Monica's Comments On Life

The best Mills & Boon Medical ever!

2008-03-24T13:55:00.002Z

Last week I read the best Mills & Boon Medical ever! In fact, I think it's the best Mills & Boon book I have read, ever! It's The Sheikh Surgeon's Proposal by Olivia Gates.

I've always loved Olivia's books, right from Doctors on the Frontline. I've got every single one and she keeps getting better with every book, but The Sheikh Surgeon's Proposal really blew me away.

I took it with me to a drop in clinic, where I knew I had an at least an hour's wait ahead of me. I was actually waiting much longer than that, so long that I finished the book and I pleased I was waiting so long because I wouldn't have been able to bear it if I'd had to put the book away.

Emergency doctor Jay Latimer, playboy surgeon Sheikh Malek Aal Hamdaan and the desert king fo Damhoor were so believe, so perfect, so captivating, so enthralling. I literally rushed through the pages, wanting to know what was going to happen next.

I love the fact that I often don't know where Olivia's characters are heading next. The twists and turns are fantastic and kept me on the edge of my seat! Jay was a brilliant heroine and Malek was, well, he was devine!

Olivia always stuns me with her vivid descriptions, and just the right mix of anxiety, urgency, adventure and emotion. This book certainly has all the elements of the Medical series tag lines - pulse raising romance and heart racing medical drama.

The Sheikh Surgeon's Proposal ticked all the boxes for me and I'm delighted to see that Olivia has five more sheikh books out! Yes, five!

Two are Medicals:
DESERT PRINCE, EXPECTANT MOTHER comes out in April 08 in the UK
THE DESERT SURGEON'S SECRET SON comes out in Nov 08

And three are with Silhouette Desire:
THE DESERT LORD'S BABY comes out in May 08
THE DESERT LORD'S BRIDE in July 08
THE DESERT KING in Sept 08

I already have a copy of Desert Prince, Expectant Mother which I intend to read this week!

geeky stuff

2008-03-08T19:11:00.002Z

Many years ago, when I was at school, I was never very good at exams. I used to study like mad and just manage to pass, so I used to get really annoyed with my friends who got really good results but weren't happy with them. But, just lately, I've found myself doing exactly the same!

I'm doing a couple of IT courses through The Open University. A week ago, I got my first assignment back for one of the courses - 88%. I should be happy with that, right? But I'm not. Why not? Because three of the questions were based around general study, following instructions and communicating with others studying the same course. I did well in those questions. But the fourth question was around technical stuff I'd learnt so far on the course. That question I didn't do so well in. So I find myself being annoyed that I didn't put enough effort into that one question.

Then today I get a third assignment from the other course back - 85%. Again, I should be happy, especially considering I was hoping to get about 75% for this assignment. The thing is, I got 94% and 91% for my two previous assignments but the third one was much harder. I had to write a whole lot of javascript code. I considered giving up many times, and there were a few tears as I sat at my desk despairing of ever finishing this assignment.

I did finish it and got more than I'd hoped for so why am I upset? Because it turns out that I missed the last question. I lost out on 12 marks. If I'd done that question I would have probably got over 90% again. So again I find myself annoyed for not checking that I'd answered every single question.

And on a completely unrelated topic, I'm typing this wearing a old pair of glasses with an old prescription in them, so you'll have to excuse any typos that I don't notice!

I got new glasses in December which were meant to have transitions lenses in them. Turns out they didn't so today I took them back in to get new transition lenses put in them. I have contact lenses but I don't get on with them (can't see my screen clearly enough with them in) but I put them in for a couple of hours so I didn't have to stand in the shop unable to see while they fixed my glasses. A little while ago I took my lenses out and popped my glasses on only to find I couldn't see a thing! I can see better without the glasses on! Not sure what has happened but that isn't my prescription in those glasses.

Which leaves me with a) glasses I can't see a thing out of, b) contact lenses that I can't see clearly enough with to work, and c) the glasses I am wearing now which have the old prescription in them.

So, after going to the dentist on Monday for a filling, I will be heading back to the optician to see what they have to say about my glasses before I go into work.

I really didn't need this. I have enough on with visits to the dentist (have to go back again soon to have a tooth pulled out which is bothering me a little) and doctor required without the added hassle of not being able to see clearly!

What I really need is some good news...please!

yay me!

2008-02-01T18:40:00.000Z

OK, so this post is going to be a little bit self congratulatory. Who am I kidding? It's going to be a lot self congratulatory!!!

Exam results are in. I passed!!!!!!! I thought they'd be posted online on Wednesday or Thursday so I checked every five minutes or so until I reached the stage where I was forcing myself to wait for an hour between each check. Then, after 5pm yesterday I gave up. I figured I'd just have to wait until today, when I knew they would definitely be up.

But just before I went to bed at 11.30pm last night, I logged in one final time and there they were! These were my best exam results ever!! And ever better, after 14 exams and two and a half years, I am finally done!! I am fully qualified!!! It's been hard studying and working full time.

It felt good last night!! My dh opened a bottle of champagne (at 11.30pm!) but I think he ended up drinking most of it because a) I was tired and b) I'd already had as much alcohol as I can take in one evening!

There is a second bottle of champagne in the fridge waiting to be opened tonight. My Mum sent it to me in November right after exams finished. Thank you Mum!

And (as if that wasn't enough!) I also had an Open University assignment returned this week. Guess what I got? Drum roll please.....91%!!!!! Not bad!!! Even better when you consider that I got 94% for the first assignment and there no exam at the end of this course. It's all marked on my assignments. It's looking good!!!

Hmmm, you may be getting the feeling I'm an eternal student! I promise you I am not. I did a six month journalism course when I finished high school back in, yikes, well, a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away....!) and that was it until I started on the long road to what I have finally achieved with these exam results. The OU stuff is something completely different. More for fun. Kind of geeky!

No news on the writing front. No, I tell a lie. I had a rejection letter from the Maass agency about 10 days ago but it's no biggie. The same ms is currently with another mega agent and I've still got a partial at Richmond. Plus I have a new project on the go.

happy new year!

2008-01-06T20:23:00.001Z

I'm a few days late but....Happy New Year!!! I've been busy enjoying the last few hazy days of the festive season. I don't mean I've been on holiday, I worked right through, but I've been taking it kinda easy! Tomorrow, normal service resumes at work!

So, here we are in 2008! I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. We went to see the fireworks at the London Eye! Some of them. We left home a little late and there were a few more people there than we expected, plus we took my route through the crowded streets instead of the dh's route and ended up getting stuck half way to where we wanted to be and on the wrong side of the river! Still, we were together with hundreds of thousands of others, in the pouring rain, drinking alcohol and smiling like lunatics!

The fireworks were pretty damned fabulous. I have the evidence on my phone. My new phone that my darling dh got me for Christmas! Of course, I have no idea how to operate it so he took the video and then sent it to friends because I also don't know how to do that!

So, New Year's Resolutions.....this year I went for things I know I'm going to do!

1) take my dh to a Thai restaurant for his birthday (we've talked about this for at least two years but never done it!)
2) go to the air show at RAF Fairford (can't wait!)
3) go to Regent's Park (something we've never done in five years living in central London!)

And now for the pie in the sky resolution:
4) buy an e book reader (I'm fascinated by these and would love to own love. Just think how much more reading I'd get in if I could read on the go!)

And now for the resolutions that I'm not going to share:
5) XXX XXX X XXXXXXXXX
6) XXXX XXX XXXXX

Hahahaha!

OK, so three weeks now until I get the results of my November exams. Nervous, moi? Absolutely! More nervous than ever before considering these were (hopefully) my last exams. I'm trying to fill my days with so many activities that I don't have time to think about impending exam results and I've booked the days the results might come off work so I'm not forced to look online for the results and share them with everyone before I am ready!

I hope you all have a fabulous 2008, and if it hasn't started out so well, I hope it gets better.

goodbye 2007

2007-12-30T22:12:00.000Z

There are less than 26 hours left of 2007. Now, 2007 hasn't been a particularly bad year (some ups, some downs) but I will be glad to see it end, mainly because a new year brings a sense of new beginnings.

The highlight of 2007 for me was seeing DJ Tiesto in Ibiza in August. And just so I didn't waste the last few days of the year, I posted a couple of submissions off to agents on Friday!

Shall head off to bed in a few hours (sleeping patterns are w-a-y out of kilter at the moment) and then be up for work a few hours after that, head into work for a morning of madness then head home again for a few hours before heading back into the city to get a spot to watch the fireworks on the Thames at midnight.

I love living in London! And, it's currently forecast to SNOW on Wednesday!!!!!

Here's to 2008 - may it be full of everything you want. I know I already have a few things planned for 2008. I'm going to put them on here in a day or two as someone I met once told me that once you share your plans with others, you work harder to make them happen.

I want 2008 to be full of good things for everyone I know! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

merry christmas!

2007-12-19T21:04:00.000Z

I'm spending a much deserved evening lying on the sofa doing nothing. In fact, I'm seriously considering going to bed. Life has been very busy with Christmas things (nights out, lunches, buying presents, arranging more nights out) which coupled with the fact that it's extremely cold mean all I want to do is curl up on the sofa with a duvet and pillow!

Everything I've wanted to buy seems to be unavailable. I searched many a Marks & Spencer for a particular Mrs Beeton's book before giving up and today I've been treking round London Tesco stores trying to find one that had Mousetrap in stock. They have a 3 for 2 special on games (and an extra 25% off!) so I wanted to get Mousetrap, Operation and Buckaroo. All the shops I went too either had none or Operation and Buckaroo but not Mousetrap. Of course, I could buy it from Argo but for almost the same cost as the three games from Tesco! It's essential that I get Mousetrap so I might have to reassess tomorrow.

Officialy, I'm working right up to Christmas and the few days between Christmas and New Year. Unoffically, I'm hoping for late starts, early finishes, casual clothes and plenty of time to catch up on some reading while I'm in the office.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

rejection letter

2007-12-07T19:55:00.000Z

The title says it all really. The US agent rejected my ms yesterday. I got a handwritten note explaining why and all that and that's really I have to say about it right now.

story ideas

2007-12-04T22:08:00.000Z

Hey, it's December! Christmas is coming! And I have another story idea demanding to be written! It came to me last night - just the opening scene and the final sentence, which leads onto another book! Oh boy! Practically no writing all year due to study pressures and then as soon as the final exams are over, three ideas pile in!

I'd love to be writing them but at the moment I'm struggling with just getting through the day and doing the necessary Christmas stuff that needs to be done each night so that Christmas Eve doesn't send me into a panic.

The other thing that's keeping me busy is visiting author sites to enter contests to win free books! Jessica Hart (www.jessicahart.co.uk) is giving away an advance copy of her first 2008 book, Liz Fielding (www.lizfielding.com) is giving a book away every day on her blog and Kate Walker (www.kate-walker.com) is too!

OK, back to the Christmas cards...

writing again!

2007-11-25T16:44:00.000Z

For a last few months, I've promised myself that, post exams, I would start writing again by Christmas.

Well, I've done it! An idea I've been playing with over the last 12 months or so suddenly started to fall into place in my head as I drifted off to sleep last night (how inconvenient!) and I've just finished putting it all into a word document. I was rather pleased to see I've got nearly 11,000 words already! They aren't entirely new words because a lot of what came to me was how some stuff I'd already written thinking they were different stories were all actually part of this one story that I need to write. I'd always intended to call it No Maternal Bones but the working title is actually The Baby Connection.

I've got a list of characters, I know what motivates the heroine and I know the point of the story but there's still a lot of blanks to fill in.

Some what annoyingly, another story idea is also grabbing me right now! I know much less about this story and only have 137 words written but it was something that I was fired up to write earlier this year but didn't because I realised I needed to focus on my studies.

So, now my exams are over and I have two stories demanding to be written! I'm hoping that is a sign that 2008 is going to be a fantastic writing year!

Sadly, I have to put the writing to one side for the rest of the day because I have other things I need to achieve before I go to bed: like making sure I've got work clothes sorted because I'm going back to work tomorrow after a two week break, like keeping an eye on the roast slowly cooking in the oven, like catching up with some reading. But, boy does it feel good to be writing again!

they think it's all over. it is now!

2007-11-24T17:32:00.000Z

Exams are over!!! I sat the last one yesterday. After two and a half years of studying constantly, I got up this morning and said "I've got nothing to do". What did I used to do with all my free time before I started studying for this qualification? Oh, that's right, I used to write!

Right now, I'm exhausted but give me another day of lounging around and I'll be back on top of things. Just as well as I'm due back at work on Monday.

Of course, I don't get my final results until February so technically I'm not fully qualified until then, and there's always a chance that I didn't do as well as I hope I did, but I'm not going to think about that. As far as I am concerned, I'm done. I'm qualified.

So, now it's onto the next thing. When I say I'm finished studying, that's not quite true. I am doing an Open University course but it doesn't involve exams and so far is proving enjoyable. It's more for my own benefit than work. I got my first assignment back on Thursday: 94% - so you can see why I might be feeling happy at the moment, what with exams being out of the way and all!

Now that I'm qualified, I need to decide what I want next out of my career. I have two choices. I can go on and do a Masters or I can go down the management course route. I have given myself next year to decide as I want to see how a few things pan out.

In the meantime, I have dozens of unread books to read that I've bought over the last two and a half years but haven't found the time to read, more books that I want to buy, and a new book to get writing!

I also have another roast to cook and yet another chocolate pudding to eat (all in the name of trying to find a chocolate pudding like the ones I remember from when I was little!).

And did I mention that it is freezing out? All I really want to do is curl up in bed!

podcasting

2007-11-19T17:18:00.000Z

I don't post for nearly a month and then, just like London buses, two come along at once! I'm excited! The roast is nearly done (just minutes away) and I did mean to use the cooking time to do my nearly final run through of my case study notes (tomorrow is the final run through) but instead I have spent it downloading podcasting software Juice and then searching the internet for podcasts! So far I have the Harlequin Author Spotlights, Chequered Flag Formula 1, Tiesto's club life, and Downing Street! I appreciate that some people's eyes may be glazing over and that some many have no idea what I am talking about but believe me, I am excited! I think I've turned into a tech geek! How did I miss podcasting? OK, I didn't miss it. My dh has been listening to podcasts for what seems like forever, but it just never grabbed me until today. No idea why. Oh, I know, study diversion! So, when exams are over, I have dozens of books to read and podcasts to listen to. Oh, and I'm going to start work on my next manuscript before Christmas plus I have another writing related project on the go that's super exciting!

Nine minutes until the roast is ready.

Did I mention that I have chocolate sponge pudding? The dh likes Christmas puddings, which I hate. Somehow we have at least eight Christmas puddings in the kitchen. So, being the grown up that I am, for each Christmas pudding in the trolley, I added a chocolate sponge just for me. So far, I have yet to find a chocolate pudding that tastes anything like the self saucing chocolate puddings I remember from my childhood. It's tough, but I'll keep trying.

Seven minutes...

yikes!

2007-11-19T15:42:00.000Z

I didn't realise I hadn't blogged in nearly a month! My only excuse is that I've had my head down, studying. Yeah, exams are looming. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon. But the good news is that these are the last set of exams (touch wood) so once they are over, they are over. And boy do I plan to celebrate at the weekend!

So, I've been studying. Test me. I know all about advanced project management (gnatt charts, business cases, project life cycles, six sigma, Prince2, networks, work breakdown stuctures), legal aspects (contract law, vitiating factors, alternative dispute resolution, the Sale of Goods Act, the Supply of Goods and Services Act, EU procurement directives, confidentiality, Freedom of Information Act) and I've done the analysis for the case study exam (PESTLE, SWOT, Porter, stakeholders) and, well, OK, I don't know it all but hopefully I know enough to pass! I won't feel bad if I don't pass because I know I have put in the work.

I've also been doing lots of other stuff like waiting. The US agent has had my ms for three weeks now and I've also had a partial at M&B in Richmond since the end of June.

I'll worry about them next week.

Today, I have cleaned like a mad woman. It's something I do when I'm meant to be studying! The only thing that surprised me about today's cleaning is that I've been home for 10 days and this is the first day I've used cleaning as a study diversion! So, the place is clean, there's a roast in the oven and I've only got a little bit of study scheduled to complete today because I figure it's a good idea to take it easy today and tomorrow.

The other thing I've been doing today is obssessively checking the internet for updates on the release of Amazon's Kindle, an e-booker reader which I desperately want! Sadly, it's only available in the US, as is the Sony PRS-505. No idea when the Kindle is being released in the UK yet but there are rumours the Sony one is being launched at the London Book Fair next year. I don't know if the general public can attend the book fair but if they can and the Sony PRS-505 is being launched there, I do everything in my power to ensure I am there.

Right now, I'm telling myself that I will buy either a Sony PRS-505 or Kindle next year as my present to myself for passing these exams and therefore being fully qualified. Results are due in early February. But I'm also toying with the idea of buying something else.

I have sooooo many books to read once my exams are over! I can't wait!

hello, hello, hello!

2007-10-25T18:52:00.000Z

Bet you all thought I forgot I had a blog! I promise I didn't. I've thought about posting on many occasions but just never actually sat down and did it.

Life has been full of ups and downs as usual - although I hasten to add that I'm making sure there are lots more ups in my life to help me get through the downs! I have a lot to be grateful for and I remind myself of this whenever I start to get down. Mostly, the downs are things I can't control and while I know I shouldn't stress about them, sometimes I just can't help myself. Chocolate helps! Lots of it! And doing "up" things.

Right now, I'm up to my neck in study. I have three exams in three and a half weeks. These are the final three exams of my graduate diploma. Fourteen exams in two and a half years, while working full time, and trying to write....hmmmm, I think I'm mad!

And the study doesn't end there! I've recently started an Open University course and the second one starts in February. I'm really enjoying my M150 (data, computing and information) course and the good thing is that it's assessed via assignment so NO MORE EXAMS!

I've also been on a life planning and career success course recently which means I have a plan (which I'm looking at right now!) of where I'd like to be in three months, six months, 12 months and three years from now. No surprises for guessing that having a book published is in there somewhere!! Along with things like learning Spanish.

I've also been to see Col Tim Collins give a talk. He gave the famous speech to his men on the eve of the Iraq war. I'm sure I remember several romance authors talking about how dashing Col Collins was at the time! In person, well, let's just say I was awestruck! His speech was just amazing. I came home and ordered a copy of his book.

Oh, and I'm thinking about writing! This weekend I've penciled in time to do a final run through of my ms before sending it off to the agent who requested it. Yes, I know that was ages ago and I promise you I haven't been pissing around. The agent specified it was not to turn up at her office until after October 29th so I'm posting it on October 29th.

And, looking back through my blog a few minutes ago, I realised my partial has been at M&B for four months now. Not that I'm going to stress about it. Exams are the only thing I have time for stressing about right now!

But I did promise the fantastically inspiring woman who presented the life planning and career success course that I would start writing something brand spanking new before Christmas, and that I'd email her to let her know I had done this.

One final word (or words): fingers crossed and best of luck to my fabulous CP who is sending her requested full into M&B. Go Sue!!!!!

agent update

2007-09-21T06:49:00.000Z

The agent liked what I did with the revisions on the partial and has now asked to see the complete ms! Yay! I was a little shocked to see the envelope waiting for me when I got home last night because I only posted the revised partial to the US last Monday and wasn't expecting to hear back until the end of October. I'll be printing out a copy later today so I can start going through it to double check one more time!

updates

2007-09-13T20:09:00.000Z

- Ms revised and posted to US agent on Monday.
- August exam result received today - I passed - 60% - yay!

busy!

2007-09-03T19:31:00.000Z

I'm bogged down in study and finishing my revisions for the US agent. My to do list is looking so scary that I'm almost at the point where I don't want to add anything else to it! But, on the plus side, I am almost over the cold I caught when we were on holiday and I LOVE being busy! I'm one of those sad people who work best when they're busy! And I have set aside special time for reading when I reach certain milestones on my to do list. For example, yesterday I ordered the new James Patterson book Double Cross which is out on Thursday. I should receive it Friday and I'll be desperate to read it asap so I've decided I can read it as soon as I've sent my revised ms off to the US.

the best holiday ever was followed by...

2007-08-29T20:57:00.000Z

...the crapiest day at work ever. But that was yesterday and I've moved on. Almost. OK, so I might still be a tiny bit annoyed.

But, moving on.

While we were away, I told my darling husband that I felt I needed to become more high maintenance. Where did this come from? I don't know. I've never been what I would call a girlie girl. I can be ready to go out in a matter of minutes. It's not that I don't care about my appearance. I do, but I've never been into all that girlie taking hours to get ready business and stressing about how I look. OK, maybe I do stress about how I look a bit but I am definitely not high maintenance!

Naturally, my darling husband was concerned by my statement and told me I was not to become high maintenance!

He can relax. I couldn't do high maintenance if I wanted to. I'd bore myself!

But this week I have managed to visit Boots to purchase a new (and expensive) skin care regime only to instead come away with enough free samplers to last a week at which time I have an appointment to see the skin care specialist to review my options. Now, that is high maintenance for me! And, as a side note, my skin is already feeling and looking better after just two "three minutes a day" sessions!

And today I went shopping and came home wearing a matching bracelet and necklace, which my darling husband looked at and said "is that your attempt at being high maintenance?". Then, having found out how much these items cost (£4 and £8 - ok, so not much but I liked them!) he practically fell on the floor laughing at me.

High maintenance I am not. I don't know why I would want to be. Maybe I was flirting with a mid life crisis. Or maybe I just needed to spend some money on myself to cheer myself up because some crappy things have left me feeling a little down.

Usually I would simply buy a book or some chocolate. OK, you got me there! I have bought a lot of chocolate in the last two days as well!

Whatever the reason, I am feeling happy right. Tired, and still suffering from the cold from hell, but happy.

the best holiday ever!

2007-08-26T20:12:00.001Z

I'm home again and I've had the BEST HOLIDAY EVER!!!! Aside from the fact that we both came home with stinking colds, that is. Apart from one trip to the supermarket to buy fresh fruit and veg, we've spent the last two days lying on the sofa watching videos or in bed sleeping, all the while coughing and blowing our noses! Nice!

But I don't care because I had the BEST HOLIDAY EVER!!!!!!

It truly was.

I am yet to feel sad that it is over. That will probably hit me on Tuesday morning when I head off to work, when reality takes over and I realise that I am suddenly back to being rushed off my feet at work every single second that I'm there, that I need to start studying again and that I need to finish my revisions.

But for now I'm sitting here listening to Dance Anthems on Radio 1 and a top tune from the best dj in the world, who I just happened to see on my holiday!!!! Thanks to my darling husband for booking the tickets!! Love ya!!

things to be happy about

2007-08-13T20:51:00.000Z

1) I'm going on holiday to sunny Spain on Friday!

2) I bought Swan Adamson's latest Little Black Dress, Memoirs are Made of This, today to take on holiday with me. It features the delightful Venus Gilroy from My Three Husbands. That and She'll Take it (by Mary Carter) are two of my favourite Little Black Dress books so far. Believe me, I have a lot of them! They're all brilliant!

3) I've eaten an obscene amount of chocolate today. Ok, so maybe I shouldn't be happy about that, I mean, I'm not exactly a perfect size, I'm somewhere between a UK 10 and 12 with jiggly thighs and bottom and a less than flat stomach but I don't care about dieting today, or pretty much any other day.

4) I have a tan! So what if it came out of a bottle and it's all streaky. I have a tan! I never tan. Never. Ever. Hence why this year I bought FAKE TAN. Tonight's application should fix the streaky bits. Maybe. I don't really care right now.

5) An agent who asked to see more of my ms when I sent her a query letter has just been in touch to ask for revisions! Thankfully, I understand exactly what she meant in her letter and know exactly what I'm going to do to fix it.

6) I have a fantastic husband who I love dearly!

interrupted revision

2007-08-01T10:20:00.000Z

I'm at home today revising for Friday's exam. At least, I should be revising. Normally, I go to the library. But then in the past I didn't have my own desk here at home. So, today I decided to stay at home and study. Big mistake. Firstly, it's sunny so I keep looking out the window and thinking about going outside to sit in the sun. Secondly, the husband works from home. He's been chatting away and has now just put the radio on, plus he arranged for the Tesco shopping to be delivered this afternoon because I'd be home to put all the shopping away. And finally, I keep distracting myself by going on Facebook, checking my email, reading the news. After the shopping has been delivered, I am going to either the library or the park so I can get on with some study and tomorrow I am getting up and going to the library.

i passed!

2007-07-31T20:38:00.000Z

May exam results turned up today (a whole day earlier than expected, sneaky people!) and I passed! That's right, I passed all three exams! One straight pass and two credits - some of my best exam results actually. I'm amazed, simply amazed. I was convinced I'd failed at least one, if not two. I felt sick this morning when a colleague who sat two of the three exams I did announced to the team that our exam results were out and she'd passed. Then the next person checked and announced he too had passed. I refused to check mine for ages, absolutely convinced I'd failed and everyone would feel sorry for me. But I passed and we duly went for a walk to buy celebratory donnuts! This is just the boost I need two days before my next exam!

i'm still here..

2007-07-22T15:02:00.000Z

I'm just very busy and thought it was about time I gave everyone a break from my moaning! Since I last blogged I've been on holiday to Bournemouth again (another fish and chip fest!), stressed terribly about the situation that I shouldn't stress about because I have no control over it, received a rejection letter from an agent (well, actually, what she did was scribble a few lines on the bottom of my letter and send it back to me!) and have been ill for the last two days. But, hey, the good times have outweighed the bad so I'm not complaining this time round!

I'm studying hard as I have an exam in just under two weeks and have also just given in and joined Facebook and Shelfari. After the exam (which, if anyone is interested is exam 11 of 14 so I am nearly there!) I'm off to Cambridgeshire for the weekend and have yet another trip planned to Bournemouth in mid-August, after which I shall have to start work on the courses for the November exams.

One of these days I might even fit some reading in! I swear I took a book to Bournemouth with me (the same book I took the last time we were there) but didn't find time to read it. Maybe when we go to Spain...

reference number

2007-07-05T19:07:00.000Z

I got my reference number in the post from M&B today. What? I forgot to mention that I posted a partial to Richmond on Monday? When my last submission to M&B got rejected back in February, the letter came with a comps slip to send something else in to the same editor. At the time I didn't think I had anything more to send so it got filed away until last week when I decided I did have something to send in. I dusted that comps slip off, printed my partial, wrote a letter, packaged it all up, posted it off and then immediately began to worry about all the flaws in the ms that I hadn't thought of until after I posted it! Oh well. If the editor sees something in my ms, she'll give me a chance to fix those flaws. If not, it wasn't meant to be. For now, that's another ms forgotten about as I have an exam in a little under a month which I need to focus on but I'm sure I'll be frantically worrying that a letter got lost in about 20 weeks!

a rubbish day

2007-07-04T20:10:00.000Z

Today was a rubbish day. It was full of gossip, speculation and bitching. I contributed to all of it and came home with a pounding head, wishing that I could come up with an excuse not to get out of bed for the next couple of days. I really wanna wake up and find this is all over. Note to self: stop stressing about things you can do nothing about. It is nearly over. Just a few more days...

This time in a week I will be getting ready for another trip to Bournemouth! The weather people say we only have one day of real summer weather left - July 15th. Guess where I will be on that day? Bournemouth. On the beach! Yay! Now that is something to look forward to.

Another thing to look forward to is the arrival of my copy of Lean Mean Thirteen, which I ordered from Amazon at the weekend and hope will arrive this Friday or Saturday.

And another thing to look forward to is reading all the gorgeous Little Black Dress books I have been buying even though I haven't had time to read them...and also all the other books I've yet to read. I'm tempted to post a list of them all on this blog but I'd probably be embarrassed because I've gone a little book buying mad while I've been studying. My excuse is that I'm not writing at the moment so I might as well take advantage of this and use the time to read, only I haven't managed to do that either!

So, there you have it, today sucked, tomorrow looks better! And if not tomorrow, then the next day or the day after that. There is light at the end of the tunnel after all!

Sorry for all my grumbling over recent months. I promise to try harder!

tiny steps

2007-06-28T19:39:00.000Z

An agent I sent a query to earlier in the week has replied saying my ms "sounds super" and to send it to her! I know it's only a tiny step but it's 100% better than a rejection letter so I'm happy! I'd be happier if there wasn't a postal strike tomorrow because that means there's no point taking my ms to the post office until Monday. Still, I can get it ready tomorrow.

Life is progressing steadily on all other fronts; every day this week has had it ups and downs.

ps: how much does it cost to send a letter from the US to the UK? I need to include a SAE with my ms. Thankfully I have US stamps from the days when I was submitting to Avalon. Back then I think it was about 80 cents. I just googled US to UK postage costs and I came up with a cost of nearly $4 to get a letter. Surely that can't be right?

time flies...

2007-06-24T17:03:00.000Z

I think the saying is time flies when you're having fun. I wish. I just realised how long it's been since I've blogged and unfortunately I can't say it's because I've been busy having fun. Time has flown. Life truly sucks.

Right now I'm lying on the sofa, dosed up on painkillers with a hotwater bottle on my neck/back/shoulder in an attempt to dull the pain I have been feeling all weekend. What I really wanted to be doing this weekend was reading Janet Evanovich's Lean Mean Thirteen but not a single one of the many bookshops I've visited since it's release date last week actually have it. I am now preparing to buy it from Amazon, which I don't do unless I absolutely have to for a reason I can't remember.

But that's not why life sucks. The little things are getting me down but only because I can't do a damned thing about the big thing that's making my life suck right now. My dh says I shouldn't stress about things I can't control. Knowing he is right, I have tried to live by this suggestion for the last few months and mostly I've got by. Sadly, that's not the case right now as the situation comes to a head.

Life hasn't been all bad though. Last weekend I visited my parents, and I'm sure other good things have happened which I've conveniently forgotten about now, which brings me to another thing. Can anyone recommend a good book for increasing your memory power? My dh says I need one! I've been looking on amazon but there are too many to choose from!

Oh, I just thought of another good thing - dh bought himself a new desk which is arriving tomorrow which means I get his! I will finally have a desk to put my laptop on instead of making space wherever I sit down...on the sofa, on the bed, on the beanbag. Yay!

And I do have rather a lot of very good books to read.

Now, if only this damned pain would go away...

bournemouth

2007-06-09T17:08:00.000Z

I'm back! The holiday went something like this:

day one - relaxing on the beach, catching up with friends, fish & chips for dinner.

day two - nine mile walk along beach (to Mudeford) to catch up with family, fish & chips for dinner.

day three - relaxing on the beach (tired out from yesterday's walk!), fish & chips for dinner.

day four - nine mile walk long beach in other direction (to Sandbanks/Poole) just for the hell of it, pasta for dinner because dh insisted I have something different.

day five - relaxing on beach, fish & chips for dinner.

And then yesterday it was back to work. Thankfully, it was a Friday so I read my emails, actioned a few important things and caught up with the gossip before coming home for two days off! And did I mention that it might also be time for a diet after all those meals of fish & chiips? Today I have existed on wholemeal bread rolls with rabbit food in them, which I don't particularly love but sometimes you gotta try to pretend you're being healthy!

We also watched an hour or so of day time television in the mornings while we were waking up and getting ready to go out for the day and...I watched something that gave me an idea for a book! Yippee! Now, if only I had the time to research and write it.

Time is against me given that I have another exam in eight weeks and only started lesson one of the course on Friday afternoon. However, the idea won't go away and I can't study all the time after work so I'm sure I can fit some writing time in somewhere!

In the meantime, tomorrow I'm going to send my current ms to another couple of agents.

But first, I must get some study done tonight and catch up with everyone's blogs!

phew!

2007-05-23T19:27:00.000Z

Exams are over. For now. I have another one coming up soon but I'm going to pretend that I don't right now because these have been the hardest exams I have ever sat and yesterday afternoon I was questioning my sanity!

Monday's exam was a disaster. I knew all the stuff and right now I can't even remember what went wrong. I just recall that I WAS NOT HAPPY.

Tuesday's was mildly better however I'm not convinced I will have passed. I expect I did OK in the case study (section A) but not so good in the second section so it all hinges on just how well I did in the first section. It will be close.

Today's exam went well. I'd be surprised if I failed.

The bits in between the exams were a nightmare. Sunday I stressed, Monday morning I stressed, Monday night I stressed, all night Monday I kept waking up with exam questions in my head, consequently I felt ill (and stressed!) all day Tuesday due to lack of sleep. Last night Daren convinced me to take a sleeping pill so I was actually refreshed and mildly chilled out this morning! And my brain has been so exhausted that I've been saying the weirdest things!

Anyway, it's over and there's no point stressing so these exams are now forgotten about until the start of August when the results are due.

So, back to writing.

I made it to the launch of Wannabe a Writer on Saturday. Just. I had been planning to see a friend who I haven't seen since her 21st birthday (many years ago!) afterwards but I was ill so crawled home to bed where I stayed until the thing that happened on Monday that I've forgotten about now!

The launch was fab! I chatted to Katie Fforde, Sarah Duncan and Maria McCarthy (all lovely ladies!) for a considerable amount of time before getting a copy of Wannabe a Writer, getting it signed by Jane Wenham-Jones and many of the contributors and then crawling home.

Now, as you may have gathered, I have been busy but even so I managed to find time to read the bits on finding an agent and, feeling inspired, emailed queries to four agents. Two have already responded with form rejections.

Anyway, it's back to work tomorrow. As previously mentioned, I have a very much muddled brain so I was kind of hoping to sit at my desk for two days doing very little while I recovered but I forgot that having had a week's annual leave and study leave and exam leave, I have a lot of work to catch up on that I promised people I would do this Thursday and Friday.

Still, it's a bank holiday weekend (yay!) and the following weekend we are off to Bournemouth to spend five days on the beach (yay!) so I can't complain too much...except for the fact that I have to start studying for the next exam next week...

the library is not a quiet place...

2007-05-18T13:10:00.000Z

As the company I work for is paying for me to study and wishes me to pass my exams, they gave me three days off this week to revise. So, each day I got up and went to the library where:
- I revised for 12 hours over three days
- I wrote 67 and a quarter pages of notes

I also aggravated my RSI, rediscovered my love of M&B Medicals and learnt that the library is not a quiet place.

On Wednesday afternoon on my second trip to the library that day, I struggled to study while teenaged school students hung around talking loudly, complaining that all the computers were busy and arguing with the security guard when he asked them to keep the noise down. I managed to revise an entire course and was pleasantly surprised at how much I remembered, and I decided to be at the library at opening time on Thursday and do my revising in one sitting rather than taking a lunch break mid way through.

On Thursday I was at the opening just after opening time....as were class after class after class of primary school children! Noisy, but no where near as bad as the teenagers. Another course was revised.

Today I was at the library just after opening time again but spent the first half hour texting a work colleague because I was a little bored with revising and struggled to get into it. I'd just got into it when it kicked off. I have no idea what it was about but a man started yelling at the top of his voice at the library staff and it went on for ages. Security was called and at several stages I'm sure everyone in the library expected the police to be called. About half an hour later the man calmed down and left. Despite the interruption, I revised by third and final course and came home to enjoy a little of the sunshine on the balcony.

Exams start on Monday afternoon.

I feel like I have done all I can. I know I've studied hard since January.

On the writing front, I received a rejection from the agent I sent Breaking the Rules to this afternoon. I'm a little down about it but this was the first time I'd ever queried an agent so rejections are to be expected.

I'm off to Borders in Charing Cross Road tomorrow to get a copy of Wannabe a Writer by Jane Wenham-Jones. Jane and several of the contributors to the book will be in store from 12-4pm. I had intended to take the book on holiday with me in two weeks but I have a feeling I'll be reading it either over the weekend or straight after exams so I can soak up any tips before sending my ms to another agent.

On a funny note, my Tesco clubcard statement turned up in the post today. They include a couple of vouchers for extra points; usually things like 20 points for spending more than £1 on bananas or 20 points for spending more than £10 on bread. Sometimes they get used. Sometimes they go in the bin. One of today's vouchers: 100 points for buying any M&B! I am definitely not going to have a problem using that! Am already waiting impatiently for June to buy Kelly Hunter's next Modern Extra.

exam stress...

2007-05-09T20:32:00.000Z

This time in two weeks I will be a complete, utter mess. I will have sat three three hour exams in three days and will probably be lying on the sofa sleeping having eaten fish and chips for dinner followed by ice cream. I am sooooo looking forward to these exams being over.

I know I always worry I won't pass but this time, I'm really worried! These exams are the first for the new syllabus. That means that, unlike previous exams, there aren't years worth of exam papers online which I can download, digest, review, analyse, study and compare.

Before past exams, I have gone through five or six old exam papers, learning what questions are always asked, what questions are unlikely to come up again - just generally getting a feel for what I'm about to face. This has helped me decide what areas I need to focus on (either weak points or strong areas that I know I can get really good marks on if the question comes up in section B).

This time round, there is one exemplar paper for each exam. I know the theory, I practice it almost every day, but these questions seem foreign to me and I have even less understanding of the sample answers.

This time round, I feel like I simply don't know enough.

It may be that I'm just putting too much pressure on myself. In previous years, I've sat two exams in May and two in November, a total of four a year. This year I am sitting seven exams.

It's damn hard to work a full day and then come home to study.

I'm not after pity. I'm just venting in the hope that it will make me feel better. I still have this weekend and three days official study leave next week, plus that weekend and then the commute to each exam during which I will be reviewing diagrams and the like one final time in the hope that something will stick.

I know this stuff. I do it every day. I will pass my exams. I will. I will. I will.

men!

2007-05-07T18:17:00.000Z

Let me start by saying I am petrified of spiders. Petrified of them. I know they are small (at least some of them are) and are probably more scared of me than I am of them blah, blah, blah but I am petrified of them all the same.

So, imagine my horror when I look up from my study early this afternoon to see a HUGE spider on the top of the shelves.

I mentioned this to my husband who usually removes such things from our house for me and he duly wheeled his chair over to the shelves to remove the thing, or so I thought. However, this time round he flicked the thing at me.

After much screaming, being chased around the house and tears, yes lots of tears, my darling husband (who was almost wetting himself with laughter while I had tears streaming down my face) admitted it was PLASTIC.

He is truly horrible.

congratulations nell!

2007-05-01T06:46:00.000Z

Huge congratulations to Nell Dixon for winning the RNA Romance Prize at the Savoy on Friday with her book Marrying Max!!!!!!

A friend pointed out I hadn't updated my blog for a while, which is mainly because I'm not writing just at the moment. I'm studying frantically for exams! I have exams on May 21st, 22nd and 23rd and currently have a week off from work which I took with the intention of studying hard. I am studying but I am also doing other things like relaxing, enjoying the sunshine, catching up with the housework which tends to get forgotten when I'm writing or studying, and spending time with my husband.

Sadly, I haven't done any writing since sending my partial off to an agent at the end of March. I was feeling fine about it until I looked at the first chapter of one of my mss this morning and decided I wanted to send it somewhere! I must be patient and not send anything until I hear back from this agent.

I have promised myself some writing time straight after exams, but it will only be brief as the next exam is on August 3rd.

But I promise you I am reading your blogs on an almost daily basis!

little black dress books

2007-04-03T20:57:00.000Z

Thanks to Amanda for pointing out on her blog that Little Black Dress books are buy one get one free (BOGOF) at Tesco! I got four on my way home tonight. Just don't mention it to my husband since I still have four other LBD books that I haven't had time to read yet. I will get round to reading them all eventually.

And does anyone from New Zealand know if Friday the 13th is also known as Black Friday? I'm sure all Friday the 13th's are called Black Friday in NZ. I assumed it was the same here but my husband just looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned it tonight.

sent!

2007-03-29T21:43:00.000Z

Well, I finally did it. I finished polishing up Rules one last time and emailed a query to an agent tonight. This is the first time I've queried an agent so I'm a little bit nervous!

The good thing is that I'm finally happy with Rules so I don't plan on going back and continually tweaking it anymore. At least, not unless I get a full request and then I'll obviously have to give it another run through! So, with Rules out of the way, I'm free to move onto No Maternal Instinct and also study.

Study took a back seat this week while I completed Rules but it's top of my list for April and May, after catching up with my sleep first!

getting closer!

2007-03-28T22:29:00.000Z

I'm getting closer to finishing Rules. I have just 20 more pages to polish up. Of course, they have been polished twice before. This is the final, final, final polish before I start querying agents.

Today, I spent my lunch hour in Starbucks, sitting at a table with a hot chocolate and a piece of lemon victoria sponge, red pen in hand polishing the previous few chapters. I felt like JK Rowling!

I would desperately like to finish Rules tonight but it is just after 11.30pm and my dh has just pointed out that I have to go to work tomorrow. I've been tired all week because I've been up late every night either working or writing.

Roll on the weekend, and Easter! And the end of May because then my three exams will be over and I'll be going on holiday!

In the meantime, roll on tomorrow lunchtime when I'll be looking for somewhere to sit quietly with my final 20 pages.

hello world!

2007-03-26T19:54:00.000Z

It's nearly 9pm. I've just got home from a work related course, which I went to straight from work. I've still got to eat my dinner and I have a thousand very important and non-writing related things to do but...here I am, sitting on the sofa having logged onto my laptop because something very exciting happened as I was sitting the number 4 bus on the way to my course today. The opening paragraph for No Maternal Instinct came to me! I just have to get it into a word doc before I do another thing! This ms has been brewing away in my mind forever. I still don't know the plot but at least I finally have my opening. This is going to be one of those mss where I just write and then piece it all together at the end. Boy, am I excited! But don't panic, I haven't forgotten about finishing Rules. I have printed the final chapters and will start going through them with a red pen during my lunch break tomorrow. Just gotta get this opening down while it's in my head - and while dinner is still cooking!

nearly there!

