Books and beaches

Hardlly looked up from my keyboard this last week, hence the lack of news here on my blog. New books take a lot of time to get just right before they are let loose on the unsuspecting public, and I've been checking and re-checking The Queen's Letters for what I keep telling myself is the last time. This time really is the last!
Finally decided the title is The Queen's Letters; The Scottish Queen Trilogy Book 3

I have some people who are willing to take an ARC (Advance Review Copy) and hopefully they will go on and leave a review for me, and I may send  one off to a few other people in the hope that they will do the same.

Apart from working hard on the book, we had a wonderful morning on the beach at Druridge Bay on Thursday. The beach is gentle and it was a calm day, so Tim dodged in and out of the water and thought it great fun. At SEaton the sand dips sharply into deeper water and he's not keen on that.

And yesterday I was up very early and out in the fields before 9am and it was beautiful. Blue sky from horizon to horizon, warm sunshine and only three people+dog spotted in the distance - easily avoided. The apple tree is still loaded with fruit which seems such a shame. Like the blackberries that went unpicked, it seems the apples will eventualy fall and be eaten by insects and birds. I pocket a couple as I pass, and I think other people do the same, for the lower branches are not so laden as they once were! But I'm surprised the farmer doesn't come with a tractor and take the lot. Apple pie til Easter!

Agents and autumn

AGENT HUNTER is a new website which claims to help writers find agents. A database of all UK literary agents, it will be regularly updated, and offers facilities for sorting the information to your own personal taste. It is the creation of The Writers’ Workshop, which as many of you will know, is an editorial consultancy for new writers. They also run the Festival of Writing in York. The website offers a free trial, and there is a registration fee of £12. Here's the link: http://www.agenthunter.co.uk/index.html

Today I need a dentist, so my creative levels may well be low. Unhappily my dentist is at home today because she cannot get child support on a Thursday. (School holidays play havoc with normal life!) She runs a one-person surgery, so that means waiting until tomorrow. I may well lose a pound or two, since eating is painful. A cap has flipped off, leaving the crumbling wreck of a tooth with jagged edges that slice into my tongue whenever I move it. Have you ever tried eating without moving your tongue? It cannot be done.

 I shall walk the dog by the riverside, pick some more blackberries - and what a good year for blackberries this seems to be - have soup through a straw for lunch, and settled down to an afternoon of reading over my first three chapters in print out format. When I'm out with Tim, I notice the tree are laden with berries, and hints of autumn are everywhere. Thistles are blooming, fruits are forming and show at all stages from brilliant green to deepest orange and purple. The long grass down by the river was cut last week, taken for hay, I suspect, and now the tunnels towering over Tim have vanished. He doesn't know what to make of it!