to stop messing around and get back to work. Fun's over for a couple of months!

Au Revoir all.

APOLOGIES AND STUFF!

2007-06-27T18:10:00.000+01:00

Firstly apologies for the lateness of this posting.... again I've managed to slip behind without actually realising it. Where does the time go?
Yes, I've been working hard at pulling TWO LIVES into some sort of shape but I've also discovered the distraction of MYSPACE and FACEBOOK. The most wonderful displacment activities ever. I find myself spending hours looking for new 'friends' to add to my pages and eagerly awaiting requests from others to join my page. It is all just so exciting, I LOVE THE INTERNET!
Check them out below.....

www.myspace.com/bernardinekennedy
www.facebook.com/bernardinekennedy

I'm currently reading Karin Slaughter's TRIPTYCH. Very engrossig read. Hard to say I'm enjoying it as such because its really quite gory but its interesting to see the storyline develop. She's very good! I'm having to limit myself to how long I read for else I wouldn't put it down until the end.

Next weekend is the Conference of the Romantic Novelists Association which I am attending for educational purposes only. It has nothing to do with juvenile kitchen parties in the student accommodations or three meals a days cooked by someone else or leisurely evenings in the bar!
I do jest a little, its alway a very stimulating conference with interesting speakers and sessions and I can't wait. So many friends are going also.
I am however self-grounded until then......

Short and sweet this week but after the conference I shall be back on form! I hope.

XXXXX

Conferences and Work Displacement

2007-06-15T10:33:00.000+01:00

Well, I survived the Southern Writers Conference in Earnley (near Chichester). It was a great weekend and even the M25 behaved this year which can only be a bonus.
Its a wonderful setting near the sea with acres of gardens and very beautiful but oh so noisy peacocks. The weather was good and it was sooooo relaxing. I love the social side of the conferences, sitting around in the gardens chatting while someone else cooks gorgeous meals!

Lots of writer friends there, Lesley Cookman, Della Galton, Patricia Kitchin, Catherine King, Freda Lightfoot, Ray Allen, among others. (apologies to those I've left off...)

The programme was full of sessions and main speakers who were all excellent but my favourites were.....

WILL RANDALL who is not so much a travel writer as a traveller who writes about it humorously afterwards, if you see what I mean. Very interesting and amusing and tells a good tale!
Ian is currently enjoying Will's book about his adventures running a chicken farm in the Solomon Islands. (among other things)

The other fascinating speaker was Andrew Crofts a ghost writer for not only the rich and famous but also for those who just have a story to tell. It was eye-opening to hear about the behind the scenes organisation that goes along with ghost writing. Especially if the subjects are famous and don't want anyone to know they are NOT writing every word themselves! Like we believe that anyway.......

So, after a fun weekend of great food, a cheap bar and much good company, it's back to a chunk of hard work before the RNA conference in Leicester next month.

I have however now discovered more work displacement activity in the form of MySpace and Facebook. I know it was originally for kids but now we grown ups are asserting our right to use it! I've discovered loads of authors on there, even my favourite Harlan Coben has a page on MySpace. Now I have to be organised and limit my time on-line! I could easily play around all day.... and to think I couldn't understand why anyone would want to use the internet!

Because I really could not get to grips with the attractive Apple laptop (the replacment for the one chav-cat smashed up) I've just bought a new very pretty pink laptop. All small and pale pink and girly; however I now know that next year it will be obsolete when I am able to get my hands on this very very very gorgeous Hello Kitty machine. Oh my.......... Is this not truly fabulous? I am preparing my Christmas list as we speak.

Now I am going to work.

JOKE. Why does the Elephant have Big Ears?

Because Noddy wouldn't pay the Ransom! Boo boom!

Orchids, Conferences, this and that!

2007-06-05T11:48:00.000+01:00

How do like this orchid? Very pretty, dainty and also unusual don't you think? Believe it or not, it called 'Bernadine Kennedy'! Popular in US. Naturally it wasn't named after me but if anyone asks its very hard to say it's nothing to do with me. It has a different spelling of Bernardine (without the second 'R' that fools everone anyway) but Hey! who am I to be picky!

This weekend I'm away to the Southern Writers Conference at Earnley near Chichester. It's also near the Witterings where Keith Richard has a beach hut. Really must go looking this time, I could pretend to be power walking??? He's one of my real favourites. So long as Keith Richard is being silly falling out of trees and snorting his dads ashes (allegedly) then IMO all is okay with the world.

Writing is a very solitary occupation so its really good to catch up with other writers. Will gice a list and links (stop laughing) when I get back. last year was a nightmare journey... baking hot weather and accidents on the M25 both going and coming back that caused miles of tailbacks. Took over 6 hours each way. This time I'm going prepared and using the minimum of motorway. I'd sooner poodle around the back roads than be static on a motorway!

I've found a good pic of Jane Wenham-Jones' book launch (wannabe a writer?) I'm still at the back (of course) but with a face showing! Many of these smiling faces will be at the RNA conference in July. Look out Leicester University. Think you can enlarge using the mouse???

Feedback on PAST CHANCES has been good so fingers crossed for the paperback in October. I know, I seem to say 'fingers crossed' all the time but writing is so unpredictable. It takes a lot of work and a lot of fairy dust to get a book out there!

Weather is lovely out there today where I am not... sadly I have to stay indoors with my face to the wall and work demonically for the next few days if I'm to be allowed to go and play 'hunt Keith Richard' at the weekend!!

Till next time...........

I wanted to change the world but life got in the way.

Books and Cars and Tags

2007-05-29T11:57:00.000+01:00

I've been tagged twice lately so must get on and do something about it, but in my defence, I have been writing and forcing myself to overcome my negativity!
TWO LIVES (provisional title of WIP) has now started to pick up pace and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's still far far away but I can see it. Unless of course its an oncoming train??? NO.... I jest.

I went to London last thursday for lunch with my Editor (Hi Clare) so negativity is OUT and positivity is in. I have been motivated.......
And on that theme thanks for the prompting to focus. I have now done that and so far so good so will do one of the tags today. At the end!

Trust me, I am just so focused!

I'm delighted to see that Kent Police are utilising the brilliant SMART car in their fleet. I am the proud owner of a black and silver SMART, I've had it for 5 years and I adore it. Its neat, nippy and economical and friendly; SMART drivers wave to each other!! Aaaahhhh. Now I want a new one, I fancy the metallic green cabriolet this time. Well, no, actually I'm lying, I want the v.v. pretty pink and silver girly cabriolet but as Ian also drives it I don't think I can be that mean. Can I??? Just picture the skiffing boys off to the pub; two in the front, one in the boot of a pale pink SMART....

Have given up reading books for the moment as they are sooooo distracting and I am secretly reading celeb mags. Just flick the pages, mutter 'she's too thin... she's too fat... Ohmigod, he/she's a cokehead' at regular intervals. Easy, easy reading and very good for schadenfreud. 'See? all that money and still she's not happy......' When no-one is looking I even buy the National Enquirer. (one has to put it face dwon in the supermarket trolley)

I haven't however stopped buying books and next is the 'Skinny Bitch' diet book. I haven't been called skinny since I was four years old and then a 'build the child up' diet of 'Virol' courtesy of my mother soon put paid to that! I reckon that I've probably lost around 20 stone in my lifetime with the on / off method of yo-yo dieting that I started at around 16! All I want now is to lose four stone by the weekend after next when I head off to the Southern Writers Conference near Chichester.

Any tips anyone??

Okay.... TAG no 1.

The rules..... (that I am only loosely adhering to as time is at a premium)

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here are my eight random things...

1) I am completely neurotic about leaves dropping off of my huge 'Money Plant'. I love house plants but seem to be talented at killing them. I really shouldn't own them.

2) I am a vegetarian but not a 'preacher for the cause.

3) I used to have a Vespa scooter and a Ford Popular car.... oh that I had kept and preserved them both for posterity! My mother sold the scooter because I rode too fast and fell off and then I blew up the Ford Pop doing 80 on the M1. (they weren't built for that)

4) I once worked for a fraudulent Football Pools company in Nigeria. I didn't know it was fraudulent and that the owner was using the premiums as his personal income. Fortunately he was uncovered after I had left!

