Thank you to my one-woman writing group, Martha Williams, for passing this Beautiful Blogger nomination my way. If you don’t already know Martha, hop to her homepage here where you will find links to her fabulous fiction and her blog.
So, this award comes with conditions! First, I have to tell you seven things about me. Presumably things you would want to know, but nothing incriminating that will come back and bite me in all those 2012 interviews when I’m on the Times best seller list, right? Here goes:
1. I can summarise my novel succinctly, but after eight years I still can’t do the same for my day job. One of the reasons I have to be a writer is because my inability to articulate my day job to my daughter led to her saying “When I grow up I want to be a Nothing, just like you, Mummy.”
2. The first time I did a parachute jump, the guy in plane thought I’d fainted, because I didn’t finish shouting my ‘One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, CHECK CANOPY!’ In fact I was rendered speechless with awe halfway through. It is the only time in my life I have been rendered speechless. Truly. I landed safely shortly afterwards, perfectly centred on the cross where I was supposed to, to everyone’s relief.
3. When I was 21 I drove to Climax, Colorado. This was a very long drive. The only reason I did this was so that I could legitimately say things like ‘It took me a long time to reach Climax’ and ‘When we did finally reach Climax it was so disappointing that I wasn’t even sure that was it.’ Sad but true. But I still say those things and people still laugh.
4. I once hijacked a fire engine in Kiev, at gunpoint.
5. Clothes hangers without hooks in hotel rooms drive me insane. Not only are they annoying and impractical but they show cheapness and distrust.
6. As a result of conflicting financial priorities there is a big hole in my bedroom wall. Lots of things use this hole as a convenient way of entering our house. This includes pottery wasps, rats, scorpions, sparrows and, in winter, snow. The children’s rooms, by contrast, are perfect.
7. At the moment I am perpetually crossed.
This is because, for the first time in twenty years, I have started entering writing competitions again and the results are all due. Plus I will be querying this summer with my new novel, which I am utterly in love with. It’s an exciting time. I am trying not to obsess.
8. I am extremely bad at following instructions. I feel hardwired to try and bend the rules just to see what happens. This is now coming back to haunt me in the shape of my two year old daughter, who applies the same philosophy to stairs, fireplaces, me…
Now, I get to pass the award on. So if you have a moment and want to meet some great new women, please check out these beautiful literary bloggers!
Diane Becker – Not Designed to Juggle. A writer with mind maps. I love mind maps.
Marisa Birns – Out of Order Alice. Short stories and flash fiction.
Sarah Salway – A quiet sit down. A Sister blog to Sarah’s writing journal. This one is all about benches!
Beate Sigriddaughter – The Glass Woman Prize for fiction and much more
Caroline Smailes – In Search of Me. An inspirational author. And her latest book ‘Like Bees to Honey’ has just launched.
Anna J. Grace-Smith – Flying, Not Falling. Beautiful poetry and fiction.
Alison Wells – Head Above Water. Finding the space to write (successfully!) while mothering four young children.
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