Updates

Your first port of call for, erm...updates!  Log on right here to find new features, news, gossip and piffly stuff.

If yow'm a-wonderin' where all my 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 updates have disappeared to, I'm sure you know by now to click on '2007 archive,' '2006 archive,' '2005 archive' or '2004 archive' link below.


Wednesday 16 July 2008

Apologies - again - for not updating this for an aeon (well a month anyway).

We've had some time away recently, going to Paris for our 1st wedding anniversary. It was fab. Knackering, but well worth it. What a place! The architecture and landmarks are amazing.

Since then I have been attempting to immerse myself back into writing. Following the awful review of Gap Year , I am now giving novels a rest and targeting the women's magazine market. I am editing some of my existing pieces to meet the mag guidelines, before working on brand new ones.

I have also enrolled for the Open University's Start Writing Fiction course, which starts at the end of October. It isn't a degree, just a 12-week jobbie, but I am hoping it will give me a serious kick up the bum. I am really looking forward to it. As I have said before, I am very goal-driven and feel the discipline of having assignments to complete, and deadlines by which to complete them, will spur me on.

I am still, sad to report, on somewhat of a downer where my scribbling is concerned. I have had some not particularly complimentary comments about the edited version of A Date with Damian, which I have posted on the Great Writing online writing community to which I belong. It is very hard not to take them personally and experience a "Nobody likes me" feeling. I desperately need a confidence boost, and am afraid to say I'm not getting it at present.

What is wrong with me? Can I not write anymore, or are critics simply getting harsher? I feel as though I am not good at anything, just mediocre at everything. What's that expression – jack of all trades but master of none?

Oh well, at least my husband still loves me.

Perhaps I should just stick to walking as my main hobby? After all, I have no problems putting one foot in front of the other. At least I do have lots of interests in life. It sounds cheesy, but I do love life and really have a lot to be joyous about. I would love to do a wine tasting course too someday!

I simply cannot give up writing, though - it is part of me, something I just have to do. Were I to give it up, part of me would die.


Monday 16 June 2008

Can't believe my hen night was a year ago today!!

Mum and I had an ace day at the BBC Good Food Show yesterday - and even got to meet the Newsround and Saturday Superstore god John Craven!! He signed Mum's copy of Countryfile magazine! He didn't say much - just "Who am I doing this to?" and "There you go Jane" - but then there was a bit of a queue waiting to get things signed by the man.

I am currently working on A Date with Damian for submission to Woman's Weekly. It in essence needs a rewrite, but I am quite enjoying the challenge as it feels like I'm creating a new story.


Saturday 14 June 2008

I have now contributed two of my short stories to women's magazines. A Civil Wedding has been dispatched to Yours magazine, while TV Spa-Dom has gone off to My Weekly. These pieces are now heavily edited versions of their former selves, as a few adjustments were necessary to tailor them to the appropriate readership.

I then just have A Date with Damian to brush up, then I'll begin work on some new short stories. As soon as one gets rejected (yes, I'm pessimistic) by a certain magazine, I'll send it off to one of the others on my list.

I am quite enjoying revising these old stories and adapting them for the appropriate readership, though it is a bit of a slow process. It feels slightly weird not having a novel to write, but I suppose I shall have to get used to this new method of working.

I have been rereading my most recent diary, from the last year or so (yes, I am very anal and have kept a diary since I was 15). It hurts slightly to see so many entries detailing the work I was doing on Gap Year at the time, and how much I was enjoying it. It seems laughable now that I enjoyed writing that novel so much, then ended up getting such a monstrous critique on it. It makes me feel slightly stupid.

2 weeks tomorrow, we'll be in Paris for our 1st wedding anniversary.....


Monday 2 June 2008

I have started a new Non-Fiction section - you can access the three new pieces within it via the Home page.

