Indian summer

Current work: revisions on Rome book
Listening to: Anna Nalick
Reading: Kristan Higgins, Too Good to be True (enjoyed very much, but especially Angus McFangus – inspired name for a Westie!)

Apologies for my absence last week. Got tempted away by a tall, dark and handsome man. (I’m not very good at resisting the suggestion of lunch out…) Anyway, he’s back to work this week and so am I; my ed has sent through the revisions, I’ve argued my case for a couple of points (ha, so my confidence is coming back, then), and I’ve also sorted out my accounts.

But what we really did a lot of was loafing, because it’s a real Indian summer here, with temperatures DOUBLE the average for this time of year. (Does this make up for August temps being half what they should’ve been? Perhaps.) I’m over at eHarlequin this morning, talking on the subject.

Anyway, DH decreed it was barbecue weather, and I decreed that we needed to be up early on Saturday to get a parking space at the seaside. Cue grumpy teen and grumpy teen-in-training protesting that they didn’t want to go. Overruled. Sulks on way.

And then they got out of the car and saw this. (Looks almost Mediterranean, with the sea that colour.)

We had a paddle and a stroll.


And I just love the patterns that light makes through the water. (Ha, you KNEW there was going to be an arty shot.)


Today, it’s back to normal. Nose to grindstone. I’ve printed off the book and my ed’s comments, my red pen is to hand, and I’m about to make another cup of proper coffee to wake me up (only downside to Indian summer = humid nights = not much sleep).

Tomorrow, it’s the M&B talk. You might still be able to squeeze in - call 01953 452319 or e-mail attleborough.lib@norfolk.gov.uk or myra.browne@norfolk.gov.uk to book a place.

Righty. The book beckons!

free book from M&B

Current work: admin day
Listening to: (trying not to get distracted by the piano in the dining room)
Reading: next on TBR


Busybusy here – a week full of school meetings, DH being home on holiday (aka painting the windows, as we are indeed having the promised Indian Summer – and that means constant interruptions for me), a very nice day yesterday having lunch out with one of my RNA friends (lots of talking about books, good company and good food - waves to Lizzie Lamb), finally working out where the new idea is going (thank you, Maggie Kingsley, for letting me bounce ideas off you), and… oh, it’s just busy.

So instead let me give you a link to something brilliant for anyone who wants to write M&B – a free e-book, giving seriously excellent tips on writing (including some from my mates Liz Fielding and Fiona Harper). And you know what? I learned a ton from the book, too! (Doesn't matter if I am playing with my 51st book - there's always something new to learn, and I also believe that new writers can teach experienced writers things, too. Sharing experiences can spark off all kinds of things.)




The book’s here – though please note it’s in epub format, so you’ll need Adobe digital editions to open it. (Or, if you’re using an iPad, the Bluefire app will sort it for you.)

Very best of luck to those entering New Voices.


If you’re in Norfolk, there’s still time to book a place on my workshop on Tuesday 4 October - call 01953 452319 or e-mail attleborough.lib@norfolk.gov.uk or myra.browne@norfolk.gov.uk.

the play’s the thing…

Current work: new book – beginnings and seeing where it takes me
Listening to: Del Amitri
Reading: next on TBR

The Madness of George III was absolutely excellent. Real roller-coaster stuff – you went from laughter (witty banter between George III and Pitt and some fairly pointed commentary on politics) through to shock (the bit where George was restrained and the entire cast was singing ‘Zadok the Priest’ – and the scene where the doctor prescribed ‘cupping’ – I had to cover my eyes) through to laughter again at the end. And there was some very sharp commentary in between – the equerry who double-dealt was promoted, and pointed out to the equerry who was kind during George’s illness (and wasn’t promoted at the end) that ‘a blind eye’ is the only thing that gets you forward in politics. (Deeply unjust, but it reflected the zeitgeist. We might think politics is corrupt, today, but it was much worse back in the 18th century.) And I loved the inclusion of a bit of King Lear.

Very, very well acted by the entire cast, but David Haig in particular was superb. If it’s touring near you, I’d really recommend getting tickets.

Dinner beforehand was also very nice; and the pudding was beautifully presented. The smartest ‘Eton Mess’ I’ve ever seen. (Foodie daughter thinks that the one at Delia’s has better meringue and a better proportion of strawberries. Bless.)

