spooky and organised

Current work: TCVB
Listening to: various cello
Reading: Finished Jennifer Crusie, Charlie All Night (took me a while to get into it but enjoyed it)

Busy weekend. Sadly, although David Dane was very, very nice, his work is out of my price range – by rather a lot. As the saying goes, ‘When I’m a rich and famous author…’ (Wry smile: there are very few of those – they tend to hit the headlines precisely because they’re news.) So in the Easter holidays we’ll go visiting local galleries and exhibitions.

Anyway. Had a lovely meal out with friends on Saturday night (came home and Madam was in tears, missing her mummy – even though she adores our babysitter. This is one of the reasons we don’t go out without the kids very often). Spent the rest of the weekend working on nonfiction, including a field trip to find an ice age erratic. As DH put it, ‘So are we supposed to find a tiny piece of masonry or a few covered hillocks at the far side of a field?’ No, honey, today it’s a boulder. A large toad-shaped stone up a narrow track opposite said piece of masonry. (His face was a picture. Especially when he realised I was serious.) In the end, DH and son stayed in the car while Madam and I went in search of said stone. I didn’t tell her the tales behind it, but it was a very spooky footpath and I can see why the stories grew up. Then, completely unexpectedly, a deer broke cover, leapt across the track and bounded up the hill, about ten metres in front of us. And just ahead was said toad-shaped stone. You can definitely see one eye and the mouth, and it was covered in moss. And as I had my human ‘marker’ with me (ha… made a change from ‘stand next to the flood marker, honey’), I have a good pic for my book, putting the size of the stone into context.

Organised: I have a to-do list and I’m intending to whizz through that this morning, then hopefully put some serious work into the novel. Hopefully the list will keep me on track and stop me going off at research tangents…