So, some of the things that occured to me as I lay on the fold-out bed in daughter #2’s room and didn't sleep last night were…
1. That I really should clean the children's rooms more often. Particularly the skirting board behind the dressing table.
2. That my hero probably should discover the truth about his father earlier in the book. I originally assumed he would find this out at the end, but maybe it might be better if he knew all along?
3. That I need to make a vet's appointment for Muffin the rabbit and the guinea pigs to have their nails clipped. Because I am NOT doing it myself with the nail clippers, ever again. (Who would have thought such a tiny foot would bleed so much?)
3. That there are only eight more writing days until the summer holidays. And that's not including Sports Day, Leaver's Assembly, daughter #3's End-of-Term Play, Sick-Child days or Small Animal Care appointments.
4. That my Balfour book (see gorgeous cover, below) is out in a couple of weeks and I haven't had any author copies yet. Which is a shame because I haven’t done a contest and giveaways for ages and I'm definitely going to with this one.
So, all in all not a wasted night then. I just wish I had the energy to put any of the above into action...
17 comments:
I too am starting to panic about only seven and a half days to the end of term. My writing routine, to say nothing of cleaning and paperwork tasks seems to go out of the window when Daniel is at home.
It seems to have crept up on me this year. Still I will enjoy the lazy mornings and he will only be little for a short while longer.
1. I love your cover
2. Illness is no fun
3. I saw that James d'Arcy is going to be in a film about Wallis Simpson
4. Am in the midst of revisions (again) thanks to super fast editor.
Oh heck, you're right Morton. This school year has gone by terrifyingly fast. The summer holidays are when time actually slows down for a few weeks and I absolutely must not wish that away or take it for granted. (Thanks for that - excellent point!)
Michelle - I KNOW! Beautiful James is going to be playing Edward VIII in Madonna's next film - all credit to the crazy yoga lady for that bit of casting! (although have a feeling real Prince was 5'4 and could fit in your pocket and James is 6'3' and constructed like a classical statue. Hey, who cares though!) V quick turnaround on the book - hurrah for that. Can you get the revisions nailed just as speedily? x
Hi India! I'm so excited for the Balfour Legacy books...some of my favorite Harlequin Presents writers (you, Michelle Reid, Kate Hewitt, Sarah Morgan) wrote for this mini-series, so I can't wait!
Hope your daughter is feeling better!
I hope your little girl gets well soon!
I've been there with the toenails. I'm not sure the groomer's too thrilled to have inherited that job.
And..
Gorgeous, gorgeous cover!
The Balfour book looks gorgeous! Am desperate to get my hands on a copy so please make the competition very, very easy indeed.
Hope the sickly one is on the mend now, darling, and you have enough time to recover yourself before the dreaded summer hols.
I am reverting to poundland notebooks in the kitchen/car/top of the laundry pile over the next few weeks. It's the only way I'm ever going to keep any sort of momentum writing wise. Suspect I will actually be more productive without Virgin Media type distractions though...
Good luck with all the paws and fingers crossed your vet has more parking spaces than mine. Furry ones do not seem to enjoy protracted trips across town in plastic boxes much. Ever heard a rabbit 'growl'?!
Lots of love,
Rach.
XXX
Hi,
Poor you poor kiddo!
Hee hee, past all that and the delight of being able to hand grandkids back affords immense pleasure! The writing suffers but a short while, and hubby is so easy to please: chocolate or coffee and walnut cake!
best
F
So sorry about your daughter, hope she's feeling much better soon.
As I have already read Michelle Reid's first Balfour Legacy book, and I'm half way through the second installment by Sharon Kendrick, you're all in for a treat!
Michelle's book is incredible, I adored it. It's a sweeping family saga, that you can't help but be enthralled by.
And yes India, the cover of your installment look's fabulous, I can't wait to read it.
And I agree, pet grooming is a nightmare in our house as well. When we adopted our rescue Westie last summer, me and mum have had a nightmare trying to shave him. I can't take him to the poodle parlour again, the poor woman was terrified!
But hey-ho, the joys of pet ownership!
Hope everything is well with you, and love to your daughter.
xx Karen
Hurrah for "In the Night Garden". Hope your daughter is feeling better. Ditto on the cleaning. Beautiful cover, lovely blues. Good luck with the guinea pig pedicures. Ours (RIP Stanley and Joe) were a little bit like Laurel and Hardy (should've named them Stan and Olly). They are now pushing up daisies. One less domestic hassle. All the best. Catherine
India, I do hope your little sweetie feels better very soon. Poor little love.
Your Balfour cover is divine! Congratulations!
xxTrenda
Hope you're daughter is feeling better, India.
Great cover! I love this new look and am crossing my fingers for the giveaway.
Thanks for the get well wishes for daughter #2 everyone! She's feeling very important, having so many people asking after her, and is also feeling a lot better. Still not back at school, but In the Night Garden has at least been replaced by slightly more intellectually demanding programmes...
Denise, I have the Michelle Reid book on my TBR pile (am reading a gorgeous Abby Green Sheikh at the moment) but of course couldn't resist having a peek at the first chapter. Eeek! So fab I knew I had to set it aside and not waste it by speedy, guilty reading while I should be ironing. Can't wait to get to it.
Lacey, daughter #1 took Muffin the rabbit to the vet's yesterday and guess what? The vet made his foot bleed too!! I don't feel quite so bad now (but still won't be doing it myself in future either.)
Rach, I have heard a rabbit growl - every blooming time I try, out of the kindness of my heart, to take him out of his hutch and put him in his lovely sunny run in the garden. Muffin is the rabbity equivalent of Mickey Rourke though; all swearing and aggression. Mickey Rourke in a POW film, given that he regularly tries to tunnel out of his run and make a break for freedom.
Francine - you wicked woman. You had to go and mention coffee and walnut cake, didn't you? (Moans with greed...) It's my favourite, but the kids hate it so if I make one today that means I'll eat it all myself, doesn't it? And that I won't get any writing done either? Like I said - wicked woman.
(hold on, this is all getting a bit long. Will break off...
(...and start again...)
Karen - so glad you're loving the Balfour series. It's such a great setting and I was mighty excited when I first found out what the premise for the eight books was going to be. Will be really exciting reading the other books and seeing the familiar characters appearing in all of them. (And that lady in the poodle parlour sounds like a right wuss - it's not like you took in a tiger!!)
Sorry to hear about Stanley and Joe, Catherine. (Sorry and slightly... ahem... envious. I am not a nice person. Did they live a long time?)
Thanks Trenda - great that we found each other on Twitter! I'm not really fully in the swing of it yet, but I'm learning...
Ah, thank you Jane! Will pass on the good wishes all the way from NYC! x
The covers are cool, aren't they Ros? I emailed my editor to ask if she had any idea where my author copies are so as soon as I know they're on the way I can do a great big giveaway. In a rare moment of extreme forward-thinking and organisation I had these fab postcards printed and everything, so I want to use them!
Hi India. As guinea pig longevity goes they excelled at about four years. The girls and I would have happily replaced them, but the man in our lives made sure that wasn't an option by having a bonfire with the guinea pig run! Oh well.
Ah ha! If the vet can't do, we can hardly be expected to!
Gosh Catherine - four years? Gulp. I shall cherish each day with 2 year old Biscuit and Truffle then. (And wonder whether the $320 - sorry that should be a pound sign, but it's broken on my laptop - I just paid on a new, sleek, easy-clean, weatherproof and architect-designed guinea pig residential facility was a good investment...)
Quite right Lacey! (Athough the vet would probably make a better job of the chapter I'm currently hashing up in my ms than me, so I'm not in a position to criticise!)
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