Good news

I had good news at the hospital yesterday, which is just what I needed on my birthday. I first saw a registrar who felt my feet for a pulse beat with his hands, then with a mini ultrasound scanner, and both times he couldn't find a beat. So he said he was going to chat with the consultant and left my mum and I in the room waiting for 20 minutes, before the consultant came along. He also felt my feet and couldn't find a beat either and asked me to describe the symptoms of the foot pain I had been having. I did. He then told me that it was probably muscular which would've gone in time, nothing to do with my heart and that most women hadn't got a beat in their feet. He also said that if it had been vascular then the compression socks I'd been wearing would've made it worse not better, then he left. I had to knock on another door to find out if that was it and he said yes, was writing to my gp. So, I have nothing to worry about. No idea what caused the foot pain or why I haven't got a pulse beat in my feet, but at least I don't have to wear the compression socks anymore, well for the time being anyway. Will leave them off for a while and see if I get pains again. Although I was very happy with the result we weren't happy with the way we were treated. Thankfully I don't have to go back there again.

It's my birthday

It's my birthday today, as a talking doll I once had used to say to me. I am at work this morning but have a hospital appointment this afternoon. I know. I wonderful birthday present for me. I had yesterday off as my treat. Didn't do much in the morning, just fiddled around at home, did a bit of emailing and a bit of typing. Then in the afternoon my mum and I went to a Spa hotel and had a facial and manicure each, which was so relaxing and calming. I now have bright pink nails, which make me feel as though I should type daintily.

Well, will get back to work now seeing as I'm leaving straight after lunch.

New author talks

After a very nice, and fulfilling, dinner of ribeye steak, saute potatoes (of which there were so many I couldn't eat them all) and peas, last night I went to the British SCBWI talk given by 3 new authors, who have just had their first children's books published this year. They were Gemma Malley, Chris Bradford and BR Collins. Gemma has published The Declaration and The Resistance, both of which I bought, Chris has written the start of Young Samurai series again I bought that and BR (Bridget) wrote The Traitor Game. They all talked about their writing journeys and what they learnt and what they could have done differently. Chris had with him his samurai sword which he takes to his talks. I didn't see it properly but it looked impressive and I can imagine the reaction of what school boys would be on seeing that. I always find it interesting to read or hear other authors talk about their writing life and really enjoyed it last night. I even got talking to Gemma Malley about me being published next year and she wrote a message to me in both of the books, which I will read over the weekend.

My next writing do is the SE/London RNA Xmas buffet on 6th December which I look forward to each year, catching up with everyone and also eating good food.

Writing Update November

I have finally finished proofreading the first proofs of Rosie, and they will be posted back to Pegasus tomorrow. I wanted to photocopy them, which I did at work last Friday but the copier kept jamming and messed the pages up. Somehow it missed 4 pages so I had to do those today. Meanwhile, I've nearly finished Chapter 9 of Allie then one more chapter to write before I've finished the first draft. One thing that I've found is good from proofreading Rosie is that I can now see where I have gone wrong both text wise and grammar wise, esp grammar wise, so that I can put it right in Allie and hopefully not have so many grammar mistakes to correct next time. I have just written that Allie's enemy, Julia, has finally given in and seeing the error of her ways, and she will apologise to Allie by the end of the book.

I had a very busy weekend. Saturday I went Xmas shopping in Bromley and bought quite a few presents for my mum and brother and his partner. I also bought 2 zipped cardigans for myself, one pink and one cream, which should go with most colours (the cream one that is). Then in the afternoon my mum and I did the weekly food shopping and by that time it was mid-afternoon. Sunday morning we went to Dad's flat and did a final clearance and clean so that it's nice and clean for someone else to move into. Dad is still in hospital at the moment waiting for someone to assess for a care home, which hopefully will be this week as he's been told by someone that he will be discharged this Thursday. Fingers crossed. Mum doesn't want it going into next week because next Monday is my day off when we are going to the spa hotel in the afternoon, which we both deserve after the last couple of months, and Tuesday is my birthday.

Well, back to work now. Keep you posted.

I hate coughs and colds

I have got this horrible cold and cough going around at the moment. It started last week with a cold and on Friday I also got a bad nose bleed, which spoilt my day. I had paid to go to the talk by Neil Gaiman at the LSE but decided to cancel at the last minute, which was a shame because it sounded very good. It's now turned into a cough, which I do hope doesn't last for weeks on end like my usual ones do. It's already getting on my nerves here at work as I can't concentrate properly.

Meantime, I am busy working on Allie still. Just started the penultimate chapter today. Might do so proof reading of Rosie tonight as there isn't anything on tv apart from Home and Away. That's if I can concentrate on it properly with this cough.

Must get back to some work.