It’s hard to write a blog when you’ve done nothing :-)

28 April 2020 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

Hello, hello, how are you all? Here’s another blog from lockdown. Not that I’ve that much exciting news to tell you. Above is an image I took of the River Clyde the other day. Not only proof that we’ve been having gorgeous and unseasonably warm/dry weather lately, but that the Clyde can look blue sometimes. The tide it out in this image and that’s Port Glasgow across the way, but it gives you an idea of how nice it’s been around here. Thank goodness, because I think if the weather had been dreadful things would be a lot more depressing for all of us who are having to stay indoors at the moment. People are already complaining of boredom and feeling depressed, awful weather would have made that worse for them.

I’m not going to ask you what you’ve been up to because, let’s face it, no matter where you are in the world, you are more than likely staying indoors to help stop the spread of Corona Virus. Instead, I’ll just ask you what you’ve been up to. Have you been watching copious amounts of telly? Started a new hobby? Baked until your fingers bled? Gardened until there’s barely a green bit of the garden left? 😉

I’ve been watching tv, but in small amounts. I’ve taken to watching Carnival Row again. Yes, again, for the fourth time. I love it that much. I’m also considering watching Game of Thrones again too. You see, apart from Killing Eve (which is bloody brilliant), there’s not much on the telly I want to watch right now. There haven’t been any decent history programmes or documentaries, I find a lot of comedies dire and I don’t watch soaps. So, it’s back to old favourites. I’m loving Carnival Row all over again and seeing things I didn’t notice before on the three other times I watched it.

Here’s a pic of two of my dogs on a local beach. It’s a riverside beach and not the nicest of beaches, but it’s great for dog walking and the dogs don’t seem to mind the stones and detritus thrown there by the river.

What else have I been doing? I am writing, writing, writing. Just finished 2000 words of my assassin book plus did another few pages of my non fiction book. I’ve sent a tv programme I wrote to a scriptwriting competition. Not sure if it’s good enough, but we’ll see what happens. I’ve also been doing bits and pieces around the house – you know, the wee things that need done but never get done because you’re so busy. I have a whole list of those to do. Sigh. Well, I’m not going anywhere soon so I’d best be getting on with them! 🙂

A big hello to any newbies who are following this blog. Welcome and thanks for joining us. I’m please to say I have 831 subscribers to this blog and a few more subscribing to my newsletter. If you want to receive the newsletter, add your email address to the Mailchimp signup form to the right of the page.

Right, depressingly, I have nothing else to tell you. I dream of going out for lunch some time soon with friends or taking the dogs and kids up to Oban for the day or going to my parents’ house for dinner. And I keep telling myself ‘It’s not forever, we will get back to normality soon.” I hope that’s true!

On that note, I wish you all a good week ahead. Stay safe and stay sane. Til next time

Dawn xx

PS big shout out to my aunt who turns 70 this coming week and to my friend Mark who has a birthday too. Happy birthday to you both.

I’m baaaaaack!

7 January 2020 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

Okay, so it’s been a wee while since I’ve written a blog on this site and it’s safe to say it’s because I was getting really stressed out before Christmas. There was still so much to do to prepare for Christmas Day itself and I also had social media stuff to do. And then, on top of that, I was extremely tired. So, I thought ‘stuff it’ and then I thought ‘I’m a freelancer, I can do what I want’ and then I thought ‘I’m shutting up shop early’. And I did just that. I did all I needed to do with regards my social media business, I tied up some loose ends with some other work I was doing and then I shut up shop.

Thank goodness I did as I had a whole load of things to do (present wrapping etc) before the big day itself.

So, how was your Christmas and New Year? Did you have a good one? I really enjoyed the festive period this year. I think it’s because I decided to put my feet up and not do very much. I had my parents and a friend for Christmas Day (plus the kids and dogs), which was great fun. My parents stayed over so we had a quiet Boxing Day up until they decided to go home in the afternoon. I’d recorded the Call the Midwife Christmas special and we watched that before devouring a huge fry up (fried square sausage, bacon, potato scone and black pudding – yum!). The programme was okay, but a bit heavy on the tartan and red hair.

I went round to a neighbours’ house for Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve), but didn’t stay for the bells as I was driving to my parents’ house the next day for dinner. My mum, who is a great cook, made us steak pie and home-made soup and it was heavenly. I love her steak pie and soup. My sister and her family were there and after dinner we played games and had a round of general knowledge.

Aside from those three events, I didn’t do an awful lot else except binge watch The Witcher (which I thought was okay, but it was jumping all over the place story-wise which was annoying) and Bones. Also started watching the BBC’s new Dracula. Saw the first episode, not sure if I’ll watch the rest of it. It was okay. I don’t know if it’s just me being fussy about telly or that telly programmes just aren’t that good at the moment. Nothing surpasses Game of Thrones or Carnival Row for me – they were just superb, perhaps I’m expecting too much. Am also enjoying Suits and I’ve discovered a French/Flemish programme on Netflix called The Thieves in the Woods which looks quite good.

Anyway, all this tv watching and resting has meant I am back this week feeling fully refreshed and ready to take on the world.