Today I’m a bit unfocused, mainly because I’m waiting to hear back from my editor – I know I should just get on with it, because it could be a while yet and I'm just wasting time being fidgety, but this is the bit I find really sticky. Big-time antsy. And I’ve realised that all the work I did yesterday has to be scrapped because the premise is completely wrong. So. Backup outline, because I think lovely ed will nix one or both outlines? Admin? Nerdy side projects 1 or 2? Sigh. Time to switch on the kitchen timer...

the best sort of weekend

Current work: experimenting with form (aka craft stuff)
Listening to: Bach
Reading: Kristan Higgins, The Next Best Thing (excellent – and was very shocked to realise that not only are her books written in first person (which usually puts me off as I like third person, dual viewpoint – lazy of me perhaps, as that’s what I tend to write), they’re written in present tense (which nearly always puts me off because I feel it makes the writing feel self-conscious). However, the characterisation is so strong and the storytelling’s so good that to me it reads like a third-person past tense - highly recommended).

Have some great news from lovely ed, yesterday: ‘The Ex Who Hired Her’ (aka the department store story) will be released in the US next April. Excellent.

She's planning to come back to me re the outlines next (aka I have a temporary reprieve from revisions, which was what I thought I might be doing this weekend). So today I really should be doing my backup outlines in case she hates them as much as I think she might. But the sun is shining and my head is saying, ‘Friday: day off, time to play’, so I’m experimenting with form. Writing outside my usual box will hopefully make my work a bit deeper.

I have an excellent weekend lined up (depending on what lovely ed says about outlines). Tonight, am going to the theatre with son. We're both really looking forward to it.


Tomorrow, am going shopping with daughter – mainly to pick up her new guitar book from the music shop, but I have a feeling I’m going to be strong-armed into a bookshop as well.

And then I think I need to sweet-talk DH as I have a real yearning for the sea...

elsewhere today

Current work: outlines
Listening to: various
Reading: David Nicholls, One Day (enjoying – don’t like the hero at all and think he needs to grow up, but the book is very true to the times and I’m enjoying a trip down memory lane, plus I like the heroine)

I’m over at the PHS today, talking books.

Sorry for lack of content on the blog this week. I overdid it a bit (!) last week, and this week I am a total zombie. A twitchy zombie, actually, because I’m waiting for my ed’s reaction – and I’m not very good at waiting. In the meantime, I’m playing with ideas. The two outlines I’ve already sent in this week might both get a rejection – one because it’s bending the rules, and one because it’s... um, bending the rules as well. So I need backup. Dear Muse, if I make cake, would you please come and party?

hummingbird

Current work: outlines
Listening to: various
Reading: Kristan Higgins, My One and Only (fabulous – made me have a lump in my throat in places – great characterisation); Annie West, Girl in the Bedouin Tent (enjoyed); Lynn Raye Harris, Strangers in the Desert (superb – she’s an autobuy author for me. Love her voice; has warmth as well as passion)

Had a lovely girly Saturday morning with daughter. Started with perfume (as I was down to about two squirts in my current bottle). I nearly, nearly bought a different one, but I did it the sensible way: try perfume, do rest of shopping and have a coffee, then see if I like the perfume’s drydown. Daughter declared that Cool Water was just about OK, but CK1 Shock had gone soapy and the vanilla component was sickly. So it was a another bottle of Addict for me. (Slight panic as Dior has changed the packaging, but very relieved to say that the perfume is that that lovely, non-sickly vanilla bomb.) We also bought new bedlinen and a couple of girly cushions for Madam’s room, and had a lovely bookshop browse (DH, if you’re reading this, please note that I didn’t buy anything for me and I am working through my TBR piles. Really).

And then it was a baking session, mainly because some of my Aussie mates (particularly Amy Andrews and Anna Cleary) have been tempting me with tales of Hummingbird Cake. I looked up a few recipes, but the one that really caught my eye was a BBC recipe (as well as the banana and pineapple, it included mango and passionfruit) and daughter agreed. The icing was a total disaster (first time I’ve ever had icing go runny on me – hmm, perhaps there was a reason why it said full-fat rather than low-fat cream cheese) but the cake was beautiful, very moist.

