Happy Liberation Day

It's Liberation Day today, and 64 years since Jersey (Guernsey was liberated on 8th May) was liberated from being occupied by the German forces.

We always have a holiday on 9th May, and the sun always shines (or so it seems). So it's out with the flags, yes, us too, and various church services, parties, horse shows, etc.

So, to Dan, Ma, Gerry, Garry, Andrea, Chris & Rob, Andrew, Michael,Dom, Stuart and family, and all those unable to be with us to celebrate today, Happy Liberation Day.

Best Intentions

(Photo thanks to Tom Foolery, ages ago)
Last week, I decided to take Friday to catch up with the editing I need to do before the end of the month to send off to Caerleon.

This was the plan:
1. Drop J & S off at the bus stop - 7.15am
2. 7.30am, breakfast
3. 7.50am write, with only short break for lunch, until J & S return after school.

This is what happened:
1. Drop J & S off at the bus stop - 7.20
2. Home - put on washing, make beds, etc, blah, blah, blah
3. 7.45am turn on computer and start going through emails.
4. 8.10am - phone call from J, which went something like this:
J: Mum (in singsong voice that instantly tells me I'm not going to be pleased).
Me: What do you want?
J: I've left my memory stick on my bedroom window.
Me: So? (moments pause) I hope you're not expecting me to drive through rush hour traffic to your school with it?
J: But mum, I need it. I have to print off my ICT A2 module stuff and hand it in.
Me: When do you need it for? (Such a dumn question).
J: As soon as possible.

I daren't repeat what I said after that, but suffice to say, the dog pressed his ears against his head to stop from listening to the worst of it. My day was down hill from there. After dropping off memory stick, went home, R arrived asking how soon we can go to buy the plants (I) need? So that's what happened next. The mole man came, as my garden once again resembles Flanders, and on it went, until...

4.50pm I had a niggling feeling that I needed to check something. Checked letter from Uni telling us J's two choices. First choice is fine, but second choice would take him 6 hours (flying from Jersey to UK, then trains) which is far too long to travel. He was given 14 days to phone UCAS to make any changes to his choices, and it turned out that he had to phone BEFORE 6pm that very day to speak to someone to do it.

5.10- phoned J - no answer - eventually got through, at about 5.30, and told him to phone UCAS, gave him all his ID, phone numbers, etc.

5.40 - J phones back to tell me that he's been on hold for ever and his credit is running low, so can I phone UCAS. I said I would, but doubted they would let me instruct them.

5.53 - having been told by very nice chap that, "No, you can't make any changes, as J didn't put you down on the form to do so", I phoned 100s of times to J, who finally picked up, and said (in near hysterical voice, me that is, not him), "You have four minutes, to get through and make the changes."
6.01pm - J phones back. "Done it," he says. Then adds, "I don't know why you get in such a state mum, it was fine."

Grr. So, this weekend, I'm not speaking to anyone, not picking up the phone, and not doing anything other than my damn editing. Well, that's the plan anyway.

9987 by Nik Jones

I recently won a copy of this incredible book by Nik Jones. I was looking forward to reading it, but had no idea what to expect, and it wasn't until I started reading that I even understood the meaning of the title.

Every so often I blog about a book I've enjoyed reading, and will recommend it. However, I don't enjoy all the books I read, and, if I haven't, I don't criticize it, mainly because, a) who am I, as an unpublished writer, to do such a thing to someone who has been successful enough to be published, and, b) now I know how hard it is to write a book in the first place, I don't feel right to say anything negative about anyone elses work. I would rather just say nothing at all.

This book, on the other hand, grabbed me from the first intriguing sentence, dragging me deeper and deeper into the dark, and increasingly chilling world of the protagonist, to the very last words of the final sentence. I felt like I was watching from the shadows, too mesmerised to be able to put it down, as each disturbing scene played out in front of me.

To me, a good book is one that you are unable to stop reading. It makes you want to keep turning each page, and, when you do reach the end, it's a book that haunts you and stays in your mind. This is that book.

Caerleon Summer Writers' Holiday

This is a picture of a New York park (can't remember which one, and have to race off to J's school - through rush hour traffic - as he's forgotten his memory stick with his A2 ICT work on it that has to be in today).

I've been very spoilt, as one of my birthday presents, from my generous mother, was to pay for me to go to the Summer Writers' Holiday at Caerleon. There are fourteen courses to choose from, and you can read more about it here.