5) I am a fully qualified Swimming Instructor but nowadays I never go swimming! I keep looking for a pool that has a submarine-style entry hatch. Changing room to pool without having to walk the very public walk in front of spectators!

6) I love holidaying in Florida. However, on different occasions, we have been caught up in a hurricane, a heatwave (temps in 100's) and raging bush fires that even sent smoke into our hotel room. I also ended up having surgery on my foot after being stung by a stingray!

7) I've flown on every Boeing aircraft from the 707 to the 777, apart from a 717. (don't know what happened to that!)

8) I am a list fanatic. I write lists for everything. I rarely do what's on them but I have to have them to feel content. I only need the list, I don't need to do what is on it!

I'm not going to tag 8 people right now as there is a lot of tagging going on and everyone I know with a blog has been tagged already I reckon. I will later......

Till next time xx

BOOK LAUNCHES AND RUMINATING ON WRITING

2007-05-21T16:47:00.000+01:00

Saturday was launch day for Jane Wenham-Jones book, 'wannabe a writer', a handy and hunorous manual for all budding writers. Lots of authors (including moi) are quoted in it. The party was at Borders in Charing Cross Road, London, which we invaded and conquered en masse.
Lots of big names there... to avoid being repetitious, take a look at fellow novel racer, Liz Fenwick's blog, she's listed on the right of my blog under great Novel race. (must learn to do links!)
Photo also there, I'm the one in green hiding at the back.
I hate photographs!aaarrrggghhhh.
Liz is clever at links so do have a look at what I'd like to do but can't because I have the concentration scan of a gnat right now.

I'm slow blogging at the moment because I'm .... well I'm just slow! I'm currently in the 'I hate writing, I can't write, everything I've written is rubbish and I want to stack shelves in Asda' mode.
This always seems to happen to me when I'm in the middle of a manuscript. My enthusiasm wanes and everything I've written seems boring and nonsensical so I find myself looking for other things to do that I can then grumble about having to do. Like filing bank statements in order, dusting behind the radiators and cleaning the shower. It's called Work Displacement!

I'm hoping it will soon pass becuase I'm not remotely domesticated and also my shoulder and wrist ache from playing Minesweeper and Tetris while I try and THINK. maybe the creative cells are dying?

I'm also passing time by trying to find a lovely lovely cruise on the internet, any suggestions anyone? Not a dressing-up for dinner every night cruise, just a nice causal two week saunter around the Caribbean, or maybe even up to Scandinavia at a push! Advantage of going north is no long haul flights, advantage of going south is sun and turquoise waters.

I'm now off to sit in front of my laptop until a few words are typed today! No more emails, no more surfing, no more nothing. I AM FOCUSED.

Skiffers and stuff

2007-05-11T19:46:00.000+01:00

As so many of you are interested in the life and times of the Skiffing Boys I thought I'd start off by letting you know that the Boys are home and well; tanned and knacked. They're pleased with themselves (and rightly so) for rowing 100 miles in a week. They slept 5 nights in the teepee, 1 night on the skiff and 1 night in a rather classy hotel on the riverbank!
Now I guess they'll start planning next years adventure.
These are the conquering heroes. From left to right, Trev, Phil, Ian the husband.

While I'm being clever with photos, here's one of some of us at the Coalhole Pub after the Savoy lunch. What do you call a group of authors??? answers on a postcard please.
Again left to right... Judy Astley, Katie Fforde, Gilli Allen, me, Lesley Cookman, Jenny Harper.

And now the time has come to stop playing around and get back to work. The Great Novel Race has become a bit like any other race on Sports Day at school. (Oh yes I remember, how well I remember!) Initial enthusiasm quickly fades and I lag behind hoping to leave enough time for a sprint finish! We'll see.

Saying of the day: How can money be the root of all evil when shopping is the cure for all sadness??!!

2007-05-04T17:14:00.002+01:00

BITS AND PIECES BEFORE THE WEEKEND

2007-05-04T16:37:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was hardback publication day for PAST CHANCES. My publishers sent me a lovely bouquet... it's so nice to feel special for the day! Now lets hope it gets out there and gets me some advance publicity for the all-important paperback in october.
By the way, the general opinion is that the boy on the cover of the Russian Taken is very Chucky! I think he is one scary child...

Lousy word-count this week but I have done a few other things as well this week that I'd put on the back burner so I don't feel too ashamed. Will check the wordcount asap. Tonight I have to do a piece about moi for LIZ FENWICK's blog and a piece about the Savoy luncheon for the RNA website.

I haven't started reading anything new (other than trashy magazines and my fave Private Eye) but I was interested to read in the publication trade mag that Kathy Reich's daughter Kerry has written a novel. Can't wait to read it... must check out all the details though I know its not out for a while. Wonder if she reads her mother's books? Fascinating.....
I will shortly choose a book off of the huge To Be Read pile that just gets higher and higher. Must stay off Amazon! One click is just so easy........

The Skiffing Boys are on the home stretch and will be finish tomorrow afternoon. (Ian's birthday). There have been no major mishaps although Ian was bitten by a swan that fancied his lunch and Trev by a duck that invaded the boat. Aaah, the joys of nature. Though I suppose they could be in Florida in the company of gators.

They reached the fifty mile point before turning around so will have done 100 miles of rowing by the time they get back. (Maths? easy...) They did hole up in a rather nice hotel by the river for one night but one out of seven is good, they roughed it for the other six which is six more than I would have managed!
The thought of a teepee just doesn't do it for me.

Chav cat is out of favour... I gently moved him off my office chair... the head spun round in his favourite snapping turtle mode and he sunk his teeth in; I now have a swollen hand. T/C to docs to find out about tetanus again but I'm still up to date. Then he wen and sat on the other side of the room and washed himself where I touched him. The nerve of the animal..........

For everyone I owe emails to... soon. real soon. I promise!

BOOKS AND SKIFFS

2007-05-01T11:36:00.000+01:00

I've finished Kathy Reichs Break No Bones which I enjoyed and romped through to the end and am about to be sensible and re-study Paul McKenna's 'I can make you thin'. I agree the principle and it's a good way of eating, I just need prompting to listen to the CD. Oh for some willpower......

I've now got the finished copies of PAST CHANCES which I'm really pleased with. The cover is so descriptive.
I've also received the Russian imprint of TAKEN with a very unusual cover. see below!

The Skiffing Boys are still making their way up the Thames and apparently enjoying it??
They all had to spend a night on the boat because there was nowhere to pitch the teepee; this was uncomfortable enough (see the size of the skiff and add three big blokes)... but then a Thames Party Disco boat went by and the wake whooshed into their boat. And of course, blokes being blokes, they didn't cuddle up together to keep warm!!
So now it's the teepee for all of them.
Yesterday they met up with the actor Rodney bewes on his cabin cruiser. He had acted in Three Men in a Boat on stage..... oh how I loved The Likely Lads. (he was the nice one)
Now I think they are suffering but they have been so lucky with the weather. Although I didn't realise at the time, 'Edward' as pictured is the skiff they are on.
I have a different choice of boat....

Short and sweet as I'm midflow on WIP.

Saying of the day SAVE WATER; DRINK WINE.

THE SAVOY.. THE SKIFFING BOYS

2007-04-28T14:39:00.000+01:00

A TYPICAL THAMES SKIFF.... see The Skiffing Boys update below!

Went up to the Savoy Hotel in London yesterday for the annual Romantic Novelists Association awards luncheon.
Terribly glam as always with maybe a little less black than previous years.
Para-Athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was the speaker and award giver... she gave a brillant speech that was just right in tone and length for the occasion.
Rosie Thomas won the main award for IRIS AND RUBY and Nell Dixon the category romance award for MARRYING MAX.
And then the hardened among us headed, as usual, to the Coalhole pub on the corner to carry on.
This year I didn't stay in town overnight so I gave up earlier than usual. I gambled as usual on a last minute bargain room and timed it wrong. No way was I going to pay £150 for a shoebox in a none too desirable establishment! Luck of the draw, I had many bargains over the years so I can't complain.
London is so expensive though... I've had some info through from The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fl (stayed there once, super super luscious hotel) and I could have a room there in the summer for the same price. Silly silly.