I’m back into writing and currently drafting up a script for a one-off tv show which I’ll not speak too much about just now other than to say I’m really enjoying doing it. Whether it gets on telly or not is another matter – I hope it does – but I’m enjoying the process of writing again.

Talking of which, the nose is back to the grindstone for The Jacobite’s Share which I am planning to bring out in March. Been drafting up the cover words and I’ll send those over to my cover designer later this week. In a couple of weeks, I will begin promoting the book and plan to do an online launch of it. So, watch this space. I also have another couple of books that need edited, so I will start working on those at some point soon.

What else have I been doing? A little bit of reading. I was sorry to hear that M C Beaton (creator of Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth) died over the festive period. I enjoy her books. They are not heavy stories, but are great when you want a murder mystery that’s not just full of ingenious clues, but are warm and funny too. I’m currently reading the Agatha Raisin murder mystery The Haunted House. I am also still reading Mary Beard’s Pompeii, which is great. There’s a lot of things I never knew about Pompeii.

Right, I am going to finish up here and wish you adieu. Got a fair few things to do before the kids come in from school. Til next time.

Dawn xxx

Recovering from GoT and other things

9 May 20199 May 2019 / darkislethebooks / Leave a comment

So, after many years of my trying to get him to get his hair cut short, the boy has finally made up his own mind to do it. He asked me to take him to a local Turkish barbers where his very good friend goes – it must be the ‘in’ place for 11-year-olds to get their haircut! I took him two days ago, after school and when I was tired after having a hard day working on books and stuff. We went in, he was taken right away and I was delighted to see his long-ish mop being reduced to a much more manageable and neater short haircut. What I didn’t envisage is what happened after he had gotten the cut. He did nothing but talk about it and admire himself in the mirror all the way home, all that evening and into the next day. And if I had to smell his hair (which was gelled) one more time, I would have screamed! I know what gel smells like, my darling boy, I was a teenager in the 80s! 🙂

Anyway, he’s stopped going on about his hair now – thank goodness – but informed me last night that I was rubbish at gelling his hair and he would do it from now on. Let’s put it this way – my gelling skills are SO much better than his going by the hairdo he went out with!! ha ha ha

So, how are you today? Hope you are all fine. I’ve had a busy couple of weeks writing and studying and visiting various people. I am still recovering from the trauma of a stupid accident I had at the local dump a couple of weeks ago. It was my own fault. I saw the piece of picture frame glass sticking out of the binbag before I dumped it at the dump and yet I still managed to cut my finger on it. It was a deep cut for not only was the blood flowing down my hand and dripping on the ground (it looked like there had been a murder!), but my fingertip was tingling indicating the cut was deep enough to have effected a nerve. More than two weeks later, the finger is healing – I should have gotten some stitches in it but I’m fed up going up to our local Minor Injuries Unit (the girl is particularly bad at injuring herself) so I didn’t – but if I accidentally touch the wound, the nerve sings and it’s bloody painful. By singing I mean the type of pain you feel when the dentist, poking around your mouth to check for holes, accidentally touches an unsuspecting and unguarded nerve. You nearly hit the roof. I have that in my right index finger. But, hey ho, it is yet another minor injury to add to all the rest. Well, you did wonder where the girl got her clumsiness from? 🙂

What else has been happening here? A friend of mine recently turned 50 – happy birthday Mark! – and I’ve been carrying on writing and editing my novels. I’ve also been studying my uni course and this year’s module is coming to an end at the end of this month. I have loved every minute of this course, it’s hard work, but so worth it. I’m doing a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing with the Open University and it’s brilliant. Did you see the programme on the OU on the BBC celebrating 50 years of it being in existence? I had no idea Harold Wilson had been behind the push for the OU along with Jenny Lee. Good on them because it opened up a whole load of opportunities for adult learners. Anyway, I look forward to starting the next module in October – once I finish and submit my final assessment that is!

Talking of television programmes, it would be remiss of me not to mention Game of Thrones (all today’s images are dedicated to this amazing series) and the Battle of Winterfell. Oh my God! What an episode that was. It was so good I had to watch it all over again and I still had my heart in my mouth all the way through it (even though I knew what would happen). And this week’s episode, although not exciting, was still good on a number of levels, although why they had to kill off Missandei, I’ll never know? She was a great character and her romance with Grey Worm was just a lovely part of a show where lovely things rarely happen. I shall miss her. And Tormund (my second favourite character next to Tyrion) was hilarious – love that character. However, as a major fan of the series, I know there will be further deaths to come and I wait impatiently for the final two episodes with a silent prayer on my lips: “Please God, let Cersei die horribly!”

Anyway, moving on, I am currently reading Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Making of a Marchioness. You will know the author better as the writer of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess, which are lovely books. The Making of a Marchioness is a great book about a poor gentlewoman who catches the eye of Marquis who asks her to marry him, which she does. Then she has to contend with his cruel and jealous nephew and his wife who are desperate to get the Marquis’ money for themselves. It’s another reprint from Persephone Books and I’d recommend it. It’s a good read.

Right, I am going to finish up here and say adieu for today, I have a whole list of things I need to do today. Til next time.

Dawn xxx