Flash fiction and physio

Book News:

I'm carrying on, slowly, with the edits for The Gifting but I can't do very much very quickly due to the current health issues (see below).

However, keeping me ticking over is the fact that the Fiction at Work flash fiction anthology is now starting to be available although I believe its official launch date is next year. It includes a piece from me about relationships and zoos, Over in Ten. So I hope you enjoy it.

Meanwhile, a couple of my books have become available at Rainbow Ebooks, and you can also currently get discounts on a fair amount of my work at Books On Board too, so that's nice.

Today, at Vulpes Libris, I'm reviewing Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble, which is a fabulous, and fabulously funny, novel and I can thoroughly recommend it.

Life News:

This week, since Sunday, I've had a recurrence of my frozen shoulder problem, so it's not been a particularly pleasant week, health-wise. I spent most of Monday night on the sofa in rather a lot of pain (I even sobbed at one point, ah the shame of it!) and staring at bits of TV I never knew were on at 3am and beyond, though I did manage about 2 hours' sleep in slices, so one must be grateful for small mercies. Mind you, the rerun of Hornblower was nice, and I am probably now addicted to US glamour soap, Gossip Girl. Ah, the hair, the make-up, the dresses, what fun. And thank goodness for my TENS pain relief machine which was strapped to my arm almost throughout, and also for my rediscovery of the anti-inflammatory pills I used two years ago when I last had a frozen shoulder.

On Tuesday, I rediscovered the Co-Codamol pills as well and that's been a real life-saver. They're strong enough to knock a horse out in 30 seconds so do very well for me, hurrah. I also think, Monday apart, it's not been as bad as last time or possibly I'm aware of what it is so don't fiddle about trying to pretend it's not happening. Still, I can drive short distances if I'm careful, which I couldn't before so that's good. And since Monday, sleep hasn't been a problem.

Anyway, I had an appointment with the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and I'm doing some emergency physio sessions with the delightful Helen who saw me through it all last time round. She's a miracle-worker - I had the first session with her today and have two more booked for next week which should see me through to and beyond Christmas, so that's good.

In the midst of all that, we've had the team away day at work which I managed okay, with the help of my trusty machine and pills, and also our office Christmas lunch which was fun. The chocolate parfait with chocolate sticks was to die for, I swear it. And I'm able to use cutlery properly now (hurrah!) as long as I don't have to do too much cutting. Indeed the good side of this whole thing is that I can't do the cleaning or shopping, and am only on light washing up duties. There's always a silver lining, eh ...

Anne Brooke