Anyway, as usual I digress! While I waiting for a friend in the foyer I saw a familiar figure climb out of a limo and march purposefully in through the revolving doors and then away down the stairs.... Gordon Ramsay! Better looking in the flesh than on TV. Wondered if he's been called by the Savoy to dispose of the the troublesome vegetarians knowing his distaste for us!
Because I knew the majority of people arriving and because I recognised him without instantly realising who he was I was just a split second from saying hello and looking stupid. Hey ho.

WORD COUNT. Nothing to say right now but I am hanging my head in shame!

The skiffing boys went off this morning on their 'Three men in a Boat' (without a dog) re-creation on the Thames on a skiff. Sad to say husband Ian has already taken a dip in the river in a classic 'you've been framed' moment. One foot on the boat, one foot on the bank, the boat moved out.... splash! Don't think Trev and Phil were much help, they were still laughing a couple of hours later.
You see this is why I like BIG ships like the monstrous Caribbean cruise ships. The floating towns.... We're off on one of them later in the year. More info to follow. Even I couldn't push one of them away from the dock all by myself!
Clambering into small boats is fraught with danger. Don't think they'll be sleeping on it now they've seen it up close and experienced the size of it!
Never mind they have Ian's teepee with them.
So if you're strolling along the riverbank and spy Three Men in a Teepee making tea on a Gaz stove then stop and say HI for me.

Till next time.

2007-04-20T16:59:00.001+01:00

AUTHOR DRAFTS & EDITS

2007-04-17T11:28:00.000+01:00

Lots of discussion lately on other blogs and forums about how authors / novelists write. Several drafts? Several edits? just the one of both? or somewhere in between?

I remember being stunned to discover that Jeffrey Archer does up to 12 drafts. Now I enjoy his books, but..........
However, we all seem to be different in our approach. I'd love to be able to do a quick rough draft and then go back to the beginning and polish but I can't. Almost compulsively I have to edit each chapter as I go, I simply can't move on until its done.
The upside of that is that when I type THE END it is the end and I email it immediately.
Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Anyway else intending to head off to New York with the brilliant exchange rate? I'm not into designer shopping (a size zero may just nestle comfortably around one calf) but I do love the outlet malls. Luckily HB does as well and our record is two days in Sawgrass Mills, that huge emporium of everything that is inland from Fort Lauderdale; however the Mall in St Augustine came a close second. I don't spend a lot of money, I'm more into trinkets, but it is such great therapy.

The Skiffing Boys are training hard. Well, hardish. Two of them have discovered that a rowing machine in the gym bears little resemblance to a real rowing boat so a nice big skiff on the Thames is really going to be a challenge. This is going to be a 'live-aboard' boat though I guess the odd night in a B&B will prove too much of a temptation. Or the comfort of a tent on the riverbank? hope the weather holds for them. I am a little in awe as I would sooner stick hot needles in my eyes.

My latest offering, PAST CHANCES, is published in hardback on May 2nd and on May 3rd I'll be speaking at Southend library, times etc to follow.
Check the book info out at www.amazon.co.uk Bernardine Kennedy (n.b. the spelling of Bernardine; female of Bernard) I'll successfully put a proper link in one day!

Also in May, on the 19th, a new book by author JANE WENHAM-JONES is published. It's called 'Wannabe a Writer?'; the title is self-explanatory and it's packed with info including a contribution from moi. Check it out at www.wannabeawriter.moonfruit.com

I'm working hard today so I'm now going back to it while my brain is in the correct mode!

HAPPY EASTER

2007-04-08T10:06:00.000+01:00

GREAT NOVEL RACE WORDCOUNT...... 39,000

Just passing through to wish you all a Very Happy Easter with much chocolate and little cooking as a result of much chocolate! Those of you with children... I hope they're not too sick.
I have been given a huge bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk, my absolute favourite. Memo to self.. do not eat it all at once.

My big excitement for Easter Sunday is CLEARING OUT THE GARAGE! Wow. The excitement of it! But it has to be done.
We have started but I've come in for a breather......

Boxes of books, boxes of crockery and kitchen utensils that have been long forgotten. Enough party plates & glasses / cutlery / napkins etc for the forty thousand. Sadly I can never bothered to dig for them when I need them and I go out and buy more and more and more.

Needless to say we've found stuff we'd forgotten about including three old phones, several melted garden candles and several rolls of damp, useless wallpaper. Oh and many many spiders the size of mice. Good job I don't mind them.

As a dedicated hoarder I find it really hard to get rid of things so I have a routine. It goes from the house to the garage and then sits there until I'm brave enough to make the decision to move it on for good. Maybe.
www.freecycle.org is brilliant for me because it takes away the guilt factor.

I have however found my very original Beatles bedspread (candlewick of course) from way back when. No way should that have been in the garage so I sense dark forces at work. (The chuck-it-out fairy).
It was my prized possession at the time.... Beatlemania was 'my' era. We queued up for three days for tickets to see them at the Odeon in Southend, sleeping on the pavement in mid-winter. Aaaaahhhh. Got into trouble of course for skipping school. The nuns at my convent were very street savvy even back then and they KNEW many of the girls would be there so they sent someone down to film the queue with a cine camera.
Worth it though because I can say 'I saw the Beatles live'.

The 'Skiffing Boys' have been to the gym twice now to hone their skills in preparation for rowing the Thames: or rather some of it I suggested they watch the Boat Race yesterday for tips but was told not to be sarcastic. Moi?!

Now I must get back to the garage and it's secrets.

Have a good Easter Sunday and a fun bank holiday tomorrow.

MY WEBSITE SUBSCRIBERS... WELCOME

2007-03-30T17:56:00.000+01:00

As my website is shortly going to be revamped to be part of the new, high spec, Headline website, my newsletters subscibers are, from today, being pointed in this direction for the time being.

Welcome to you all.

This isn't at all formal (as you can see) but when there is news I can post it here straight away instead of there being a delay. I hope at least some of you have checked in and if you do I'd love to know what you think.
If you don't want to post on the blog then you can, for the moment, still mail through the website. All seemingly complex but not really. I shall be putting the email address on here eventually. Another thing to figure out!

There are also other interesting blogs to check out... The Great Novel Racers for starters and I shall be posting more blog links when I really get to grips with doing this properly. I know blogging isn't everyone's cup of tea but they can be fun to read!

I've become ever so slightly addicted and have to limit myself!

Meanwhile, WELCOME!

VIRUSES AND NO WRITING

2007-03-28T20:09:00.000+01:00

My word-count is still no more than it was (give or take a few hundred during editing) because I've been laid up with the dreaded cough/cold/headache virus thing thats doing the rounds. I thought I'd be safe because I had the flu jab last autumn but not. New bugs every season apparently!
I'm turning into a bit of a wuss because not that long ago I would have worked through it. Now I wallow.

I am desperately in love with the chihuahua puppy, Rambo, that now lives next door. I keep demanding that he is handed over the fence but then they want him back I wonder how Chav Cat would react if I got a miniature dog AND a Siamese? Shall give it some thought...........

Husband and two friends have booked up to go skiffing along the Thames at the end of April. Inspired by 'Three Men In A Boat' they are going to go a rowing..... yeah yeah. What's the name for a pub crawl along the water??
You can't kid a kidder. Iits like me claiming to be working and toddling off to a Writer's Conference to allegedly hone my craft. Not. What's the name for a pub crawl on a Uni campus??
I didn't go to any of the conferences last year so I'm into withdrawal. I'm going to Chichester in June and Leicester in July to top up my levels of soicalising.

Short and sweet today as I'm off to wallow some more and swig some meds because I MUST work tomorrow.

Just had a thought, maybe I feel so ropey because I have a man's virus??

Saying for today..........

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.

Monkey Business

2007-03-22T13:35:00.000Z

I was so sad to read of the death of Jim Cronin, the founder of Monkey World in Dorset. He was only 55 and still had so much to do with the rescued apes.
I remember being in Spain on holiday around twenty years ago and seeing a bloke (sadly a Brit) with a baby chimp in a night club and making it smoke a joint. I was furious but not brave enough to say anything.
Jim Cronin was brave enough and it was chimps like that that Jim and his wife Alison regularly rescued.