I did tinker a bit with the recipe – used walnut oil rather than sunflower, added a teaspoon of ground coriander to the cake, and swapped the orange zest for lime in the icing – and we’d definitely consider making it again. It’s very rich and filling, though (and I speak as someone who can be very greedy when it comes to cake). Next time we’ll experiment with it in muffin format. It all goes with the ‘Method Writing’ stuff – unless my ed nixes it…

Plan for today: practise the Mozart piece for lesson tomorrow; finish outline for Vienna book; and work on some other new stuff. I do like this stage of a book – it’s full of delicious possibilities.

lovely review

Current work: outline for new book
Listening to: Def Leppard
Reading: Fiona Harper, Swept Off her Stilettos (great fun)

Nice lazy afternoon yesterday, refilling the well. And then I had a really nice email from the reviews team at Romantic Times, telling me they’d given me four stars for Italian Doctor, No Strings Attached – and even nicer is what they said: ‘Overall, this is a wonderfully poignant tale of second chances. Readers follow the two characters in their quest for family and everlasting love. This excellent romance will touch your heart and have you shedding tears.’ Many thanks to Nas Dean for the lovely review. It's really nice when someone gets what you were trying to do. And it's gone some way to restoring my rather fragile confidence.

Today: outline for new book. I was going to do it on paper in the dining room, but that’s too close to the piano. However, my guitar lives behind my desk. Hmm. Distractions. Might have to work on the iPad on my bed, probably with a spaniel sneaked up there too…

finished!

Current work: just turned in a book :o)
Listening to: Def Leppard (ha)
Reading: next on TBR (choices, choices, choices…)

Delighted to say that I have finished #50 and sent it to my editor. Guitar lesson this morning; then did a last read-through and tinker on the Rome book before emailing it over.

And now what do I do?

Actually, I do have one of my infamous lists (and there are quite a few tasks on it), but I think I can give myself the rest of today off for a bit of well-refilling. Guitar this morning; so that’s the piano this afternoon before school run, and then a good book for the school run. Which to choose? I have a lot on my TBR pile (DH, if you’re reading this, just so you know I haven’t bought a book for myself for two whole weeks – and no, I’m not confessing what I bought before then!). Decisions, decisions…

I’ve been listening rather a lot to ‘Tonight’ and ‘Love’ (piano version), because they really fitted the book very well. Protests are emerging from the younger members of the family. So I think I might have to make myself a new playlist, too.

Have a nice day :o) It’s cloudy here, but it feels like the sun is shining, because I’m off deadline – whoo-hoo!

New Voices is live!

And the first entries are already in! (You can read them here.)

Whether you're primarily a reader or a writer, there'll be something on the website for you to enjoy.

Good luck to all the entrants!

New Voices update

Change of date and time for my workshop For anyone who's booked the workshop on Sept 13 - or who saw it advertised in the local paper - unfortunately, the librarian is poorly, so we've had to change the date.

The good news is that there's still time to go to my workshop before you enter New Voices (or, if you really can't wait, New Voices opens tomorrow! And there'll be lots to see every day over at www.romanceisnotdead.com)

Workshop revised details:
Date: Tuesday, October 4
Time: 2:30am - 4:00pm
Location: Attleborough Library, 31 Connaught Road, Attleborough, NR17 2BW

For more information or to book your FREE place, call 01953 452319 or e-mail attleborough.lib@norfolk.gov.uk or myra.browne@norfolk.gov.uk.

If you're not local to me and you're wondering if one of the M&B authors is running a workshop in your area, there's a list here on the New Voices website. Go check it out!

method writing

Current work: Rome Riva
Listening to: various
Reading: next on TBR

So on Tuesday I mentioned that I was having this baking session and having a go at doing two-tone icing, i.e. following in my heroine’s footsteps.

It was immensely messy, but it was also a lot of fun. First you put a teensy bit of food colouring in the disposable bag (because you will NOT be able to get the colour out of a reusable bag, and no matter how much you wash it, the bag will always look dirty), and then you spread it about so the entire bag has a thin layer of colour – which you can’t see when you hold the bag up, but you can once the buttercream is in.

Lesson from this: use a brush. Don’t be lazy and use your fingers. Getting the colour off your hand involves the use of hand scrub. (And when it’s dark purple… yeah. Hand scrub required.)

