Shopping in Godalming this morning. Astonishingly, I managed to get everything on my list, including a new set of Bible study notes which might (please God) be less painfully evangelical than my current ones. They're for women too, so at least I might get a sensible perspective on things this time. One hopes. And catering for my obsessive order compulsion, they start in September, which is exactly the same time as the ones I'm now ploughing through end. There must indeed be a God!
But, talking of which, had a painful conversation with the man in the Christian bookshop - his eight-year old daughter died in January very suddenly and he was selling raffle tickets for the hospital she'd been in. I bought a book of them of course, but felt there was nothing I could say at all. A terrible thing - I was amazed (and moved) he could even talk about it. I wouldn't have been able to, and I have no idea what being a parent is like. It makes you wonder what it's all about, and why.
At home, I finished editing the rest of Darren's novel, and have arranged to see him tomorrow when I'm in Guildford to hand it back. I think it's great stuff and I love his heroine, but I'd like to see more of her story (apart from the battles) drip-fed in through the text, as we deserve to know more about her.
Some (sort of!) good news - the CWA (Crime Writers' Association) Debut Dagger Awards apparently longlisted "Thorn in the Flesh" this year, though it unfortunately didn't quite scrape into the shortlist. It was lovely of them to let me know (when they didn't have to) and it's really given me a boost today. And I also got a very positive comment about "Maloney's Law" from the You Write On (http://www.youwriteon.com) site. To cap it all, the Writewords (http://www.writewords.org.uk) people have asked to interview me, which of course I'm more than happy to do! And Roger Morris (author of the wonderful "Taking Comfort" - which is an extremely classy novel) has just finished "Pink Champagne and Apple Juice" and loved it. Hey, many thanks, Roger - that feels nice too!
Hmm, now I've finished my editing job, maybe I'd better get back to "The Gifting" sometime and see where I've left poor Simon then ...
Three nice things of today:
1. Being longlisted in the Debut Dagger awards.
2. Strangely, the short, in-depth conversation with the bereaved shop-keeper parent (reason for being in this list: it was a real conversation, a rare event these days ...).
3. Writewords' request for an interview.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
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