2007-03-25T22:18:00.000Z

I didn't get Rules completely finished this weekend but I. AM. NEARLY. THERE! I edited 17 chapters this weekend and I am happy with them. I'm on the final stretch. I couldn't do any more over the weekend because I still have to limit my computer time because of the headaches. I'm going on a work related course tomorrow night after work but hope to get Rules sorted by Wednesday.

a good day!

2007-03-21T20:57:00.000Z

I had good news today that I can't blog about - but I wanted to mention it anyway because it seems like I only blog about being ill or feeling down about my writing most of the time. Today was a good day! There was the good news, plus the headaches I've been suffering from lately seem to have just about gone (touch wood) possibly due to all the changes I've made to my usual working habits, including dramatically reducing the amount of time spent writing on my laptop in the evenings. On the writing front, I am nearly finished revising Rules again (I will get it done this weekend) and I'm also dying to start a new ms that has been brewing in my head forever! I'm off to study for a short while before heading to bed.

yippie!

2007-03-17T20:35:00.000Z

Yippie because it's the start of the Formula 1 season tomorrow! Actually, in six and a half hours, since it's in Melbourne, Australia. I'm toying with the idea of setting the alarm for 3am so I can watch it! Sundays are just not the same without a couple of hours of F1.

It's been an odd week. I'm having eye sight problems, which has meant raging headaches and spending as little time as possible in front of a computer - difficult when sitting in front of a computer is what I do from 9am-5pm week days. I'm booked in for an eye test on Monday morning so hopefully things will settle down when the new glasses (I know I'm going to need new glasses...) arrive.

And I also tried very hard to break my wrist during the week. Not hard enough, thankfully. My wrist is bruised and hurting but not significantly so.

The up side of all this is that I've got plenty of study done this week. My eyes, it seems, are able to cope with everything other than staring at a computer screen. Also been reading My Three Husbands by Swan Adamson, which is hiliarious!

famous people

2007-03-11T20:11:00.000Z

Which famous person, dead or alive, would you most like to meet and why?

I'd been pondering over my answer to this question - it's one from the magazine that I mentioned on Friday - for ages so switched on my laptop so I could email a few friends to ask their advice. Sally was on MSN so I asked her and as she was writing back to me, I came up with my answer...

Sir Peter Blake!

It's a wonder I didn't think of him instantly considering I have an inspirational quote from Sir Peter Blake's last diary entry before he was killed on my desk:

"To win, you have to believe you can do it, you have to be passionate about it, you have to really "want" the result -- even if this means years of work, the hardest part of any big project is to begin, we have begun, we are underway, we have a passion." Sir Peter Blake, Tuesday December 4, 2001

Who would you like most to meet and why?

exciting news!

2007-03-09T20:51:00.000Z

I've had a pretty cool day!

I'm going to be in a magazine! Of course, it's a purchasing magazine so it's probably not that exciting to anyone but me...and my manager! I got the phone call about 4.30pm today. It all has to be run passed our corporate affairs people first but I'm going to work on it this weekend just in case they give it the green light.

It's nothing flash - just a piece for a people & jobs page where they have a half page Q&A with someone in the industry each issue.

In other news, I made a bit of a fool of myself today! I went to a very important meeting where a police chief inspector was giving an update on an issue - and yes I am delibrately being vague about where and what this meeting was!

As we were sitting waiting for the meeting to start, I browsed through the agenda then leaned over to my colleague and said in a loud excited schoolgirl-ish voice "the chief inspector is going to be here". My colleague pointed to the person sitting directly in front of him, who turned around and grinned at me...the chief inspector himself!

Opps!

Then another colleague and I had a giggle after the meeting when, as we were collecting our coats from the cloakroom, we spotted the chief inspector's hat... Ah, women can be so childish sometimes!

Tomorrow should also be pretty cool. I'm going to an RNA meeting where I'll meet Jessica Hart for the first time, which is pretty cool because I've been working on her website for about 18 months and we've only spoken on the phone once. The rest is done via email.

And since the meeting's location is near Oxford St, first I shall be visiting Books Etc - which is like my idea of heaven! - and will probably spend an hour or so in the Starbucks inside Books Etc doing some study - less cool but important.

feeling flat

2007-03-06T20:30:00.000Z

I'm feeling strangely flat tonight. I'm not sure why. I had a great day at work and came home to a perfect night of tv viewing and also had the added delight of finding my level 5 graduate diploma certificate in the post.

I'm quite proud of it! I've taken it out of its "please do not bend" envelope several times to stare at it. I'm even thinking of getting it framed. The institute has commissioned a frame company to produce frames with the institute name on them in gold lettering.

It may sound stupid but I'd like to get it framed. When I graduated from journalism college, I had that certificate framed (OK, probably my parents paid for it!) and I hung it on the wall in my office. These days that certificate is in a box in a filing cabinet at work but then a journalism certificate isn't really relevant to procurement!

This certificate won't be making it onto a wall at work because it's simply not the done thing in the team I work in. All going well, I'll have a certificate for the next level in September, which reminds me, I need to get studying!

The excitement of the certificate arriving was dulled somewhat by the arrival of an email from our landlord saying he needs to put the rent up. It's not a mega increase and wasn't unexpected given recent interest rate decisions, however it does mean that we are now at the very very very high end of the scale (OK, right at the top!) for a place like ours in this area.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to give moving some very serious consideration.

We've been here four years now and I like this place but it does have its faults - such as being like a sauna in summer and an ice box in winter! But a potential house move is something I could well do without right now seeing as how I seem to be back where I was in 2005; with an ill husband and the prospect of losing my job.

So, on that less than cheery note, I'm off to flick through my copy of Carole Blake's From Pitch to Publication, Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel, and Janet Evanovich's How I Write.

I expect things will seem rosier tomorrow. I certainly hope so.

woman appeals for egg donor on buses

2007-03-05T21:27:00.000Z

I'm not busy tonight, I'm just tired. But I'm still going to point you in the direction of another couple of websites:

Woman Appeals for Egg Donor on Buses
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6420111.stm
A 54-year-old woman and her husband are advertising for an egg donor on London buses in a last-ditch attempt to try to have a baby. Linda Weeks, from Maidstone, Kent, is spending £2,000 on the appeal, which will run for a month from 19 March. Mrs Weeks and her husband Richard got married in 1993, and the 50 adverts include a wedding day photo. "If we don't have any luck this time, then that will be the end for us," Mrs Weeks admitted. Her fertility clinic in London cannot continue to treat her after the age of 55, meaning she has just over a year left to find a donor.

You can read more about Linda Weeks' story on her blog:
http://infertilewoman.spaces.live.com/

And you can also learn more about the egg donor process here:
http://www.logancentre.co.uk/docs/donor1.htm

I don't know why but this is something that interests me. I've researched the process before and I like the idea of helping someone in this way. Have you done it or do you know someone who has?

things

2007-03-04T14:41:00.000Z

I had a manic week at work last week and have spent most of the weekend sleeping as a result. However, I am now curled up on my bean bag with a rug and a pillow, alternating between studying for an hour or so and writing for an hour or so. Shortly, I'll take a break so I put a roast on for dinner.

As I'm busy, I'll direct you to two fantastic sites:
Go to http://phillipa-ashley.com/blog to read about a cool competition Waterstones are running. I've got the Waterstones magazine and March's Cosmopolitan (much to my husband's amusement because he knows I do not normally buy magazines like that!) and am currently pondering over my entry.

And also visit http://www.jessicahart.co.uk/ for information on a Romantic Novelists' Association event on March 10th which I will be going to. I'd love to know if anyone else is going.

the hunt is on!

2007-02-25T22:34:00.000Z

The hunt for an agent has begun! I've spent a couple of hours on the internet tonight looking at the websites of Little Black Dress authors and a few other authors whose books I love reading looking for the names of their agents. Names found, I visited the agents websites and have been printing pages and taking notes. So far I have a list of seven agents, which is a good starting point.

But I have so many questions!

The first question...
Is it OK to submit to more than one agent at a time? Most of them seem to suggest that they won't read your query/proposal/first 10 pages if you've sent it to more than one agent at a time. Some say they'll get back to you in seven days/two weeks/eight weeks. If I was to send my query/proposal/first 10 pages to one agent at a time this could take a while!

The second question...
Do I mention this ms is with a publisher? I sent the first seven chapters into a publisher after a brief email conversation with an editor in September.

The third question...
Do I mention the ideas I have for other mss or that I have already completed a few other mss?

I'm sure I have other questions but that's enough for now!

rejection

2007-02-24T19:35:00.000Z

The title says it all really - I got a rejection letter in the post from M&B today. I knew it (well, a letter) was coming because I gave in to temptation yesterday and emailed the office to ask for an update on my ms since I sent it into them in September 2006 and got a reply saying a letter had been written the day before.

As rejections go, I guess it was one of the "good" ones because the editor said I have a lively contemporary voice and then went on to explain what didn't work about my ms for her. She also mentioned my past submissions and told me what I should focus on in my writing, and she also gave me a comps slip to send in with my next submission.

I'm not sure that there's going to be another submission. I feel like I'm back at a crossroads that I know I've been at before. I started submitting to M&B in June 2003. The same editor has read all of my submissions and every time she's sent me a rejection letter she's also sent me a comps slip asking me to send her something else.

My M&B history has gone like this:

June 2003 - sent in The Wrong Brother which got a revisions request on the partial followed by a full request but was eventually rejected in October 2003. I know, it all happened very fast! I still love this story and haven't given up on it just yet.

December 2003 - sent in Sea of Dreams which was rejected in March 2004.

March 2004 - sent in The Italian's City Bride which got a revisions request on the partial but was then rejected in October 2004. I definitely still love this one!

December 2004 - M&B asked to see The Wrong Brother again because I mentioned I'd revised it so I sent the revised full in. It was rejected in April 2005.

July 2005 - sent in Tarts Inc. All my previous submissions had been aimed at the M&B Tender line but an announcement about the line changing was made just before my last rejection and I didn't think my voice fitted the new direction so I decided to try something a little different. Tarts Inc was aimed at the new Modern Extra line. It got a revisions request and a full request but was eventually rejected in September 2006.

September 2006 - sent in Heaven Sent, which has just been rejected.

So why am I at a crossroads? The editor's advice in this rejection and the one before was to keep reading the current books as this gives the best idea of what they want. My problem? Apart from Kelly Hunter's books, I'm really not reading M&Bs much.

I do have one other submission that I could send in but it doesn't have any Modern X elements (those that read Modern X's will know what I mean by that!) and I have recently come to the conclusion that I'm not actually a Modern X writer because I don't feel comfortable writing those scenes!

Aside from that, I simply don't think I have any more M&B material in me. I have ideas but they're not M&B style.

I'm currently polishing up Rules - the seven first chapters of which are at Little Black Dress - with the intention of sending it to an agent or two. I have three previous mss which, having been left sitting for some time, I'm now keen to drag back out and polish up also with the intention of looking for an agent. I've got the baby idea and the allotment idea that have been running around in my head for many, many months, and I've got two partially written mss originally aimed at M&B that haven't been completed or sent anywhere that I could do something with, although they're not suitable for M&B anymore.

Don't think I'm looking for sympathy here because I'm not. I admit to feeling slightly offended by the content of my rejection letter and bemused at the same time (why keep sending me those comps slips when my writing clearly isn't going in the right direction for them?) but the underlying feeling here is that it's time for a change of direction.

As I said earlier, this isn't a new feeling. I was at this place when I was writing Tarts. I'd sent M&B the partial and while I waited to hear back the ms turn a look that I wasn't expecting - it wanted to be written in first person as a mainstream book - so I thought long and hard before deciding what to do when the full request came. In the end I wrote it as a M&B and it eventually got rejected. But it didn't die there because I went back to the beginning and finished the first person, mainstream version, which become known as Breaking the Rules.

I guess I'm putting everything I've got on Rules right now. Ultimately, if it doesn't go anywhere, I'm going to put the writing to one side until I've finished my masters in procurement.

Yes, you heard me right. Even though I still have seven exams to sit this year before I complete my graduate diploma, I've already decided that having finished it, I will go on and do my masters. Then I can be Monica Cole, MCIPS, MSc. Surely all those letters will make me feel good!

Right now, the only thing that could possibly make me feel better is chocolate so I'm off to eat lots of it!

700 words!

2007-02-12T22:10:00.000Z

I wrote 700 new words tonight! I know it's not a lot but it's a start and I'm happy with every single one of them because they form the foundation for my new chapter eight, which I need to write because I deleted the original chapter eight when I edited.

With a little luck I'll have this chapter finished by the end of the week. Then I'm going to print a copy of the entire ms and do another polish before I start hunting for an agent.

I forgot to mention something really cool earlier - Waterstones have a buy one get one free on Little Black Dress books this week!

catching up

2007-02-12T21:27:00.000Z

I'm bored with being sick. I think I might be well again. I didn't have any painkillers today, which is the first time for about two weeks. Or did I? I might have taken some first thing but none since. Fingers crossed I'm well again.

I did manage to get all the Spanish CDs last week. Have listened to the first two but probably didn't take much in because on both occassions I found myself drifting off into a conversation my current characters are having! Still, I'm not seriously learning Spanish right now. I just wanted to get those CDs since learning Spanish is on my list of things to do.

I spent most of the last week sleeping. When I wasn't sleeping I was either working or playing computer games! I got through all five rounds of the first CSI disk. Then at the weekend dh and I played a really cool game called The Ship. Unlike CSI, which is just me and the computer, The Ship is an online game so you're playing against other people.

The dh had talked about The Ship before but didn't think I was really into computer games. But after I got the CSI games he said the next time The Ship had a free weekend we could play and if I liked it, I could buy it. Of course, he wasn't expecting the free weekend to be the following weekend!

