How to get great value from a John Barrowman DVD

Following on from my night with John Barrowman - my order forAn Evening With John Barrowman [DVD] [2009]has finally arrived. This is my Christmas pressie to myself, but patience is not one of my virtues - and even if it was, how could I resist Mr B until December 25th? Unable to wait, I pounced on it immediately.

Breathless with anticipation, I sat with remote in hand and kept pausing and re-winding whenever the camera panned anywhere near the third row, in case we were visible. The DVD - with an advertised running time of 86 minutes - lasted nearly three hours. Now that's what I call brilliant value for something that cost less than a tenner from Amazon.

There were many things to look out for - apart from the lovely JB (so pretty) and ourselves, we also had to pause every time the percussionist was on as my daughter had taken a bit of a fancy to him.

And are we in it? I had to look very hard, but yes, we are - John (friend not Barrowman)is easily identifiable by his shirt, the 13-year-old (who was 12 at the time) can be seen next to him, and my hands can be seen clapping. Nobody else would be able to make out it was us (which is good - bearing my bad hair in mind), but I know. And I'm so happy I could cry. See? - Getting in early for third row seats can pay dividends.

And verdict on the DVD? If I'm honest, not as good as being there, but still FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC. And it also gives me a good excuse to post up some more of the photos taken when we were there.

I'm away to wrap it up now so I can open it again on Christmas Day

A New Plan

You'd think I'd be better off writing rather than just making plans - but I've decided to cheat with NaNo. I'm going to run with my competition chapter and get as much of that story done by the end of the month instead of starting something new. With 5,000 words already written, it will give me a good start. Besides, I already know the characters, a synopsis (of sorts - synopsis writing is not my forte)has been prepared - and I actually want to write it anyway.

Of course, I won't be able to post my progress on the NaNo site, but I'll keep the word count on this blog updated.

This November has turned out to be a bit like Wimbledon fortnight. For the past twenty odd years I've promised myself I'll take the whole two weeks off to watch the tournament - and I haven't managed it yet.

If you want a good laugh...

...follow this link:

The Long And The Short of It

I promise you it's worth it.

Lovely Blog Award

Thank you so much to lovely Amanda from Writing Allsorts for this award, it's really cheered me up on a miserable, rainy day.

Rules for accepting the award:

1) Accept the award, and post a link back to the awarding person.

2) Pass the award on. Always difficult - every one of the blogs I read deserves it - but I'm going to opt for Gary for his quirky and funny blog posts.

3) Notify the award winner.

Thanks again for this, Amanda.

Unscheduled Interruptions To The Grand Plan

I don't seem to have achieved much over the past few weeks, despite my grand plan...

NaNo has been a non-starter, the short story ideas have evaporated and I haven't even sold any letters. Even worse, I've been neglecting the blog.

I suppose with pressure to get my competition chapter out (and then finding out I'm up against 543 other entrants), obsession with my RNA report (still waiting), anticipation over starting NaNo (and I'm still anticipating that one) and the day job, something had to give. I hadn't meant to take a break from writing, but that's how it's turned out.

As always, though, I have plans:

1. Although we're half-way through November, I'm still thinking I'll make a start on the NaNo novel.

2. I want to send out a couple of short stories in the next few weeks.

3. And, most importantly, I want to catch up with everyone's blogs.

Baby Names and NaNo News

A big warm welcome to little Kai Rooney. It's always good to hear news of a new life arrived safely and I wish the family well.

However, I have to admit to a sinking heart when I heard what Wayne and Coleen have called their baby. It's not that I don't think they've chosen a lovely name, it's just that's the name I carefully researched and decided on for the hero of my competition chapter.

Kai is from the Welsh for 'keeper of keys' - and my hero was locked up tight. Plus, Kai was going to take his lady love to the wilds of Wales to meet his parents. The Welsh connection is no more - on very good advice from Lorraine, I relocated to Fiji. However, I kept the name because by that time I felt it suited him.

But now - oh horror - everyone will think I've copied the Rooneys.

Too late to do anything about it though, so I'm not going to worry.

And as for NaNo? Oh, no. I'm going to start tomorrow. And now there'll be some of you thinking I'm nothing but talk.

Sent in hope...

Well, it's done. My competition entry that is. Sent not five minutes ago and I've already received the e-mail confirmation from Harlequin Mills and Boon to let me know they've got it.

And I feel sick.

I wonder why I put myself through this when it's so stressful and the chances of publication are so remote.

