Arizona was everything we'd hoped it would be - other than consistently dry and warm. Yes, we hit a patch of cold, wet weather that wasn't what we expected in Arizona in October. But we're English; we coped. Photos of the trip can be found here...

Some highlights:

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, a beautiful patch of the Sonora Desert, ( Read more... )

...so, yeah, we went to Arizona.  And it was brilliant.  So brilliant that I still haven't got around to writing up my holiday journal.  Stayed tuned, if you're interested.  It will appear ( Read more... )

I'm off on my long-planned roadtrip tomorrow - I'm taking my mum to Arizona!  (Plus Vegas).  We've been dreaming about doing this, the pair of us, for years.  I've done loads of American roadtrips on my own (I worked out the other day that this is about my 12th or 13th trip to the US) but this will be special.  My mother is as big an Americophile ( Read more... )

I've been stressing about my WIP, but today I managed to rewrite the synopsis and get a few chapters together to send to my agent ahead of our meeting on Friday.  That feels good.  Something else good has happened today - well, more of a relief, actually - so another weight has lifted ( Read more... )

It seems I mostly get to see my family for funerals these days.  It must be part of being middle-aged.  Yesterday was the funeral of my brother-in-law's mother, who was very much a part of our extended family.  A sad day, but also a happy time as well as we all got together and remembered good times.  In the evening a group of us - my sister and ( Read more... )