Revisions

The revisions are well under way, although I fear they'll take far longer than I anticipated. I'm having to change the whole concept of the last few chapters, making Simone pregnant far earlier in the story in order to up the tension. In the original version her discovery was very close to the end.

I find re-writes far more difficult than the original story - but editors know best! And in the end it always turns out a far stronger story. The trouble is I'm very anxious to begin my next book. I already have a storyline in my head and I've started a collage (something I never used to do). Then I'll run the plot through my editor before I begin writing - after this Australian one's out of the way.

When I first started writing in the 70's I never had rewrites. I'd finish a book one day and start another the next. They were the good old days. The stories have changed so much. They're definitely much stronger now, feisty heroines and far more successful and powerful heroes. How I love them! The heroes I mean. I fall in love with every single one of them. And I hope my readers do the same!

Rome

I didn't tell you we were going to Italy, did I? We went on a coach trip to Rome. It's a place we've always wanted to visit and although it was a whistle stop tour of all the touristy sites it was well worth it. We visited Montecasino (where my husband's eldest brother fought in the 2nd World War), Pompeii (what an incredible place), The Vatican City (mind-blowingly beautiful), threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, explored the Colliseum, and finally took a boat trip to Capri. What a beautiful island that is. It's certainly whetted my appetite for a much longer visit another time.



But now it's back to normality and revisions on my Australian book. I want to get stuck into them straight away but it's my daughter's birthday so we're going out to lunch with her - and I imagine it will be an extended meal, so perhaps tomorrow...

One thing after another

Thank goodness I'm going away for a few days. Everything's happening to me. Not only could I not figure out my new website but my other one isn't loading my book covers properly. If you look now one of them is wrong, and when I tried to put up a new page with US and Australian covers it went haywire. So apologies to anyone who's viewing my site and sees no recent changes. And on top of all this my computer crashed. I now have it back with a whole new inside (except for the hard drive, thank goodness, so I haven't lost anything - except that I couldn't sign on to my blog this morning and I'm doing this on my DH's computer.)

OK, big moan over, something more exciting. We've bought an e-reader. Well, my DH has, but he's granted me use of it. It has a lovely screen the size of an A5 page, and you can read it in sunlight and artificial light without any problems. You can increase the size of the font as well - so all in all it's a wonderful piece of equipment. Not only can you download books on to it, but newspapers as well, and you can do crosswords and sudoku (my favourite) and write notes (so useful for a writer) You can also view photos from your digital camera, plug a memory stick in and access whatever you have on it. (I've not checked yet whether I could work on my book on it - I don't think I'll be allowed the use of it for that long!!!)

I'll be back soon!

Disappointment

I'm extremely disappointed that my Geocities website which I was trying to move to another host isn't working out as I'd hoped. I've got the site up and running but absolutely no pictures. None of me! Not that that really matters. It's probably for the best. But more importantly none of my book covers. I've been back and forth with their online help people until my mind's all over the place. The main trouble seems to be that I created the site in Microsoft Word. Apparently not a good thing to do. It's been suggested I try again with a different programme. The trouble is I chose Word because it was simple. I'm not a computer techie and when people start talking to me in computer language I'm lost.

I thought it was a good thing in the first place having my own website. Actually it was my dear husband's fault that I ever started it. He spotted a piece in our local paper advertising a six work course on basic web design. I was quite excited. And then disappointed when the course was fully booked. But they ran anther one a couple of months later and I was very pleased with myself when my website was up and running.

But then I got ambitious. I wanted another site with my own domain name (if you remember the free site kept locking people out when it was used too much - it's still there, so you can always take a peek.). Unfortunately it didn't work out quite as I expected.

And now I have extensive revisions to do I won't have time to play at building websites. So all I can say is - watch this space! One day...

Busy

At least the weather’s picked up, if not my work life. My partying's over as well and I’m back to struggling with my new website, but I’m getting there (I think) And I now have revisions to do on my Australian book. Quite a lot actually. Plus my grandson’s visiting and we’re planning to take him away for a few days. All in all life’s very hectic. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I cannot imagine sitting around with nothing to do. I’m not a domestic goddess. My house is tidy (reasonably) and clean, but I’m not fussy if there’s a smear on the windows or a speck or two of dust on the table top. And bless my husband, he does all the vacuuming.
I attacked the weeds in a wild part of the garden last week and got a rash on my arm for the pleasure. I think it attacked me back! I’ll teach you for not looking after me sort of thing. It itched like mad for about four days. Now I’m left with little hard red lumps which I’m hoping will go soon.

I'm back

What a long journey! But it was worth it. We actually went to my cousin's Ruby Wedding Anniversary party - which lived up to its expectations. A good time was had by all. Orkney landscape is very different to the rest of Scotland, except perhaps for the northernmost tip. See photo. It's fairly flat and almost treeless - and it was very windy!

My book Bedded At His Convenience is in the shops now and I saw it all over Scotland - which I found tremendously exciting as usual. Like most writers I always pull my books to the front of the shelves, and I didn't fail to do so up there.

I'm hoping to get back to sorting out my website next week. Meanwhile I have a Christening party and another wedding anniversary to attend this weekend. Does the excitement ever stop?