I have written about my recent 11-mile trek in the Clee Hills, and also exhumed from my Updates the accounts of our wedding and our day at the Beeb when Nath appeared on The One and Only, as I felt they were becoming buried on here beneath all my more recent diary entries.

I set myself the task of doing a write-up on the Clee Hill yomp as practice really, wishing to pick myself up, dust myself off, etc, following that scathing RNA review. You can never get enough practice. After all, writers write. It's what we do - simple as that. It was so wonderful to be exercising my creative muscle again, poring over my thesaurus, working to a (self-imposed) deadline. I also really enjoyed doing a non-fiction piece for a change.

I have also been doing research into the idea of writing short stories for women's magazines. At the moment this is a course of action that interests me more than slogging away at another novel.

I am reading as many of these mags - Take a Break and the like - as possible, to see what kind of plots they go for. I've been e-mailing them to obtain full lists of their fiction criteria, with a view to contributing something myself soon. I am initially scouring through my own short stories, editing them where appropriate and submitting them to relevant magazines. Then I'm going to write something new.


Wednesday 21 May 2008

Writing can be such a dispiriting experience - though super rewarding when you get it right. Unfortunately, this time I haven't.

It has taken me a week to pluck up the courage to admit this publicly, but I received my RNA critique for Gap Year last Wednesday - and it wasn't good.

As you may remember me saying at the time, the reports I had back for Classmates and All the Rage in 2006 and 2007 respectively were - whilst pointing out a lot of flaws with my work - extremely constructive and helpful, giving me a lot to build on.

This third one was extremely damning and patronising - in fact almost enough to put me off writing forever. I know it's always very dependent on who your reviewer happens to be, what mood they happen to be in, and whether your work happens to be to their taste, but it's disheartening, to say the least.

By no means was my novel perfect or publishable in its current format, but I felt some of the comments were really unjustified.

For example, my dear reviewer states that I 'do not understand punctuation.' Now nobody has ever told me that, not even in primary school - and my reviewer of All the Rage last year stated there were 'no problems' with my punctuation (or indeed my spelling and grammar) and even said this 'came as a refreshing change' compared with many of the manuscripts they have to wade through!

My critic also stated s/he 'did not understand my writing style.' Again, last year's told me I write in 'a fluent style which is very easy to read.' Well I haven't suddenly started writing in Japanese since then!

Oh, and my characters are all dislikeable and the book is uninteresting!

If you're interested, by the way, in reading Gap Year and seeing if you share the opinions of my rancorous reviewer, I have started to post my chapters on the Great Writing website. It's in the Extended Work section (click the link at the top), and you don't have to sign up as a member to read the stories.

The review struck me as rather spiteful in contrast to my two previous ones, which were extremely helpful, at least made the effort to phrase criticisms pleasantly, and gave me a great deal to build on. Frankly, it made me feel humiliated and as though I have no right bothering real proper grown-up authors with my petty efforts.

I have taken advice from one or two people on the many writing websites to which I subscribe - the general consensus is that even the JK Rowlings of this world can paper their walls with rejection letters and I shouldn't give up. I do passionately love writing, and frankly a huge part of me would die if I gave it up.

I might try a different tack now, though - perhaps give the novels a rest for a while and write short stories for women's magazines. I had of course begun work on The Four Matthews, but that will have to be put on ice for a while. I now don't feel I should dare submit anything to the RNA next year. If their reaction to Gap Year was anything to go by, I just know they are going to despise The Four Matthews.

My initial reaction was to leave the RNA, since I am clearly not good enough for it, but that may constitute an admission of defeat and so I will think twice about leaving. I don't have to renew my membership until January in any case.

I don't, however, feel I have the confidence to pursue The Four Matthews as yet, so may not have anything to submit next year. I may write a few short stories first, as they are less of a thankless slog. I really like writing short pieces as I am quite an impatient person and like the instant gratification they give.

I might also enroll on an Open University course in creative writing. The thing is I am very goal-driven and always need something to work towards, to spur me on. Well my goal had been to write a novel every year so that I have something to submit to the RNA.