Anyway. Then you squeeze the icing through a star-shaped nozzle, and suddenly you get lovely violet edges to the icing. (This is daughter, using an icing bag for the very first time - and she did really well, bless her.)

And when you pipe a spiral onto your fairy cakes, it looks very pretty. Especially if you have lilac glitter sprinkles as well. (This is one of mine and I guess this is a wee bit showy-offy - but in my defence I haven't used an icing bag for nearly 20 years, and I haven't done two-tone icing before, so I was very pleased with the result.)

My ed will no doubt be asking quite how this counts as work. Aha. That depends on whether a certain scene survives in the book or not…

New voices workshop reminder

Just to remind anyone planning on entering the Mills & Boon New Voices contest that I'm doing a workshop next week. To celebrate the launch of the Mills & Boon New Voices 2011 writing competition, Mills & Boon are hosting a series of writing workshops for aspiring authors to learn the secrets of writing a successful Mills & Boon story.

Details of my workshop:

Date: Tuesday, September 13

Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm

Location: Attleborough Library, 31 Connaught Road, Attleborough, NR17 2BW

For more information or to book your FREE place, call 01953 452319 or e-mail attleborough.lib@norfolk.gov.uk or myra.browne@norfolk.gov.uk.

If you're not local to me and you're wondering if one of the M&B authors is running a workshop in your area, there's a list here on the New Voices website. Go check it out!

back to school...

Current work: Rome Riva
Listening to: various
Reading: next on TBR

… and there’s definitely that September ‘new term’ nip in the air. Hope they both have a great first day back. Littlest has the same teacher she had in Y3 and is very pleased about it; son knows most of his teachers and seems happy enough, so hopefully it'll stay that way.

Great guitar lesson yesterday – I’ve been writing a song all week (shh, don’t tell my ed) but I find actually writing down the syncopation really hard. (Yeah. I know, I should simplify it all down to crotchets and quavers and not mess about with dotted stuff and ties, but… it’s how I hear it in my head.) Anyway, Jim sorted it out for me. Amazingly, I wrote it in a sensible key for once; the last one was in C minor and was too high for me to sing, but I heard the guitar (very distorted electric) and the piano and the drum line in my head, and so it had to come out that way. This one is more of a cross between Neil Young (Harvest era) and Chris Martin. Just acoustic guitar, quite choppy. (It’s what Jim calls “whiny studenty stuff” – yup. Works for me *g*.)

Changing career? No, this is what I write just for me. It’s the antithesis of my books, too; so you get a sweet voice but, um, rather sharp lyrics. I guess it’s pressure-valve stuff. The tune’s quite catchy, though, and the kids have been walking round singing it. DH thought it was about him and was a bit stroppy about it – um, no, honey, it wasn’t about you, it was about a set of attitudes that annoys me. (Which he doesn’t have, thankfully. If I wrote a song about him, it’d be along the lines of “if you don’t stop channel-hopping I’m going to confiscate the remote control”. I know it’s a guy thing, but it drives me insane!)

Righty. School run for littlest, wait in for grocery delivery, school run for eldest (Y8 onwards start late on the very first day so the Y7s get a chance to settle in, which I think is a great idea, even though it means I get two school runs on the first day of a new academic year), and then it’s just me and my dawg. I’ll miss the kids hugely, but it’ll be nice to have headspace. I can’t write love scenes when they’re in the house, and I have various places in the current MS that just says “kissing and stuff here”. LOL. Am I the only one who’s that sad?

last day of school holidays...

Current work: Rome Riva
Listening to: various
Reading: next on TBR

… and, as son is having his mates over this afternoon, daughter is being dragooned into doing some research with me. Y’know Method Acting? Well, I think that’s my research style in writing. I’m always happier if I visit a place I want to write about, because I can soak up the atmosphere for myself; and the hero/heroine tends to share some of my interests. (Just as well I don’t write crime, innit? LOL.)

Anyway, as my current heroine makes cakes… actually, we’re really talking sugar-paste artistry, and I’m a bit challenged on the artistic front. I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler. (I do, however, make great cake.) So, y’know, cakes. Now, when you’re starting up a business, you won’t get enough work on large cakes at first to keep your cashflow going. So my heroine makes cupcakes as well… and that means icing. And that means the stuff that looks like a rose, preferably two-tone, and preferably with either lustre dust or glitter sugar.

