I couldn't get my wifi to work this morning and went off in a huff, thinking, I'm not staying in here with no internet! I took myself up town to buy wool. Oooooh, it's lovely. I've got three blankets on the go in work right now; I was trying to use up the old stuff that's been lying around for ages - that means that they are interesting!

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Sound the trumpets and raise huzzahs! The Goldenford site is now uploaded! Phew! Do pop in and have a browse around (see full post for links) - we hope you like the new site. And with May bank holidays and summer coming swiftly upon us, now's the ideal time to stock up on all your perfect summer reading! Go on - you know you want to ...

Today, I finished off my office encounter short story - and very short it is too, but that's okay as I think it works. I've uploaded it to the Writewords Novel Group (somewhat cheekily but I did say I hoped it was okay), and people seem to like it. One or two do think it might be part of something longer - but I'm not sure I can cope with thinking about another novel at the moment!...

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I've just signed the petition over at www.britishkidstv.com and would urge you all to, at least, have a look at the site. (Though I should say that I think the language, um, 'issue' is not the most important one; children, and the rest of us, should, I think, be exposed to different things. I suppose that's the point...)

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Had great fun seeing Bryony last night in London – in the end we ate Turkish instead of pizza, which was great. I’ll do anything for lamb’s kidneys and hey the lamb had even died first, so no problem. We chatted for ages, so thanks for that, Bryony. I was rather amused though as she’d like me to give a talk to the children at her school (she’s deputy head) about writing – I was thrilled to be asked, just as long as she doesn’t leave me alone with the children (arggh! scary aliens, you know …) and just as long as I avoid actually telling them about the books, ho ho. Heck I don’t want to be arrested.

Meanwhile, the lovely Rosy from Vulpes Libris has given me loads of other ideas for my self-publishing article, so I’m all fired up to do those – so that’s tonight nicely sewn up. My, how I love a plan. I’ve written down a set of bullet points and I’m all ready to go. UPDATE: Second draft done, so I'll see what Rosy has to say about it. I certainly like it better ...

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I was quite looking forward to meeting this Devon-born woman who ran away from home aged 16 and became involved with Hong Kong triads after being addicted to heroin. She was only trying to score amphetamines, so let that be a lesson.

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Over on the Guardian Blogs Linda Grant and Melissa Benn have both been... I nearly said 'ruminating', but that's too gentle and contemplative a word: both pieces have a distinctly acerbic tone, and I'm not surprised. Anyway, they're both talking about the obsession readers and journalists have with the autobiographical origins of a writer's fiction.

At my most charitable, I can understand - even regard it as flattering - that people are interested in where our fiction comes from, and of course that may include (must include, at one level) our own lives. Indeed, I would rather people turned up to listen to me and others on a festival panel than didn't

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Have spent all morning frantically attempting to arrange the Student Induction meetings over the summer without screaming and diving through a window. I’m going to start a campaign to ensure that all my key people go on holiday at the same time so I can shoehorn them into meetings together at other times without reaching for the whisky. It’s the only way forward. Neither has it been made any easier by the fact that halfway through the long and complex process, the computer decided to update itself and my calendar has now vanished. Entirely. Missing. Kaput. So my tiny post-it notes in delicate shades of orange and pink are now the only things lying between me and complete insanity. My theory is that my calendar is so peed off that it’s packed its bags and is currently at Heathrow Terminal 5 attempting to flee the country. Ha! It won’t be able to go far then.

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I had lunch with Tilly a couple of weeks ago; haven't seen her in over a year. She looks amazing - must be all the sex; she's back with her old flame and the weight just falls off. ME makes her life hell at times but it seems to be sitting quietly behind her right shoulder at the moment; she still needs a walking stick though.

Her younger son is getting married in August, before the older one ships out for Iraq.

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Hello everyone!

I apologize for being out of touch but I’ve been extremely busy these past few weeks. Not to mention I took a mini get-away to one of my favorite places—Solvang, California—to celebrate my birthday. While I was there I left a couple more “Laura and the Leprechauns” books for the Bookcrossing site because I thought it would be a neat place for a book to begin its journey. The books were literally gone within minutes! It was great! I also picked up a princess dress at one of the children’s stores for my little cousin Laura for when I go and visit her in Bavaria in two weeks. I’m not exactly sure what particular scenes I’ll have her posing for, but I thought it a good idea to have a nice fairytale dress—and what little girl doesn’t like to dress up like up like a princess?!

I also registered a few copies of the German version of “Laura und die Leprechauns” on bookcrossing.com, but there aren’t as many copies of those, as I primarily made them for Laura and her friends and they are a paperback version of the English version, and I have to apply all the glitter by hand—quite time consuming but worth it. I will have to wait until I am in Bavaria to release those books. I am getting very excited for my trip to Germany and can hardly wait to take tons of pictures of the beautiful countryside.

As for my other book in progress, right now I am getting periodic updates from my editor on my young adult novel that I started so long ago. Things seem to be moving along well which is encouraging and nerve-wracking all at once. I spent five years working on that first novel so it is something very close to me. We’ll see how it turns out edited down from 1100 pages to some 300-400 pages. Should prove interesting. Well, that’s all the news that is currently going on in my life at the moment. Thank you for your continued support. I couldn’t do it without you! Take care and all my best!

Sincerely,

Amber
www.chrysalispress.com

Back to the grindstone today, though surprisingly I haven’t felt so bad about it. Weird, that. Mind you, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the time over Easter not being at work. It’s been great – retirement holds no fear, I can tell you. Bring it on!

I’ve also had quite an easy start to the day in that my computer’s been off-line for an hour and a half. Heck, I’m not complaining. We finally solved the problem by reattaching the network cable into the correct hole. Aha!...

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