Sorry it’s been a while since my last entry, I’m not quite sure where the last two months have gone but let me try and tell you in Reduced Shakespeare company style.
Most of November was taken up with our house being permanently covered in a layer dust when we redecorated our lounge. Only we didn’t just re-decorate, we had all our walls re-plastered too, plus removed a doorway and replaced it with an archway. Result: mess everywhere for about 3 weeks, much hair ripping out, stress and a constant feeling of grit in places there shouldn’t be! But now a lovely new lounge where it’s a pleasure to sit of a winter's evening!
Then it was Christmas – fairly uneventful I’m pleased to report this year. Except to say Christmas 2009 will always be remembered as the Christmas we discovered the joys of Gavin & Stacey.
How we’d ever managed to miss this wonderful BBC comedy before I don’t know? But I caught an episode just before Christmas (the one with the Puff Daddy wedding ring) and that was it, I knew I just had to see all the others too. So I ordered the box set off Amazon of every episode for £22 ( quite a bargain I thought at the time.) And I was proved correct, and then some! The Christmas TV was pretty rubbish as always, so we ended up watching the entire lot from start to finish! Brilliant! If I can ever write something as funny as that, I’ll be very, very proud.
And then on 14th January came my Birthday. Thought you might like to see the cake I was surprised with this year. Made by local baker Tom’s cakes http://www.tomscakes.co.uk/ it tasted just as good as it looked!
And then on 14th January came my Birthday. Thought you might like to see the cake I was surprised with this year. Made by local baker Tom’s cakes http://www.tomscakes.co.uk/ it tasted just as good as it looked!
We seem to be on a decorating binge right now. Just last weekend we finished my daughter's room – she’d saved up all her money from Christmas and her Birthday (she’s a New Year’s day baby) and put it towards completely re-vamping her own room, And it looks really lovely in shades of lilac and blackcurrant, plus the traditional teenage black! But her penance for doing this was she had to sleep in her brother’s room for a week while it was being done. It’s a long time since they’ve shared a room – and they won’t be doing it again in a hurry... well until it’s his turn to have his room decorated!!
And now it’s my turn. My bedroom and study is currently being redecorated, so I’m sleeping in the dining room while it’s being done! Ah the joys of home decoration - a nightmare while it’s in progress, but so worthwhile when it’s over. If you’re interested, I’m going for a look from the Cath Kidston range. With pale blue & dark raspberry walls to match.
And what’s been happening on the book front I hear you cry? Well maybe you don't, but I’ll tell you anyway. From Notting Hill with Love ... Actually is now on WH Smith, Waterstones and Amazon websites to pre-order! How exciting is that. My husband said I nearly burst his ear drum when I found it on Amazon for the first time.
It got a fab pre-review on this site http://chicklitreviews.com/2010/01/18/book-news-from-notting-hill-with-love-actually-by-ali-mcnamara/ I just hope the reviews are as good when it’s published on 25th November!
And I’m currently working on what’s called a copy-edit. For those that don’t know this is really like being at school and getting a piece of homework back from the teacher with lots and lots of red pen across it. Except this time its a copy editor who's picked up every little spelling, punctuation and grammar mistake you’ve made and changed it. (she also picks out lots of things we’ve missed along the way too, and you wonder how on earth no-one has never noticed that before!) Copy-Editors are worth their weight in gold at this stage of the novel’s process from manuscript into proper book, because it’s after this that the novel will be type set ready for printing I believe (so there’s no going back!!)
I should have a cover to show you very soon too, as they’re working on it as we speak at the publishers...
More on that soon.
So that’s my round up of what’s been going on in my life. Nothing majorly exciting, but enough to make the time whizz by so that we’re now fast approaching February!
I’ll be back very soon with more.
Not very 'Reduced Shakespeare' in the end I know, but then I always was a bit too wordy for my own good! ;-)
Until the next time,
A x
A x
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