Just to let you all know, I'm taking a break from posting here and on Facebook for a bit. I'll still send out my newsletter every few months, and of course I'll be plodding along on my new book.

Almost the end of NO NEWS SEPTEMBER There was a bit of news that was noticed. It was not as Pure as in previous years, but  what I did notice doing different this time was just not going on the socials as much, or even on the internet as much. Bad for the writing, of course, although nothing stopping me using a pen and a pad! I remember when I first came up with the idea for the Bluebell Road series, it was post Covid and I felt like some old school comfort reading which was where I came up with the idea for the series. At first, I considered setting it in the 1980s before the internet when looking at fashion meant magazines. But I didn't really want to do that, so I set it in these times but there is quite a bit of old fashioned-ness about the stories, and the girls, but I like that about them. Point being that although I am not addicted to any device at all, unlike several friends, omgosh, I still think I can back off a bit more. EG keep my phone to the essential apps. Resist the...

I have been reading Now and Forever , Lydia and William's story, the third Bluebell Road novel. Why am I reading one of my own books?  It's just to get some of the facts straight as Lydia's romance leads on to Clarissa's story and I wanted to make sure I knew what everyone was doing. Where they were and how far away Christmas was. Details! I am really enjoying the story and have decided I need to get my butt into gear and get them in print. But I still have a long road ahead with Clarissa's story, am not even half way through, but I do remain on deadline.

A bit of a fail this past week due to some big big news that hid the headlines for us New Zealanders. As in, when I saw the news, accidentally on one of those pages that pops up like Yahoo or MSN, I was immediately running to a news website for the latest. I guess it defeats the purpose of giving up the news if I do that, but this was huge news about a situation that had gripped a lot of New Zealanders as to the craziness of it. A father had taken off to the bush with his kids and had been there, evading police, for four years, and no-one knew where he was. So that this situation had resolved, was huge news. But now its back to No News September...     

  A week of little progress. Maybe a lowly one thousand words. Distractions, work, and a day off work feeling utterly blah. Headaches. In other words... life. I blame hormones. But I have taken some leave from the day job to try and crack into it so that at the end of the week I hope to have a very tidy, say, 15 thousand added to the story. However, I still remain within the time frame I wanted if I can really do some blitz writing this week. In the meantime, I post below a very raw (ie unedited, possibly error-riddled)  bit of the first draft.   CLARISSA BARTLEY McCall studied the children and their families as they laughed and smiled and stood in awe at the huge, world famous in London, display. The Bartley’s Christmas display. Their display. She was tired, so tired, but she was happy. This made her happy. Next to her, Nick said, “It still amazes me how something like this, something our grandfather came up with all those years ago can make everyone look so ha...

Feeling pretty good on the news fast. Pretty good indeed. I went out with friends and they discussed something in the news briefly but it was very brief, I think it was to do with Putin and Korea and China, I don't really know.  I glimpsed a newspaper but cannot tell you what the headline was. I can't say that in the absence of reading news (which is really in my case more about headlines and websites, and just looking at utter crap on the internet pretending to be news) that I have achieved greatness. Its more personal satisfaction in not knowing stuff and not exposing myself to images and stories that I'd rather not see or read. Which is very satisfying indeed!

I'm up to 15,000 words on the story. In other words, it is going well.    I had no plot but as I've progressed I've got an idea for a plot. As it is a Christmas story, I have to remember that there is Christmas stuff to include, too. That's the fun bit. The book is set in London and I've never been to London, let alone at Christmas, so fun-times in the research.   I was on the Harrods department store website and as I was looking through their Christmas items, I happened across their Christmas bear and I thought...of course. The Bartley's Department store needs a Christmas Bear. I have no idea how I will incorporate it but there will be bear, that you can buy from the store, and he will be called Bart (Bartley) Bear.    My aim for this story is to finish it around the 50,000 word mark on this first draft, then I send it to my reader for an initial appraisal. Once they have yayed or nayed it, I go over it, flesh it out, delete, generally I add more because I tend...