On a happier note, Nath and I both had a rubbish week, so decided to treat ourselves to a spur-of-the-moment weekend away. We spent Saturday night in Tissington in the wonderful Peak District. We love our walking and cycling, and enjoyed a 16(!!)-mile bike ride along the gorgeous Tissington Trail. I was a tad sore, but it was so worth it.


Saturday 10 May 2008

I have, I'm afraid to say, rather neglected my writing of late. Since returning from our recent short holiday in sunny Wales, we've done a lot of walking, cycling and generally enjoying the glorious weather, and I've had a kind of 'half term' break from The Four Matthews. Must try harder next week, though.

Still no word from the RNA on Gap Year. Wonder if that's a good sign? I suspect not, but it would be nice to think they are reading my manuscript and considering it worthy of publication.


Saturday 26 April 2008

Been working on The Four Matthews this week. At this stage I'm concentrating on pouring my ideas out on to the paper and not worrying whether they make for a coherent read.

I really hope I get some positive comments from the RNA on Gap Year. Every day that manuscript hasn't landed back on my mat is a day an RNA reader could be loving it! I would love to have plenty of positive comments that I can take on board, enabling me to work on the manuscript and possibly try my luck with another agent.

It would be an absolute dream for something to come of Gap Year, simply because I loved writing it so much. I adored the characters and the setting - they were so close to my heart. I have not long finished the book, but am missing it already! Daft as it sounds, I felt as though I grew up with that novel; I matured as a writer. I look upon my first two efforts - Classmates and All the Rage - as practice runs, leading up to it.


Tuesday 22 April 2008

I have started writing The Four Matthews. I have cobbled together a sort of introductory paragraph, but it's been so long since I was at this stage (since Gap Year took forever) I had forgotten how intimidating that first blank page is. Facing the blank canvas is always the most difficult bit.

My approach to this story is rather different to my previous efforts. I've always liked to know precisely where I'm going with a storyline, had every chapter plotted out - but for some reason with this one I'm taking more of a 'dive in and see where we go' approach. Obviously I have the vague plot in mind, but not the intricate happenings of each individual chapter. It's like going on a journey without a map.

Perhaps this approach has come with confidence? I don't know. I don't claim to be a marvellous writer, by any means, but I suppose I have a fair bit of experience under my belt now. This stage in a novel is always an exciting, uncertain time.

I am initially giving myself just over two months to complete the first (very) rough draft of a manuscript - in other words, I want to have it done prior to Nathan and I going to Paris for our first anniversary (yes, first anniversary - where does the time go?!). Then I shall devote the best part of the year afforded to me before the 2009 RNA deadline fine-tuning and brushing it up into readable book format.

It's so much easier to tidy up a rough script than to get something perfect down on the paper straight away. You can't amend a blank page, after all.


Saturday 19 April 2008

You'll see I have given the website a bit of a much needed revamp.

I've decided to upload the Prologues/first chapters of my first three novels - along with the pre-Chapter 1 intro I have done for The Four Matthews. You can access them via the Home page. If you want to read more of these novels (well except the latter, of course, as I haven't written the rest of it yet), do contact me and I'll e-mail them to you.

It was interesting looking back particularly on Classmates and All the Rage, my first two efforts, and seeing how my writing technique has improved in the intervening four or five years. Now I don't claim that Gap Year is a work of stellar literature, but my earlier novels still seem almost childlike in comparison. So if/when reading them, do bear in mind that I was a lot younger then!

You'll notice too that this page is now in glorious Technicolor. I uploaded the novel chapters in different colours to the rest of the site, as I wanted to give them a distinct look. I have now given the Updates, Links and CV pages a colour makeover too. Because I can. I was getting bored of the green writing on black background.

P.S. My stamped addressed postcard returned from the RNA today, indicating that the Gap Year manuscript has been received. I'll let you know in due course when I received their feedback.