Because it was free to play, we played for hours and hour on Saturday and Sunday. I was rubbish at it but I loved it so I bought the game last night.

However, I'm not playing it tonight because I'm writing. Jane and Adam are demanding that I write a new chapter to replace the one I deleted and I'm happy to do so because they have worked out exactly what they want to say to each other.

I also started reading a LBD book today called She'll Take It. I can't remember the author's name right now, which is terrible of me but I'll report back on that later. All I'll say for now is that I'm loving it!

And I'm also thrilled to report that M&B author Kelly Hunter has been on my blog! Kelly, I loved Wife for a Week! It was the best M&B I've read in a long time. I still pick it up every now and then to have a flick through a page or two, and before I sent my last partial to Richmond in September I reread the entire book to remind myself of what I was aspiring too! So, of course I was going to love Priceless! I'm glad you didn't put it in the too risky bin because it was great. I love your voice. Can't wait for your next book.

Phew! I think I've covered everything.

i'm learning spanish

2007-02-05T20:32:00.000Z

I should be studying but instead I'm playing CSI and learning how to speak Spanish! At least, I would be if The Sun had delivered today's free CD to the WH Smith on Fleet St.

I admit to being a Sun reader - but only on Saturday's when I buy it for the TV Mag. Having been a journalist on a daily paper in a previous life (ie New Zealand) I used to buy The Sun when I first moved to the UK because I couldn't believe a newspaper would publish such stories!!!!

Then I got over the humour and only started buying it on Saturdays - for the TV Mag. We like Spain. I've been there twice. The dh has been there numerous times. Plus they speak Spanish in Cuba, which we visited last year. We intend to go back to Spain, many times. So after Cuba I decided I was going to learn to speak Spanish...after completing my graduate diploma at the end of this year.

Then in The Sun on Saturday they give away a Spanish language CD along with the promise of more each day for the coming week. All you have to do is take your voucher into WH Smith each day to exchange it.

I figure, what the heck. Let's learn a little Spanish now. Get a head start. I bought The Sun on my way to work today, filled in the voucher and headed to WH Smith on Fleet St at lunchtime only to find no CDs had been delivered. WH Smith said to complain to The Sun. Which I did.

The response? Collect all the vouchers this week and send them to the address listed to get the CDs. The cost? £4.50. But I don't want to pay £4.50, I replied. Not when I should be able to get my CDs for free from WH Smith. The response? NOTHING.

I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow they'll deliver Monday and Tuesday's CDs. On the up side, I did get to listen to part of Saturday's CD as I made my way home from work tonight.

By May I should be able to speak some Spanish. Not sure how that will help with my exams though! I'll worry about that another day. Right now I'm off to help Sara Siddle from CSI with a tough arson case that kept me up until midnight last night!

it's my birthday!

2007-02-04T17:07:00.000Z

It's my birthday so I don't have to study today! Yay! I did actually go to the library for a couple of hours yesterday morning for an intensive session so I don't feel bad at all about slacking off today. We've been to Tesco and got a finest Indian meal for two for dinner tonight - my choice since it's my birthday! And the dh got me some computer games which he has just installed on my laptop so I'm off to play CSI!!!

jessica hart's new website

2007-02-03T20:24:00.000Z

Jessica Hart has a new website - http://www.jessicahart.co.uk/ - go check it out!

i passed!

2007-02-02T14:02:00.000Z

Exam results posted online today. Passed both. Hopefully now I'll be able to settle into study for May exams, which I need to enroll for on Monday. Have spent most of the day in bed so far. Planning to watch a couple of Harry Potter movies this afternoon. Will eat more ice cream for dinner and then go to bed.

sick

2007-02-01T19:18:00.000Z

The bug that has been chasing me for the last couple of weeks finally caught up with me this week. I am now officially ill and probably won't make it to work tomorrow. In the last three days I've probably been unbearable at work and have been through several packets of painkillers, a whole load of strepsils, drunk gallons of Night Nurse, eaten ice cream for dinner and filled the freezer with ice lollies. I've also done very little study but I'm too tired to be bothered about it right now. No exam results yet. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to do a little bit of work to make up for the guilty feeling I'll have when I don't go in tomorrow, I'll eat some more ice cream, drink more Night Nurse, have another ice lollie, watch an episode of CSI and fall asleep on the sofa. And spare a thought for my poor dh who is also ill with a slightly different bug than the one I've got - or at least it's affecting him differently to how it's affecting me - because he's got to put up with me being at home tomorrow! Of course, I may wake up tomorrow feeling 100% fit and go into work. Here's hoping!

study

2007-01-28T20:04:00.000Z

Why, oh why, am I not better organised? I seem to revel in leaving things until the last minute or agreeing to do a million things at once. I wish I was more organised! I also seem to revel in putting pressure on myself to reach unrealistic targets then I get stressed when I don't achieve them.

For example, I'm studying again now and I worked out I need to do four units a week in order to get through the full course before attending a related seminar at the end of February. It's the end of week one and I'm only part way through unit two. That means I have to study six units in the coming week...a week in which I have a day trip to Cambridge to see my sister one final time before she returns home to the other side of the world, I will be away all day Thursday as I'm working out of another office for the day, and I will also be stressing madly about my exam results which are due on either Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (I'm not organised enough to know exactly which day to expect them).

I know from experience that there is no point studying on Mondays because I'm tired after the first day of the working week. Note: I also know that this particular week is going to be frantic as I have back to back appointments in my diary all week.

I know that Tuesdays are out because I have something I have to do on Tuesdays.

I'd be freaking out if it wasn't for the fact that I should be able to get in a few hours study on the train on Wednesday!

I guess it's not going to be a writing week!

little black dress

2007-01-20T20:06:00.000Z

Asda are selling box sets of four Little Black Dress books for £5. I'm only telling everyone this because I already have mine! Got it this afternoon while on the way to Staples to look at office chairs. Of course, the only problem is that now I'm desperate to read them, especially Decent Exposure by Phillipa Ashley, when I really should be doing other things!

things

2007-01-20T10:18:00.000Z

Where to start? What to say? It's been so long since I blogged and I've been so busy! I'm also mindful of the fact that I haven't posted about Cuba yet. Nor have I emailed my patiently waiting family with details - although they have seen the holiday pix!

I've thought about blogging and have even logged in a couple of times but then I've sat here thinking "but I've got nothing interesting to say".

Quite simply, I've been busy just getting on with life. Work obviously takes up a fair chunk of my day. After work I've been putting the finishing touches on a new website I've created for a Harlequin Romance author, I've continued with the editing of Rules in preparation for a much hoped for full request from LBD (fingers crossed!), I've been ice skating at Somerset House (I won free tickets!) and I've been catching up with family.

I've also watched the first four hours of series six of 24, tried to fight off a cold that was desperate to knock me out for a few days, read Kelly Hunter's Priceless (fantastic!) and generally not had enough sleep because I've been staying up too late.

What I haven't managed to do is study. I know, I know, I should be studying by now because I'm intending to sit three exams in May. However, I've been waiting for work to approve my study sponsorship agreement so I don't have to pay for it all myself. But in desperation I did order the course book for one of my courses on Thursday, expecting it to arrive yesterday so I could start studying this weekend. It didn't arrive so that's my excuse for not studying this weekend.

Instead, I'll be working hard to put the finishing touches on the author's website, continuing with more editing of Rules and visiting Staples to buy a new office chair for my husband. The studying begins on Monday.

i'm writing again!

2007-01-02T00:55:00.000Z

I've edited two whole chapters of Rules today! It feels good. Thinking back, I realised I haven't done any writing since late September when I sent the partial of Rules, the partial of The Husband Hunt and the full of Sea of Dreams into various editors. I had exactly a month until exams so I studied hard. Then after exams we went on holiday. After the holiday was Christmas. And now here I am. Chapters nine and ten are duly edited. Of course, we won't mention chapter eight which I've skipped over for now because it needs a complete rewrite. Get the rest polished up and then go back - that's my plan.

Tomorrow I'm going sale shopping!

one month and three days later...

2006-12-30T14:51:00.000Z

We have broadband! Yippee! I can finally get on the internet and check my emails again from home! It only took one month and three days longer than it should. Now I am going to take great delight in writing to BT to let them know how I found the returning customer experience.

And I ended the writing year with a rejection from DCT for Sea of Dreams. Nevermind. I still have two partials out there and thanks to Janet Evanovich's How I Write (which I read in Cuba) I have a plan for 2007 which I intend to start working on as soon as I've had a long soak in a tub full of bubbles. I might even drink a glass of bubbles too!

2007 is going to be a busy year - I have seven exams to sit as well as writing and working full time. Bring it on!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

happy new year!

2006-12-29T13:35:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone! Blogging from work again because we still don't have broadband at home... It's gone past annoying. We are beginning to think we'll never have broadband again. Our provider says they are at the mercy of BT. Still, I don't need broadband to write so I'm going to use my time over the next four days to begin editing the rest of Rules. Hopefully I'll also get around to writing about the holiday as well. All going well (ie IF our broadband starts working) I'll post about Cuba next week.

merry christmas!

2006-12-22T12:16:00.000Z

Back from Cuba. However, in their usual style, BT managed to completely mess up moving my phone line back from my old provider so I haven't been able to blog because I didn't have a phone for several days and now I have a phone but no broadband. Grrrr! Once it's all resolved I am definitely going to send them a letter telling them how I didn't really get the impression that they wanted my business. Of course, all this wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that my husband works from home. No phone, no internet, no work - and one very grumpy and bored husband. Not good after he's already taken more than two weeks off work to go to Cuba, which was fantastic, by the way! Will blog all about after I get back from where I'm heading for Christmas. Merry Christmas!

cuba!

2006-11-26T22:30:00.000Z

Checking in one last time before a) our broadband is disconnected and b) we go to Cuba!

The broadband is being switched off tomorrow. Won't have new broadband until a few days before Christmas. Leaving home on Wednesday straight after work to go to the airport to take advantage of twilight check in. Staying in a hotel at the airport overnight and flying early Thursday morning. Back in the UK on December 15th - but as I said, won't have broadband for a few days. I promise to post as soon as I can!

Really, really, really looking forward to Cuba.

A little exhausted right now though. Exams really took it out of me and I've had so much to do since (and still have to do) right up until Wednesday that I have hardly had time to think.

I had a really funny story to post about the vacuum cleaner (trust me, it's hilarious!) but I'm too tired to even think about it right now, other than remembering that I probably shouldn't tell it because it will show just how bad my housewife skills are!

Have three JD Robb books, Janet Evanovich's How I Write book and Kelly Hunter's latest Modern X to read while I'm away.

Fingers crossed I return to good news writing wise!

Happy festive season!

still here

2006-11-21T09:44:00.000Z

Still here. Just busy. Exam this afternoon. Another tomorrow. Holiday next week. So much to do before we go. Will catch up with everyone's blogs after tomorrow's exam.

phones

2006-11-11T09:29:00.000Z

This whole phone business is starting to get me down.

I got my new phone on Friday November 3rd. It wasn't as I expected it to be so I called customer services. They said take it to a shop.

I took it to a shop on Monday November 6th. They agreed it wasn't right but said to try to fix it myself (and risk breaking it) or send it back. So I called the company and arranged for a new one to be sent out and the old one taken back.

So the new one arrives on Tuesday November 7th. It has the same problem as the original one. I emailed customer services (because this time I wanted my question to go to someone technical rather than speaking to the first person to answer the phone).

On Friday November 10th I speak to a customer services person twice; he's read my email so the first call is just to understand what I'm talking about and the second call is after he's spoken to the technical people.

The result: they don't know the answer! They suggest it's either a change the manufacturer has made that they haven't been told about or the manufacturer is sending out faulty phones.

The answer: I have to send my phone in so the technical people can look at it! I received a replacement phone today (different from the one I am using so I have to get used to another phone for a few days) and I have to go to the Post Office on Monday to post my phone back. Thankfully they sent a prepaid special delivery envelope so I don't have to pay anything.

In fairness, they are being very helpful in resolving the problem but I'm getting sick of this. I didn't programme numbers into the second phone and I won't be programming them into the temporary phone which means it's effectively useless. I am almost tempted to say I don't want the phone and cancel my contract. Only that would mean I need to search for another phone. Grrrr!

Ok, enough grumbling. I'm off to do a little bit of study now.

Hopefully we are going to the Lord Mayor's fireworks display tonight. And hopefully that means picking up fish and chips for dinner on the way home!

the whole world is against me..

2006-11-07T21:57:00.000Z

...at least, it's felt like that today. I have lost count of the number of times I have said I would like my job a lot better if I didn't have to deal with people.

I didn't mean it. I love my job. I'm just really really really busy and had a second day full of meetings today which meant I had to clear two days of voicemail messages this afternoon and catch up with emails, which meant I didn't really get a lot of actual real work done. And with the end of the year fast approaching - and three weeks off before then - I'm feeling the pressure as I try to complete as many of my active projects as possible.

The last thing I need is people ringing me up constantly asking when the items I've ordered for them are going to arrive. I don't know and quite frankly I don't care. They will get here when they get here. Live with it.

In other news, I got a new phone (an MDA Pro) on Friday and had to have a courier collect it and exchange it for a replacement this afternoon, only to find the repalcement has the same issue as the original. Maybe it's meant to be like that but the customer services person I called on Friday said it wasn't, the people in the shop I visited on Monday said it wasn't and the customer services person I spoke to on Monday who arranged the exchange said it wasn't. So why is my replacement the same?

Then the Tesco man was late. When he finally called he told me he was standing in our carpark as he couldn't find us, so I popped out onto the balcony and...no Tesco man. He was in the carpark next door. He grumbled so much about how hard we were to find that I took the groceries off him in the foyer and brought them up stairs myself. I hasten to add that we have had groceries delivered by Tesco here for nearly four years and don't usually have this problem.

Grumble, grumble.

Thankfully, I have the day off tomorrow. Study leave. Will be going to the library first thing to get in a couple of hours of quality study.

Then again, I could really do with being at work so I can get some of that work done!