And, with the planned Method Writing, that meant going to one of the shops on the ‘not allowed in without a responsible adult’ list, for supplies. (Daughter tried to claim she is responsible. Um. (a) not an adult, (b) encourages me to be bad. So I don’t think so…)

It’s the last day of the school holidays. Quite what the boys will think of the cakes… well, actually, they probably won’t even notice the icing. It’ll be that teenage boy thing of being a bottomless pit, and any food will do. But daughter and I will have fun with the research!

In the top 10!

Current work: Rome Riva
Listening to: various
Reading: next on TBR

Was absolutely THRILLED this morning to discover that A Moment on the Lips is in the top 10 best sellers on the M&B website. Thank you so much to the readers who’ve put me there. The last year has been tough, workwise – with all the emotional upheaval and struggle, my confidence has taken a major nosedive, and a couple of recent reviews have shredded a few layers of skin on top of that. So thank you for putting me in that slot. It’s really appreciated. And I hope you enjoy the story.

As for what I’m up to today: I’m over at the eHarlequin Medical Authors’ blog, talking about, um, cake.

publication day

Current work: Rome Riva
Listening to: various
Reading: The Return of the Stranger, Kate Walker (enjoyed very much – I was expecting it to be good, as it’s a retelling of Wuthering Heights and I happen to know that Kate is an expert on the Brontes. I think it’s one of my favourites of hers) – and yes, I know I shouldn’t have been writing, given my deadline, but this wasn’t something I could resist :o)

Today is the official publication day for Italian Doctor, No Strings Attached - in both the UK and the US! So I'm posting both covers for your delectation - and dashing back to my deadline.

elsewhere today - and celebrating a debut

Current work: Rome Riva
Listening to: various
Reading: (next on TBR)

Still time-squeezed (I have a deadline and term doesn’t start until Wednesday) so I’m going to point you to a different blog today – the RNA blog, which lists some of the September releases by RNA members. (Thank you, Freda, for your hard work in compiling it – it’s far from easy getting information from a bunch of authors, most of whom are in the world of their book or panicking about their deadline and don’t have a clue what day it is…)

I’m super-thrilled for two reasons: first of all, it’s my first UK release since March, and it’s felt like a very, very, VERY long dry spell; and secondly, it’s the official release of my friend Scarlet Wilson’s debut Medical Romance, “It Started With a Pregnancy”.

If I’d got myself organised, I would’ve sorted out a guest blog with her and posted it here and… oh, nuts. I have a million and one things to do today, and time is running away with me, so all I’ll say is just go and buy it because she’s lovely :o) (If you'd like to go and say "happy publication day", her blog is here, and her Facebook page is here.)

Have a nice day :o)

– if a picture paints a thousand words…

Current work: Rome Riva
Listening to: various
Reading: (next on TBR, but I did sneak in Michelle Styles’ “To Marry a Matchmaker” and really, really enjoyed it)

Am a bit time-squeezed, so am posting pics today instead of words. (Sunset in the back garden, Wells-next-the-Sea, and Dog in a trilby...)

New voices workshop!

Just to remind anyone planning on entering the Mills & Boon New Voices contest that I'm doing a workshop in two weeks' time.

To celebrate the launch of the Mills & Boon New Voices 2011 writing competition, Mills & Boon are hosting a series of writing workshops for aspiring authors to learn the secrets of writing a successful Mills & Boon story.

I will be leading a FREE writing workshop at:

Date: Tuesday, September 13
Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm
Location: Attleborough Library, 31 Connaught Road, Attleborough, NR17 2BW

For more information or to book a place, call 01953 452319 or e-mail attleborough.lib@norfolk.gov.uk or myra.browne@norfolk.gov.uk.

If you're not local to me and you're wondering if one of the M&B authors is running a workshop in your area, there's a list here on the New Voices website. Go check it out!

.

Vienna: a visit to Demel’s

My favourite café in Vienna was most definitely Demel’s. It’s one of the oldest cafés in Vienna and it’s incredibly welcoming. The staff are utterly lovely, the cake is wonderful (and so is the coffee), and the prices are really, really reasonable - not far off what I pay in M&S in Norwich.

The café itself is upstairs.

