Well. Sort of alive.

But I have to share this, the brand new cover for my brand new book, GETTING AWAY WITH IT!

Hooray!!

Getting Away With It

It’s out in hardback in October, which is really not very far away now….!

(Cue Gilligan’s Island music: A fifteen-minute ride. A FIFTEEN-MINUTE RIDE.)

So off we went, to the other side of the lake. The FAR side, the side beyond the island which sits about 1/3 of the way across the lake, where nobody lives at all, except for deer and moose and raccoons and sixty million black flies. We were happily motoring along, when I decided to hit the throttle a little bit and go faster.

Roar of engine. Boat didn’t move.

“I think there’s some weed stuck in the propellor,” said my dad. We raised the engine to have a look.

No propellor. It had fallen off. And sunk to the bottom of the lake.

We had one oar, no cell phone. We were on the other side of the island, invisible to my mother on the beach. My dad started paddling. It was about 2 pm. My cousins were arriving about 3. We figured we’d get back maybe around 5. Or possibly end up living on the island in makeshift huts along with a movie star and a professor.

Fortunately, we saw a lone boat motoring past the island, and I stood up on the bow and started waving the day-glo orange life vest, which attracted his attention. Turned out it was our neighbour, who’d just happened to decide to take a boat ride that afternoon. He towed us back to shore, just in time for our cousins to witness our ignominious return.

Next time, I’m bringing a phone. And another oar. And a trunkful of sequinned gowns.

(Photo by Sharon Morton Dudley. I’m the one inelegantly sprawled behind the “88″ sign, talking with Danny McDonald.)

I went to high school with all these people! And I borrowed the shoes I’m wearing from my MOM. Orange and purple crocodile heels. Isn’t she cool?

So I won’t be updating this blog very often for a little while, unless something REALLY exciting happens, or alternatively, if I get bored.

But because I love you all, I’ll leave you with this lovely lovely photo of Robert Downey Jr punching his own hand.

Can you help me out? What’s the best commercial women’s fiction title you’ve read this year?

It can be a romance, saga, chick lit, historical, blockbuster…whatever area of commercial women’s fiction you prefer.

I’ve got a few criteria—I’d like it to be something published in the UK market, and I’d like it to be quite recent.

Leave your recommendation in the comments, or you can email it to me, or tweet it, or Facebook it…whatever you like. Tell your friends. Tell your mum. Tell your dog…oh, wait, dogs don’t read.

Thanks!

I haven’t seen a £50 note for a very long time, my purse tending to be full rather of 20p pieces, and Fecklet had never seen one before. Upon discerning the illustration on the back of it, he immediately cried, “It’s James May!”

The thing is, I can’t quite disagree with him:

James May, presenter on Top Gear

Sir James Houblon, first Governor of the Bank of England, 1694

I await the day he mistakes the Queen for Jeremy Clarkson.

Meanwhile, I’m being interviewed today on brand new shoe and book blog, High Heels and Book Deals.

Thanks for inviting me, Mel!

Ah, fame, you elusive creature.

It’s a three-day residential course, in the beautiful surroundings of Charney Manor, Charney Basset, Oxfordshire. The course covers character, structure, pacing, conflict, style and submitting your work to an agent or publisher. The actual content of the course is different every time because it’s tailored to the needs of the participants; you’ll submit your work, which will then be used as teaching and learning materials. You also end up with a detailed crit and a one-on-one session to talk about your work and your writing career, with either me or Helen Corner, the founder of Cornerstones Literary Consultancy.

I’ve led this course three or four times now and it’s absolutely inspiring, for me at least, and I hope for the participants as well. I keep in touch with a lot of the participants and it’s great to see them go from strength to strength in their writing.

This year, it’s from 27-29 September. You can get 10% off the price of the course if you book before 23rd July. Full price is £675 which includes tuition, accommodation, (yummy) food, and a guest speaker (usually an agent or an author).

Contact me or Cornerstones for more details.