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. On Thursday morning, I'm going to work via the Cuban consulate as I need to get a tourist visa. Yay! And the holiday is fast approaching!

tag

2006-11-05T19:53:00.000Z

Yikes! It's been ages since I posted. Well, I did warn you that I was busy. Work is frantic and home is frantic too thanks to studying frantically for exams, which are now just two weeks away.

I looked around the place this morning and realised just how messy it is. This isn't a new thing. It's always messy but usually when I'm writing I take a break every now and then to clean, unless I'm really really inspired in which case I just write.

However, studying is a different matter, especially when combined with long frantic days at work. When I stop studying, all I want to do is watch tv and sleep. So I've studied, I've caught up on a load of tv and I've let the dust bunnies grow.

OK, I did sort of clean this weekend. But in the end I just gave up and decided that I will give the place a super clean after exams so that we have a nice clean place to come back to after the holiday.

Although in the back of my mind, what I'm actually hoping will happen is that I'll get a full request some time in the next two weeks. I'll have to put it to one side so I can keep revising but straight after my second exam I'm going to come home and spend every waking hour during the next week (aside from the ones at work!) editing so I can post my requested full off on the day before we go on holiday.

Not much time for cleaning if that happens!

So, anyway, I got tagged TWICE while I was off doing other things. Once by Christina and again by Phillipa. I admit that I'm cheating - I posted my five things on Phillipa's blog as requested and have now also copied it into this post to (hopefully) satisfy Christina.

At the risk of boring you, here at my five things:

1) I used to work as an asparagus picker in the summer in New Zealand when I was a student.

2) I had soooo many accidents that required stitches when I was really little that my mum swears my head would look like a baseball if I shaved my hair off!

3) I'm on a waiting list to get an allotment. I think it's been about two years now. The waiting list was about three years long when I put my name on it so I should get one soon!

4) I've interviewed two New Zealand prime ministers during my short career as a journalist.

5) Also during my career as a journalist, I did a story on a local blood bank needing donors urgently which featured several photos of me giving blood for the first time and explaining the process. Several months later when I went to the newspaper's general manager and asked for a pay rise, he asked me what I'd done to deserve it and I answered "I gave blood for my job". I got the pay rise!

A note from Sharon, the creator of People Collection (which seems to have originated this “Five Things…” list), says:

PLEASE LEAVE THE FOLLOWING IN ALL ‘PEOPLE COLLECTION’ POSTS:
Remember that it isn’t always the sensational stuff that writers are looking for, it can just as easily be something that you take for granted like having raised twins or knowing how to grow beetroot. Mind you, if you know how to fly a helicopter or have worked as a film extra, do feel free to let the rest of us know about it!

I tag Sadie, who can either answer on her own blog or post here.

Back sometime between now and the holiday!

win a copy of decent exposure

2006-10-22T16:51:00.000Z

I pinched this from Phillipa Ashley's blog:

NOW magazine are running a competition with Little Black Dress Books to win a copy of Decent Exposure and I’m In No Mood For Love. Visit the site here:
http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/competitions/?id=925

Naturally, I entered! I've been visiting the WH Smiths down the road from work and my local Asda repeatedly for several weeks trying to get my hands on a copy of Decent Exposure. If I don't win a copy in this competition, I'll order it from amazon to take to Cuba with me.

Off to watch this season's last F1 race.

Busy, busy, busy

2006-10-20T17:58:00.000Z

My only excuse for not blogging much this month is that I've been busy and as this is only going to get worse until November 22nd, I might not be here much. Please keep popping by just in case I realise a) I have something interesting to say and b) I have time to say it. In the meantime, get visiting my friend's blogs. Start with Amanda Ashby's brilliant post on TEAM MORELLI - http://amandaashby.blogspot.com/. I'm with Amanda on this one. Totally love the series. Think Ranger is hot but Morelli is something else!

In other news, no news from any of the publishers who have my mss, I'm watching (and loving) the new series of Robin Hood, and my copy of Janet Evanovich's How I Write has finally arrived.

christmas!

2006-10-11T20:26:00.000Z

Yes, folks, it's that time of year. The time of year when Christmas cards, wrapping paper and tinsel suddenly line the supermarket shelves!

Normally, I would ignore this because I'm very much a last minute person. I do my Christmas shopping in December. I also think about sending Christmas cards the week before Christmas. Last Christmas, I gave in and sent a Christmas email to my family and friends, promising them I'd be in touch more often this year. Have I? Nope. I had good intentions.

Anyway, on Sunday night as I was drifting off to sleep, it hit me. I'm tied up with work, exam preparation and actual exams for most of November. Then we're going on holiday. We arrive back on December 15th. One week before Christmas. Now that week is going to be very busy at work because of year end blah, blah, blah.

So for once I need to be organised. With that in mind, as I drifted to sleep I planned who I would send Christmas cards to and also thought about everyone I need to buy presents for and what I'll get them.

I transferred all this lovely information into my notepad on Monday. Then I Tuesday I set about trying to buy some of the listed presents. Well, money actually. New Zealand dollars to be precise, to tuck into parcels with chocolate! Only it appears that the Post Offices near my work don't stock NZ dollars. They can order them but I get no say in what size notes will turn up, which means I can't be sure that I'll get what I require for the four presents I'm planning.

It's enough to make a person give up and spend the money on herself. I hasten to add that I didn't and I haven't. I'll just trek to another part of the great city of London to get the cash.

My point here is that I've scared myself. It's October and I'm thinking about Christmas.

I'm also studying hard and not writing.

post book blues

2006-10-03T20:55:00.000Z

If there is such a thing as post book blues, then I'm suffering from it.

Last week, a friend emailed me to say how nice it was reading my blog because I sounded so upbeat. I was upbeat because I had a plan - sending Heaven to M&B, Rules to LBD and Sea to DCT. I achieved that plan and now I feel a little lost. The addrenalin rush is over and I'm just trying to get enough sleep every night to see me through very busy days at work.

Thankfully I have managed to find the willpower to do some study! Not as much as I should be doing but enough to stop me worrying constantly about this.

I think post book blues thing is why I'm so keen to start work on my next ms even though I know I've still got to finish polishing Rules and Heaven in case I get a full request. Being the leave everything until the last minute person that I am, I'm much more likely to leave them as they are and only do the polishing when (thinking positive here!) the full requests arrive. Hey, I work best with a deadline!

Just realised it's only EIGHT WEEKS until our holiday to Cuba! This revelation just hit me because I just remembered that October 5th is the deadline to pay the outstanding balance. I've just written myself a note reminding me to pay this tomorrow.

oh no!

2006-10-01T21:08:00.000Z

I promised myself I would study intensively for the next six weeks because I have exams on November 21st and 22nd. So what happens? A book that has been rattling around in my head for a month or two suddenly falls into place and I get a burning desire to start writing it! Unbelievable! I can't study every night, right? So I could write a few hundred words here and there. There's no pressure to get it done because I've only just sent a partial into M&B so that's got to go through the usual procedure (thinking positive here - full request, fingers crossed!) before I can send something else in. Study or write? Experience tells me I can't do both. Studying totally sucks the creativity out of me. And I do need to study because I want to pass these exams. But still, there's got to be some spare time for writing, right? I will make time. Marc and Amelia are demanding it. Well, Marc is. Amelia would be happy to stand back and wait for me to have more time. But Marc has a point to prove and he wants to do it now!

allotments

2006-10-01T11:11:00.000Z

I want an allotment!

This isn't new. This is an idea I fell in love with several years ago. Was it 2003 or 2004? I'm thinking it was 2004. Back then, I decided I wanted to write a book called Ladies Who Lunch about a group of women who share an allotment plot.

I've got their names and a fair amount of their stories worked out. The only thing I can't work out is how to start the story. So I've never started it. No, that's a lie, I've started it twice but I don't like either start.

And way back then I also put my name down on the waiting list for a plot at the local allotments, about five minutes walk from where I live. At the time I was told there was a three year waiting list. I think - but I'm not sure - that I might have given the lady my work number. Since I've changed jobs, I'm thinking I need to call and double check this.

What brought all this back into my mind was my husband. He wanted to order a book from Amazon last week. It was only £10 and he wanted to make the order up to whatever it was that is required to get free shipping. I should have said order me the Janet Evanovich book (How I Write) because I desperately want it but it's only available in the US and has a one to three week shipping wait so I said order me The Allotment Book by Andi Clevely.

Both books arrived yesterday. Well, actually the dh's book arrived on Friday but rather than ring the bell, our postie just left a card in our box saying we weren't home. Which we were. Very annoying. But mine turned up at 8am yesterday and straight after that I went to the sorting center and picked up Daren's.

Then I came home and went back to bed and read the entire book. OK, so I was in bed until some time in the afternoon but I figure that's acceptable since I sent out three mss last week which meant very late nights.

Plan of action for today: ring allotment lady to double check she has my home number and ask how much longer she thinks I'll have to wait, go back to Asda to see if Phillipa Ashley's LBD is out yet (it wasn't yesterday when I looked), read last module of very exciting business course and watched episode two of series seven of CSI.

ps: I swear I posted yesterday. It was one of those celebrity look alike things. I've seen them on a few blogs but finally gave in and followed the link from Ally Blake's blog yesterday only to find that blogger doesn't like the html that I copied from the site. I have no idea how to fix it so the post shall no doubt always remain as a draft that only I can see!

famous faces

2006-09-30T20:32:00.000Z

I got this from Ally Blake's blog. Excuse the terrible photo of me! It's the only one I have scanned in.

still shattered

2006-09-29T19:58:00.000Z

I posted the partial of Heaven Sent to M&B on Thursday. They would have received it today. Yesterday I felt elated. I've sent three mss - two partials and one requested full - out this week. Today I just feel tired. I've been up until midnight almost every night for the last two weeks and then up early to go to work. Did I mention how tired I'm feeling?

Shattered might be a better word for it. I've been living on lucozade. I feel a very early night coming on tonight. I just need to stay awake for another hour so that I can go to bed and drift off listening to the psychic show on LBC (http://www.lbc.co.uk/default.asp).

With the writing out of the way, the next six weeks will be filled with study...and reading Phillipa Ashley's (http://phillipa-ashley.com/blog/) Little Black Dress book in October and Kelly Hunter's (http://www.kellyhunter.net/index.html) next M&B Modern Extra in November. I totally loved Kelly's first book - Wife for a Week. I've read it soooo many times!

paper cuts

2006-09-25T18:18:00.000Z

I got a paper cut yesterday when I was shuffling paper round during my editing of Sea of Dreams and then I got another one - a really nasty one that required a plaster to stop me bleeding all over my ms - this morning when I was packaging my mss ready for a trip to the post office.

Paper cuts are a hazard of writing. I always used to get them. Not so much recently since there's been a bit of a writing famine. But it made me wonder, do editors get paper cuts? I mean, they handle our mss. They must get paper cuts. Or do they read our mss with rubber gloves on their hands?

OK, silliness over. Rules and Sea were both posted today and so the waiting begins. I'm hoping to hear by Christmas but you never know - could be earlier or it could be longer.

Christmas will be here before I know it. This week I've got to concentrate on polishing up Heaven Sent for Modern Extra. Then I have six weeks of serious studying, followed by a week of freaking out about exams, a week freaking out about having so much work to do and then two weeks in Cuba! It'll only be one week until Christmas when we get back.

Let the countdown begin!

i wrote

2006-09-24T19:08:00.000Z

...and wrote and wrote. And now I'm on a high!

The first seven chapters of Breaking the Rules are printed, ready to go to Little Black Dress at lunch time tomorrow. Can I just say that I think this ms rocks? And I think my synopsis is pretty cool too!

And the full of Sea of Dreams is also printed and ready to go to DC Thomson tomorrow.

Phew!

I'm exhausted! Or at least I should be.

The obvious question is did I do any study this weekend? Nope. Not a dot. But then there's always next week.

This coming week is about editing Heaven Sent (previously referred to as Holly's ms or The Husband Hunt) as my fantastic cp has sent me a fantastic crit.

shattered

2006-09-21T20:20:00.000Z

I'm officially shattered. I figure I must be about to come down with something because I'm feeling very low and tired in general. When the alarm went on this morning I seriously considered not going to work. I did go but the brain failed to engage on several occasions which resulted in several hysterical laughter moments at work after I astounded my colleagues with my complete lack of an ability to function as a person.

The thing is I did actually leave work early yesterday because I had a killer headache. It was brought on by stress, in fact it started about five minutes after the stressful situation I was in yesterday resolved itself. So I came home, ate, slept for a few hours and then edited chapter five of Rules. I also swore at the laptop a couple of times because it seemed to be functioning as slowly as me.

I didn't sleep well and woke up this morning feel crap but not crap enough that I didn't go to work. I still had the headache although it was just there in the background until about 4pm when it started to kick in again.

So far tonight I have done absolutely nothing. I should be finishing chapter six of Rules but I don't think I can. It is not going to kill me to finish it over the weekend and post it on Monday.

But enough whinging. I had good news today! A full request from DC Thomson. Now, if you'd asked me last week after Tarts got rejected by M&B, I would have said I had nothing left out there. You see, I sent a partial of Sea of Dreams to DC Thomson on December 1st last year. They usually have a pretty quick turn around so when I didn't hear I just assumed it had been rejected and I hadn't got the letter.

But I was wrong! I got an email from the editor today apologising for the delay and saying she has read the partial and would like to see the rest. All I have to do is run through it with a red pen to shorten the word count and it will be ready to post on Monday.

I feel like the writing gods (if there are such a thing) are smiling on me at the moment. Tarts might have been rejected but I got a comps slip from M&B to send in with another submission which I'll polish up next week, Rules is just about ready to send into LBD and now I've got a full request for Sea of Dreams!