I've opted for Della Galton's course, How to Write & Sell Short Stories, and Marina Oliver's , Advanced Novel Writing, which is for writers who have completed the first draft of a novel (80,000-100,000 words). I need to forward the exact word count, as well as a synopsis, etc.

The trouble is that before I went on holiday, I was busily editing one novel, and only the other day, I decided to send in a different one. So, I now have four weeks to edit this novel, whilst at the same time bringing up the word count by approximately 20,000 words, as, thanks to my previous editing attempt, it's now way too short. So, I really need to work at it to have everything up to scratch in time to send it out.

Thank heavens it's a long weekend. Guess who won't be making the most of any sun?

I've just finished, 9987 by Nik Jones, and will blog about it in the next couple of days.

Normal Service Resumes

I've not been able to get near this computer for the past week as J has been frantically working on his A2 ICT Module that needed to be in for today at the latest.

I've gone through this week in a bit of a daze - so, what's new, I hear you ask - and now that I've almost caught up with paperwork and other bits, I can take a moment before racing off to take Grumpy to be clipped, to tell you a bit about the trip.

The Queen Mary 2 is the most incredible ship, and not only because of it's sheer size. My step-son, who is a tall chap, decided to see how long it would take him, only taking into account the inside of the ship, for him to walk from one end to the other - three minutes!

The seas were rough, but then as R reminded me, it was a transatlantic crossing. Mainly Gale Force 8, F9, and on my birthday even managed to get (I'm sure) to a Gale Force 10, or thereabouts. Having said that, no glasses ever spilt, Sas, who was unwell the first day, soon perked up with some Stugeron, and all of us had a ball. The cabins were comfortable (I slept like the proverbial log, which is nothing short of a miracle as I don't really do sleeping). The restaurant, cinema, and theatre were on two levels, they were huge, as was the ballroom. As if the meals weren't enough, we also enjoyed afternoon tea, with warm scones and finger sandwiches.

I watched two shows, put on by RADA graduates, one film and enjoyed an incredible concert by a pianist, Harry the Piano (I'm sure that's the name...) They stopped (or at least slowed) the ship near to where the Titanic rests, and the Captain and senior crew members said a prayer and threw a large wreath over the back (stern?) of the ship as a mark of respect. It was only two days away from the 97th(?) anniversary, and to think that we were standing in warm sun, when the Titanic had experienced icebergs, was rather strange. I spent time in the wood panelled library (quelle surprise) and managed to so some research for my next book.

New York was sublime. Such a vibrant city, I'm sure I'll need to go and live there at some point. Stepping out of the hotel (Waldorf Astoria, a dream in Art Deco) I was delighted to see the hoards of yellow cabs, and in no time at all a fire engine raced passed us, honking it's horn.

When it comes to heights, I'm a drip of the first order - fifth floor hotel rooms have seen me panic - but somehow I went to Top of the Rock, and (as you can see from the photo of Central Park in my previous post) I actually went outside on the 70th floor, and felt completely fine. Probably because it was so damn high, that my brain probably thought I was in a plane or something. The Chrysler Building - somewhere I'd always wanted to visit - was as good as I expected, and inside was far better. The architecture, sounds, sights, and sheer enormity of everything was so perfect. Central Park, Ellis Island, etc.

Out of the six books I took, I didn't even finish one, however, we all had a perfect trip, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Back Again

What I looked at last week.


What I looked at two days ago.














What I'm looking at now!


Sigh!

And tomorrow I'm back to work.

We all had a fabulous time though, and once I've caught up with everyone's posts, and my own heap of mail (mainly bills, no doubt) I shall tell you more about it.

Guess Where I'm Going?

Have you guessed yet? Of course you have.

We're soon off on our travels, and I can't wait. S has copious lists of everything she simply has to visit/see and has already arranged what clothes she's taking. J just shrugs and tells me to 'chill' when I nag him to start thinking about getting organized, and me, well I've spend this morning frantically cleaning the house.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, to invite my brother and his fiancee to move in whilst we're away. They're renovating their home and I thought a break away from all the noise and builders, etc would be welcome. I'd forgotten that I need to make sure the house is clean, bed linen sorted, for their stay, and am now racing around like a blue a**** fly trying to do twenty jobs at once. And my clothes? Haven't managed to get them sorted yet.

I still have a few more days, but will have to go to work for those, and J needs to go to school (even though they've broken up) as he has loads of ICT coursework for his AS still to complete. J is taking my old laptop on the trip with him, so he can do as much as possible as it needs to be handed in when we get back.

Right. Better get on. Happy Easter, and I'll see you when I get back.