My shiny new office!

I promised a picci of my new office - so here it is! Like I said in my last but one post, considering how lovely and cosy it is I've done very little writing! Bad Caroline. Must do better. So this weekend it's a short story for me - I need something "simple" to get me back into the swing so to speak. Caroline x

My 1st *EVER* Sale!

.....before you all get too excited it's not for a book, but for one of my short stories. But that doesn't stop me from being cock-a-hoop. The reality is - someone likes my writing, enough to *pay* me for it. Not enough to give up the day job ;) - but enough to treat myself and the DH to a nice meal somewhere nice!

The short story is entitled "What Friends Are For" - and it's going to be published in The Weekly News (not sure when). I wrote this story in about an hour to sub to my on-line short story writing critique group. To be honest I didn't think it was that good! I've subbed short stories (that have been rejected) that I have thought were a lot better. But hey - what do I know about what editors really want/like!?

So where do I go now? Well to be honest it's kick-started the muse which has been seriously lacking of late since I've moved house. I'm going to tweak some short stories and sub them off, as well as check out Carina Press submissions guidelines. I might send off one of my "Romans" to them. Take care. Caroline x

Yay I'm back....

....after what seems like light years I've finally got back online. BT put our landline up yesterday - although it was a close thing as the BT engineer was a bit of a "jobs worth". "Ummm can't go in loft's -health and safety" - then promptly climbed a ladder outside and connected the telephone wire to the telegraph pole! Don't ask!

Anyhoo. Have I missed blogging? Umm those that know me will shout a resounding "YES!" Oh yes indeedy, at times it was a close thing deciding if I did actually have some sort of addiction to it as my withdrawal symptom were obvious (apparently) to my DH. He's convinced that at one point he thought I needed meds to cope! Only joking. I was able to get my fix at work at lunchtime to be honest. I could read all my favourite blogs, but somehow (work cyber police perhaps?) I couldn't actually "post a comment".

So what have I been up to? Here goes:

1. We moved house - and all the trauma that goes with it - successfully. We are now ensconced in our lovely (damp free) bungalow.
2. I've had severe bronchitis for 3 weeks - which is rather ironic really considering the fact that I moved to get away from damp/mould spores!! What's that all about?!
3. MIL is very poorly and we've been down to Essex to see her. She has terminal C, but she is fighting it all the way.
4. I haven't won the Lottery!
5. I've enrolled on WeightWatchers.

And have I done any writing? Considering the amount of time I've had not blogging you would have thought that I'd have done a ton of it! Errr no. Sorry - don't know why, maybe it's a combination of 1, 2 and 3 above impacting on me, but I've not been near the keyboard since we've moved. Not really much of an excuse I know since we've been settled for weeks now. But I need to kick start myself soon or my mojo will go forever. But saying that, having been reading my favourite blogs for a while now I have detected a bit of apathy out here in blog land. Am I right or is it just me?

Going now. Next time I'll post a picci of my brand new shiny office. The office that I've done absolutely NO WRITING IN SINCE I'VE HAD IT! Shame on me..... Caroline x

48 hours to go....

....before we complete on our new house! And it's only 24 hours until I go off line until 31st of March. So apart from reading and blogging whilst at work during my lunch hour I'm going to be a bit in the wilderness blogging wise. Cripes what will I do!? I'm addicted to blogging. Hey ho. Caroline x

We've Exchanged Contracts....

...at 12 noon today! Yay! We've to wait another week until next Friday and then the new house is ours! Doubly Yay! I'm well happy today. But never let it be said that moving house is easy! I've been rushing around like a headless chicken. Yesterday spent the morning cleaning the new house of plaster dust and general builder's leftovers before the carpet fitters arrived. It was the hardest 3 hours work I've done for a long time! Great for workout though as I'm trying to get a bit fitter.

I've also been having to do most of the other (myriad) of things that need doing when moving house as my poor DH has a very nasty bout of food poisoning (Campylobacter). It started on the 20th of January, and like most men, he thought it would "get better". Last Friday I finally manged to get him to the doctors, and they confirmed Camplyobacter earlier this week. This is now his 3rd week of incapacity. Read between the lines - but the poor DH is housebound if you get my drift!!! Anyone out there know what to recommend? The doctor said he couldn't give antibiotics and he has to avoid dairy products and drink lots of fluid. But as of today - he's as bad as he was 3 weeks ago!! This is making for a lot of lost sleep for both of us! So any tips gratefully received. Fingers crossed he's better next week as we've a marathon move ahead of us.

Hands on heart - I've done very little writing - life is just too, too hectic at the moment. I've a big court case on at the mo, work wise, so my poor brain is addled to say the least. However I do find blogging helps me relax though - so I've not given that up ;)

Anyway - enough rambling - got to do some more packing!

Blinky Blimy!

Where does the time go I wonder? It's 2 weeks since I last posted and it only seems like yesterday. It's been a bit hectic here is Chez Hartin. We are (fingers crossed) about 3 to 4 weeks from completion on our new house. So we've been packing boxes galore and generally clearing stuff out! It never ceases to amaze me how much clutter/rubbish/crap one accumulates over the years. It's quite liberating clearing out stuff that you'll never use again.

If I'm honest, writing has taken a back seat somewhat. But saying that I have had some excellent feedback from Michelle Styles. I entered her mentoring contest and submitted my 1st 3 chapters. Michelle, very kindly, said I had a good "voice" and that I did have talent - and that my ms has potential. I need to rework it a bit - no make that a LOT - lol! But Michelle's advice has been invaluable, and I am *so* grateful that she took time out of her busy schedule to write such a detailed critique. So armed with all her advice I'm going to spend a bit of time on this ms and then "send it out there". But before that, I need to do a good query letter and synopsis as most of the agents only take email subs these days with a query letter attachment and synopsis. Happy writing everyone! Caroline x

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hope everyone had a great New Years Eve. NYE is either party, party, party, or a "quiet one in". We were in the latter camp - mainly because I'm on-call today! But to be honest I'm all for a "quiet one" these days.

I hope 2011 is going to be good for all my pals in blog land. It's an interesting time for me and the DH. Hopefully we should be moving in January - maybe early February - so it's going to be a busy time for us. I'm looking forward to commandeering the third bedroom and having my very own study! Can't wait to post a picci of that when I can. I love to see where writer's write!

But our joy of moving is tempered by the fact that Colin's mum is very poorly. She was in hospital before Christmas but asked to be let out over the festivities. Thankfully they let her, but she has to go back in on the 4th for more tests and MRI scans. They have found a "mass" near her kidney so we can't rule out the dreaded "C" which she has only just recovered from in the past year. Here's praying that they can do something for her.

Trying to be +ve here, so I'm going to go to bow out now by saying that I completed my 3 chapters for Michelle Styles mentoring competition. I edited them to death. Upped the emotion and sensuality and *tried* to focus on just the H/h. So fingers crossed.

Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Caroline xx