Now if only this headache would go away.

agent update

2006-09-19T20:00:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me with advice on the agent dilema. I have listened hard and done some serious thinking and while I tend to agree that finding an agent is a good idea, I am going to send BREAKING THE RULES directly to Little Black Dress. That's not to say that I won't go down the agent route in the future. Just not with this particular ms. Tonight I'm doing a final run through chapters one to four and chapter seven then I need to finish an assignment. I have a feeling it's going to be a late night! Tomorrow I'm rewriting chapters five and six. Thursday I'll run through them one final time and Friday I'm printing and going to the post office. Now that I've posted that on my blog, I'll have to stick to it!

agents

2006-09-17T17:43:00.000Z

So, I spent Friday night working on the first person version of Tarts Inc. I'm pleased to be able to report progress. LBD take the first 100 pages which is SEVEN chapters for me.

The first three chapters are as polished and ready to go as they ever will be. Chapter four is done but needs a polish. Five and six need rewriting but everything is there so that shouldn't take too long. And seven is done, done, done.

I'm thinking I can have this baby out the door by Friday. Which brings me to my next dilema - do I send it straight in or do I send it to agents first? I only "know" two LBD authors and both have agents.

There's also a second dilema in the background but it's only a small one - a name change. I'm so over Tarts Inc. It was the name for my Modern X version. This version is much funkier and I'd like a new name to go with it. So far all I've come up with are:
Breaking The Rules
Breaking All The Rules
Breaking Her Rules
The Rulebreaker
The Four Week Rule

Breaking All The Rules is the only real contender at this stage.

In other news, we visited a HUGE stationery store - Staples - today! For me, it was like being in heaven! As far as my husband was concerned, I was weird! I tried to explain to him that all writers like stationery but he just didn't get it. But in the end he did give in and let me buy more things for his desk that he actually needed. I didn't get anything for myself because I already have an overflow of surplus stationery in the house.

And I have also completed ONE assignment this weekend. Last night, in fact. Which means I am now only one assignment behind schedule. If this headache that is currently bothering me goes away, I will get that assignment done tonight and may even start on the next one.

It's going to be a busy week. It's our seventh wedding anniversary tomorrow so shan't be writing or studying! On Tuesday we'll be watching our weekly dose of Prison Break and the first two episodes of Spooks, which returns tonight. And on Wednesday we'll be watching the start of series two of The Unit. The rest of the week will be dedicated to study and writing, which I will, of course, be finding time for on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

POSTSCRIPT: Now I have another dilema. Is it the first 100 pages I'm meant to send in or is it the first three chapters? I've seen guidelines with both. I have the first three chapters ready to go. What to do?

hm&b rejection

2006-09-14T19:05:00.000Z

I came home tonight totally fired up to complete two assignments. But somehow I don't think I'm going to be studying tonight.

Instead, I'm sitting on the sofa with a rejection letter next to me. Yes, M&B rejected Tarts Inc. But it was one of those "good" rejections. I submitted my first ms to M&B in June 2003. Since then every single rejection letter I've received has been personal and I've always been sent a comps slips signed by the editor asking for me to send something new directly in to her. I've always been told comps slips are like gold dust.

I have another comps slip. That's the good part.

And it was another personal rejection letter - not a form rejection - so that's another good thing.

The editor said my premise was interesting and quite ambitious but the scenario was over complicated, and that there was a danger that the reader would not be able to identify with the heroine because they didn't get a clear sense of who she was because she was posing as somebody else.

However, my sensual tension is great and they look forward to hearing from me in the near future.

Hahahaha! The near future? I don't have another single thing that I can send them. I'm all M&B'd out.

OK, so maybe I'm not totally M&B'd out. I do have that ms I was freaking out about a few weeks back that I kind of like and haven't submitted anywhere but feel like it's missing something. I'll send it to my cp tonight along with an angsty email explaining what I don't like about it and see what she has to say.

And I do have a plot for a new M&B Modern Extra but it's many many many months away from being completed (or even started, for that matter) due to exams etc.

Anyway, the plus side is that I have a single person version of Tarts that I really enjoyed working on (unlike the M&B version which was like getting blood from a stone) and I'd talked to my cp about submitting it to Little Black Dress recently. Well, now I can. I'm kind of excited about that...at the same time as feeling a little sad that I've got yet another rejection letter.

peter brock

2006-09-08T20:44:00.000Z

I've just read the sad news that Peter Brock died earlier today in a rally crash. Most people probably don't know I'm a bit of a petrolhead. I watched Brocky in the Bathurst 1000 and Mobil 500 every year when I was a kid. I loved it! I even went to Wellington to watch the Mobil 500 one year. These days I'm more of a Formula 1 fan but reading about Brocky's death reminded me of those years. I feel sad for Australia. They've lost Brocky and Steve Irwin in the same week.

exam result

2006-09-08T19:53:00.000Z

Got the result of my July exam in the post today. I passed. Just. Still, it was still a pass. I shall celebrate by taking donnuts into the office on Monday. It was a bit of a wake up call though ie I need to start putting a bit more effort in for November's exams. I've only done one assignment so far. So shall be studying hard this weekend.

Visited baby Annie yesterday. Very pleased to say she's gorgeous but that I didn't have any maternal urges. Phew! I was worried! She must have known because she was very well behaved! So well behaved that I'm already planning my next visit.

technical difficulties

2006-09-06T19:41:00.000Z

I've been missing for a while due to technical difficulties. Not with my new laptop, I hasten to add. My husband's computer died over a week ago and he uses it for work (rather than just writing and study like me) I had to let him use my laptop.

He builds his own computers so I had several days of "bits" arriving last week and when they all arrived, the lounge turned into something resembling a bomb site. It's usually over in a couple of days but this time, come the Friday night, one of the new bits failed. So instead of having my laptop back to study all weekend, I had to find things to entertain a grumpy husband who used my laptop.

He offered to tidy up since he had to wait until Monday to order new stuff (arrival Tuesday) but I didn't think it was worth it. I regretted this last night when the groceries arrived and I didn't have anywhere to put anything!

Touch wood, it all appears to be working tonight and I have my laptop back!

I'm way behind on my study and I'm also inspired to start writing again thanks to Julie Cohen (www.julie-cohen.com).

And I've got a half day in the office tomorrow because I'm going to see my friend and baby Annie!

Argh!

2006-08-27T21:15:00.000Z

Writing is frustrating! Very frustrating. I read through The Husband Hunt last week and thought I'd worked out how I wanted to edit the first three chapters. So I copied the word doc and started playing with the cutting and pasting tonight. So far all I've managed to do is change it all and then and put it back to almost how it was before I started.

Now I've done a chapter breakdown and think I just need to switch two events around.

Well, technically that incorrect. As well as switching the two events around, I also need to go back and layer in lots more sexual tension. That is definitely missing.

However, I'm having a slight panic attack right about now. I'm thinking maybe I can't write and this ms is really just a pile of poo. I just logged into my gmail account and read an email that my first ever crit partner (hi Amanda!) sent me after reading the original first chapter for this ms. She liked it. Of course, that was quite some time ago because I did originally start work on this ms in 2004.

Maybe I should just make the two changes, switch the laptop off and come back to it again tomorrow to layer in the sex stuff and see how it seems.

Or maybe I just need to be ruthless and cut anything that seems rubbish. After all, it's only words and I can write more.

Of course, I'm also panicking because I should have done an assignment this weekend. I went to the library on Friday (day off) and Saturday so I have read through the lessons for assignment three and four. I just haven't finished assignment two. Maybe tomorrow.

Or maybe I just need to send my chapters to my current crit partner for some feedback. I assume she must have read through the three chapters last year before I sent them to a US publisher but I don't remember. However, I'm not sure she's around at the moment - school holidays and things.

As I said, ARGH!

Oh baby!

2006-08-24T19:27:00.000Z

My best friend had a baby today! A little girl - 6 pound 2 ounces. They've known for months that their baby was a little girl and we've been calling her by her name - Annie - for ages. I got the call just after 12 noon. Daddy sounded rather stunned! Annie was born by c-section a week early because she was in breech position. My friend has sent me several texts tonight. Apparently Annie has slept most of the day, including when her mummy tried to feed her! I've also been sent a photo. Mother and baby are doing well and I'm planning to visit next week. I've been the excited friend for months, however now I'm the worried one. What if I see Annie and decide I want a baby? Or worse, what if I see her and still don't feel that maternal urge? I have to go shopping to buy a present. I saw the cutest little baby socks in a shop two months ago. Nearly bought them but didn't want to tempt fate. Apparently Annie has more clothes than she is ever likely to wear and millions of fluffy bunny rabbits. So I'm thinking maybe I'll buy her a book. Then again, that sounds boring. The only thing I know for sure is that I am not stepping foot in a Mothercare store. I did that a few months ago and it was scary!

Tagged

2006-08-19T14:21:00.000Z

Yikes, I've been tagged. Thanks, Amanda! And the question of this particular tag:
"If you could write a novel about any subject, what would it be?"

Before I get into my answer, I want to say that Amanda's lovedotcom (see her tagged entry on her blog - and no, I don't know how to put links in my posts yet) was fabulous! She sent it to me to read when she first started critting my writing for me and I loved it. It's a shame she hasn't still got a copy of it but at least she's managed to recycle some of her characters. I've done that too!

So, what is my answer? I've been thinking about this for two whole days and I'm not sure I have an answer. If I could write a novel about any subject, then I guess it would always be the book that I'm currently working on because that is always my favourite book at the time.

The first book I ever wrote was called The Wrong Brother and was about a woman who joins an online matchmaking service after a couple of years of being single again (after her husband left her for another woman), falls in love with a guy she meets online and then, when she goes to meet him for real, finds out he's actually her brother in law. That all happened in the first chapter and the rest of the book is them working out their relationship. I loved that story and I still do.

Jump forward two mss to the next one I'm still in love with (what that means is that there was a rubbish one in between!) called The Italian's City Bride.

OK, I'll stop rambling about past mss and talk about the current one now. To be honest, I'm not sure I should write it. It's about a woman who doesn't have any children and doesn't actually want any. Why am I unsure if I should write it? Because not wanting children seems like a crime these days!

However, this story has been running around in my head for at least 12 months and the desire to write it gets stronger and stronger each time I look at it. I probably shouldn't but...

Family events, Jake Wellington hated them. People went out of obligation, not because they really wanted to be there. They spoke politely to each other, smiled for photographs and then usually ended up getting drunk.

Except he didn’t think this event would involved that much alcohol. This event was supposed to be about a person who couldn’t drink. A child. But that didn’t usually stop his grown up relations from turning celebrations into a drunken party.

Still, he didn’t intend on staying long enough to find out. He’d go outside to join in the party for long enough to say hello to the family. Out of obligation. Then he’d make his excuses and leave.

It was already arranged. In precisely thirty minutes his mobile phone was going to ring. He’d take the call and would, reluctantly, have to leave to attend an urgent business meeting.

‘You look like this is torture for you.’

Jake turned towards the voice, ready to defend himself. ‘You don’t look so happy yourself,’ he retorted, guilty at having revealed his thoughts. Hopefully Rosie and Justin hadn’t noticed his unwillingness to take party in what was supposed to be a happy family event.

The woman shrugged. ‘I don’t like christenings.’

There was something in the way she said it that told Jake there was much more to her short statement. Then it suddenly dawned on him. ‘You can’t have children?’ he asked, followed quickly by ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.’

He was surprised when the woman laughed. ‘Oh, it’s much worse than that,’ she said with a tinkle in her eye.

He raised his eyebrows in question.

‘It’s not a case of not being able to have children so much. It’s more a case of not wanting children.’ She paused to glance at the guests, most of whom had a child or two. ‘It’s something of crime around here.’

He smiled. ‘I know.’

‘Don’t tell me they pester you as well? “When are you going to get married?” “When are you going to have a baby?” “Don’t leave it too late – your biological clock is ticking”.’

He nodded. ‘They do. ”Isn’t it time you found yourself a wife to have children with?” I get that one every time I come to a family event.’ He grinned. ‘So how is your biological clock?’ He ducked to avoid the flowers the woman threw at him.

That is the opening for the ms I'm calling No Maternal Instinct. I have no plot. I'm just writing it as I go, putting the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Another ms I'd write if I had the time is about a group of woman who share an allotment. I've done the research but I need more of a plot (no pun intended!) for this one. I've got several opening pages but none of them have grabbed me yet. And, I had a title but I saw a new book out with the exact same title when I was in Tesco yesterday checking out the new releases.

OK, so I've prattled on enough. Who am I going to tag? Only four or five people know about this blog and three of them have either already answered the question or been tagged. So I'm going to cheat a little bit. If you haven't already been tagged, tag yourself and leave me a comment so I know to pop over to your blog to read your answer.

Too much of a good thing?

2006-08-16T17:02:00.000Z

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? My husband seems to think so. When I last posted, I was about to watch the next episode of Bones. Mainly to oggle at David Boreanaz. However, my husband decided that watching nine episodes in nine days was enough so instead he made me watch a show he likes called The Dead Zone.

It's about a guy who is living his dream until a near fatal crash leaves him in a coma. He wakes up six years later to find his girlfriend has married someone else. He also now has the ability to see into the lives of people he touches. It's based on the book by Stephen King.

I grudgingly watched the first episode. Then we watched the original movie. Then I grudgingly watched the second episode. Now, four days later, I am on episode eight. All I've done is swap one obssession for another!

I find my obssession with The Dead Zone rather amusing. The relationships are rather weird. There's Johnny (the guy who has been in the coma for six years) who is still in love with Sarah (his girlfriend from before his accident). Sarah is married to the sheriff but is still in love with Johnny. Then there's a reporter who appears to be in love with Johnny. But Johnny touched her in an earlier episode and saw a vision of her life and I swear it was the reporter having sex with the sheriff, who is meant to be in love with his wife!

I have also seen two episodes of Bones. TV, it seems, is ruling my life!

Take today for example. I had the day off work. We would have gone to Southampton again but the weather forecast wasn't great so we decided to stay at home. Did I study? No. This morning I stayed in bed very late and then checked out all my favourite blogs and websites when I finally switched the laptop on before watching two episodes of The Dead Zone. We had a late takeaway lunch and then I switched the laptop on again. This time I did do some study but minutes after posting this, I'll be watching another Dead Zone followed later tonight by a Bones.

I've also just been reviewing the list of "fall" shows on a favourite site of mine (www.tv.com) and realised not only does Prison Break start on Monday, but I won't have long to wait until The Unit and CSI return! Bones also starts a second series shortly.

Did I mention that I have two exams in November? I have seven assignments and a mock exam to complete for one exam and a whole lot of study for the other. Not to mention those 16,000 words I need to write to complete The Husband Hunt.

I think I need to get focused!

Those who want to can read more about Bones at the link below. But be warned, this site may spoil the show for you as it contains a summary for every episode. Personally, I like that!
http://www.tv.com/bones/show/33332/summary.html?tag=tabs;summary

Likewise, you can read more about The Dead Zone here:
http://www.tv.com/search.php?qs=the+dead+zone&type=11&stype=all&tag=search%3Bbutton

Cleaning

2006-08-13T21:09:00.000Z

I must be feeling ill. I have a new laptop but instead of spending the weekend playing with it, I spent yesterday cleaning. Why? It all started because my husband asked me to find the user guides for the old laptop because apparently someone might want to buy it. So I looked. And looked. And looked. In the end we came to the conclusion that we must have decided the old laptop was so old when we got it that we'd never sell it and probably threw them out.

But the looking reminded me that our place was covered in dust. Literally covered it in. When I'm writing or studying I can normally get away with a quick clean every now and then. I mean, I have an excuse. I'm busy! But yesterday, having soaked in the bath and made myself clean, I decided to clean the house.

It started with in the bedroom with the windowsils and bedside cabinets. Then I progressed into the bathroom - which wasn't as bad as it could have been since I'd washed the floor last weekend! After that I moved into the lounge. I have a terrible sense of smell so I couldn't smell the cleaness of the disinfectant but I did have a satisfied smile on my face a the end of it...until I got up this morning and saw all the fluff all over the lounge floor from that beanbag. How much fluff can a beanbag create? We must have had it for a month now. Surely it's got to stop moulting at some stage?

Anyway, so I felt virtuous yesterday. It might have lasted today if only I'd done that assignment. I swear I meant to but it just didn't happen. I'll try to do it this week. I did get all my research for Ladies Who Lunch (my allotment ms) out of the box file I'd hidden it away in and located some stuff for No Maternal Bones (which is the single title that's really calling at me at the moment).

But, if I'm going to be honest (and if I can't be honest on my blog, what's the point in having one?) the story I'm really dying to work on is called The Husband Hunt. It was originally written with M&B Tender in mind but I never actually submitted it because the line changed direction and The Husband Hunt no longer fitted. But it had a kind of Modern X feel to it. It only needs 16,000 words and I'm due a response on Tarts any day soon so I'm keen to get this ms completed so I've got another partial ready to send on in.

But right now, as always, I'm going to watch another episode of Bones. Purely for research purposes.

New laptop!

2006-08-11T19:36:00.000Z

I'm excited because I have a new laptop! And it was a complete surprise! Well, not a complete surprise. My husband talked about getting me a new laptop on Monday. I just didn't expect it to happen for a long time.

My old laptop is many many many years old and didn't have word on it because it didn't have enough memory. It was also very s-l-o-w. But it was good enough for checking my emails and working on assignments. Not so good for writing though. The programs I used in place of word mostly didn't have word counts. It was frustrating. But all that is in the past now.

I came home from work last night to find a new HP waiting for me! I didn't play with it much last night because I was late home but I have been playing tonight. I had actually been planning a lazy weekend because I'm not feeling 100% but instead I will be writing and studying so I have an excuse to use the laptop. I won't have any excuse not to write now!

I've just spent the last half hour transferring mss from my usb drive to the laptop. I've got two mainstream mss that I'm going to play around with over the coming months plus I have an ms on 44,000 words that I need to get up to 60,000 for Modern Extra. I want to have it ready to send in as soon as I hear back about Tarts.

But right now I'm off to watch another episode of Bones. Amanda, if you're reading this, Bones is fantastic! Well, DB is. I'm not sure about the actual storyline but I'm not that bothered since I'm really only watching it as hero material research. He is definite hero material!

Nice things!

2006-08-07T19:03:00.000Z

The last few days have been packed full of nice things!

On Friday, as we drove through London on our way to Southampton, we went passed Eton House - the home of Mills & Boon! I've been to Richmond before but I've never seen Eton House.

On Friday we caught up with my husband's father which was nice. We also caught up with my husband's brother, who we haven't seen for years. And we spent some time at Mudeford Beach, which I love. All in all, it was a great day!

On Saturday and Sunday, there were free events held in our local park. Sunday was the best. It was the Latino carnival. We watched an amazing parade and then went back to the park with a rug and sat and listened to the music. Last night when I went to sleep I was a little sunburnt and tired, but I felt very relaxed. I'd had a fantastic weekend!

I also started watching a new tv series at the weekend. It's called Bones and is inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and novelist Kathy Reichs. I've read her books so I figured I might as well take a look at the series. Watched two shows so far. I'm slightly undecided. Planning on watching another one or two before making up my mind whether to watch the whole series. One big thing in its favour is David Boreanaz. I never really got into Buffy or Angel but I'm liking him in this!

Some time this week I'll have to do some study. I should really complete assignment A of my new course. I would like to get some writing in too. I'm toying with two ideas at the moment - a single title and a Modern X. Although right now, Bones is winning.

I'm off to watch some more David Boreanaz!

Well done, Donna!

2006-07-31T18:29:00.000Z

Woohoo to Donna Alward who sold a book to Harlequin Romance! It's always good to hear about friends selling. You can read Donna's sale story on her blog which you can find by clicking on the link in my links on the right or by going here: http://www.donnaalward.blogspot.com/. I haven't figured out how to do links in my posts yet!

Today I don't suck

2006-07-30T20:56:00.000Z

Today is a good day. Today I don't suck. Today I am celebrating passing my May exams! The results arrived early, which was probably good because I would have been a nervous wreck today in anticipation of the results tomorrow. Instead, I'm surfing the internet and thinking about studying. I was a little shocked because I was convinced I'd failed one exam. I didn't! I passed them both! The coursework and study guides for those two courses were put away this morning!

I suck

2006-07-27T19:29:00.000Z

I was planning to blog about a story I read on the BBC this afternoon about a prisoner who has been blogging since going on the run. However, today's post brought with it some news which has me full of self pity and about to open a bottle of wine. So, if you want to read about the prisoner blogging since going on the run, go here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5219716.stm. I tried to find her blog on my space but I'm new to my space so I don't really understand how it works or how to find someone on it. If you want to take part in my self pity, read on.

So, the dreaded envelope was waiting for me tonight. I knew one was due. Two or three even. The self addressed envelope. The letter from the editor who has read my ms and written to tell me that it sucked.

It sucked.

The letter said "while the characters ere interesting, we found the plot complicated and hard to follow."

Like all my mss, I loved that dam story. I don't think it sucked but then I'm not an editor.
The letter was from a US publisher. I had originally written the ms - called The Husband Hunt - with M&B's Tender line in mind. However, before I sent it, an editor there suggested I try writing something for the Modern Extra line because the Tender line was changing direction. So I never sent The Husband Hunt to them. I sent it to the US publisher instead. And they said it sucked.

Now, that wasn't what bothered me about the letter the most. The bit that bothered me was the bit that read "On behalf of X, I want to express my apologies for the amount of time you've been waiting for an answer on your manuscript."

OK, so The Husband Hunt was sent to X in June 2005 so I had been waiting just over a year but what bothered me was that X also received another ms of mine in DECEMBER 2004 which I still haven't heard back about. I know it was still there - and unread - at the beginning of July when I last checked. So why did I get a rejection letter for The Husband Hunt (submitted June 2005) before I heard about Just Pretending (aka The Italian's City Bride for those who might know it from it's first outing - submitted December 2004)??????

So I had to ring.

I rang.

And spoke to a lovely woman who was surprised I was asking about a 2004 ms. There was nothing on their database about my ms having been read but she was sure they had cleared everything from 2004 so she asked me to wait while she checked where the submissions are kept. Minutes later she was back. My ms wasn't there. Maybe my letter is on the way, she suggested. Or maybe it had been lost. Wait two weeks, she said, and if your letter hasn't turned up, send your ms in again with a letter explaining what has happened.

Now, I'm not being optimistic. I think the letter has been written and it's either been lost - along with all the other post I was expecting in the last 10 days that has mysteriously disappeared - or it's still on it's way.

So, I don't just suck once. I suck twice today.

For just a tiny second, I thought it was time to give up. Why waste my time writing when I'm obviously no good at it? But then I thought about my new ms. It's called How to Marry a Prince. It's aimed at Modern Extra. I've got names for the two central characters and I have a plot. They want their story to be written. So I'll write it and then maybe I'll give up. Or maybe not.

I think my wine is calling me.

Belle de Jour and La Petite Anglaise

2006-07-26T19:08:00.000Z

I was surprised to find I had two comments on my previous post when I logged in tonight. Surprised because I hadn't told a single soul that I was blogging again. And yet two friends found me.

Apparently I was found through something called a site meter. Right now, I have no idea what that means. Amanda Ashby was checking her site meter, saw my site listed and followed the link. Sara Hantz says it's like big brother.

Big brother is one of the reasons I'm blogging under an assumed name. Previously, all anyone who knew me had to do was type my name into goggle and my blog and website was right at the top of the results. I'm told that's because I blogged so often that google liked me. While this was good when I was blogged about writing things, it wasn't so good when I was moaning about work things.

Blogging about work - even anonymously - is dangerous. Just this week I read about a London woman living in Paris who was fired when her employer found out she had a blog. She never used her name on her blog.

I suspect her site stats have gone through the roof in recent weeks as the world has been reading about her plight in newspapers, online news sites and now on blogs. I've been there - her site is http://www.petiteanglaise.com - and I'll be going back when I have time to read more about her life because what I've read so far was dammed funny!

This is how she describes herself: "After living 'in sin' for 8 years, I left my partner for a man I met on my blog. I now live alone with my daughter Tadpole; her daddy, Mr Frog, lives nearby."

One post I read - prior to her leaving Mr Frog - talks about the funny moments they shared as they stumbled through the language barrier. One thing I recall in particular was her description of a telephone conversation Mr Frog had with her mother. Her mother had called to ask what Mr Frog would like for his birthday. Handcuffs, he replied. He meant cuff links! Imagine trying to explain that one to your mother!

Another site I've visited in the last week outside of my usual writing loop is http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com - diary of a London call girl. I went there after a conversation with my husband about something he calls "bliction". I think he described it as a blog that tells a fictional story in real time. Belle de Jour came into the conversation because nobody is really sure if the blog is real or not. Belle de Jour published a book last September which was basically her blog with more information added, so I'm told, and prior to publication, everyone thought Belle's identify would be revealed. There is another book out this September which details her life since the first book was published. Belle de Jour is still anonymous.

Even the BBC are blogging now. The Editors can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors. I particularly like the posts by Daniel Pearl, deputy editor of Newsnight. He recently wrote a big brother type "we're watching you" post which you can read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/07/were_watching_you.html. Hilarious! I can't comprehend that people who blog don't expect others to read it. I don't expect hundreds of people to be popping by here on a daily basis but I was constantly surprised by the searches that people did that brought them to my original blog. Then again, I did talk about so many different things!

I'd love to stay and chat more but the list of blogs I have to check each night is growing daily - and I still have to find time to study and write!

Why Am I Here?

2006-07-24T19:11:00.000Z

I'm here because I want to blog! I used to blog. In fact, I've had a blog for years under my real name but just recently I realised that blogging under my own name wasn't such a good idea. My colleagues all knew I had a blog. Any of them could have read it. I never actually mentioned where I worked or exactly what I did but...well, after a while I started to get paranoid. My posts were normally about every day life but then something happened at work which affected my every day life so I started mentioning it in my blog. Then my blog turned into a kind of daily moan about everything that I felt was unfair. Then, I stopped my blog. Partly because I was bored with hearing myself moan, partly because I'd lost the will to blog and partly because I changed jobs and was worried my new colleagues (who love to google everyone they come across) might read my blog, particularly if I was still moaning about work related issues.

Nearly five months on and I'm ready to blog again - but under an assumed name! So what am I going to blog about? Anything I feel like blogging about. I'm a writer so I'm bound to talk a lot about writing. I also like to talk about my favourite tv shows - Stargate, CSI, The Unit, 24, Battlestar and many, many more.

I might even talk about slightly more boring things like study because I sat an exam on Friday. Exam number five of 14. I think, no, I know, I mucked up 22% of it but I'm hoping I did OK in enough of the rest of it to pass. So far I've passed two. I get the results from the next two on August 1st and then the result from Friday in early September. I have two more exams in November, three in May 2007, two in summer 2007 and the final two in November 2007.

But for now, back to writing. I've been writing since 2001. So far, I've been aiming at Harlequin Mills & Boon but I also have several ideas for chick lit or mainstream novels down on paper and want to write a crime novel. I currently have three requested fulls sitting on editor's desks and I'm in a kind of no man's land - do I keep on writing what I've been writing for the last few years or is it time to try something different? I haven't had a form rejection letter from M&B yet (touch wood). So far I've had four full requests and each rejection has been a personal letter detailing exactly why the ms was rejected, and most importantly, each rejection has also included a comps slip with a request to send more directly to the same editor. So, she's seen something in my writing. She's been encouraging me. I appreciate that. But I've never actually written anything else. Maybe I'd get the same encouragement elsewhere, from publishing houses publishing a different genre.

It is said that you should write what you like to read. While I still like to read romances, recently I have found myself leaning more towards a kick ass type heroine - more like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum and JD Robb's Eve Dallas. So, I'm toying with the idea of writing that crime novel. I think I'll warm towards the idea even more in September when Janet's "How I Write" book comes out.

Until then, I'm happy playing with an idea for a Mills & Boon Modern Extra, just in case the editor who has my current requested full sends me another one of those comps slips that I'm told are like gold dust!

So, let's get writing!