Tuesday, March 30, 2010

research day

Current work: Revisions
Listening to: various – Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, and other indie/rock stuff to drive to (and no, I didn’t speed – not with cameras all down the A140 and A14)
Reading: Fiona Harper, Housekeeper’s Happy-Ever-After (enjoyed, though it made me cry and I had to go and hug my daughter because of the name of the heroine’s daughter – Fi’s dedication put a lump in my throat, too); Sarah Morgan, Sale Or Return Bride (again enjoyed)

Apologies for not posting yesterday. I was over the border in Suffolk, meeting a friend of a friend who works with stained glass. I had a WONDERFUL time – have answers to all my research questions, and can’t wait to get started. (But of course I have this book to revise and another to write before then… still, it’s pretty good as carrots go.) Oh, and he’d baked a cake for us (still warm – ohhh, I love being spoiled like this) AND made really nice, posh coffee. Lovely, lovely man, and he most definitely gets a public thanks in the book.

And then I met up with my friend for lunch – oh, all right, I’ll name-drop. Caroline Anderson, superstar Medicals author. Let’s just say that I wasn’t the one who scoffed tons of chocolate fudge cake. (Though I admit that I was the one who ate lots of ice cream – and very scrumptious it was, too.) And I had three different dogs making a fuss of me. I was interrogated when I got home. ‘Sniff, sniff… Oi, just WHO have you been cuddling when you should’ve been home sharing your chicken salad with me?’ Byron spent the rest of the evening giving me reproachful looks.

Apart from that, had a busy weekend – picked up tickets for Venice on Saturday (yay – it feels much more ‘real’ now) and had DH’s mum and her partner over on Sunday. Not much time to work, so need to make up for it this week.

Plans for today: guitar lesson (yet again, no proper practising because I simply haven’t had the time and I am dog tired) and then visit Dad. Having spoken to my stepmum last night, I have a fairly good idea of how it's going to be today, so I have a Maltesers bunny chilling nicely in the fridge. Small things make a difference.

11 comments:

Caroline said...

Sounds like you had a fun packed day yesterday. Hope you have a great holiday too. Luv Caroline x

Caroline said...

Me again being cheeky - but I've posted picci's of our wedding day on my blogsite if you would like to go see. Luv Caroline x

Scarlet Wilson said...

Lucky you! Love Caroline Anderson's books as much as I love yours.
And Caroline - lovely wedding pics, pink outfit is gorgeous

Caroline said...

I think we crossed in blog land Kate. Thanks for your lovely comments on my site. (And thanks Susan - we had a great day). Love Caroline x

Victoria Lamb said...

Lucky you, Kate! My research last week kinda blew my original opening out of the water, as it wold have been completely inaccurate historically. So I've been hors de combat this week, feverishly writing - rather than revising! - the opening 10,000 words of my Tudor historical.

Your research trip sounds far jollier (and rather less likely to have left you throwing out thousands of useless words). And now I've eaten far too much commiseratory chocolate, well ahead of Easter, and am feeling very blearh indeed. :(

Gotta see those pics, Caroline!

Lacey Devlin said...

It sounds like you had a lovely time and hugely deserved too! That doesn't stop me from being jealous though... I hope no malteser bunny was needed. (HUgs)

Kate Hardy said...

Caroline - I did, thanks - and the wedding pics are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

Kate Hardy said...

Susan - I love Caroline's books, too (and thanks for the compliment!). I can still remember the first time she rang me: picture one starstruck wet-behind-the-ears author squeaking, 'What, THE Caroline Anderson?' Cough. (In real life, she's lovely and hugely funny. We spend a lot of time laughing and being loud.)

Kate Hardy said...

Caroline - they were deserved :)

Kate Hardy said...

Jane - ouch on the research - mind you, better to know now than right at the end. Hugs on the chocolate-fest, but sometimes only chocolate will do.

And yes, it was a fab day. I haven't actually written any of this book yet, just bits of it in my head, so that's all fine.

Kate Hardy said...

Lacey - thank you, I had a wonderful time. (Did I mention that the cake was freshly baked and still warm? Blisssssss.)

Sadly, the Maltesers bunny was needed. But it did the job.