Also v.sad of course the death of Sally Clarke. There's nothing I can say on that, only that I hope that those involved in her conviction will hang their heads in shame for a long time.

On a more superficial level, my wordcount hasn't changed but that doesn't meant I've not been working.
I have done what I often do and decided after a flash of inspiration to change the chapters round! I often find when I'm struggling, its because the continuity is subtly wrong so it's all change and suddenly I can see once again where I'm going.

Concentration is difficult at the moment as next door have the builders in. I din't mind the crashing and banging (we've all done it) but I do find the statutory, top of the voice, jolly banter and the eternal radio that I know they can't hear because they're knocking walls down, irritating! Gee I'm an old grump!

My talk at Harlow went well, I think. I'm usually okay for the first 20 minutes and then I find myself either being repetitive or wordy in the extreme.
I like supporting libraries as I feel they are such a boon to the community......

Currenty reading FIRE SALE by Sara Paretsky, a thriller set in South Chicago. I nearly didn't get into it but as I was on a train I persevered and I'm glad I did. However, the main character keeps mentioning her 'peacoat'. Any suggestions? This is the first book of hers I've read...

Next on the 'to be read' list is Judy Astley's BLOWING IT. its on a subject close to my heart... spending the kids inheritance. I'm going to start soon, preferably with a world cruise.

Last week I had to have some tests at hospital. Now I know I'm no longer a teen (even if I act it under the influence) but I'm not a geriatric so why was I called 'luvvie, sweetheart, dear', etc etc by an assortment of nurses/orderlies who spoke v e r y s l o w l y?
Do they think we check our brains in with our clothes?
Grrrrrrrrr

Moment of the week for me was the suggestion that George Clooney plays the part of Liberace in the film of the showman's life. The mind boggles.

Till the next time!

Late Blog

2007-03-12T08:34:00.000Z

THE GREAT NOVEL RACE wordcount. 27,000 (rounded up of course!)

The reason this is so late is because I did write most of it and then forgot to save it. Why? who knows. Non-functioning brain.
I read other blogs and I am constantly trying to figure out if the writers have longer days than me. Is their allocation of hours greater than mine? I don't seem to do any near as much as they do.
Therefore I've decided that, in order for me to function properly I need:
A Personal Assistant
A Personal Trainer
A Personal Motivator
A Personal Shopper
A Housekeeper/Cook

Until I get them all I shall continue with DIY and working in chaotic arrears.

I've had two trips to London this week. At the weekend I went to a Marketing Day for authors run by the Romantic Novelists Association which was brilliant; all about how to help market your book alongside your publisher. (I shall put the links up later)
I don't do any specific promo for the Hardback (May 3rd) but the Paperback in November is going to need some work. Remember. PAST CHANCES.

I'm currently enjoying a bit of a surge on Amazon and all the books have picked up again so I'm pleased with that and I've had more mail through my website now its up-tp-date again. The website is due for a complete revamp which is going to happen soon! Very soon!

The second trip to London was to meet with a friend from Scotland. I met her last year at (ssshhh) a Paul McKenna slimming seminar. (I should have gone to his motivational one instead... I know!) Anyway, Elizabeth and I were both on our own at the seminar and we sat together and clicked as we are both similar. She was staying in London so I met her for lunch and we went for a spin around Harrods.
Then came a dodgy moment when I sort of forgot who I was and very nearly spent one and a half thousand pounds on a handbag. Can you imagine? Fortunately my brains and the mental image of my bank statement returned and I broke out in a cold sweat.
I received a text from Elizabeth on the way home saying 'did you go back for the bag?'. Nearly but no.......... I was pleased to discover I still had some sense of reality tucked away inside me.
Would I recommend the Paul McKenna method? Absolutely but you have to be aware and I was for a while and then sort of slipped! I am thinking about going again.....

I've just finished reading an old Sidney Sheldon book. Gee he was good. I loved his books then and they still hold out now. Nothing deep and meaningful, just straight page-turners. He died this year aged around 89 so the man did good.
I also read my second Jodi Picoult, 'Plain Truth' that was a good story (though I guessed who did it) and a fascinating insight into the Amish.

Next week is my event for the Essex Book Festival... Monday 19th march 2.30 at Tye Green Library, Harlow, Essex if anyone hangs out that way.

Remember WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND (means one day I shall get that handbag as a reward for resisting outrageous temptation)

WORD COUNT AND OTHER STUFF

2007-02-28T20:18:00.000Z

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

2007-02-22T18:53:00.000Z

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

2007-02-12T11:42:00.000Z

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

2007-02-08T15:59:00.000Z

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

2007-02-05T19:44:00.000Z

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...........

TONIGHT

2007-01-28T19:44:00.000Z

Tonight I am reading all the info on adding everything that has to be added.
I shall then do it. I shall, I really shall.

Back tomorrow with a singing dancing blog! Ok?
Oh and lots of other info updates as well.

Hmmmmmmm.
Bernardine

The Novel Race

2007-01-11T18:06:00.000Z

I'm almost ashamed to post this.
I can't get the 'novel race' info up on my blog. I've tried and I know I'm doing something ridiculous but I CAN'T DO IT!
I've called for help so maybe soon.

The very nice and very efficient Computer Man set up my wireless system and sorted out my PC's so I have some semblance of organisation as well as a lovely new 19" screen for my desk-top. Very pretty and I can read it without glasses! Yay.

I'm going back to the links and side-bars right now so will post as soon as I get it going one way or another. Mainly because I need to get writing asap.

Quote of the day: When in doubt, eat chocolate.

Hardware and Races.

2007-01-05T20:07:00.000Z

Tomorrow I have a man coming round. I'm going to have to pay him but hey! I'm banking on him being good value for the money. £40 an hour should be good I reckon!

Oh okay, he's coming to sort out my PC mess of two desktops, a laptop and an Apple notebook that I can't work. He's also going to fix up my wireless router, my lovely new 19" flat-screen and the pretty new printer.
I hope to have PC access wherever I want it then maybe I'll get into the swing of doing things efficiently! I really wish I'd been educated in the computer era.......

I've volunteered to take part in a word race for my new novel that is about to become a 'work in progress' (WIP). Writing is a lonely old business that involves a lot of sef-motivation. Now that can be hard for someone like me who is more into work displacement but I'm intending to give it a go as soon as the copy-edits of PAST CHANCES have been sent back.

Check out Kate Harrison's blog at http://chicklitworkinprogress.blogspot.com/ for some interesting info and also to check out an expert blog by someone who can do links! Yes, I know, I will learn very soon.

Essex Book Festival will be up and running in March so anyone who's nearby do come along. I'll be at Tye Green Library in Harlow on March 19th. Bit of info here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex and then search!
Loads of interesting authors and writers. Essex is a great county for talent I reckon.

Southend Book Festival is in May and I shall be there also, details later.

Okay, now I'm back to work, its going to be a late night tonight!

Memo to self: Must do links.. must do links... I'm going to study the instructions right now and start practicing.

Happy New Year

2006-12-28T10:04:00.000Z

A tad late methinks for the traditional Seasons Greetings but not too late to wish everyone a brilliant New Year in 2007. May all your wishes come true.

Apologies to subscribers to my newsletter who didn't receive the Christmas edition in their inbox this year. Did you miss it?? There are a few ongoing problems with the website so it didn't even make it there but I hope it will all be sorted out in the new year. I did wish everyone on the list a Very Merry Christmas, you just never knew about it!

Just the New Year's Eve parties and then we'll all be back to normal for another year.

Hope it goes well for you all and I shall be newsy in January!

Bernardine xx

Christmas and things

2006-12-13T17:22:00.000Z

Believe it or not, (and those who know me won't believe it), I'm starting to catch up on myself. The Christmas cards are written AND posted and the tree is twinkling away. No presents bought yet but hey, I'm not doing too badly....... we've even bought (I'm nearly embarrassed to say it) an inflatable seven foot Santa. Not a small child anywhere but still we bought it. It was only a tenner! Its not been inflated yet though. We're saving it for ?? sometime?? when we've had a drink or two?