To get there, you have to go through the shop and past the kitchen, where you can see the staff making the cakes. (Everyone stands on the stairs taking photographs. No flash allowed or you’ll distract the staff. But it’s fascinating. Here they’re clearly making Sachertorte.)



And of course they’d be the ones to make a posh Lippizzaner cake.


Anyway. You choose your cake from the counter downstairs; they give you a blue ticket to give to your waitress upstairs. How do you possibly choose from such a wonderful selection?

I opted for Esterhazytorte (layers of almond sponge and hazelnut cream).



And of course a Wiener Melange (a cross between a cappuccino and a latte, pronounced mel-annj). Coffee and hot chocolate always come with a glass of cold water in Vienna. And if you have an 'ordinary' coffee, it comes with its own pot of whipped cream. (Proper whipped cream, too, not that vile sugar-filled stuff squirted from a can.)


And then, you just sit back and enjoy it.


You don’t have to have cake. Demel’s are also famous for their ice cream. And it’s beautifully presented.



Suffice it to say, we really enjoyed that particular visit! And that really sets the tone of Vienna for me. Lovely people, lovely food, beautiful surroundings and an ability to just chill out and enjoy life. We loved Vienna and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Vienna: a fiaker ride

On the Wednesday evening, we headed out to the Hofburg, where we took a fiaker (a traditional horse-drawn taxi) for a city tour. Fiakers were first licensed in 1693 (the name comes from the Rue de Fiacre in Paris, where they originated), and in the second half of the 19th century there were more than 1,000 in the city. (These are the horses who took us round.)

Chloe was very taken by the little hats the horses wear; our driver told us they were called zwlischen.

It was a very comfy ride, even over the cobbled streets.

So we went through the arch into the Hofburg.
And plenty of other tourists were doing the same.


Back through the arch towards Kohlmarkt.



And then pretty much the route we’d walked, two days before.

Vienna is undergoing quite a programme of restoration, so there are cranes everywhere.



Past Mozart’s house.


And the Stephansdom.


And then finally past the Altesuhr clock again, and back to the Hofburg.

Vienna: the Haus der Musik and Peterskirche

On the Wednesday, we visited the Haus der Musik. We really enjoyed ourselves playing with sound at all the different interactive exhibits. Clever software let you throw a dice eight times for flute and eight times for cello (each throw choosing a different musical phrase) so you could make your own waltz; you could also make your own CD (as Chloe did) and conduct the Vienna Philharmonic – Chloe did Hoffman’s ‘Can Can’ and I did Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Great fun! (The speed at which you conduct affects the speed of the orchestra playing – very, very cleverly done.)

Then we had a stroll round the main shopping area. Some of the street artists were amazing. We were very impressed by this man’s balance.

We bought a picture of Stephansdom from one of the street artists, then visited Peterskirche. This may have been built on the site of a Roman encampment (there are some ruins just outside the Spanish Riding School, opposite), and the building of the present church was begun in 1701 after the old church was burned down and then Vienna was hit by the plague. It was the first building in baroque Vienna to have a dome (and it’s oval – very unusual).

Very baroque inside.

The dome was lovely.

But the fully dressed and bejewelled skeleton in one of the chapels was a bit macabre! (It’s a Roman martyr from the catacombs and was dressed and placed here in 1733.)

special guest: Shirley Wells

I’m thrilled to introduce a special guest today – someone I’ve known for very a long time in the writing world (I think possibly before I became an M&B author, so we're talking at least 10 years), and whose books I really, really enjoy. Shirley Wells writes fantastic mysteries and I can never second-guess them. Her Jill and Max books are excellent, and she also has a new detective, Dylan Scott. I really enjoyed his first adventure, Presumed Dead; and I can hardly wait to read the second, Dead Silent, which is out right now.

Anyway – without further ado, let me hand you over to Shirley.

Thank you, Kate, for inviting me to your lovely blog. It’s especially wonderful to be here because I know I have something in common in everyone who visits: we all love your books. I’m not sure I have a favourite Kate Hardy book but A Christmas Knight is well up there. I cried all the way through that one.

I write mysteries and Kate writes romances but we’re both agreed on one thing. We have the best job in the world.

What do I love most about being a writer?

1/. There’s nothing better than having an editor praise your book to the hilt and offer you a contract and, better still, money for it. I love that feeling.

