Happy anniversary ...

.... to A Dangerous Man who was published on this day last year. Well, gosh - one year old today, Michael. Who would have thought it? It's been an up and down year, to be honest - I've been thrilled with the good reviews and general positive response to the book. No, more than thrilled actually. Hugely grateful. I'm not sure I'll ever write anything quite that heartfelt and ... well ... raw again. It feels good to have done it at least once in my writing life. On the downside, I've sold (as of the end of December) 116 books, and I was hoping for more. I'm learning to cut my cloth etc etc, however, so that can only be a good thing. But hey not too much - it is after all pure ego that keeps writers going at all!

Interestingly, Pink Champagne and Apple Juice remains my bestseller, with 118 copies sold since June 2006. And I've even gained royalties for that one, though of course I haven't with ADM. I need to earn more than £100 for Flame to pay anything and I doubt I'll reach that now. We've all moved on.

In the meantime, I struggle on with the edits for The Gifting with, I admit, not much enthusiasm or inspiration for the task. God but it will be good to see the end of what today seems like pure slog. I'm now just in the Kingdom of the Desert (AKA Fire) and on page 329. So still some way to go. It's strange how taking Simon from a first-person viewpoint to the (allegedly) more desirable third-person view seems to be taking him away from the centre I write from. He feels more distant now. And I'm not convinced my handle on the multi-viewpoint novel is as confident as for a single-view novel. Anyway, we'll see.

But bloody hell I sound down. I'm not. Not really anyway - and certainly not as down as I can get! I think I must be starting a cold and battling it back is making me more thoughtful than usual. That's all. For the rest of the day, I've been catching up on my videos of "Lark Rise to Candleford" (delicious - and oh Lord let the post office auditor come back and marry Dorcas - he is seriously, seriously hot and I am salivating at the very thought of him - which is a reaction I rarely have to auditors, I must say) and "Ashes to Ashes" (okay and I'll watch it but it's not a patch on the original, sigh ...).

Tonight I'll be glued to "Primeval" and worrying about Connor. As you do. UPDATE: what a great episode! And lovely to see the A3 turnoff to Guildford being used. There's many a mammoth on there, to be sure. Another worrying thing is that I've found out there are actual "Torchwood" novels on the market - I fear if I succumb to one then an obsession will have been commenced. Oh yes another one, bugger it.

Oh and I've read the latest of the Robin & Jules crime sagas by Suzanne Brockman - All Through the Night. Um, not so good as the first two. Way, way too much soppy romance (please, does anyone really do that nowadays? Lord I hope not ...). And I missed any kind of a plot. I also got really irritated by all Jules' smug friends who popped up every five minutes to tell Robin he was not worthy to be in any kind of relationship with J. How condescending is that??! I mean, really. Not something I'd ever say to my friends' partners, under any circumstances. I trust them to make their own decisions! If I were Robin (who was incidentally the most human and likeable person in the whole book), I would have responded with a smart right hook to any advice of that nature and moved on. Never trust a man with friends like that is what I say. Maybe R would have been better off with Adam after all? Indeed I worry for him now ...

Today's nice things:

1. One year of ADM - hell, I've written at least one book I'm proud of!
2. TV
3. Champers being my bestselling novel - of sorts!

Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers