September Blues

As much as I hate being the bearer of bad tidings I'm afraid it's my onerous duty this morning to inform you that summer is over. Sorry. If I could have held on to it for longer I most assuredly would, but forces outside my control have decreed we've had our lot. At least under this particular patch of grey sky anyway.
You see, our house is suddenly eerily empty. There are no mysterious bulging boxes blocking gangways, no over stuffed carrier bags loitering with intent, no clumps of coats and nests of cables and wires waiting to trip the unwary. No daughter. She's gone back to the halls of learning to add still more strings to her bow, leaving behind a house that's far too tidy, far too quiet, and nowhere near full enough.
To all those correspondents currently writing glee filled articles in their columns for the nationals about how marvellous it is to have their homes back now their children have gone back to school, I send a giant, juicy raspberry. I may be miserable at the moment, but I can at least comfort myself with the knowledge that I've always dreaded September. If you can't figure that one out, you must be going about it all wrong.

New Story!

Well, it's September already, and it's been a month since I last added to the QT library, so here's a new story for you. This one resulted from a challenge set on the CTZ Writers Forum: to write, in any literary form, about some comedy in either the House of Commons or during a business meeting. 'The Defeat' is the story of a night of high drama in government.
Hope you enjoy it.

Fruitless Shopping

This may not seem like the most pressing of issues, particularly given some of the appalling items in the news at the moment, but it's becoming an ever more desperate problem for me and, I suspect, quite a lot of other women, so bear with me.
Now I admit, I'm a rubbish shopper. Or perhaps I'm just a discerning one. I need new jeans, mine are all years old and falling apart, but I haven't been able to find any in the cut that suits me. A concerted hunt along the high street at the weekend confirmed my suspicion that basically all the shops are selling the same pair of jeans - the dreaded 'skinny'.
For those not in the know, 'skinny' jeans are skin tight all the way from ankle to hip. They not only exaggerate the slimmest part of the leg, the ankle, but also the fattest, on the average woman, her thighs and hips, making the leg look like an upturned, well formed parsnip. Not the look I'm going for.
Even a visit to Marks and Spencer revealed 'skinny' jeans in abundance. The only 'straight' jeans they sold were worryingly slim fitting with rib-high waists and leg lengths short enough to reveal not only the ankle but also a good portion of calf. I like my jeans long and low, I like them snug on my hips, loose on the thigh, broad at the ankle and long enough to drape over the shoe. Shops don't sell jeans like that any more.
So, if you see a blushing woman hurrying down the high street in ragged and heavily patched jeans, it'll just be me making another fruitless shopping trip. If you know of any shop, anywhere, that stocks a comprehensive variety of denim styling, please stop me and point me in the right direction. I and my knackered old jeans will be eternally grateful.

Venus in Doc Martens

Regular followers of this blog will be aware that I am frequently drawn to unusual homes. I can't really explain my interest other than by saying I have a secret desire to break convention. It's probably the same part of me that finds itself admiring the patent red leather Doc Martens in the shoe shop in town, and occasionally wonders what it would be like to have purple hair. (Don't worry Mum, I'm not going to dye my hair purple - I was thinking more of bright red to match the Doc Martens!)
However, spend a few years hunting down stories of alternative homes and lifestyles and you come to realise that actually, not much is really all that different, and alternative isn't as radical as it sounds.
But then the BBC ran an article about Venus Project and suddenly I'm not only intrigued, I want to sign up today. The brainchild of the architect Jacque Fresco, the concept is that of a structured society where acquisitiveness is discouraged and knowledge seeking and cultural improvement is the primary goal of humankind while robots and machinery does the boring stuff. Sounds good to me. As one who is keen to further her knowledge but finds herself priced out of further studies, I'm ready to move in now! Added to which, some of the plans look heavenly. I could really take to living in a giant garden. I was about to say I'm going to start packing, but I suppose that might miss the fundamental point of the project.

New Story

There's a new story in the QT library today. 'Sea Legs' is the heart warming story of a lady who suffers long term health effects after a brief cruise.
I hope you enjoy it.

Progress Report

The preparations for Lucky Dip are drawing closer to their final stages. The latest edit is now finished, and the manuscript has been passed on to the next editor for a final check. Then the whole thing will be ready to be converted into digital format ready for submission to Kindle.

So now my attention can return to writing for the third in the QT Anthologies series. I have ten stories so far that make the grade, plus a raft of others in the making, but progress stalled thanks to our holiday and work on Lucky Dip. Hopefully now I can get back into a routine of story writing, which is, after all, what I love doing.

I'll keep you updated with progress, and I will of course give you fair warning of any promotions coming up in the near future. But for now, it's back to searching for inspiration and those quirky somethings that deliver stories worthy of QT.

The Home Stretch for Lucky Dip

'Lucky Dip', my contemporary family comedy, is currently being subjected to its final, ruthless edit. There has also been much activity in the graphics department and we have, at last, agreed on a final design (I think), so here's a sneaky preview:

This is the front cover

and here's the back jacket

This is a huge hurdle out of the way and I'm pretty happy with the result, but of course your comments and feedback are massively important, so if you have any thoughts please feel free to share them here. We're still a little way from publication, so there's still time to make adjustments.

Still to complete are the final edits, which are a little like having your teeth drilled - not fun but essential for your overall health. We're nearly there. I don't have a publication date yet, but as soon as I do I will, of course, post it here.