Lovely to see Thorn in the Flesh on the Bristlecone Pine Press website today (see full post for links), and I also managed to do some marketing last night, so I’m hoping that raises interest in the eBook. Don’t miss out!

At work, I’m trundling through the minutes of yesterday’s meeting – interest levels are low at the moment due to (a) total exhaustion and (b) impending holiday, but I’m doing my best. Am also attempting to set up a staffing rota for the first of our new students’ events in early September, so here’s hoping I drum up some enthusiasm for that also. Eventually. Not to mention that I need to proof-read the new Mentors’ Handbook before I leave tonight ...


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Hi All,
After 10 years of procrastination I have decided to follow the dream and start writing. So hap hazardous and hasty, why not jump in the deep end and join this site.
So please excuse my attempts to pose as an experienced writer. But I hope you all enjoy my babble. May be one day it will be a book. After not reading the instructions properly I have just realised my full name is readable to all. Well that is so me, crazy and deranged.
Another bright and beautiful day – in the hustle and bustle of life. The alarm clock was completely ignored this morning; the tone is far to smoothing. Felt like a lullaby rather than wake up cool. But alas this morning was a good one– we managed to get out the house in good time – without being soap dodgers.. Yes we all washed, not that it helped as by 10am my armpits were offensive and I was unarmed –no body spray in my bag. I spent the rest of the day with my arms clasped tightly to my sides. I did not notice any sideward glances from my colleagues so by lunch time I did wonder if it was just my hormones sending me into smell paranoia. PMT’s are great every all five sense are at level 10 and I feel like an explosion waiting to happen.
Still on the food and money diet and managed to spend the morning enjoying my selection of fruit and nuts. It is actually starting to feel good. By 4pm my stomach was talking to me, screaming for naughty food. “Just one chocolate please”. A Mars a bar, it was lovely and disappeared rather too quickly. But I only spent £1 today and completely eroded the thought of buying a new bag at the wholesale next to the office, so all good.
Time flew as it does whilst being a 9-5 lemming. Before I knew the get home rush for phase two of life was on. The blue collar head was put away and single mum head on. What dinner do you create for two animal loving, vegetarian children that hate vegetables? Err salad (again), with a few nuts to make it look good and of course their staple diet garlic bread.
Children – well there is always entertainment. Today’s episode was the bully and the tooth. In fact our friendly bully has been the episode for the past week. Today he managed to give my son an extra forehead by pulling away the chair from beneath him. Great lets phone the play centre, they can have full force of my PMTS. A phone call later and all the Tension in PMT’s were gone and my two kids grinned with that go mum go look on their face.
My diet clearly out of the window – I continued my binge of naughty food. My son and I danced as we dived into our Victoria sponge cake (and that was after my two chocolate biscuits). It’s not me it is the PMT’s. Anyway, then pup – out comes J’s first baby tooth. So the tooth fairy is coming tonight. She has not been at our house since Lex’s last tooth fell out a few years ago. Although I am not sure if she would want to visit again – my daughter wrote her a letter asking why she only left £1 and not £2. In my day 50p was a miracle. Kids of today huh.
That was all she wrote – as after a few doing my charka CD I passed out- well until now.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Up bright and early this morning for my second ovarian tumour marker blood test, which I’d booked for 9am. Actually I was there early and they just slotted me in, so at least I got that part over soon, hurrah. While I was there, I reminded them that my holiday starts on Saturday and ideally I’d like to know results and what the next stage will be before I go. The very sweet and chatty nurse suggested I ring in late this afternoon or tomorrow to get the results, which I will do – though of course that doesn’t take me any further forward in terms of what happens next, if that’s what’s needed. I also gather from the first results letter that they’re intending to bring my October scan forward as well, but as yet I don’t know to when. UPDATE: not great news, I'm afraid: my blood test is higher than the first one was (up is bad and down is good), so they're referring me to the Royal Surrey for further investigation. Groan. Sounds rather like a police operation to me ... I shall presumably await a letter telling me when I'm due to stand trial (as it were) once I'm back from holiday. Hey ho ...


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So, where is all this going? Is it because I want to be a legend in my family way down the line? I would be reaching back at them through eons; imagine something from a space movie, kids doing biography projects or some kind of social history through the ages like The Flip-side of Dominic Hide. Actually, I just caught a repeat of that last week…must look for the second part on BBCi before it’s gone, but it might’ve been on another channel, in which case I’ve probably missed it. That character’s reason for going back in time to 70s London is to study bus routes!


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Rather a rough night last night, Carruthers – couldn’t sleep at all, so got up at about midnight and did some sudokus. Eventually had an hour’s sleep on the sofa and then woke up again with a stiff neck at about 2am and went back to bed. All my dreams lately have been focused on lions and tigers and such like stalking me and trying to get into whichever house I am hiding in. Hmm, doesn’t take an analyst to work out that one then!... I did think I might try to face the buggers next time I dreamt it and see if they’re as bad as I fear – which sometimes works – but I haven’t so far had the balls to do it ...


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read my mystery fiction in my first series

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‘Life is what happens when you’re making other plans’ – that’s what they say, anyway. And it would seem that ‘they’ are right, more often than not.

As clearly stated in my last blog entry, I had planned to finish the first draft of my YA novel by June 17th and decided to observe a self-imposed blog-ban (both writing my own and reading others) until then. All possible distractions and aids to procrastination were to be avoided – on pain of something slightly less drastic than dismemberment. I was determined, I was driven, I was definitely going to make it... I had no idea that the beginning of August would see me still several thousand words from achieving my goal, despite having stuck to my blog-fast with a fanaticism worthy of several great religions.

I have come to the conclusion that there are three main reasons for this state of affairs, each of which also comes with an upside.


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Hurrah, am feeling a bit better today - more like a woman with a cold and less like a walking disease with no human characteristics. I have even stopped grunting and wailing and begun forming actual words. Lord H is delighted. Only one-syllable ones though. I don't want to get overtired. We're really very delicate here in the south.

I've even managed to do another 500 words to Hallsfoot's Battle, thus reaching (so soon!) the magical number of 20,000. Only another 100,000 to go and I might even have the makings of another fantasy novel. Ye gods. I have to think of what the first of the planned four Gathandrian legends is going to be though. It'll have to be something to do with fortitude and lust, as that's my theme for the first quarter of the book ...


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Yesterday I discovered Wordle. This brilliant site lets you paste in a block of text and create a cloud that gives prominence to the most frequently used words. The genius of this as a form of procrastination is that it’s possible to convince yourself that you are actually doing something writing-related. The pics show the first chapters of Kill-Grief, (above) and Freaks (below)...

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Honestly, nothing much has happened today. It's one of those days in the universe which doesn't - at least here in cloudy Godalming - count for much. However, my stomach is less gripey than yesterday and I think that whatever I have is developing into a head cold with digestive accessories. (Would you like your head cold with digestive accessories, Ms Brooke, or without? Oh with, please doctor, it's so much more fun ...)

As a result, I didn't go for a day's birdwatching in Pulborough Brooks, but I encouraged Lord H to go anyway - there's nothing duller than being indoors with a sick wife. So one of us has had a nice day at least, hurrah, and he's come back loaded with Lemsips, Lucozades, the Saturday Torygraph (ah, here in Surrey, where would we be without it?) and - best of all! - a new cuddly bird, complete with appropriate song. What a superhusband. The bird in question is a cuddly songthrush, and my goodness but it's loud. Extra sensitive too - it's supposed to sing if you push its back but this one starts up if you so much as glance at it whilst passing. Perhaps it's trying to tell us something? So, a nice, if opinionated, addition to our cuddly bird collection ...


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