Autumn

It's Autumn here in the UK and the colours are stunning. The very cold winter we had last year did everything good. The spring and summer blossoms have been outstanding and now the autumn colours are breathtaking. I wouldn't be doing them justice if I called them red and gold and brown. There's scarlet and crimson and damson, apricot and mustard and honey, copper and ginger, as well as olive and lime. And wouldn't you guess it, I never seem to have my camera with me when I need it. The one in my phone doesn't do them justice either.

My second book, published in 1976, was called Shades of Autumn. For the simple reason that it took place at this time of year. It's my favourite season - although when Spring comes around and we have all the fresh shades of green I like that too. Do you have a favourite season?

The Waiting Game

While I'm waiting to hear from my ed about the new synopsis I've been doing very little as far as writing is concerned. I've been catching up with other stuff instead, like visiting relatives, and doing a little Christmas shopping. Yes, I know it's early, but all I've done is pick gifts up as I've seen them instead of traipsing around the shops wondering what to buy for a particular person. If only I could do them all that way? Do you enjoy Christmas shopping? Do you do it early, or wait until the last minute when the shops are busy and everyone's in the holiday mood?

Foreign editions

I've just received copies of my book The Wife Seduction in French. This book was first published in 2000 so it's exciting to see it once again.

I've had a lot of foreign copies in the last few weeks - my postman always smiles when he hands the boxes to me. He has no idea that the books are actually ones that I have written.

Bird feeders

To foil the pigeons who keep eating the food we put out for the smaller birds we bought a stand with three hanging feeders which are too narrow for the pigeons to perch on. The pigeons looked a bit dismayed to start with, studying it hard, trying to land on the perches, but without success. We're not being cruel you understand, we do throw stuff out for the pigeons separately, and they do eat the food that the sparrows and finches, etc, drop.

So all was well.

But - my DH was watching them the other morning and could hardly believe his eyes. A sparrow was on the perch, a pigeon below. The sparrow looked at the pigeon, picked up a seed or a nut, and deliberately dropped it down to him. Not once, but several times.

How clever is that?

Synopses

I don't find writing a synopsis easy. When I first started writing I used to know how my hero and heroine met, what the conflict between them was going to be, and perhaps one or two things that might happen along the way. And that's as far as it went.
Now my editor likes a synopsis of the whole story - I have a feeling she doesn't like surprises. (sorry, ed, if you're reading this) And I find it very hard to develop a full version in these early stages. How do I know what is going to happen? Characters have a mind of their own, sometimes going in way you never expect. It's part of the excitement of writing.
Does anyone else feel this way? Do you like writing synopses? Or do you prefer to let the characters write their own story along the way?

Foreign editions

I've just received a copy of The Italian's Ruthless Baby Bargain in German.

Don't you just love the cover?

And the title?

Good news

My latest book has now been accepted and is being published in May 2011 here in the UK under the title of A NIGHT WITH CONSEQUENCES.

The consequences were the night Kara spent with Blake - her boss. She had been working for him for nearly twelve months before he discovered that beneath the drab clothes she wore for work was actually a beautiful woman. It happened when she reluctantly accompanied him to Italy for the company's annual convention. I expect you can guess what the consequences were!

I am now supposedly taking a rest from writing to spend quality time with my long-suffering husband, but already my mind is busy working out a new plot. It's very sketchy yet but I keep adding. Very often I go to bed before my DH and then I'll sit up with a notebook and pencil and scribble down ideas. Often they get erased but there's always something that excites me, something that I can expand on.

This part of the process is the fun part. Creating new characters, giving them a history, leading them into the ups and downs of their new life together.

Workplace

The clearing of my desk went something like this:

I have a three tier filing tray. The top tray is for anything pending, filing, something interesting I want to keep, etc.

The middle one is for anything connected with my website.

The bottom one is for my current work in progress (though usually this remains sitting on my desk right in front of me)

The top tray was about four inches thick - it is now about half an inch. So that is good.

The middle tray has halved in size as well. A lot of stuff has been shredded. In fact it's a wonder my shredder hasn't stopped working due to overload. I was thinking about this - my shredder must be about twenty years old. It's a Rexel - so three cheers for Rexel!

And the bottom tray is empty - oh, that's because I've put everything to do with my book behind me on our grandson's high chair (The chair lives in here with me because there's nowhere else to put it. Ditto his box of toys. Ditto the treadmill.)

This is the most cluttered room in the house, but it's also the one I feel most comfortable in. If I turn around and look behind me, my three bookcases are overloaded. Every now and then I send some books to charity but they still keep piling up.

This is my work room and I'm entitled to get it a little untidy when I'm working on a book. Which is most of the time. At least that's my take on things.

Am I the odd one out here? Does everyone else keep their workplace as tidy as the rest of the house?

Revisions

The revisions are finished and are now with my editor. So once again it's clearing out the office time. How does so much paperwork accumulate? The answer - I'm a procrastinator. My DH is just the opposite. If something wants doing it's done immediately - and sometimes I'm the one who has to do it - so how does that work? Me - I leave things until the last minute. They say opposites attract - I guess it's true in our case, but it happily works.

The Lake District

Last week I stole a few days away from my revisions to visit the Lake District and I thought I would show you a few photographs of this incredibly beautiful and diverse part of England .

This is Hardknott Pass which was a particularly exhilarating drive. I'm thankful my husband is a very good driver because it was windy and raining - and very exciting! You can see the winding road shining as the light glints across its wet surface.

In contrast a serene scene of Coniston Water where Donald Campbell once raced his jet-powered boat Bluebird.

And finally a farmhouse nestling in one of the valleys.

Revisions

I'm deep in my revisions at the moment but all is going well. So if you don't hear from me for a few days you'll know why. And I'm not sorry that I'm stuck in the office because the rain is howling down outside. It seems that our summer is well and truly over.

Spreadsheets

I've recently changed to Microsoft Office 2007 - have I told you this before? I find some things work better than the old edition and some don't, but I've got used to the word processing side of things.

For the last two days, though, I've been working on a spreadsheet and I found this very different - certainly not so easy. I've actually been tearing my hair out - no, that's not true - but you know what I mean. Why won't it do this? Why won't it do that? How do you this? How do you do that? Do you know, I much prefer reading instructions from a book than using their on screen help.

Does anyone else think the same way?

News

I've heard from my editor - just as I was starting my paperwork! She likes the first half of Blake & Kara's story, but the second half needs some work doing on it to make it stronger. I'm leaving it, though, until everything else is in order. If I don't I can see the jobs never getting done.

We've had some terrible downpours of rain today and our electricity went off for a few minutes - luckily I'd just saved the work I was doing on a spreadsheet. Because we live in the country we often have power cuts, usually only lasting a few minutes, sometimes seconds, but it can be annoying when I'm working on my computer. I've got into the habit of saving my work every few sentences. But you can bet your bottom dollar that if I forget to save because the muse is working well then that's the time the electric will go.

Life

Life is back to normal. If it ever is normal! I have a mountain of paperwork to cope with - the main one being my annual accounts which I've kept putting off until I can put them off no longer.
And while we've been enjoying ourselves with our grandson the weeds have sneaked back into the garden - so that's another job to be done.

Also - I'm still waiting to hear from my editor. In one respect I want to hear, in another I'd like the time to get all my jobs done.