Friday 18 April 2008

Gap Year has gone!! I posted the weighty manuscript yesterday, so it should land on someone's desk this morning - and will no doubt land back on mine within a couple of weeks, accompanied by a 'thanks but no thanks.' But we shall see. You never know - perhaps this could be my big break?!

I am now working hard on The Four Matthews and enjoying the sheer buzz of creating characters and writing them into - and out of - sticky situations.


Sunday 6 April 2008

Since I've had a name change, this site now - at long last - has too. The domain name came up for renewal, so this is now www.leighmathers.co.uk - content and cynical humour remain the same.


Wednesday 2 April 2008

Last night I attended my first ever classical concert. Well hark at me getting all cultured in my old age!! Having a wide taste in music is an advantage as I do get to go to an assortment of wonderful shows. This one was the most, shall I say, refined performance I’d ever attended.

It was brilliant - the CBSO playing Beethoven's Fifth at Symphony Hall in Brum. There were a couple of more obscure pieces, followed after the interval by what is described in the programme as 'The world's most recognisable piece of classical music.'

The programme began with a somewhat mournful work I can't pretend I'd ever heard of (or cared much for, if truth be told): Witold Lutoslawski's Funeral Music in Memory of Bartok. Apparently, Western fans (of which I'm not one) will recognise it from the score of the Clint Eastwood movie The Outlaw Josey Wales.

The second piece was Bela Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3. I found this rather more interesting (though Nathan sniffed that it was 'Too modern for my taste') and it featured a mesmerising performance by the Swiss pianist Andreas Haefliger.

While it was interesting to hear these unfamiliar pieces, it was those unmistakable 'Der-der-der-DERRRR' notes of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor that really got the shivers going. I confess - as a recently reformed classical music philistine - to not having previously known much beyond the 'Der-der-der-DERRRR' intro, but it is a quite wonderful piece of music. The Symphony Hall acoustics are incomparable. It was just lovely to go to an event like that with my hubby - aww!!

The audience wasn’t huge but was hugely appreciative. The conductor, Louis Langree, took numerous curtain calls – I could well understand how the likes of Pavarotti managed over 100.


Sunday 30 March 2008

Put out the flags - I have added a new story. A Civil Wedding (follow the link) is my latest little piece, and has unfortunately just been rejected by the RNA! I submitted it before Christmas in the hope of making it into the RNA 50th anniversary anthology, but alas it will not be in print. This time. Oh well. Next time - that's what I keep telling myself. Next time.

On the 'novel' front, Gap Year is all but ready for submission - I just need to print it off. When that's done, I'll set to work on my newie, The Four Matthews.

By the way, I've started adding stories to my MySpace blog as well as on here. This seems to be a good way of getting them read, and getting me instant feedback - so if you want to see what other MySpacers think of my work, follow the link.


Sunday 9 March 2008

Well February was a somewhat eventful month. The day after I wrote my last update here, I went down with a rather virulent bout of the norovirus. I won't go into graphics, in case you're eating your lunch at the keyboard, but I was poorly for a fortnight with a ghastly tummy bug followed by a heavy cold. I swear I had never felt so poorly or had so little energy in my life. It was quite scary how, as a relatively fit, healthy and *ahem* young person, a bug could knock me for six the way that one did.

Then we very unexpectedly lost Aunty Pam, Nathan's aunty, to whom we were all close. RIP Pam.

On a lighter note, I'm in the latter stages of preparing my Gap Year manuscript for submission to the Romantic Novelists Association. I have also made preliminary inroads into The Four Matthews. My fictitious route is mapped out, I have got all my character sketches drawn up, and I've sort of started the story in that I've penned an extract from the 'Best Foot Forward Walking Breaks summer brochure' about the 40-mile hike on which I am sending these characters.

Nath and I are also looking to move house soon, so watch this space...


