A very long hiatus ...

... but I can happily say I have finished the first draft of my novel - can't say I ever thought I would! More on this later - I just want to jog this blog into life for now!

Well here we are

in November, and I feel as if I'm ready for 2010 to start now.

That was then

and this is nearly two months later ... since my last post I was given the opportunity to go to the London Book Fair and it's been action stations ever since. I leave on Wednesday and am going armed with seven South African books to market - one published the rest not - but all fab reads. I was invited by Colleen Higgs of Modjaji books, publisher of the wonderful novel Whiplash and a small host of other great titles. She's only been going for two years, but people are really sitting up and taking notice. So it seems that I am slipping sideways into becoming an agent - I'm not sure how the hat will fit, but am wearing it for now to see. Modjaji is an African rain queen, so here's praying that she will shower her blessings upon us!

You'd think I'd written a book ...

My six sentence story

 ... which of course, I haven't. It's just been so long since I have written anything simply because it was there waiting to be written (or in the case of this piece - worked on). It doesn't quite make me feel like a writer again, but it does give me a little nudge in the right direction.

These posts are getting shorter and shorter - if I had something to say I would say it, but today has been work, work, and a little more work. And still the backlog sits - more like a logjam really. Today I made it through without my afternoon nap - great strides.

And then I  found my little copper-wire man in my pen jar - he's trying to tell me something. Is he saying he's got to get out before it's too late?

This one looks like being fun -

Sunday Scribblings ...

Does one have to write and post only on a Sunday I wonder, or does one have the whole week? One will have to find out, one will.

A whole week

 came and went - and nothing happened here. I was thinking about this blog and what sort of voice will  make itself heard on it. How much will I talk about writing here, how much about editing, how much about the bits and pieces of my life that make me into who I am. What sort of freedom do I have to talk about my children, my husband, my messy house? I really enjoy reading slice of life blogs -  but whose life/lives do I take the knife to?

Good news is that Six Sentences are posting my short-short - which is rather nice as it's the first thing I have submitted anywhere in ages.

But now, as always, it's very late and I am ready to head for bed ... oh the luxury of stretching into the sheets. I love feeling so tired that I know my bones will melt into the mattress. And I know I'll sleep deeply - but never, sadly, long enough - if I could just grab one hour more I am sure I'd be a far more productive person. As it is I am becoming one of those people who can't get very far without her afternoon nap. Rather that than falling asleep at my desk and then coming to with a start just before my forehead hits the keyboard. With a crick in my neck.

For now I think I'd better stick to son older and son younger when bragging of my sons' brilliance - you'll forgive me if this happens often. Son younger made me this little wire man - I don't know of I can show the action he's managed to capture with a few strands of copper wire,  but this little man's propped up against my computer now, egging me onto productivity ...

I will feature him again. And must think of a name for him too.

One of my missions

is to find blogs and websites that I really like and make note of them here. It's easier than bookmarking - my bookmark list is very very long!

So tonight I came across one called

Six Sentences 
What can you say in six sentences. 

And on this blog are all these amazing short shorts. Skinny fiction deluxe. So, in the spirit of saying yes to writing I've submitted my six sentence story. And will keep you posted as to developments!