It’s been a while since my last post and for that I
apologise. I’m afraid life has rather got in the way of my writing since June.
However normal service has now been resumed.

There’s been a lot happening. For one thing, a quicker than
anticipated house sale resulted in me and the husband having to move four times
since early July. And then in September our daughter’s wedding took place. In
amongst all that the poor husband took ill and had to go into hospital. He’s
recovered now and started a new job. So I hope you get the picture – it’s been
a wee bit hectic.

Now, though, we’re settled in a lovely house – ours until at
least next spring. I’m loving living in the ‘big town’ – the main town on the
island, which is really a large village. But it has shops and restaurants and
pubs and a pool and all sorts… AND I can walk to work – no more 60 mile round
trip every day by car. Bliss! The old place was very beautiful – but also very
remote – and winters were difficult. So no regrets. Woman cannot live by view
alone.

So – writing – where am I at? Well – the children’s novel
requires only the last chapter to be written and that will be the first draft
ready to be left to simmer for a while. I must say on re-reading what I’ve
already written, I’m quietly chuffed with it. As for the second novel that I’m
writing for grown-ups, it’s two thirds written – first draft also. So that’s
the (very at this latitude) long winter evenings and gale-force, icy-blast
weekends taken care of until March.

As well as the above, I’ve got my eye on a couple of writing
competitions and I still write for the online magazine ‘Words with Jam’. The
magazine is doing amazingly well. It’s now available as a high quality paper
copy as well and carried a fabulous interview with JK Rowling a couple of
issues back. I basked in the reflected glory of that!

It’s funny – although I’ve not written for months, I still
feel like a writer. There’s been a mini-resurgence in interest around my first
novel ‘Change of Life’. Sales of both the paperback and Kindle versions have
experienced a bit of a flurry. And I’ve been getting positive feedback from new
readers. This is all very gratifying.

So you’ve been warned –
I’m back and so are the weekly posts.

Topics to look forward to include – ‘The Nomadic Life’,
‘Remote Living’, Northern Light’, ‘Status: Grandparent’, ‘Smartphones, Kindles
and 21^st Century Social Networks’ and in December some written
flickers of light for the year’s darkest days.

It’s good to be back.