Step by Step

Well the HowTo Books site (www.howto.co.uk) accepted my second piece, How to Edit Talking Newspapers and it is now on the site. Sadly I didn't scoop that month's prize, but may try again later.

The main draft of my book (junior fiction) is now ready, with the working title "Millie, Beans, and the Diamond Ring".  It's about 12,500 words.  It's been proofread, and there are just a couple of very small additions needed to clarify the plot and round it off at the end; I plan to send it to flair4words this coming week for their opinion and advice. I have a draft front cover, too. A short extract appears on my website - www.jacpye.com - in the samples section. When I get the appraisal, if it's not too negative I'll fess up with a summary on this blog.

In other news, my carefully constructed potato growsack was duly planted some while back with proper seed potatoes and loads of compost. After the recommended time we have just up-ended it onto the veg patch to find just six teeny potatoes. Perfectly formed but the size of a thumbnail. Can't decide whether to boil them or frame them.

Just bought a couple of books - Glasshopper by Isabel Ashdown and Want to Know a Secret? by Sue Moorcroft - both authors I follow with interest on Twitter.

Minnie is being very naughty, yowling several times a night for food and possibly also when she doesn't know where we are. Vet says she could just be senile. As if! Otherwise she is well, and out of every 24 hours getting much more sleep than we are.

Thought for this day: What did Andy Gray say to his mate Keyes? "She said I was a misogynist. I said, 'That's a big word for a girl.'"