I've been reading the earlier Gabardi books just to make sure all the details are correct for the current book.  Things such as timelines, and character details and so on. It has been quite fun doing it, too, and I am inspired to get the Gabardi books and the Bluebell Road books into print. As for The Gabardi Memoir , it has been sent out and I am expecting it back shortly, and then the plan is to work on the last bit of the plan, which is the proofing for typos etc.  I am still looking at an early February release, even though February is only ONE WEEK AWAY!!

 I made a pea and ham soup yesterday and it was the most divine thing. We are big "ham for Boxing Day and beyond" people. It lasts for weeks. Weeks of sandwiches and if one is low carb-ish, ham and other things. So yummy. But it was at the end ie we'd eaten most of it, so I chucked it in a pot with onion, and split peas, stock and seasoning, parsley and a few random vegetables It was very yummy. We made bread in the breadmaker to go with it, a focaccia with olive oil and herbs Again, so yummy. And that is the end of the ham for another year. 

I am busy, busy, busy working on The Gabardi Memoir . I emailed the word document to my Kindle yesterday to read through from beginning to end. The trick is to read it from beginning to end without stopping to take notes.  That was a tip I read years ago in a writers how to book, because the temptation is to stop and make a note of something that bugs you. However, in doing that, you lose the flow and don't read it properly, or read it as a reader will read it. So you should read it through and not stop. Which I did and..Hallelujah... I really, really like the story. I have quite a bit of editing to do before I send it away for a second look, with an aim to publish on Amazon in early February. I would really like to do another story in this world. There are three Gabardi brothers, and I planned it as three books, but I will just have to be creative and come up with another person worthy of the name Gabardi for another venture into Gabardi world! Here is the BUY NOW link to Amazon f...

I have finished The Gabardi Memoir, Charlotte and Alberto's story, yay, yippee, hallelujah! I don't have a release date, but early February some time. Details to come. The book still needs to be edited but it is finished, and I love this story. As usual, I really had no idea where it was going but as I dived (dove?) into the story, all these elements appeared and I think it has made for a great story. These books are unashamedly not heavy on the romance. No love scenes. That kind of thing. Just a sweet cosy romance with angst. It comes in at just under 60,000 words and there's a subplot involving a writer that our editor heroine/protagonist Charlotte, is having problems with, and fears if she can't get this author's manuscript, it will derail her editorial career.  If you read the first two books, you might recall Isobel Gabardi, the mother of the three Gabardis, Alexi, Angelo and Alberto, who was severely injured in a car accident. She features in the books as wel...

I didn't put  up anything Christmassy on this here blog, so here something is, belated. Christmas is not over, people. The 25th as been and gone but it is not over, not yet. I was reading somebody's blog and I nearly had heart failure when they said they had been taking the Christmas decorations down just days after Christmas. Now, I respect everyone's traditions. I dare say we all do things different. In our household, it has been decreed sometime over the past few decades, that  the day of the decorations being put away and the tree coming down is January 6th, which is around twelfth night or epiphany. I must have read it was the day to take them down, I can't remember now, but that is when we do them. January 6th. So we are still putting the lights on at night, yes, even though it is now 2025, and we will do so by hook or by crook until Jan 5th, the last night they will be turned on, and then the next day.... oh, shaky breath. Oh, deep inhalations. The decorations wi...