Back to school – and exciting stuff!

Current work: Medical romance (Capri/Sorrento)
Listening to: Oasis
Reading: Kate Walker, The Good Greek Wife? (enjoyed – think this is one of my favourite of hers, and I loved the dog); Caroline Anderson, The Surgeon’s Miracle (I knew what this was about because she had lunch with me after a research trip and told me all about it… but it still made me bawl my eyes out. Really good read).

Back to school. Back to routine. I adore my children, but it’s nice to have headspace again and get back to routine. (And not to feel guilty about working.) My project list is up to date and stuck on the wall behind my monitor (where I can see it all the time), the Pocket Informant (time management/to do list) app on the iPad is up to date, and I know what I'm doing. And that's a nice place to start from.

Exciting stuff #1: today, the Mills & Boon New Voices competition goes live – hop over to http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/ to get all the details.

Exciting stuff #2 (well, for me, at any rate) – we have booked a research trip to Egypt. (I enjoyed putting that outline together. Whether my ed will like it is another matter... I might have to behave and toe the line on that one.) We’re staying in Luxor for a week, which means antiquities (especially Tutankhamen’s tomb and Karnak and the museums) and the Nile. Can’t wait. Apparently it's going to be hot (95 degrees) BUT it's a dry heat, so I should cope OK. And it's a v nice hotel with a pool overlooking the Nile. Apparently the sunsets from the restaurants are amazing. And I happen to know there's an excursion involving sunrise and a hot air balloon, and daughter and I are lobbying for this. (Am also lobbying for a day trip to Cairo, but that depends... if, as rumour has it, we leave at 5am and get back at 1am, that's a little too much.)

Apologies to those who have suffered my over-exuberance on FB about this particular matter. But if anyone has ‘must eat here’ or ‘don’t miss this’ tips, I am all ears. I am very, VERY excited about this as it’s joint top of my wish list of places to visit – the other one would’ve blown our budget big time, plus the troops balked at the ice hotel so I am going to have to do much persuasion over the next year. (Or, alternatively, go without my research crew. Think they might mutiny if I try that one, though.)

Exciting stuff #3: I had a bit of a skivy afternoon yesterday. ‘Time Team’ is apparently covering the Roman town at Caistor St Edmund early next year, and the dig is going on for the rest of the month. And it’s open to the public. My stepmum went the other week and said I’d love it. Given that I am planning an archaeologist heroine (yup, that’s the Egypt book), that was a research opportunity not to be missed. We were supposed to be going to the beach; I begged and the kids piled in on my side, so we had a teensy detour en route to the seaside. Fascinating stuff.