Today was spent fiddling with my chapter and synopsis when I should have been dealing with work that clients will actually pay me for. And I fiddled with a vengeance, my work becoming increasingly confused as I went.

In the end, I compiled my e-mail entry and sent the thing off more because I was sick of looking at it rather than because I thought it was ready. The very opposite, in fact. It was so far from being ready it wasn't true. My story arc's so flat that the entire thing's (dare I whisper this?) pretty boring. But I'd written it, so I sent it.

There's no more I can do, so I'm going to stop worrying.

Tons of luck to everyone else who's entered.

And what of NaNo? Well, there's always tomorrow. I'll make a start then.

What I wish I'd done last week...

1. Finished four sets of work for clients.

2. Polished and submitted two short stories that have been sitting on my computer for the best part of three months.

3. Re-written and submitted my competition chapter and synopsis.

4. Planned my NaNo novel (or at least made a decision about what to write).

With only hours to go before the big start, I haven't cleared any of my 'to do' list. I'd hoped to start NaNo with a clear deck. Alas, not to be. It looks like November's going to be a busy month.

Good luck to all you others out there NaNoWrMo-ing.

WelshWitch Signs Up For NaNo

Well, I've been and gone and done it - signed up for NaNoWriMo. I'm so excited and just can't wait to get started.

I'm on the site as WelshWitch - thought it apt, being Welsh and all. And as for the Witch part, well, that's one of the more polite names regularly thrown my way. Finding the right name was so hard, I thought about it for ages only to find that my first three choices had already been taken. So this was a kind of last minute decided in haste kind of name, but I think it suits me.

So, why did I finally decide to sign up when I've been dithering so much? There are several reasons:

1. Despite 2009 being my best writing year ever in terms of sales (yay), I've produced very little new material, so this will be an incentive to get words written.

2. Love the idea of a writing holiday - which this, in effect, will be. A great excuse to concentrate on writing and ignore the dusting, the hoovering and to haunt M&S's food hall. (I do all these things regularly in any case, but at least for November I'll have an excuse not to feel guilty.)

3. Lorraine rightly suggested in a comment on a previous post that taking part would give me something to submit for the RNA's New Writer's Scheme next year. I'm still waiting to hear about this year's submission, but whatever my report says I can't bring myself to send the same MS in again next year (I've re-written the same story for the past four years already).

4. Several blogging friends have already signed up to take part and it's great to feel like part of the crowd. And a few who aren't taking part this year have done so in the past and report it to be a very worthwhile and fun experience.

5. November is a fairly quiet month for me. Obviously, there's stuff like shopping for the festive season, the day job and ferrying the 13-year-old around, but most of my high pressure deadline stuff doesn't fall in this month, so I'll be able to concentrate on the task in hand.

6. And, finally, I couldn't think of a single good reason not to do it.

Let me know if you're also participating and I'll look out for you. And please wish me luck, I've a feeling I'm going to need it.

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL

One minute I'm kissing tiny baby toes...


...the next I'm the mum of a teenager.
Where's the time gone?

It's scary.

Are you NaNoWriMo-ing this year?

All over Blogland, people are signing up for NaNoWriMo and I'm left with the question: Should I, or shouldn't I? I am very tempted, not least for the following three reasons:

1. The thought of being one of so many writers typing like fury to hit 50,000 words in 30 days has a romantic writerly feel to it.

2. Participating would certainly up my woeful word count for the year.

3. November's a good month for me to find extra time.

But I know I'm a lazy soul - and don't want to set myself up for failure. So I think I'll take the cowardly custard's way and do a low key version. I'll quietly aim for 50,000 words in my own sweet way - just to see if I can.

What about you? Tempted to sign up?

The strange phenomenon of the hairstyle that knew too much...

My hair is horrible. I've blogged before about its awfulness. But on rainy days it's a dream (I'm speaking relatively here). It sweeps upwards with bounce and body, not a strand out of place. Some would say it's because of the humidity, but I know the truth - my hair's psychic and knows what the weather's like even before I venture out.

Sadly, these interludes of wonderful hair are short lived. Inevitably, as soon as I leave the house, my 'do' is either soaked in a deluge (giving me a rather attractive drowned rat look) or it's flattened by my hood (way too windy up here for a brolly). And the world will never know that, for a brief instant, my hair was great.

I've often wondered how I could make money out of this phenomenon. There must be a demand for such talented tresses. Perhaps my hair could get a job in the met office. Or perhaps I could set up a phone line to let locals know what's it's like outside. Of course, the locals may well find it easier and cheaper to open the curtains and have a look for themselves. But where's the fun in that?