Anyway, also on the catching up front, my website newsletter is with the webman as is the cover for PAST CHANCES, I've done my accounts, posted a couple of things on the internet and typed my email Christmas card.
Phew. Now I need to lie down.

I shouldn't be smug about the cards because I don't actually send so many now; for the past few years I've sent an email greeting to internet friends and ex-work colleagues and donated the would-be cost of cards and postage to my local Homeless Day Centre and Night Shelter that always bursts at the seams over Christmas.
I'm sure no-one wants to be cold and alone on the streets over Christmas and New Years Eve even if they manage to survive during the rest of the year.
I do however, always send cards to family, old friends and friends overseas who I don't see maybe from one year to the next and pf course enjoy getting them back. It's a continuity!

I've bought some new books for the Xmas hols even though I'll have my copy edits to do. Hols and books just seem to go together; I've got Jeffrey Archer's latest (sorry guys but I like his books, always have done) The Guiness Book of Hit Singles, (once again!) and I'm going to re-read TANAMERA by Noel Barber which is a novel set in Singapore and Malaya during the Japanese occupation. Its one of the few books I've read several times; as I lived in Singapore for most of my childhood its very evocative for me.
Of course I shall also have my pile of magazines. Some may call them 'trashy', I love 'em.

Anyone else been excited to see Gorgeous George Clooney in TWO running ads on TV? Coffee AND Martini? Doesn't that man just brighten one's day out of all proportion? It's so nice to have a classic 'heart-throb' type of bloke hanging around in the sitting room albeit only for a few seconds at a time.

Therefore:

Bouquet to the Gorgeous George ads for making so many women everywhere smile soppily and just IMAGINE. (And didn't you just feel for him when his pet pig died last week??)

Brickbat to Iceland for their excruciatingly painful 'That's why mums go to Iceland' ads that make so many women everywhere scream aaaaaaaaarrgghh amd want to put their feet straight through the screen.

Anyone want to comment on their fave/unfave ads? I'd love to hear, just don't knock George.

Quote of the day..... When everything in the kitchen fails, add alcohol.

Books and minutae!

2006-12-01T18:23:00.000Z

I'm late again posting this... my intentions are good but then life gets in the way and I fall behind with everything.
And as for Christmas... well!

But then every year it all gets done eventually and I guess I'd be bored if it all went well and I wasn't tearing around buying stuff at the last minute. This year is going to be a quiet Chrsitmas for us and I'm anticipating a few days of gratuitous TV, the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD, the Beatles CD and a bottle of the new Caramel Baileys.

For those who don't know me, I am not a Domestic Goddess and we are a vegetarian family. So our Christmas dinner will consist of..... A Quorn Roast, frozen packets of: roast potatoes; parsnips; brussels with chestnuts; glazed carrots. Stuffing. Gravy granules. A pudding in the microwave, cream in the fridge and a big chocolate gateaux.
Open packets, throw in oven and eat an hour later! I don't do eighteen hour countdowns to the perfect Christmas!
Not forgetting of course the wine and crackers and Carols.

Below is the cover for PAST CHANCES. I'd be interested to know what you think. It's in the style of OLD SCORES which did very well.

Before I was published I used to think that a book was a collection of pages that made up a story that would succeed or fail on the content. True.. eventually! But if no-one gets to see the book on the shelves then no-one will ever be able to buy it even if they want to!
The cover and the very brief outline on the back are the most important 'eye-catchers' that first encourage the Booksellers to look and then maybe put it on their shelves.
Next comes the first page (though I do know someone who reads the last page first???) and then after that its all down to a big chunk of luck and a lot of word of mouth. Come next May I shall be looking and hoping for both!

All my covers are now up on the blog so thanks to Mandy whose techy skills are brilliant. Next I might try and scan the foreign issues and put them up.... though maybe not!

Has anyone else been addicted to 'I'm a Celebrity........' ? I almost feel guilty about it because there is so much criticism of the programme (dumbing down TV etc) but I find it fascinating and such an insight into human behaviour!
I don't like 'ordinary' reality shows because to my mind they are just cruel and encourage ordinary people to lay themselves out to be trampled over by so-called 'witty' celebrities; but when the tables are turned and it's the celebs in the hot seat? Bring it on I say. I watched the jungle every day.
And yes I did vote for David Gest! what a surprise he turned out to be! So very funny.......
I have to say the jungle diet seems very successful, everyone lost weight so may have to give it a go. David Gest lost two stone in less than three weeks on rice and beans three times a day. Mmmm, yummy! After Christmas I think.

Has anyone else discovered the joys of Freecycle, (www.freecycle.org) where you can pass on unwanted items rather than taking the to the tip and filling up the landfill sites? Check it out....... its such a good idea and is worldwide. I've given away a box of videos , a box of books (sad but necessary) and a TV/VCR. All would have gone to the tip as the chairty shops here are apparently overloaded with stuff. (No-one likes throwing stuff away if its still got life in it).
I also took a couple of sacks of fleeces and coats to our local homeless centre along with some blankets. They need them for rough sleepers. I don't get into the politics of any of it, I know there are rough sleepers and I know they freeze in the winter so the whys and wherefores don't come into it for me.

Its my son's birthday tomorrow (nearly today?) he's in Australia on his hols right now but just in case he's looking at this (as if) Happy Birthday Stevie B and if you get to Australia Zoo then cuddle a Koala for me.

Till the next time!

Nothing much but I'm still here!

2006-11-19T11:22:00.000Z

Here's a gratuitous but sunny photo from the balcony of our hotel in Barbados.
I can do photos............

My, how time flies when you're moving furniture, clearing out and recycling in an attempt to minimalise. I seem to be spending a lot of time right now on the minutae of life that I usually try to ignore or delegate. You know, the boring stuff, like buying bedside lamps and curtains and trying to keep things tidy because it's freshly decorated! I'm already bored with the 'house' issues and I give tidyness another few days.
I have such a short attention span......

Still, next month the copy edits of PAST CHANCES will be back with me for checking and I'm actually looking forward to it. There's only so much domesticity I can take. I may grumble and whinge about writing from time to time when the going gets tough but I love it really.
The new book is outlined in my mind but not titled yet...... I find the title of a book sooooo hard and yet I can't get into the swing of it until I've got one, even if it changes along the line.

Before I can get back to the writing I have one last domestic task and that is to tidy my office. It has to be tidy before I can start another book properly with all the stuff from the previous one tucked away out of sight. I'm superstitious about it..... Silly? Yep!

My office is a converted summer house halfway down the garden with insulation, carpets, heating and hundreds of books. It's MY place and I love it there. It's a bit of an effort to raise th enthusiasm to trog down there in winter but its nice in summer. Just think, only a few more weeks to mid-winter and then we'll be heading back towards summer again!

Thanks to all of you who asked, Chav-Cat is better again and currently lying in the sun on the roof of the office waiting for wildlife to fall into his mouth. He seems to be gathering a fan-club which isn't really a good thing; I'm not going to tell him he's got mail in case it makes him even more arrogant and thuggish; he's the Grant Mitchell of the cat world!

LInks will be up soon. Really really soon!

As my back is still peeling (bad to burn... bad to burn... bad to burn) my quote of the day is:

Life's a beach and then you fry.

Hols and tagged

2006-11-07T20:43:00.000Z

So the holiday is over; in a flash;in the blink of an eye; gone; over.
But I have now fallen in love with Barbados! So hot, so laid back and so much fun. And of course the people really are so friendly and helpful.......
Went with BA my fave airline, as you all know, and stayed at the small Butterfly Beach Hotel on the not-so-hip South-West Coast and it was fabulous. I like small hotels and I'd recommend this one to anyone.
It was a week of sea, sand and relaxation and we all enjoyed it.
The highlight was a day out on the catamaran and snorkelling with the turtles which was such fun, they are so gorgeous, but..... how old am I? not old enough to have any sense apparently. SUNBURN! I've done it most of my life and I did it again last week. It seems my brain cells shrink in relation to the temperature. I've even written features about the dangers of burning but give me a snorkel and some blistering sun shining reflectively off the sea and I'm a loon.
But it didn't spoil anything and I shall definitely go back as soon as possible.

Chav-cat misbehaved while we were away. This time he needed surgery. More vet bills; nearly three hundred pounds so far and the stitches still have to come out. I may do it myself as punsihment! Fingers crossed that the insurance company haven't blacklisted him!

This week it's the World Travel Market at Excel in Docklands; it's the largest trade travel show in the world and its the first time in sixteen years that I haven't got there. All the invitations to the various receptions are languishing in my inbox but jetlag has got the better of me for once.
Usually on monday and tuesday I do the rounds of my favourite countries and its Tequila in Mexico, Vodka in Finland, Rum Punches in the Caribbean and Champagne in Florida (to mention but a few) but this year I failed the challenge.
I am really missing having my photo taken with Elvis in Las Vegas and watching the dancers from the South Pacific.
Hey ho! Next year!

I've been tagged by writer Liz Fenwick to tell five little known facts about myself so here goes....

1. When I lived in Singapore I had a pet Praying-Mantis called Chippy. He survived happily for quite a while as a house pet until my dad squashed him in the door of the bookcase by mistake.

2. I hate eggshell. I can't eat eggs cooked by someone else without tearing them apart to check for teeny-weeny shards of shell.

3. Despite travelling the world all my life, I've never been to Scotland or Northern Ireland. I must remedy that because now I've written it down in black and white I feel ashamed!

4. I am absolutely useless at maths. (ask my accountant!) my mind goes blank and even two plus two can a problem but I am a natural at spelling and punctuation. (I do make typing errors though) Lucky I'm a writer and not a book-keeper eh?

5. I have a SMART car which I adore. I've had it for four years and am still passionate about it. Its cute, its small and economical, and SMART drivers all smile happily and wave at each other! Now I really want the pink and silver special edition.

Wow. that took me an age. Because I'm one of nature's chatterers there's not a lot people don't know about me!

I've given myself the rest of this week off to catch up on all things domestic then next monday I'm back to it.
As soon as I finish a book I heave a sigh of relief and relax. But then the old brain starts ticking away for the next book........ the plot is in place and the outline is on paper. Just a hundred thousand words or so to be typed!

As I've been typing this Southend United are playing Manchester United. I'm not a football fan but this has been so gripping (over my shoulder). I am listening but can't bear to watch it! I can hear the roars of the fans from the stadium if I go into the garden.......
Oh Yay. My local team Southend U have beaten Man U. Well I never did!

Must now decide who I'm going to tag... guess it has to be my friend and writer Lesley Cookman.

Hols

2006-10-28T17:14:00.000+01:00

A brief blog here as I'm off to Barbados tomorrow at the crack of dawn. Yay! Though of course I haven't started packing yet. It is such a drag to do.... I don't mind the clothes element of packing, two minutes that takes, its the other stuff. The pills and potions; the phone chargers and adaptors; shampoo and the like. I'm not fussy but even I draw the line at hotel shampoo!

Have settled on taking books by: Harlan Coben (The Innocent) and Patricia Cornwell (Predator) as well as 'The Devil Wears Prada' . Daughter has seen the film and loved it.
Daughters both have Cecilia Ahern's latest for the plane??
I will also buy loadsa trashy magazines at the airport for an aimless flick once my brain has switched off.

So now I'm off to gaze in confusion at a wardrobe overflowing with stuff and try and find an outfit or two to take.
From now on, or rather when I get back to a newly decorated bedroom, I'm going to be minimalist..... maybe.

Enjoy your week everyone and I'll catch up when I return.

Quote of the day.

'Travel broadens the mind and the behind'.

2006-10-23T06:47:00.000+01:00

Many thanks for all the feedback on my dining room floor. Very interesting to see how everyone perceives it!
My preferred option still has to be of a potentially financially rewarding religious iconic nature.

This morning I am self-reflecting (is that good English?) Sometimes I look back and feel as if I've spent most of my life playing 'catch-up' and never getting there.
Time Management? Que?
In my mind I have tidy cupboards, my wardrobe is cleansed twice ayear, I write my Christmas cards before December 23rd, I answer emails when I receive them and I do my accounts as I go along instead of in panic two days before they are due.
Of course if I did all these things properly I really would have time to stuff a mushroom!
I mean why on earth would anyone want to go out to lunch or go shopping with friends when they could be happily vacuuming? (Or stuffing mushrooms?)

It does make me wonder why some of us are disorganised to the point of chaos (many of my friends and fellow writers) while others sail through life in control?
I ask because as I started writing this I found myself having to be repetitive once again....
E.G. I will add live links in the mails and I will add more links to good blogs and friends websites! I will... I will... after I get back from holiday of course!

Off on hols on Sunday. YAY. I am so ready for it. Too long without going somewhere 'nice' and I start to go stir crazy. I NEED to travel. (my excuse)

Another of life's little mysteries...
How often have you said to someone, 'I'm going on holiday' and they've said 'are you going somewhere nice?'
Don't you really just itch to say......
'Nope.. I decided on somewhere truly disgusting, picked the worst place I could find, checked out Holidays From Hell and thought Yep. that'll do nicely.....'

Have decided not to rant about NatWest Bank after receiving a real apology in a personal letter. Now that's more like it and much appreciated because it doesn't often happen.
'Sorry' really is the hardest word! .
ALTHOUGH.... an ambiguous apology can upset me far more than the original incident, is the: 'I'm sorry you feel our service didn't meet up to your expectations....' or 'I'm sorry you felt offended.....'
This patronising nonsense means 'you daft old bat, did you really expect us to be polite/helpful/patient/knowledgeable?'
Grrrr.
Not that I'm a serial complainer you understand. My closet ranting streak simply emerged at the same time as Call Centres took over the world.

PAST CHANCES has now made its way to my editor. I am so pleased to see it go, now I can do all the the things I've used it as an excuse not to do! That doesn't include stuffing mushrooms though.
Have now got the difficult but fun task of choosing holiday reading. Spoilt for choice eh?

By the way, if anyone wants to email rather than posting a comment on the blog then there is an email link on my website.

Quote of the day...

'Housework? Just sweep the floor with a glance'.

Befuddled brains and icons

2006-10-16T06:11:00.000+01:00

For the past few days I've been meaning to post a riveting, informative, gasp inducing blog but it ain't gonna happen this week guys!
I've been so bogged down in the minutae of finishing off PAST CHANCES and pulling in the final few threads that had escaped, my brain is now in meltdown. Befuddled is what I am, but help is at hand.
I just need some soothing sun, sand and rum punches 'in the sunny Caribbean Sea'. (two weeks away)

But before that I have to downsize my wardrobe (clear out the old junk) and dismantle the bedroom ready for decorating and recarpeting. I ripped the old carpet up last year and then lost interest but I am now re-focused and the decorator is coming in while we're on hols.
So very civilised!
Sarah the decorator is brilliant. She clears up behind herself, makes her own cuppas and sometimes mine as well and doesn't suck air in through her teeth and sigh when I change my mind. Though she has been known to cuss at me on occasions!

COMPETITION TIME. WHO IS THIS?
What is this I found in the grain of the wood on my dining room floor? Is it a message from above? My hopes are obviously pinned on it being a religious iconic message after the piece of toast that earned its owner $150,000.
Memo to self: Must try ebay!

Suggestions so far though: Shakespeare. Leonardo da Vinci. Chewbacca.

Though I can't imagine why any of the above should choose to send me a message!

More suggestions please!

Quote of the week (can't beat the oldies)

Lif'es too short to stuff a mushroom!

Holidays Brickbats and Bouquets

2006-10-07T18:05:00.000+01:00

Oh Yay. Oh Yay. I've managed to book a holiday that's agreeable to everyone so at the end of October we're off to Barbados for a week of sun, sea, reggae and reading. A small hotel on the beach that sounds fine for all of us. It was a challenge and hb locked the knife drawer so I couldn't get access, but we got there in the end with no damage to anyone. Just.

Booked again with British Airways Holidays whose staff deserve a bouquet for their patience and politeness in the face of a party of four all wanting different things and arguing about dates.
The past few holidays/flights I've tried to stick with BA for that very reason. Love em!!