Sunday 10 February 2008

My hubby was on telly last night!!!!

A write-up on my day out at the BBC to watch Nathan and his band Queen on Fire perform on last night's semi-final of BBC1's The One and Only talent show:

An fun and fascinating - if also long and tiring - day. It was a beautiful February afternoon. After a minor nightmare getting lost around the wilds of Willesden and Shepherd's Bush, we - my MIL and DIL Chris and Frank and myself - made it to BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane (which I remembered vividly as the address they used to give out for competitions on Going Live back in my youth) at 4:30, in plenty of time to be ticked off the list, allocated our numbered stickers and sent through to the foyer.

On our way in to that vast, vast building, we happened to meet Nathan and his bandmates and had the obligatory cheesy 'standing outside TV Centre' shots on our phone cameras.

There was a great deal of hanging around before the 350 or so audience members were called through to the studio in the appropriate order. Contestants' families and friends first (recognisable by their badges bearing legends such as 'Lionel's Mum' or 'Robbie's Granddad'), then the superfans, then the rest of us.

It was absolutely amazing to see how many hundreds of crew members and assistants and technicians, how many zillions of cameras and lights and miles of cable it takes to make one TV programme.

There was great excitement, and applying of emergency 'I'm gunna be on the telly' lippy and powder (and that was just the men taken care of) when our group were shown to seats which we were told would feature on camera throughout the show ('So no nose-picking,' the floor manager ordered)! We were directly behind the bench on which the contestants sat once they had performed. I dispatched a few quick texts to my mum and friends indicating where we were and to 'look out 4 us!!'

There is such a fun atmosphere in that studio. I must admit I always suspected the unnaturally deafening sounding crowd noise was dubbed on these type of programmes - but no, the audience really do go that wild! It was a riot. Each artiste had their throng of supporters - the Lionel Richie-a-like, Moni, seemed to have a busload in. At times during the show we couldn't hear what Graham Norton was saying over the applause (in fact we heard more watching it back on the telly).

The floor manager did a great job of hyping us up, telling us at what points to applaud and for how long, during which songs to stand up and clap and which to sit down but sway!

The lovely Graham Norton, and judges Carrie and David Grant, were announced on shortly before transmission time. Graham seemed very sweet, camp, energetic and impish - exactly how you'd expect him to come across really. He certainly gives the impression he absolutely loves doing the show.

He was chatting down with the friends and relatives, asking who won the afternoon's rugby, when the continuity announcer boomed through to indicate the live programme was about to start, forcing our Graham to do a little 'ooh, I'll miss me cue' dash up the stairs he would then descend. He was over our side of the set, and in response to Frank shouting 'Go for it Graham,' waved and flashed us an excitable, 'Good here innit' sort of smile.

The competitors performed the following numbers in this live first show:

Anthony Adams, alias Frank Sinatra - My Way (beautiful song - my dad's song - but I've heard much better Sinatras)
Siam Hurlock, alias Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (difficult song and she did it well)
Simon Abbotts, alias Tom Jones - Sex Bomb (cringe-o-rama)
Joanna Berns, alias Cher - I've Found Someone (sang her socks off - the best, in my opinion)
Moni Tivony, alias Lionel Richie - Hello (sweet, sincere performance)
Katy Setterfield, alias Dusty Springfield - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (sounded just like Dusty)
Tony Lewis, alias Robbie Williams - Rock DJ (shouty and posey)
Whole group - December 1963 (Oh What a Night) by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

The crowd all 'gave it some' - as instructed by the floor manager - and it was so easy to get caught up in the spirit of cheering rapturously when Carrie and David praised a contestant and booing at the vaguest hint of criticism. We were encouraged to cheer every contestant, not just our favourites, and I have to say everyone was lovely and supportive to all.

Immediately after the live show, which finished at 7:45, Queen on Fire's performance was pre-recorded, to be inserted into the results show. There was a practice run-through - to heat up the audience - then the real take.

They had a strict three-minute time slot, and chose a medley consisting of Killer Queen and We are the Champions. Scott, Nath, Sean, Tom and Ade were just superb and gave it their all. The crowd went mad again. It was a complete buzz. I'm so proud!!

Watching it back (which I have - as you can imagine - a hundred times), they all sounded and looked great. Plenty of close-ups of my hubby - which was lovely and kind of surreal!! They were all delighted with how it went.

Hopefully the phone will start to ring with more gig offers now...

Graham then recorded a few trailers for next Saturday's final, to be broadcast at progressive points during the week: 'Saturday at 7:30 on BBC1!' - 'Tonight at 7:30 on BBC1!' - 'Next on BBC1!!' - 'Over on BBC1 now!!'

We were dispatched back to the foyer for a break - and to pounce on the free crisps and bottles of water up for grabs - and then ushered back for the results show, which kicked off at 9:25. There were two more group performances: Take Another Little Piece of my Heart from the girls and Suspicious Minds by the boys. Queen on Fire's pre-recorded insert was then shown to us on monitors. Watching back, you can't see the join, as it were, and would never know which bits were not live as they segue so smoothly.

Graham made a quip about 'Brian May in Cher's wig' - then it was results time and he announced 'in no particular order' the first four acts going through to the grand final: Frank, Lionel, Robbie and Dusty. The audience whoops were naturally by now chimpanzee-like, and there was euphoric 'Lionel's in the final' chanting - to the tune of the Conga - from his posse.

'The act with the lowest number of phone votes and therefore leaving the competition tonight' proved to be Tom Jones - which left Diana Ross and Cher (a travesty in my opinion - those two were the best of the night) to battle it out for their fellow contestants' votes in the sing-off. The finalists elected to save Cher, so Diana was out too.

The result was slightly disappointing then. In my opinion, Tom (though Simon Abbotts is a fellow Dudleian) was right to go, but I felt Robbie was the next weakest. These two did a lot of posing, and the sexy choreography of the dancers around them distracted from wobbly vocals! By contrast, Diana showed total star quality.

My prediction for the final? Lionel Richie to win!

I definitely want to go and watch more TV recordings (the ones that particularly spring to mind would be Strictly Come Dancing and Who Wants to be a Millionaire - I guess there are waiting lists you can go on?). I could even make it my hobby. Certainly when I retire I shall consider it as a regular pastime. It's free, and a fascinating day out. There's a fair bit of hanging about, but it's well worth it.

Now if you by any chance happened to tape last night's programme - and wish, for any reason, to see my in-laws and me clapping along and 'giving it some' - have your pause button at the ready during certain shots of the contestants who have sat down after performing. We were on the second row of the block right behind their bench. I'm in glasses and a blue T-shirt with Sweep (Sooty's mate) on!! You can spot us especially during Queen on Fire's set, Cher's song and the group performance of the Frankie Valli number!!

You can also watch it on http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ and my You Tube page www.youtube.com/user/mrslmathers


Saturday 2 February 2008

Now that Gap Year is complete, I have commenced the preliminary stages of my fourth novel, The Four Matthews.

It's going to be a 'walking' novel, as I've said before, featuring eight folks who undertake a 10-day, 40-mile footslog from Alveley in Shropshire (which eagle-eyed readers will recall was the venue of my wedding) to Tissington in the Peak District, taking in 'The Four Matthews' - four hills (entirely of my own creation) set at equidistant intervals along the route - on the way.

All the locations and landmarks which feature are going to be renamed, though, to avoid nitpicky and distracting comparison with their real-life counterparts (i.e. comments from reader(s) of the "Brewood hasn't got a road like that" variety).

Sad as it sounds, but I've been sitting down with atlases and A-Zs attempting to plan a route for my fictitious walkers, working out how many miles they are going to cover in a day, how many days their journey will take them and in what locations these hills - the 'Matthews' - are going to be located. It's actually great fun!

