the best kind of weekend

Current work: Gelati book revisions (all motivated and happy today)
Listening to: Daughtry
Reading: Ruth Wind, In the Midnight Rain (can’t remember who rec’d this to me – was definitely a fellow Harl author when I was saying what a fab writer Barbara Samuel is, and was tipped off that this is one of her best earlier ones – anyway, I really enjoyed it, and thank you for the rec)

After giving me the wonderful news that I’d sold my 46th Mills & Boon, my editor ordered me to have a glass of wine, chill out for the weekend and enjoy myself.

So that’s what I did. Chilled out.

Lots of reading, playing with the kids (uhhh – whose bright idea was it to buy Kinect Dance Central for daughter? Oh, yeah, mine – well, I am so middle-aged now that I loathe most of the music, so she bullied me into doing the two songs I don’ t mind so much on it… and one of them happened to be the hardest. Have rediscovered some muscles), and messing about on the piano.

Best bits:

• a lie-in on Saturday morning where I had a lightbulb moment about how to fix the big issue with the gelati book (I need to take out one scene but hadn’t worked out what could replace it. Now I have a pile of notes and draft conversations, yay)
• going out to dinner on Saturday night with DH, the kids, DH’s best friend and his wife. I was very good and chose salmon in sweet chilli sauce with vegetables (note, no carbs). (Oh, all right, and then I was really bad and had sticky toffee pudding and custard.)
• seeing two deer crossing the road right in front of us on the way home – beautiful animals
• breakfast with daughter in M&S on Sunday (well, hey, if you’re going to have a girly shop, you might as well go the whole hog and be totally decadent)
• girly shop with daughter (new Pandora bead to celebrate book sale; books for kids as they’ve both had commendations this week and son got A-star in his science tests, so in my view that merits a treat for working hard; Tempur pillow; oh, yeah, and a visit to a certain chocolate shop)

Today, have paid my tax bill, sorted out a couple of things re the family crisis (and am awaiting a further phone call, so might tidy my desk while I’m waiting as I’m not going to get the headspace to work). And then I’m not answering any more calls until after the school run – I’m working. I’m going to enjoy fixing my gelati book, along with the most brooding hero I’ve ever written. It’s nice to feel motivated to work – back to normal (or as normal as a writer gets, anyway, VBG).