Also a bouquet to Carphone Warehouse in Southend. Infinite patience and no raised eyebrows because we couldn't transfer data to a new phone and couldn't put the memory card in. (not bought from the shop). Happy young men!! I now have the achingly trendy 'Red Phone' that supports the fight against Aids in Africa. Each call you make contributes to charity.

Brickbat for rubbish service to NTL who, despite dozens of phone calls, can't take on board that my brother has died and still keep sending bills/debt collectors to him over six months later for money that isn't owed anyway!

Short and sweet today as we're off to a party. Sister-in-laws big birthday (same as I've just had), she chose to have a party, I chose to have a tantrum.

Next week I really will get to grips with live links and proper connections.

Quote for the day.

If God had meant us to touch our toes he would have put chocolates on the floor.

Writing and Hols and Age

2006-10-04T09:09:00.000+01:00

I've decided that it would be good to commit to this blog regularly rather than often. So from now on I shall try and stick to a couple of times a week, unless I have a strong urge to comment on something irrelevant or the need to avoid other things I should be doing.
BLogging is such fun. It's like a one way conversation with no-one to cut in and tell you stop talking drivel.
I can drivel to my hearts content. And of course you can read it or not read it!

Still trying to arrange a holiday for four diverse adults. This is where we're at.....
I like Florida for doing nothing and for Walmart but daughters don't want to go there. (done it) They fancy Mexico but hb doesn't just for a week. (too far) He fancies Egypt. (we've all done that) or Camping in Devon. (Yeah right)
Guess it'll have to be the shortest flight Caribbean destination and one I can write a feature on later. Or rather add on the list of features on my to do list!
Organisation is sadly not one of my skills.
I am however very skilled at travelling and holidays and still enjoy it pretty much wherever I go.
I was whisked off to Singapore before I was a year old and haven't really stopped zooming off to various place since. I still love the whole experience of travel.
I even enjoy the airport lounges, a fantastic place for character spotting, I like the flights for guilt free reading and then there's the excitement of exploring of a new destination.

But before I can get too carried away on hols I'm still editing/altering PAST CHANCES like crazy. A writers mind is a strange thing that never wants to stay on the right storyline path..... that's why I don't go in for any in-depth plotting beforehand because it doesn't work for me. Suddenly my brain's gone off somewhere with a new and (to my mind) a wonderful plot that simply HAS to be included.
I'm sure if I had an open ended date for submission I'd just keep adding and adding. New plots, new characters etc.
But hey! Now I'm focused, the threads are all together and it'll soon be gone and I can start afresh on the new one.

Have just had a big birthday (memo to friends, do not post which big birthday or you die).
Big birthdays as very thought provoking and depression inducing although after a certain age they seem to become a badge of pride. My mother would never speak of her age until she reached about 75 and from then on it was mentioned and boasted about at every opportunity. Especially in supermarket queues that she wanted to jump.
I not at the boasting stage, I'm at the, if I ignore it it might go away stage..

Anyway, back to the coal-face.

Quote for the day:

When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.

Passports, cats and yum yums

2006-09-27T20:25:00.000+01:00

Anyone out there applied for a new passport recently? Received A NEW one in our household and it's very pretty with birds on the pages, it's digitalised and biometric etc etc. (Not yet sure if it sings and dances and operates the vacuum cleaner)
In the envelope was the usual paperwork bumph but there was also a warning that as the new passport contains a 'chip' it must not be put in the microwave?? It didn't mention a deep fat fryer.....
Guess at some point my natural curiosity will make me pop said passport in the magic box and turn the knob.
Memo to self..... Must not microwave passport. Must not microwave passport.......

As I've just figured out how to add photos I've put one of my cat up for all to admire. Aaaaaahhhhh. Bless.....
This is Skippy. Doesn't he look cute and lovable?
Not a bit of it! He's a chav cat. (hence the blanket)
He bites me at random, attacks other cats and kills anything that crosses his path.
He's also expensive. Yet another fifty odd pounds yesterday at the vets because he's been fighting once again.
I've always had cats but never before have I had an attack cat. He's an RSPCA rescue cat so I don't know his background thought the vet thinks maybe his daddy was a rampaging feral! (Vet has scars also. Two nurses needed to take his temperature).
But he has character...... ??

It always makes me smile whenever I have to take him to the vets and they call out 'Skippy Kennedy', its so sweet and family inclusive however its also a lesson in naming cats.
A couple of years ago there was a Phil Mitchell lookalike with big shoulders, a vest and tattoos and a dear little kitten in a box waiting pateintly to be called.
Maybe he should have thought about kitten naming a little more deeply......
'Precious Williams' the vet called and the Phil-type bloke had to answer and stand up! Fair play to him though, he grinned and carried it off with aplomb as everyone tittered.

Talking about macho pre-judgements.... we stopped at the services on the M11 near Stansted airport for an early morning coffee last week at about 7am and I guess its a central shift briefing point for motorway police.
As we went in there were several standing in a semi-circle as the top cop of the day gave them their instructions. Trousers in boots, stab-proof vest, grey crew-cut, all manner of objects hanging from his belt. Very Macho Marine looking.
We passed by just as he said 'okay everyone, that's it. Now I'm off for some yum-yums'.
YUM YUMS? Next we saw of him he was queuing for a full english breakfast!

Mind you we stopped once at the services near Luton airport and there were two police officers there with guns on their belts. An everyday sight in the US but at UKmotorway services?
Guess I prefer yum-yums!

Can't think of a quote for today as the batteries are fading in my keyboard so this has taken an age.
Off to buy new ones NOW.

Garage Sales

2006-09-25T19:37:00.000+01:00

Back with my nose to the grindstone after a few days away in St Neots. Cambs though I did take the laptop and I did work all day sunday. (she smiles beatifically)
I've always said that I must live near the sea (always have done) but Cambs is a nice county with lots of rivers. Would that do for water I ask myself.... hmmm. Not sure.
But it is nice and peaceful there. Maybe maybe. We've spent so much time there lately it almost feels like home!
While there we had a garage sale to dispose of some of my late brothers belongings.
How hard is that to do? He was only 63 but his wife had died some years ago and they had no children so what to do with all the ornaments/books/photos/collections?
As well as my own accumulated stuff (I am a hoarder) I still have a lot of the sentimental things from when my mother died a couple of years ago.
If I add too much of my brothers then everything in the loft will crash down through the house and we'll all expire under the weight of crockery and photographs!
Anyway, back to the garage sale. Now what an experience for a writer? such characterisation assistance!
The first there, half an hour early were a retired couple in a brand spanking new people carrier. They quibbled over every pound and went away laden. He was wearing a three piece suit in nearly 80 degree of heat and sported a full set of whiskers.
Then the man with the labrador. He walked into the crowded garage (big garage admittedly) with dog on lead and then said that it bites! Now did it bite? or was that his way of getting a clear path to the bargains? As everyone backed away he could view the CD's in peace.
Then the woman who also looked at the CD's and announced that her husband loved Irish music. Excitedly she phoned him on his mobile and he drove over. He salivated for about half an hour and then bought four at 50p each!
Great fun. Wish I didn't live on a main road with double yellows.... what a lazy way to have a clear out.
Next will be the charity shop. Very guilt inducing but it has made me re-think my hoarder streak!

Pleased to hear that Richard 'The Hamster' Hammond is recovering but worried that the BBC is now considering axing Top Gear. The naughty boys have been playing rough so nanny wants to take their toys away. Baaaad boys. I can think of far worse progs that should go but as I don't believe in negativity (unless its about Natwest bank) I won't say which!

Bought a James Patterson book in a charity shop while there. I do enjoy his books and wish I was just a fraction as prolific as he is. This week he's number one in both the hardback abd paperback charts. Must find out how he motivated himself.
Now I must try to motivate myself for an hour or so before bed!

PS. Please do excuse the typos I make. I can type but I'm not a typist so sometimes they slip through. Must try harder!

Quote for today........... If you can lay on the floor wthout holding on then you're not drunk.

