Lunch with Robin & Liz

Another hot day, but not as bad as yesterday, thank goodness. My, but we're a nation of moaners - if it's cold we complain; if it's hot we complain. Indeed, we'll never be happy. Did some more of "The Gifting" in the morning - but it was too hot to be really creative. Any excuse, eh ...

I was severely pissed off (or maybe bamboozled is the correct term) by Robert Hale publishers, who have said they can't consider "Maloney's Law" as it's been shortlisted in two national competitions and longlisted in another, and is therefore, in their view, deemed to have been "published" and they're not interested in reisssuing a previously "published" novel. Not a thought about that deliciously ready market which is there waiting for the first sensible publisher to come along, or for the fact that all three competitions were for unpublished novels. Very shortsighted behaviour, in my view - to turn down a novel because it's good enough to be placed in not one, but three major competitions seems very odd indeed. Perhaps, therefore, they'd prefer a badly-written text that no-one has seen yet? Cutting off their nose to spite their faces, no less. Still, it's certainly an argument I haven't heard before in the publishing world, so at least they're not dull. Hmm, not particularly bright either ...

Lunch with Robin & Liz was a very pleasant interlude from the morning's trauma - shame about the Harrow in Compton changing their menu to go posh though. No more baguettes & chips - we'll have to go elsewhere! Afterwards, I popped into see Gladys, and went through my "I'm a normal churchgoer and everything in the world is fine" routine - am getting quite good at that too. It's only fair - the poor thing couldn't cope with much else. If she really knew how things stood with me, she'd probably faint ...

Have decided to enter no more writing competitions other than those I've done well with in the past, such as the Writers' News (http://www.writersnews.co.uk) awards etc. Another burden off the shoulders. Am feeling very uneasy though, and anxious inside. (Where else does one feel anxious?) . Which is a bit of a shame, as I thought I was doing so well. Time for another couple of calming pills perhaps? Or maybe it's the heat - it's hard to tell.

Tonight, Lord H and I are off to the theatre in Woking, so that at least will get me out of myself. And, God, how I need that sometimes.

Three nice things of today:

1. Lunch with Robin & Liz
2. Liz discovering she's actually 5'1" instead of just 5' (way to go, Liz!)
3. Getting a nice comment on my haiku on the Writewords (http://www.writewords.org.uk) site.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk