The Queen

Amongst other things I’ve been busy this week plotting out my new book. I’ve sent my editor a synopsis and now I’m playing the waiting game. Well, not entirely, because further ideas keep popping into my mind which I scribble down on all sorts of bits of paper. And then it’s like a jigsaw trying to fit them all together. By the time my editor gets back to me I’ll probably have an entirely different story.

I’ve also heard when my Australian book’s going to be published. September 2008! It came as quite a shock. Such a long time. I thought it would be in about six months. I guess I’ll have to put the thought behind me and concentrate on my new book.

I’m looking forward to meeting my Italian hero properly. He’s just a picture on my wall at the moment. It’s when he becomes a real person that the fun begins. Which reminds me of a book I was given as a Sunday School prize when I was about thirteen or fourteen. It’s called When the Fun Begins and is about a group of schoolchildren leaving school and starting work. I wonder if school leavers really see work as fun? The fun for me is creating new characters, becoming a part of their lives, living a different life for a few months. I’m getting quite excited just thinking about it.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the highlight of my week. A new Armed Forces Memorial was opened by the Queen on Friday for all the service men who have lost their lives since the Second World War. We were fortunate enough to get tickets and after the ceremony we (my DH and I) were walking along one of the pathways watching old planes doing a fly by as a salute to those named on the Memorial, when a policeman asked us to step to one side because a car was coming. It was the Queen and Prince Philip! We thought they’d left. I waved and she smiled and waved back and the Prince waved as well. We were just a couple of feet away from them. We felt so lucky.