Christmas hunks and website visitors

Ah, you can always tell when Christmas (arrggh! The "C" word, so soon - many apologies indeed ...) is nearly upon us when we hear tell of the first of the Christmas hunk calendars - so here's to the lovely Toronto firefolk who are A1 cute and also supporting a good cause, so get buying, people! I'm planning one for me and one for Mother ...

And my eyebrows were further raised today by the realisation that the good people at Macmillan Publishers paid a visit or two to my website yesterday. Well, goodness me indeed. It's not often I can put myself in the same sentence as a mainstream publisher, you know (well, never, actually ...) so I cannot pass on the opportunity to do so now. As you can see. And this year is turning out to be a record year, as I think from memory that Penguin visited in the summer. Gosh indeedy. I'm hoping I can make it into a bumper season and catch a third. Votes on Harper Collins anyone? What a triumvirate that would be! Mind you, as they're probably only popping in for lessons in how not to be (a) a proper author, or (b) a viable option, then perhaps I don't need to get my best dress out just yet ...

Anyway, to more mundane matters. I've managed to have a bath today (hurrah! Pegs off noses, everyone!...) for the first time since ... um ... last Thursday, though it took a while. And I have replaced two of my plasters and downscaled the dressing into a plaster too. I'm getting there, slowly slowly. The left shoulder is still peculiarly numb however - although I might be detecting some kind of life in there, Captain ... But not as we know it.

Incidentally, the Clinic rang yesterday to see how I was, so I rang back today and spoke to the lovely Philippa, one of the medical secretaries there. She seemed to think I was doing okay and reminded me about my follow-up appointment at the end of the month. Not that I needed reminding of course. I was chatting to her about my idea for a Husband Button, where you press it for instant marital response, and she seemed quite taken with the concept - although she felt that her daughter did already have an instant Mother Button which was rather overused. Ah, there's always a negative side to every new idea, I suppose.

For the rest of the day, I have grappled (ah, how I've grappled - good Lord, it's been tough ...) with Hallsfoot's Battle and it now stands at 45,000 words. The flashback with Annyeke's grandmother is done and came out rather differently than expected. Better too, I hope. Next I'll tackle Simon's reaction to it and also the further relationship with the mind-cane. Two steps forward and one back, Simon - don't knock it, babe.

Tonight, I'll be watching Claudia on It Takes Two and just generally chilling. Ooh, and I must say we did enjoy Absurd Person Singular at the theatre last night - although both Lord H and I felt that it would be a more satisfying, richer and more deeply human play if Acts 2 and 3 were simply swopped around. You'd just need a few tweaks to make it work perfectly well, and Act 2 is such a work of genius that it deserves to be the one you're left with. The current Act 3 just doesn't cut it. I doubt Ayckbourn of course will do any such thing - he's laughing all the way to the proverbial, even in these trying times. So my brief career as would-be Dramatic Editor is over before it's begun. Ah well and alas. I should be used to that by now ...

Today's nice things:

1. Hunky firemen
2. Interesting website visitors
3. Having a bath
4. Writing more of Hallsfoot
5. TV.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website - you never know who you'll bump into there ...