So, who's been lurking on my blog?

The rational part of every brain understands a blog is a public platform and, unless you opt for privacy, anyone in the world with access to a computer can read the thoughts and feelings you choose to publish there. Sometimes it's easy to forget that you may not be writing just for friends, though.

I feel I know many of you who visit me here - you've left messages and I've called by your blogs in return. Some of you I've e-mailed, or met through a private writers' group. One of you I've even met in person for lovely writerly chats over coffee (waves through cyberspace to lovely local friend). So far, so unsinister - but what about the lurkers? Is there someone there who I'd much rather didn't read my words? For example, my ex-husband?

Such a shock discovery was made not so long ago by auntiegwen of anutiegwensdiary. Her ex-husband had been reading her blog for two years without fessing up. I don't think auntiegwen has written anything she should be ashamed of - her posts are always warm and funny and very well written. But auntiegwen describes how this shock revelation affected her on this post here, so I won't discuss her particular case further.

What happened to auntiegwen got me thinking - how would I feel if my ex-husband was reading my blog? I have to say I think it very unlikely he'd find it in the first place - Jones is my maiden name and I deliberately chose it over my very unusual married name so that I could easily blend in with the gazillion other Suzanne Joneses who roam the world. And it was his choice to disappear without a trace, so it seems highly improbable that he'd be interested enough to intrude in this way. But, if I were to discover that he had happened upon it, would it matter to me?

I honestly don't think it would. I may write about the odd holiday, or visit or whatever, but there's nothing in my posts I wouldn't be happy to talk loudly about in the queue at M&S Food Hall. I use the blog as a means of moving my writing forward and to this end it has been very successful - I've managed more writing since I started blogging than in the previous (mumble mumble) years put together. More importantly, the friendships I've been lucky to make feel very real, and the support you've all offered has been invaluable.

So it's irrelevant if someone I used to be married to pops by from time to time.

And as for anyone else who might be lurking - you are very welcome. Long may you continue to visit and, should you ever wish to comment on any of my posts, I'll be delighted to visit you in return.

Brilliant News

If you write short stories aimed at the womag market, you might be interested to know that Amanda over at Writing Allsorts is starting up a new writing group. Writing is a lonely business and constructive criticism and friendly support can make all the difference. So, if this is your field, follow the link to Writing Allsorts for further details.

My Top Ten Writing Snacks...

1. Thornton's Vanilla Truffles
2. Thornton's Fruit Creams
3. Orange Matchmakers
4. Chocolate Raisins (these are great - eat enough and they can count towards your five-a-day)
5. Milky Bar White Chocolate Buttons
6. Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons
7. Mint Matchmakers
8. M&S Ginger Chocolate Biscuits
9. Fry's Chocolate Cream
10.Sour Cream and Chive Pringles

Fry's Chocolate Cream would have been at the top, but you need two hands to handle the wrapper and break bits off - one-handed snacks are much more conducive to fast typing.





(And then I wonder why I'm fat.)

Not Quite Cooking With Gas

Well, I'm off - only 24 days late, but who's counting? If you care to look to the right, you'll see that I now have 5,780 words under my belt - and 780 of those are brand new today.

I know, big fat wow.

But if you'd been as stuck as I've been over the past month, you'd agree that any writing is progress.

With the pressure of official NoNoWriMo off, Pseudo NaNo has suddenly started to crawl ahead. If I keep up this giddy rate of progress, I'll have to rename it Pseudo NaNoWriYear.

Tragically, everything I've written is rubbish - but I'm kind of hoping that's the point with NaNo.

And while I've been in danger of cooking with gas, I've been NTAI with bells on - not thinking about my NWS report, not thinking about my competition chapter (although, wobbled a bit with that one when I saw the list of competition sins the editors have posted)and not thinking about anything else that might be likely to upset me...

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.