Decisions, decisions

I am becoming very cynical. It's Mothering Sunday on 18 March and I have told my son not to send me flowers this year. For the past two years they have been very poor specimens and I have telephoned the stores and complained. Admittedly, they have replaced them but that's not the point. Had I not telephoned, my son would have paid a lot of money for flowers that were well past their best.

This year he asked me what I wanted instead of flowers and, d'you know, I can't think of anything. Maybe perfume - Amarige or Hermes Caleche - or...or... What I'd really like is a breadmaker but somehow that doesn't sound quite the right sort of present. I shall have to ask friends for help but time is getting on.

I suppose he could come and visit me, getting his wife to bake me a Simnel Cake which is a traditional present but somehow that is not likely. For one thing he lives in Japan and for another, his wife is Japanese and I doubt if she knows about Simnel Cakes. Ah, well!

Luncheons, Soirees and a New Literary Society

I realise I should be ashamed. It is over a year since I posted my last blog and most people I know are blogging twice a week at least. I am sure I am not busier although there is so much going on in west Dorset. In Sherborne we are starting a Literary Society - 120 years after the Macready Literary Institute, that operated from the stables at Sherborne House, closed. I'm busy searching through the Minute Books to discover the sort of things they did. It seems they had various lectures including A lecture on the mode of taking the wild elephant in India and Books as a Means of Self Culture. We have quite a standard to maintain.

Through our new Sherborne Literary Society, for which we are holding a Membership Evening on World Book Day in April, we are running a variety of events to whet the appetite of everyone. This year we are holding a literary luncheon, various talks, soirees, author events, competitions and book-related days as well as a festival in October with some really interesting authors. More about this in due course.

Our wonderful bookshop, Booklore, closed at the end of January but a new one has opened in Cheap Street - Winstone's. The owner, Wayne Winstone, has been around in the book trade for many years and he has opened a very attractive shop with a neat little coffee area which is always busy. He is involved in our festival, too.

The other day I interviewed Joanne Harris about her latest book, Peaches for Monsieur le Cure, which is a sequel to Chocolat, and she is coming to Sherborne to talk about it in July. It should be fascinating and we have plans to make it a very special event. Watch this space.

Some things I just cannot do

I was reading Andrew Croft's blog (because I've just joined him on Linkedin) and he wrote about interviewing on Skype. Now I love to use Skype to talk to family and friends but to use for an interview - no way! I know I am always banging on about getting the best interviews when you talk to someone face-to-face but for various reasons, in the last couple of years I have reluctantly become fairly adept at telephone interviewing. The real joy of this is not only is it pretty quick but it really doesn't matter what you look like! I have done long and serious interviews over the telephone while wearing a bathrobe and a towel around my wet hair. Nobody knew this but me!

Another thing I can't do is Facebook. I did belong once but there were so many people who wantd to be my friend and I didn't know any of them. Someone suggested they had probably written books and wanted me to interview them. All these things are very complicated and seem to take hours to set up and then hours to keep in touch with people. I've too much to do!

As for Twitter... One day I hope someone will explain to me how authors and politicians and really busy people get the time to tweet. Some people seem absolutely glued to their computers. I'm not sure that is healthy.

BUT... I am connected to people on Linkedin and when I get time I may connect to more. Time is the thing. I have just been reminded that my last blog was in October.

Reading, writing and making lists

It was really good to go to the launch party for Ken Follett's latest book, Fall of Giants. Once again, this is a huge book but keeps the reader turning the pages to find out what is going to happen. Ken is very good at this, but then he works hard. Planning a book takes him a good year and his research is always meticulous. He shows no sign of slowing down, either. His book,Pillars of the Earth, has been made into an eight-part series for Channel 4 and starts on 15 October so I must try and sit still long enough to watch it.

There seems so much to do these days - writing, researching, transcribing (I hate transcribing even though I have a machine that speeds things up), pitching ideas, sourcing images. It's never ending and there are so many other things to do. I seem to be making longer and longer lists.

October is turning out to be quite warm. I have just been into Sherborne to see what is going on at the annual Pack Monday Fair. I think most people in the area decided to do the same thing!

The swallows have gone - and so has the summer

The swallows went on Monday. About nine-thirty in the morning there was a terrific racket going on in the garden and I thought they must be terrorising the cat again. All summer gangs of them have been dive-bombing her from every direction so she could only get to the bottom of the garden by working her way underneath the rose bushes and the shrubs. The reason, I discovered, was a nest built in the wood store at the end of the barn. My poor little cat has never caught a bird in her life but clearly the swallows were keen to stop her even thinking about it.

When I heard the noise they were making on Monday I rushed outside and there were masses of them. They soon began to line up on the electricity wires and gradually the noise subsided. It went very quiet: the birds were looking this way and that, as if they were waiting for a signal. There was a strange tension in the air for a minute and then suddenly they were off, swirling up into the sky in a huge mass and circling the house in farewell before turning west and disappearing over the hills. I'm glad I was there to see them go.

It's the end of summer when the swallows leave. Time to start preparing for winter which is depressing for some people but when you think about it, autumn comes first and this can be the best season of all.

Time and frustrating printers

It's about time I added a new post! Some people seem to write regularly but usually when I've finished a day's work, that's it; my mind closes down. Yet it's good to know that so many people read my blogs and moan at me when I haven't added a new one. I think I must be a bit like a newspaper because what has happened in the previous days is old news and I forget. Some people tell me they make notes so that when they come to write a blog they have everything to hand. There seems to be so much else to do. As for Facebook and Twitter... When do people find the time?



This morning I have been struggling with a new printer - and I hate it! I bought it because it was on special offer, and now I know why. I really needed a printer, copier and scanner all in one because normally I use a simple laser printer but this thing is dreadful. It's noisy, slow and only prints out half a page. In desperation I am calling in a lad who lives up the road to see if he can improve things.

Life Goes On

I was sad to learn of the death of Dick Francis. I think I was one of the last people to interview him. He was very frail but helpful and courteous. He will be missed especially for his books but his son Francis will continue his legacy.

Work at the moment is a bit like the London bus system; nothing and then everything happens. It is so important to prioritise and make lists so that the right deadline is hit on time. I had a long chat with Sylvia Kent the other day and she is so positive and proactive that however gloomy I might feel at the beginning, I am refreshed and invigorated by the end. It's good to have friends like this.

I really couldn't do without Aimee Fry, my webmistress, either. Somehow she makes things seem so easy when I have turned to her in desperation after struggling for ages with my computer. Another bonus is that I have had so many compliments about my website and it is all due to Aimee. We talked about what I do and what I wanted on my site and she came up with some really interesting ideas. The only major thing I changed at the end was the coffee cup on the Links page. She put in a thick white cup and I told her I'd never drink from that so she quickly found a china one!

All creative people can get a bit low, especially at this time of the year. The cold and grey days don't help but then there are the snowdrops and aconites appearing. Spring is almost here.

That said, I have to get on. Three new commissions today. The problem is, which shall I start first?