Hello, and thank you for visiting my site. I hope that you'll return often and always find something of interest about my world and what inspires me to pick up a pen. (This is a figure of speech, unfortunately. My handwriting is terrible!) Here's what I've been up to recently...

The excitement mounts…and the fear!

Shadows cover_fullsize

Knowing that my first book launch is only three days away (Saturday, 22nd August from 5 p.m.) reminds me of the panic that always set in when my flatmates and I in Manchester were about to throw a party during our student days. Would no one turn up and we’d be left to languish alone amongst the refreshments we’d lashed out on? Would everyone we knew turn up and there wouldn’t be enough to go round or even room to stand comfortably? (Well, we did once have 200 people in our flat!)

Back garden June 2016

The weather wasn’t a factor in those days, but now it is. Our garden is quite a picture at the moment and I’m hoping to see a crowd of people enjoying it on Saturday. I’ve even arranged to borrow extra outdoor furniture from the neighbours. However, as natives of our ‘green and pleasant land’ know only too well, we pay a price for all that greenness. I once took part in an ‘erotic drama’* called Natasha, filmed a few miles away from here, and have never forgotten its Indian director ranting and raving every time we were rained off. It was August, for heaven’s sake, wasn’t it! Yes, but this was North Yorkshire, not Bombay.

Anyway, Que sera, sera as the song goes. There will be refreshments, there will be music and there will be a hopeful author with a pile of books to sign. Please come along and join me!

*In case you’re wondering, ‘my’ scenes were neither erotic nor particularly dramatic. I was part of the church congregation of ‘Little Haven’ (actually Birstwith) and had a badly sprained ankle at the time, which made it difficult to run for cover each time the heavens opened during the church picnic scene. Richard Lintern, who played the vicar, was very kind and almost carried me at times. If you’d like to know more about this ghastly film, which went straight to video – I have a copy somewhere – you can see the trailer on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkv67-vRY4

19 August, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story

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