one month and three days later...

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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..

...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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

...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

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

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!