Month: June 2018

What’s happening in my world, this week:

• Work: writing M&B #84 (True Love romance set in the world of art, partly in Florence); revising M&B #83; updating my website one backlist book per day; and faffing about with my Big Book; and I thought it was publication day this week for my 80th M&B, but that turned out to be last week…
• Reading: Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres
• Looking forward to: open day at the University of Nottingham on Saturday
• Workouts: managed one last week at the gym along with dogwalking…
• Planet Kate last week: Revisions, but I did have some outings – Travis on 21 June in Ipswich (great and enjoyed hugely) and Sheryl Crow on 22 June in Nottingham (one of my all-time top 10 gigs – fantastic); Belvoir Castle on the way home on 23 June (gorgeous rose garden) and Wells-next-the-Sea on Sunday. Also new hair (Chloe had hers dyed green!) and a brief trip out to find a field of poppies in the middle of the week because the world got a bit much mid-week. (I do think we need more kindness in the world.)
• Fave pic from the last week: LTR: top row – Poppies at Caistor St Edmund, roses and alliums at Belvoir Castle, and lovely Sheryl Crow; bottom row Travis, a mackerel sky over our back garden, and Book 80 on the beach where it’s set 🙂

What’s happening in my world, this week:

• Work: revising M&B #83 (Medical romance, Marriage of Convenience); writing M&B #84 (True Love romance set in the world of art, partly in Florence); updating my website one backlist book per day; and faffing about with my Big Book
• Reading: Small Town Love, Susan Meier (enjoyed); Vinegar Girl, Anne Tyler (enjoyed – very, very clever retelling of Shrew)
• Looking forward to: Travis at Ipswich on Thursday (they’re doing the whole of The Man Who, so that will be great) and Sheryl Crow in Nottingham on Friday (bucket list – I’ve adored Sheryl ever since I first heard ‘All I Want to Do’ – and we share a birthday).
• Workouts: two gym sessions last week, plus dogwalking; intend to be good this week, too…
• Planet Kate last week: plotting my book; taking Archie for his first haircut (which ended up with me being soaked and covered in hair while wussy spaniel leaned on me); going to Mannington Hall for a writery day with my good friend Rosie Hendry on Friday (inspirational place and I’ve kind of sorted out location inspiration for a couple of books, plus sorted out a knot in my Big Book); off to London on Saturday to meet my friend Ali Williams to see Two Noble Kinsmen at the Globe (sorted out another book knot, and also I really recommend Tas Pide, which is opposite the Globe, as the staff are lovely and the food is fantastic); and off to Norwich for breakfast out with my daughter on Sunday and some photographs to help with the publicity for my 80th M&B – which I thought was out at the end of the month, but it seems that publication day is flexible and it’s already out. There might also have been an accidental foray into bookshops and accidental purchases (all right, a signed copy of a Terry Jones medieval book and a facsimile of the manuscript of The Wasteland and a few other things – this is why I’m not allowed in second-hand bookshops without adult supervision, and I think my daughter might fall under the label of Bad Influence rather than Responsible Adult). Also my son came home for the summer on Sunday afternoon, and it’s lovely to have a full complement in the house. Archie is particularly pleased to have Eldest back.
• Fave pic from the last week  – I was going to include some faces in here as well, but for some reason WordPress tipped them upside down and I couldn’t get them to tip the right way up again! Anyway. Mannington Hall chapel ruins; Mannington Hall moat; and the Globe stage.

  

  

  

   

What’s happening in my world, this week:

• Work: finished M&B #83; sort of wrote the outline for M&B #85; started writing M&B #84 (True Love romance set in the world of art, partly in Florence); updating my website one backlist book per day; and faffing about with my Big Book
• Reading: Who We Were Before, Leah Mercer (enjoyed)
• Looking forward to: Two Noble Kinsmen at the Globe in London on Saturday
• Workouts: I am so going to the gym this week…
• Planet Kate last week: worked hard on the book all week and finished it on Wednesday; spent Thursday in Ipswich with Caroline Anderson as a plotting day (and bonus of meeting her new pup); collected Youngest from her school trip to Stratford at 3am Friday night, left for Leicester and a look round the uni at 7am Saturday morning (yes, 4 hours later – was nice to see my old uni), and saw Bill Bailey in Peterborough on the way home (probably the best standup show I’ve ever seen, but it was another post-midnight trip home and up to take Youngest to work at 7am).
• Fave pics from the last week: Caroline’s gorgeous pup needing a carry past the Scary Lorry in the park; my own gorgeous pup, trying to make me for guilty for not taking me with him; and my youngest discovering the delights of the stack system in the library where I spent my student years.

What’s happening in my world, this week:

• Work: writing M&B #84 (True Love romance set in the world of art, partly in Florence); updating my website one backlist book per day; and faffing about with my Big Book
• Reading: looking forward to seeing what’s next on my TBR
• Looking forward to: Chloe’s uni open day at Leicester at the weekend (aka my old uni) and Bill Bailey on the way home
• Workouts: planning to go to the gym – I need to show my face and get back into routine
• Planet Kate last week: Absolutely manic, even by my standards! I’ve been trying to finish my book and fit in a whole bunch of other stuff. So Tuesday morning started with a trip to Manchester for an open day at the university for Chloe. Whatever the satnav says, I never seem to manage it in less than five hours (and we don’t stop that long for lunch!). But we got there safely, had a look round the science museum, had dinner and went to the Royal Exchange to see Beckett’s ‘Happy Days’. Maxine Peake was excellent, but the play was very challenging! Wednesday, we visited Mrs Gaskell’s house, and what a joy it was. The original furnishings were sold, so the curators worked with inventories and letters to find what was there and then purchased pretty much the nearest equivalent (exactly right in period terms). Best of all, WE WERE ALLOWED TO TOUCH THE BOOKS. There might have been a bit of squeaking over being allowed to touch an actual Currer Bell. Then we had the uni open day, and it’s currently in top slot – lovely buildings, a good and honest talk, and then being shown round by one of the students. Thursday, met up with a friend I’ve known for more than 10 years online but hadn’t actually met in person before, so there was much walking and talking and it was so nice to meet her; and then the five-hour drive home. Two days of concentrated work to catch up, then Gerry’s birthday and a trip to the beach, where Archie decided he was brave enough to go right into the sea for a swim (and was less than happy to discover that meant a bath to get the salt and sand out of his coat!). Oh, wait, I forgot something: publication day for my 79th Harlequin Mills & Boon! (Read more about it here on the website.)
• Fave pic from the last week: Mrs Gaskell’s writing desk, the Faculty of Arts building at the University of Manchester, and Wells-next-the-Sea. And then I think I ought to include my book…