What I learnt this week: 15th February 2018

Immersed in Christmas again

Last week I finished the first round of edits for Crumbs, my next book. The first round is always the most challenging, as it requires the major revisions. Cutting out characters, swopping chunks around, adding a chapter. The next time I see it, as long as I haven’t made any major clangers in the first round, I’ll be onto the line edits; are the sentences as tight, as good, as they can be?

With Crumbs submitted, my focus has turned again to Christmas. It’s taken a few days to get back into the characters again, but now I’m off, and up to 34,000 words. So far I’ve researched characteristics of Victorian houses, and keeping budgies. Did you know that a budgie is a bit like a dog (stay with me on this) – when it wags its tail it usually means it’s happy to see you. It can also mean it’s about to poo though, so be careful how you approach it. A budgie with its head cocked to one side is curious. One who bows its head towards you, wants a scratch on the back of its neck where it can’t reach with its beak.

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What on earth does all that have to do with Christmas? Ha – you’ll have to wait an see 🙂

In other news, as is traditional in February, my husband again asked me if he needed to buy me a Valentine card. Of course it’s commercial, as he points out, but I write romantic fiction. Celebrating romance, even if its just by the purchase of a card, is important. Celebrating it with roses, pink champagne and a candle lit meal would be even better, but as I say in my biography:

‘…the romance in my life is all in my head. Then again, my husband’s unstinting support of my career change goes to prove that love isn’t always about hearts and flowers – and heroes can come in many guises.’  

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