Famous!

It seems I'm famous for the wrong reasons though. I had an online supermarket delivery this week and a woman who normally works in the office was the driver. She said "Oh, didn't you used to live in..." and cited my last address. Warily I said I did and it turns out I am well known in supermarket circles for being, amongst other mishaps, the woman who ordered 77 bananas and recently 146 packets of crisps. Both by mistakes I hasten to add.
"You must have thought I had a crisp fetish." Was all I could think to say.
"Yes, we did." Was the alarming reply.

Oh well, at least I'm keeping them all in gossip.

Two good writing friends on the other hand I'm hoping will become famous for entirely different reasons - huge congrats to Joanne Pibworth and Jackie Ashenden on their recent Entangled pitch successes :-)

Getting in the mood...

For some reason Christmas seems to have taken me by surprise this year - no Christmas cards written yet, presents not organised...But on Saturday I had a trip to London and the combination of the lights in Sloane Square, a couple of hundred Skating Santas (yes, you DID read that right) and an early Christmas present of the loveliest boots I've ever owned has got me in the mood.

If anyone is looking for a Christmas read I've been listening to The Jewels of Manhattan and can thoroughly recommend it. It's the kind of book that makes you itch to write and I'm hoping the fact I'm going away for a week somewhere I'll be looked after means I'll be writing again soon.

All I want for Christmas is to finish my book... Although I have to say the boots were rather nice too ;-)

Down a rabbit hole and being Kwirky

I've been a little quiet lately because the house moves wiped me out. Well that and a few unfortunate accidents involving a lamp plug that left a hole in my best jeans and, ahem, in my nether regions, several packing boxes lurking and deliberately tripping me up and a fall down a rabbit hole that has left me needing to use a walking stick. Really, those damn rabbits should remember to close their front doors ;-)
I've also been busy getting my craft stuff ready to sell at some upcoming Christmas markets but once that's all done intend to get down to some serious writing again.
These are some of the things I'm taking to the events. For news of events see my other blog - Kwirky Design
Also you can get a sneak preview of my Facebook store - Kwirky Kaleidescopes

Glamlit v. Chiclit

A while ago now I mentioned the rise of the glambuster. Several months later and the National Press are onto my trend (Okay, maybe they already knew but I like to think I was the first to recognise the migration over to glam ;-)

Glam is selling but Chic isn't so well. Personally I understand it - Tasmina Perry, Jo Rees and Tilly Bagshawe have captured my loyalty and my imagination. Reading about a world outside of my own is so much more mind-expanding!

You know that old saying about monkeys writing Shakespeare? Well take a look at this, personally I think it's hilarious :-)

Good luck to all NV entrants. Thankfully I am distracted this year by trying to arrange a house move and empty my house in Scotland as well. I should resurface from the Highlands in the middle of next week but I'm crossing my fingers I'll see names I know in the finalists' list!

Guilty!

My New Voices entry this year, 'Confessions of a Chalet Girl', is about feeling guilty. It's personal to me because I've had to delve into the complexity of guilt and the irrational human emotions surrounding it over the past few years. My brain injury was an accident but it was caused by my husband. I know it was an accident, he knows it was an accident but that hasn't prevented a few dark moments for both of us.

So my story is exploring the issue and set in a place I love - Switzerland (well I had to justify those drives over to Verbier for 'research purposes'. Really I have to get published just to justify the travel ;-)

If you have time to read it I would value your comments. If the link comes up before I leave to fly to Corfu I'll add it in, if not then please bear with me!

Mad busy/Mad crazy

I've been a little busy since I last posted - I've bought a house, booked a holiday and arranged to fly up to Scotland to pack up my house there. I only have a few weeks to go but in the midst of all the packing boxes I am trying to improve the rusty writing of my New Voices effort. At this rate I will be uploading my chapter from Corfu although the lovely sunshine will be a great distraction from watching my roses grow and shrink (and possibly shrivel back into the ground if last year is anything to go by!).

After New Voices 2010 I promised myself I would absolutely never enter any competition again but concentrate on the traditional route which seemed to be going better for me. Not quite sure what happened to that resolve...Still I'm hoping entering will let people realise I am (a) still alive and (b) still serious about writing.

I'm also hoping I will manage to stay sane and serene this time (who said 'Fat chance?'???)

Anyone else lurking in the shadows clutching a possible competition chapter?

New Beginnings (and this time I mean it!)

Anyone who has known me for a while (and if you've stuck around you have my thanks for your patience!) will know that for the past few years I've been going through a particularly gruelling insurance process following a brain injury.
Thankfully on Wednesday this came to an end in a highly pressurised game of Deal or no Deal that lasted 7 hours in a windowless, underground room. I could take the bankers offer and run or I could stick it out for another two years during which I was promised (threatened?) things would get much nastier. As they had already been pretty nasty - being followed by private detectives, having my post box rummaged through at 3 am, being forced to try treatment that made me worse, having every aspect of my medical and personal history raked over, being squeezed financially to the point of homelessness and being unable to afford food, being lied about, threatened and even blackmailed - my mind boggled as to how things could get even worse.
So, with great relief I decided to take the money and run, or in my case stagger, home. I've been so shattered I can barely take it in but finally it's dawning that all the energy I expended on the insurance reports and rehabilitation can now be channeled back into writing and that, more than any amount of money, is what is making me happy :-)
Now I can finish that requested full (finally!) and maybe even dip a toe in the waters of New Voices. Just for fun though as I've been way too sick lately to sign myself up for the kind of rosemania that swept the internet waves last year ;-)

And in case you were wondering what I've been up to all this time, well even though I've been unable to face a computer screen my creativity still insisted on finding an outlet and these are a few of the things I've made this year. It's patchwork but not as my nan would know it...