Oh, dear, is it really over a month since I last updated this blog?  So much for my resolve to do it every two weeks.  I’m afraid the website drops dramatically down the priority list when I’ve got a deadline looming, and for the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing two jobs and finishing a book, and at a critical stage on all three fronts.  However, I sent the manuscript off last night – phew! – after a weekend spent tinkering with it in a rather dissatisfied way.  I’m hoping I’ll be able to get it done and dusted before I go on holiday at the end of next week.  That’s one way of saying that I’m screwing my eyes shut, crossing my fingers and wishing (please, please, please) for no revisions! 

As always I was faintly disappointed when I’d finished the book. They’re never quite what I wanted them to be, but it’s very hard to tell at this stage if it works or not.  Often I’m pleasantly surprised when I get the proofs and can reread the book with a bit of distance, but for now it’s that sinking feeling that I really could have done better.  Still, it’s out of my hands for the next few days at least.  In theory, I’m now free to tackle all those jobs that have been piling up while I’ve been in deadline frenzy – the size of my ironing pile has to be seen to be believed.  All the time I was frantically writing, I was fretting about how dirty the house was, and how I couldn’t wait to give it a good therapeutic clean, but the moment I have a spare hour on my hands, the urge to clean and tidy has mysteriously evaporated. 

I have dedicated a whole evening to updating the website, however, although admittedly some of that was spent poring over my photo albums and scanning in the most evocative photos of the outback.  I got a bit carried away, and my webmistress isn’t going to be very pleased when she sees how much I’ve sent her (and honestly, it was only a fraction of what I could have done).  I did wonder if I should put the others on the blog here so as not to waste them, but thought that might be pushing her a bit far!

I’m off on our annual girls’ beach holiday soon, to North Cyprus this time, but although I may look as if I’m basking in the shade with a glass of wine and a view of the sparkling Mediterranean, don’t be fooled by the closed eyes and the somnolent posture.   I will in fact be hard at work plotting my next book ...