Thorn review and Away Day survival

A lovely review of Thorn in the Flesh from Vicki Tyley who was kind enough to say the following:

“Quite simply, it was wonderful – intense, emotional and suspenseful, even dark, with a satisfying ending.”

Many thanks, Vicki - much appreciated! Your comments have seen me through today's team Away Day, which we spent at the Manor House Conference Centre in Godalming - so only a three minute drive, hurrah. I must admit a large part of the discussions were beyond me: if I hear the word "strategy" or "framework" more than three times, my brain implodes - purely as a safety mechanism. Indeed I think I may have entered some kind of coma a couple of times during the morning, but it may have been the heat. Which wasn't helping. Only the fact that I was taking basic minutes kept me alert. I even got quite tearful during the late morning individual exercise when I sat in the garden, stared out at the woods and longed to be at home. Sigh. Nice food though - and the peanut butter icecream at lunch was fabulous.

However, thank the Lord, the afternoon was better - the paired discussions were great. I got Ruth G from the Chaplaincy who was, like me, the only one not at managerial level on the Away Day so we did a hell of a lot of giggling. We decided that as the Chaplaincy is apparently invisible to the Powers That Be (heck we even had to beg for them to allow the Chaplaincy flat to be cleaned and have its own loo roll when Ruth first arrived!...) and I don't know what I'm supposed to be for, then manager status may be some way from us. Thank goodness. I couldn't bear to be a manager again - once in that horrific role (a long, long time ago) was more than enough, believe me. I'm better off as a lone voice in my own special bubble. Bubble workers of the world, unite! Your company (doesn't) need you.

Mind you, we managed to get a really good discussion going in the last twenty minutes or so, when everyone suddenly woke up and started emoting. Isn't it always the way? I left on a high note. Sadly though, I have 10 pages of generic stuff to write up, plus a zillion flipchart sheets to try and collate, so I suspect the usual gloom will be descending pretty soon. If I ruled the world, I would make flipcharts illegal - they are the Work of the Devil, you know. Much like treasury tags and clipboards. Be warned ...

Tonight, I'm hoping to do a little more to Hallsfoot's Battle - which must surely be in the running for the Slowest Novel Ever to be Written awards. Good to know I'm in a class of my own for something.

Today's nice things:

1. The Thorn review
2. Nice conference food
3. Giggling with Ruth

Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers