Back at work and back to reality with a bump. I am currently still carrying a little of the holiday mood with me, however, it is quickly fading as the world of work seeps into my whole day! I am trying to maintain a steady paddle, one that allows my head above the work quagmire so that I can continue to enjoy other parts of my life, such as my writing, but with student reports due it is not an easy task and I can see I will be in a panic shortly and just dive head first into work oblivion!

Luckily I have some tried and true strategies that ensure I will spend the minimum time I can and still produce some writing. One strategy was given to me by my close friend in England whilst I was there, a notebook with a pen. What writer does not like getting a notebook and pen. However this notebook was too big to put into my handbag, and I currently have one full of scrawls already in my bag, though I am finding I am using my mobile phone more often for note taking. However, the other morning I woke up and I had a number of ideas for the projects I was working on and no where to record them, it was too early to get up and start writing (I would have been in big trouble from the other half) so I got the gift from my friend and placed it by my bed. Now all my ideas are recorded as soon as I wake up!

The Year of the Novel has begun for it’s last phase and this week we had a guest editor come to talk to us, and answer questions and after another refusal from an editor for my children’s novel, so I am planning an number of questions to fling at her, (must remember not to take it out on her, though!).

Anyway, I found a picture of the view from the quaint English country cottage we were in a little over two weeks ago, ah, bliss.