Hi all,

I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather (well, is WAS, but today is a bit nippy!). I've just got home from Pilates. Every week I think urrrrghh but come out feeling a hundred times better than when I went in. I do have chronic trochanteric bursitis though and we did a LOT of hip work today, so the next few nights are going to be interesting trying to sleep. Hey ho. It's worth it.

My news is that I have finally got my website up and running. That has been some process, I can tell you. I went from the idea of creating a website being like trying to read a Greek manuscript to actually doing it, including adjusting the mobile option, which I didn't know you could do. If you fancy taking a look, it would make the effort worthwhile. You will find it at juliegoodall.co.uk.

Life has been a bit all over the place recently with some awful family news. I am trying to keep on track a bit, even if not quite as productively as I might be, but there are things that are far more important. I have to confess to feeling pretty useless. It puts everything into perspective and the emotions are pretty sharp.

So, I will move onto things that I CAN control (or things I THINK I can control...). As I said, I've mostly been working on my website, but also doing a lot of admin stuff, plus I sent in a short story to The People's Friend recently. Last week, 'Bundles of Joy' came out and I had a lovely email saying how much it had taken this person back to her time in hospital giving birth decades ago. There was a specific memory that it prompted and I felt very privileged to hear it.

That has got to be the best thing about writing.

I am also still rewriting 'Secret Santa' and am nearly 4/5 of the way through so I am getting there very slowly. I am rewriting pretty much every sentence so it is infinitely slower than when I first wrote it. There are also a few tweaks I want to make along the way but, again, I will get there eventually. I have three novels plotted out so I have to decide what to work on next. The cowboy/horsey ones or the clergy/mystery set in 1932? I don't know. I don't think I will go back to my gothic novel yet as that is a huge undertaking and I think I need to do something fresh first before revisiting something I started. I'm 88,000 words into that.

As I've been writing this, I've had some welcome good news. Our closest friends' son and his partner became parents this morning! That is indeed something to celebrate. Looks like a trip to Suffolk is on the cards...😊 

Finally, as Steven Pressfield said, whatever you want to do: "Start before you’re ready."

I don't think we ever feel ready for anything much so, whatever you fancy doing, dive right in and do it. We all know that life is too short to delay.

Enjoy!

Julie x