2/. Seeing the book’s cover for the first time. I’ve been lucky with mine and have only hated one. (I didn’t actually cry when I saw it, but I was very tight-lipped for several days.)

3/. Waking up in the morning and knowing that as I don’t have a proper job, it’s perfectly okay to enjoy an extra cup of coffee before getting to the desk.

4/. Being able to stare out of the window and claim I’m working.

5/. Basking in great reviews that lovely readers post on Goodreads and Amazon.

6/. Having a legitimate reason to need a shiny Mac, an iPad and iPhone, and to spend hours in stationery stores choosing pretty pens and notebooks.

Now, let me tell you what I don’t like about being a writer:

1/. Knowing the book has to be between 80-100,000 words and getting stuck at around 50,000 words.

2/. Getting an email from my lovely editor saying “The first lot of edits should be with you soon…” What?!? You mean it’s not perfect as it is?

3/. Writing a synopsis. I’ve never yet mastered the art of writing a synopsis that makes any kind of sense or that would entice anyone to read the book.

4/. Reading about writers who’ve knocked out 5,000 words before I’ve even put the coffee on. (Yes, I’m talking about you, Kate!)

5/. Realising that the amazingly cute puppy I introduced in chapter three has no valid reason for being in the book and must be sent to the delete folder.

6/. Promotion. Being a shy, retiring type, as a lot of writers are, I find it extremely difficult to tell the world I have a book out. Every time I mention it, I hear my mother saying “Stop showing off, Shirley!” So I won’t say a word about it.

Thank you so much for having me, Kate.

Having had several hundred short stories, ten serials and ten novels published, Shirley Wells is finally getting the hang of this writing lark. She’s lived in Orkney, Cyprus and the Cotswolds, and now lives in Lancashire where the Pennines, with their abundance of great places to hide bodies, provide the inspiration for her popular mystery novels. She shares her home with her husband, two dogs, two cats and any other stray animals that fancy being pampered. You can connect with Shirley via her website, Twitter or Facebook.

Her latest Dylan Scott mystery, DEAD SILENT, is available from Carina Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all good e-book retailers.

Not the best of days...

Blogger clearly hates me today as it's decided to eat my sidebar (and then stick it right underneath the blog... sigh).

Add to this doing the "back to school" shop (shoes, sob, shoes), and the fact that Byron decided to roll in something disgusting and now needs a bath - no, it's not the best of days.

And we have to do a second run at the "back to school" shop on Thursday, as M&S didn't have all the uniform I wanted in daughter's size, and John Lewis has a new trial system where you input your details onto a huge screen (24 inches at least) which is visible by any passer-by (and yes, I did complain, starting with "your staff are lovely and v helpful but your system is not at all secure and you need some kind of screen filter or change it to an iPad type application so people's details are not going to be compromised).

But on the plus side, Autoglass said the chip in my windscreen is a "minor pit" that won't crack or spread, so it doesn't need fixing. And I am getting more used to the electronic handbrake. (Pull on, push off, indeed - it's pull on and then push on some more! Yup, I got the "touch the footbrake to release the parking brake" message again. I swear it would add "you dozy mare" if it could.)

AND my latest box of paperbacks has just arrived, and the cover is even prettier in the flesh!

Hopefully the blog will behave itself tomorrow, as I have a special guest and I want to do her justice :)

Vienna: the Riesenrad

From the Belvedere, we walked to the S-bahn at Rennweg, and headed for the Prater (aka funfair where the Riesenrad is).

The Riesenrad was built in 1896 by Englishman Walter Bassett, and starred in both The Third Man and The Living Daylights. It’s nearly 65m high and the wheel itself has a diameter of almost 61m. It turns at the rate of 2.7 kmh and the ironwork weighs 430 tonnes.

Going up…


Looking at the middle...



Going over the top…

Looking out of the window…



At the amazing views…



Then it was back into Vienna central. We’d had a rather (!) large lunch, so dinner was just a snack at a very nice cafe (note the fairy lights on the right as well as the lovely chandelier).

In my case, strudel!




On the way back to our hotel, we noticed an art installation called ‘Yellow Fog’ by the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson – basically at dusk fog is created around the façade of the Verbund headquarters in Vienna. It was quite eerie when the horses and carriages came past.