Easter Holiday

Having completed my PhD revisions, I decided that the Easter holiday should be spent pulling my socks up and getting on with the first draft of novel 2. I set myself a goal of 700 words per day, which doesn't sound like much, but is actually quite a lot for me because I tend to edit as I go. I considered banning myself from editing, but I couldn't cope with that and decided I was allowed to do as much editing as I liked, as long as the word count was + 700 by midnight. Two weeks later and the novel is 10,500 words longer. Hooray.

Other best bits of the easter break include:

The new buds on the cherry trees and the arrival of various birds - no idea what they are, but they're very noisy and colourful.

Sorting out the allotment and planting potatoes and onions.

Building the structure for the beans to climb.

Engaging in a fascinating discussion about biscuits after asking my Facebook friends what they imagined posh people might serve to a pair of removal men. The thread quickly expanded into a discussion about class - an American friend said it was the most British thing he had ever read. Of course, I had to follow up with a research trip to the supermarket.  

I took the children to the park, bowling and climbing, and we watched Pride, Interstellar, Sunshine on Leith and Big Hero 6. There was also a hockey camp, regular football training and several matches - of course, in response to questions about what we did in the holiday they're telling people 'nothing.'

And I received a box of Issy Bradley paperbacks in advance of publication on May 7th. I'm giving some of them away via my Facebook page. 

Back to business and today's 700 words. I'm writing a fictional newspaper article at the moment, which feels more like fun than work. 

The Desmond Elliott Longlist

Some lovely news today - A Song for Issy Bradley has been longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize.

I've read several of the books on the longlist and am in extremely good company (Elizabeth is Missing and Chop Chop were on the Costa shortlist, too - I highly recommend both!).

The judges said this about A Song for Issy Bradley: "Wit flashes in a score of brilliant one-liners, points up the sotto-voce comedy of this song otherwise sad beyond tears."

I read that quote aloud to my children this evening, on our way back from the Under 13s County Cup Final, and one of them asked me whether sotto-voce is like Ferrero Rocher.