I AM still alive

 Good grief. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I last did a blogpost. Not long after the last one, I had my thumb basal joint replacement, which knocked out writing for quite some time. Especially as the other hand has been pretty horrendous. But I am able to write again, at the moment, so I'm making the most of it. I've sold quite a few stories to People's Friend lately, and have a story in the weekly this week called 'A Peace of Mind'. The illustration is beautiful. I was intending to post a photo of it here, but this MacBook Air is old and I now realise that it has stopped uploading photos from my phone.

I have recently been working on a serial proposal for PF, set during 1977 in a horse rescue centre. After completing the synopsis, character developments, instalment synopses and the first instalment, I emailed it in. It may be some time before I get a yay or a nay.

I've sent a few stories in recently too, including a couple to My Weekly. I do have a novel for PF part written, which they OK'd in principle, but I started it last summer, sending off the first 3 chapters and synopsis. In November I had my operation, and it was a week later that they got back to me, saying they'd like me to write the whole novel. Not the best timing! I've tried to get back to it a few times but am just not feeling it. It feels so flat, so I'm going to leave it and let it marinade for a while. See if something comes to me to get myself interested in it again. If I'm not enjoying writing it, a reader won't enjoy reading it...

The thing I'm working on right now is a gothic novel. I've written the outline, character developments etc and a rough list of scenes, but that's very loose. I'm only one chapter two but it's great fun to write. I'm just going with the flow and seeing where it takes me.

Oh yes, and I'm partway through a rewrite of Secret Santa (because it needs a rewrite!). My aim is to eventually put it on kindle.

Other than that, and helping with grandsons, a friend asked if I go to work?

Erm...

Off to feed Nikki's cat, Effie. That'll be half an hour minimum. It's getting dark and raining a bit, but I'll walk round because I have been sitting down writing all afternoon.

Hope you've had a good week and that you have an even better weekend. We are off to Butlins again, for our 70s weekend. Yes, I will take the laptop for any spare minutes...