April already, and the ticking of deadlines grows ever louder ...  But I am one down, three to go for the year, so things could be worse.  Almost one down, anyway.  One doesn’t want to count one’s chickens before they are fully hatched;  I sent off my completed manuscript on Wednesday night and am waiting to hear back from my editor if she wants any revisions.  Hopefully she won’t want me to do anything major to it (all digits crossed)  which means I should now get cracking with the 30,000 word story that has to be in by the middle of May.

I’ve just been writing a rough (a very rough) outline, full of maybes and questions to myself, for that.  The story has had a slow but rather typical gestation, starting out in London with lunch with my editor, followed by a long tube journey with my friend, Diana, who has been having her plotting ideas dismissed for nearly twenty years now.  However, I have to acknowledge that she did come up with a very good idea about how the hero would know the baby was his.  The story was further refined up in Scotland where I spent a few days with my fellow foodies and bridge fanatics.  When not huddled over our cards and gin, we managed some wonderful walks which provided plenty of opportunity for further plotting, and I have shamelessly taken all their best suggestions and incorporated them into the plot. 

It was great to get away for a few days.  March wasn’t the best of months for one reason or another, so a break at the end was just what I needed.  I’ve been going to the Solway Coast for nearly forty years now (had a nasty moment when I worked that one out!) but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it as beautiful as last weekend.  The weather was so perfect it was almost uncanny.  The week before it had been blizzarding in York, and suddenly we were sitting on the terrace, playing golf in sunglasses and lying on our backs in the grass. 

I am now in need of a major detox on all fronts, though.  Time to stick to water, eat nothing but salad, clear out wardrobe (including all those unused shoes!), tidy study and deal with unwanted emotional baggage.  I’ll be trim, taut and terrific in no time, and my life will be perfectly under control, so much so that I’ll just dash off this story in a few days.  Yes, I’m on a new regime, starting right now, so don’t listen to any cynics who point out the date at the top here …