My summer of cycling

sounds like quite a good title for a book, but I'm not sure it would be that exciting. In my current health drive I have cycled to numerous Cambridgeshire villages I didn't even know existed, got lost - twice, got covered in flies - pretty much every time, and nearly cried from exhaustion - once, but I have lost nearly a stone, and my bmi is back in the 'normal' range. I've now also cycled in Suffolk and Norfolk. If I were famous, I could no doubt do a TV series with accompanying book on cycling round the UK or something!

But what does this have to do with writing I hear you cry? Well, not an awful lot, except that on my hols I managed to do quite a lot on the new novel and the end is in sight. Also, cycling is quite good for the writing process, as it provides time to think things through, and I've come up with a few ideas while in the saddle, so I highly recommend it to writers and non-writers alike!

new review

Check out the new review for If It Falls on www.amazon.co.uk

I've just finished reading Val McDermid's Fever in the Bone and I so want to spill the beans!

caring not writing

I currently feel like I'm not getting much writing done between seeing my mum who's just out of hospital and doing errands for my partner who's not very well. Not to mention doing almost daily exercise and shopping for and cooking healthy food to get my blood pressure down! Still, that's life, we're not writing machines immune to what's going on around us and despite all that, I do seem to have done quite a lot on the new novel this week.

Also, I'm madly reading the proof of the new Val McDermid in preparation for my interview with her next week for Velvet. Make sure you go to our wicked new website and subscribe so you don't miss out.

4 weddings and ...

Not so much 4 weddings and a funeral as 1 funeral, 2 weddings, and a birth! Nothing happens for about 20 years and then it all happens at once! Just back from the first of the weddings - of my second cousin, who I met for the first time at my uncle's funeral. It was in Shropshire, where I've never been before, but it was very nice. A good time was had by all and the fireworks were particularly excellent. Next wedding at the end of June.

blood, sweat and more blood

Being a magazine editor seems to have become a dangerous occupation - picked up the proof of Velvet from the printers last night, and gashed my finger twice on its razor sharp edges! And to add insult to injury, now I can't fix the bleed on the back page. Sometimes you really just need a graphic designer!

Meanwhile, the new Velvet website is improving by leaps and bounds, check it out from the link here. You still need to go to the existing site to subscribe, but we should have the new Paypal up and running in the next couple of weeks.

Cambridge in the springtime

I have decided I really need to blog more, so from now I'm going to try and do it at least weekly, unless I really have nothing to say!

Had a very pleasant walk through Kings College, and back via Clare, to the Old Schools - seat of power of the University, where along with the rest of the steering group I had my photo taken to be 'the face' of lgbt staff for profiling purposes. It would seem that while Cambridge is generally a pretty gay friendly place to live and work, getting the University to take equality and diversity issues seriously may be a bit of an uphill struggle.

On the way, chatted to my friend from the Nanna Mexico burrito van, saw a lovely family of ducklings, watched the punting and was nearly mown down by French school children. Ah, roll on summer - more punts, more tourists, less ducklings!

new website

my publisher finally has its new website: http://www.discoveredauthors.co.uk/ vast improvement on the old one. Not all the stuff is there yet though. Coming soon should be some interviews, a link to the Cambridge Evening News piece and an audio version of the prologue.