I had intended taking a small break after completing the Gap Year manuscript, but in fact find I'm itching to crack on with my next project. The Four Matthews feels so fresh after working on Gap Year for what seemed like about 80 years.

Now that I'm writing and productive and keen again, I shall hopefully update this more regularly.

Well I survived my first blood donor session on Wednesday. I was a quick bleeder (only took about five minutes), I didn't feel a thing while it was going on and I didn't get light-headed at all (as I had had something to eat late in the afternoon).

My arm did sting, though, when they removed the needle thingummy, which I was told was a result of them touching a nerve! They advised me to take some paracetamol as soon as I got home but call the helpline if the pins and needles persisted (which luckily they didn't). I then had a cup of squash and some bourbon biscuits.

I've already made my next appointment. I felt so good about giving blood. I was a little bit nervous, but now that I've done it and know what to expect, there will be nothing to worry about next time.

The town hall was absolutely packed with donors, so obviously there are plenty of charitable folks in Sutton Coldfield. There were lots of very young people doing it, which was good. I wish I'd started at a younger age myself.


Wednesday 30 January 2008

Gap Year is finished!!!! Yes, I have amended the manuscript - scrawling my pages with incomprehensible (to all but me) squiggles and now 'all' I have to do is type the thing up ready for this year's RNA submission. Working intensively on it - living and breathing writing - for the last month has clearly paid off.

Well I have given sweat and tears to Gap Year, and tonight I am giving - in the literal sense this time - blood! I have registered as a blood donor and am due to donate my first armful tonight. I do feel it a noble thing to do, and hope to give gallons in my lifetime.

I am delighted to see that another great 80s group, this time Yazoo, are reforming for a summer tour. My best pal Ros and I have tickets for their Wolverhampton show on 12 June!


Wednesday 9 January 2008

Happy new year reader(s) - hope it proves to be a good 'un.

Well another year, another updates page. Can't quite believe this is my fifth year of running 'Leigh's Bostin' Yarns.' I still have no idea if this thing is being read by masses or just my mum, but whatever - I enjoy it.

I submitted my newest short love story, A Civil Wedding, to the Romantic Novelists Association's anthology competition just prior to Christmas. I've heard nothing back yet - save for my stamped addressed postcard advising me they'd had it.

Not that I anticipate making into the anthology, but I don't intend uploading here A Civil Wedding just yet, since the competition is open only to previously unpublished works, and that apparently criteria includes Internet publication. So I would hate to jeopardise what slim chances I do have of making it into print.

Since the Christmas hiatus, I have been working hard on Gap Year, brushing up the manuscript for submission also to the RNA.

Man, it feels sooo good to be writing again! I truly remember why I love it so much. It is my outlet; the most wonderful kind of escapism. I actually feel a much better and happier person when I am immersed in writing. It somehow validates me. I am totally immersed in my characters' lives and can't stop thinking about them - always a good sign.

It is refreshing also to reread Gap Year with new eyes, now that I feel all fresh and keen following the stress of Christmas. I see so many scenes in it that I want to change, in addition to the flaws I had already highlighted. However, I am also very keen to get it finished and crack on with my fourth novel, which I plan to set along the route of a fictitious charity walk and call The Four Matthews. I seem to have been writing Gap Year forever, and am very impatient to finish. This impatience is spurring me on to not procrastinate but devote as much spare time as I can to amending it ready for RNA scrutiny.

My new soundtrack to my writing (that's a pretentious way of describing what's currently on my MP3) is The Ultimate Classical CD 2008. I have of late acquired this urge to get myself a bit of culture and am trying to get into classical music - a genre of music in which I had not the smallest amount of interest in until about a year ago.

I like to try new things (think of the good stories they make). Amazing how many pieces whose names were unfamiliar to me but which I recgonise, from adverts and film soundtracks.

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