Heroes and Books

2006-09-21T15:07:00.000+01:00

Two weeks ago I was upset by the untimely death of Crocodile Man Steve Irwin, today its the 'serious condition' of Richard Hammond from Top Gear, injured in a horrendous car crash.
Richard is another 'Boys Own' character, not quite as gung ho as Steve but definitely as exuberant and as passionate about his cars as Steve was about his crocs.
Never ever thought I'd become a Top Gear fan but I have.
We so need these characters......
My other fave eccentric is of course Keith Richards. The day he fell out of the coconut tree I was feeling really fed up then suddenly everything was okay again. it wasn't that he fell (I'm not that mean) it was the fact that he was up there in the first place! Bless.....

I'm about to go and buy The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Lots of hype and lots of good reviews. Anyone out there read it yet?
There's been talk of 'twins, madness and fire', which interests me as 'My Sisters' Keeper' (my book that out before Jodi Picoults of the same title Grrrrr) covered that as well. Must check it out.

Also on TBR

Last Rights by Barbara Nadel
Seventy Two Virgins by Boris Johnson (another 'Boys Own' character)

Recently read friends books that you should read, both v.good:

Murder in Steeple Martin by Lesley Cookman.
Passing Shadows by Della Galton.

My website is now updated so the current newsletter is there if you want to take a look or sign up for an emailed copy. I'm not that good at regular newletters but the blog will fill the gaps!

Off to watch the news to see how Richard 'the hamster' Hammond is doing.

Was going to blog about my spat with Natwest bank but I'll save that while I wait for them to apologise and while I search for a polite bank! Are there any any more??

Back to work!

Very apt quote for today.......

So much to do, so few people to do it for me!

Website newsletter

2006-09-18T19:11:00.000+01:00

Just passing by in haste to mention that my latest newsletter is now up on my website so do please take a look.

I'm still buried by the edits/rewrites of Past Chances but now at last it's turned the corner so I feel happy happy happy. I just love that feeling when it suddenly all comes together. It's nearly as good as typing those two wonderful words THE END.

Must give the book '500 reasons why I hate the office' by Malcolm Burgess a plug as a brilliant christmas gift for anyone who works in (surprise surprise) an office! Very funny and perceptive.
Malcolm B gave all the local authors so much support when he was Literary Development Officer in Essex that I have to give him a mention. Thanks Malcolm. How dare you write a good book AND leave??

The Camping Boys are home and HB is settling back into normality after a week in a teepee with no home conforts. brilliant fun apparently. Hmmmm I would sooner cut off my own arm and eat it raw than gut and cook a freshly caught, eyes wide open, mackerel. Yuk.

Short and sweet today but am listing all the books I've enjoyed recently in my head as well as taking note of the TBR pile. Oh and also books by friends. So more next time.

prayer for the day..

Oh Lord, if you can't make me thin, please make my friends fat.

Singapore, books and camping.

2006-09-16T15:40:00.000+01:00

I am just so impressed with myself! I've been tinkering around with this blog and doing things I didn't think I understood but I do. Sort of. I can see how this could become as compulsive as Minesweeper.

Writing news: I received an advance copy of 'Old Scores' my last book, in the large print version, published by Thorpe, which is also going to the US. Cover is completely different to the paperback but eye-catching nonetheless.
Covers are such a divisive issue. Different tastes etc. also as time goes on they can start ot get dated. But Hey! just another thing to stress over and stress is what keeps us going, yes? Oh and Titles. Titles are good for stressing also.
Memo to self. Learn to scan and upload then invite views.

I've had a week of concentrated writing (apart from blogging) while hb and his bro have been camping in Devon in a field. Well, slightly more than a field but not a lot......... Beware Devon. Mid-age boy-scouts with Swiss Army Knives and cooking pots at large. They are loving it but as you can guess, the whole camping and caravanning thing isn't for me although I would possibly consider touring in a thirty foot (at least) Winnebago with a jacuzzi, a plasma TV and real beds. And restaurant stops. That to me is the only acceptable face of camping but you're welcome to let me know ho wrong I am!
Mind you, I did compromise on a week in a log cabin in the New Forest last march. Brave huh? Shame about the relentless rain!

I had my last travelling moment in June when I went off to Singapore on a nostalgic return to where I was brought up. It was so long ago (no, I'm not saying) but although lots has changed some things are still the same. Have talked about it a little on my web newsletter which should be posted shortly. Met up with an old school friend whom I've always kept in touch with and she took me here there and everywhere.
I just loved it so much. Must go back soon.

While there I did a book signing at Borders and was also interviewed on Channel News Asia's breakfast prog. It was v. interesting at the time and the presenter was a brilliant 'leader' but then I saw the tape! Oh my. Who was that fat old woman with frizzy hair sitting in front of me all the time? Oh whoops. It's me!
And as for the photo of me with several Orang Utans at Singapore Zoo. Well! don't even go there.
But I compensated by going SHOPPING which also included a new suitcase to bring the stuff home. Great fun.

Next hol will be at the end of October if four adult family members can manage to agree a destination. Maybe I should tell daughters that if no decision is reached we're all going camping.....

But of course, first I have to get this book PAST CHANCES edited and gone so I am now going back to it.

fave quote: it's not the circumstances that matter, it's how you react to them

Books and Stingrays

2006-09-14T06:35:00.000+01:00

Thanks friends for the comments!

Up early today again to get on with editing my latest. I find editing so hard.
I really enjoy writing a book from from start to finish, rampaging enthusiastically along with my imagination, but when I have to be disciplined and focused I tend to wander off to all kinds of work displacement.
Like setting up a blog (!)
Surfing the net unsuccessfully for an eighties style shapeless jacket (to cover a multitude of over-eaten sins)
Trying to find a family holiday that suits everyone (impossible)
Catching up on out of date emails where the recipient will have long forgotten what they mailed me about.
I even considered clearing out the wardrobe but common sense got the better of me there so settled down in front of PC and....... bought more books from Amazon to add to my huge pile of books to be read. (TBR)

Nestling on the non-fiction pile:
Diary of a Girl In Changi, by Sheila Allen recommended by a friend because of my connection/interest with Singapore.
Fast and Louche by Jeremy Scott (also recommended) about the sixties and seventies.

For fiction there are the usual favourites and friends. I love books by author friends. Lists later.
Beware! Nepotism Rules here.

As well as being a book junkie I feel I should confess to also being a news addict. Newspapers, magazines, Sky News, CNN, Fox News. When on hols in Egypt I paid £5 for the Times and £3 for the Mail because I was going crazy with nothing to feed my habit.
I therefore will find it hard not to comment on various newsy news.

This week I've been avidly following the backlash(?) against stingrays following the death of Steve Irwin.
Now I just loved that guy, a real 'Boys Own' character, all Enid Blyton with his wide eyed 'Crikey', grazed knees and chubby thighs. You couldn't invent him without being accused of 1950's stereotyping!
I was so upset when I heard the news but cutting the tails off all stingrays in retaliation?

Now I know all too well that they're not the soft gentle floaty petting pets we're led to believe, I've been stung by one a great deal smaller than the one that did for Steve and it was agony, leading eventually to surgery!
I maybe could have swung that particular one around by its fat, vicious, venomous tail if I'd seen it again but random mutilation of them in their own environment because one did what it was designed to do?
Mind you, macho-man Texan fisherman who was watching the action when I was stung and reacting badly to the venom said he always cuts their tails off! Hmmmm.

Now I really am going get back to the edits but first listen to my Paul McKenna CD. He's promised to make me thin?? (not kept his promise so far)
Next time.... more on books.

I'm really getting into this blogging stuff so memo to self... do not be self indulgent.

Quote of the day.......

'I understand the concepts of cooking and cleaning, just not how they apply to me'.

Welcome to my blog

2006-09-13T16:06:00.000+01:00

Well, let's hope this works as it should do. This is my first blog and I'm carefully following a list of instructions (thank you Mandy), but if it all goes wrong then just bear with me.

I've promised myself to blog at least once a week to start with, maybe more if I get up to speed?

To save me doubling up on info, if you go to my website there is a pretty good outline of my life and books so far, I'll add more stuff as I go along but that's the background.

As the blog is brand new I know I'm talking to myself right now so I'll keep this short and return when I can just follow on.
How very exciting to be part of the big techno world that I usually seem to bypass!