Greed Archives - D A Nelson

Hey how are you all? Hope you’re all good. Well, the past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur for me as I started a part-time job just over two weeks ago. Basically, I needed to bring in a wee bit extra money – everything has shot up in price thanks to Brexit – so I met my former dog walker whilst walking my dogs in the village and asked him for a job. He phoned me a couple of weeks later to see if I was still interested and I said yes. I now dog walk for a few hours a week and, despite getting soaked to the skin a few times, I love it. The dogs are fab and I’m out in the open air enjoying the gorgeous scenery and hopefully getting fitter. There’s also no stress, which is bliss.

This has meant that I’ve not had as much time on my hands and, whilst getting used to the physicality of the job, I’ve been exhausted. But it’s a good exhaustion! And I’m sleeping well at night.

What this has meant is that I’ve not had the time or energy to write. However, I’m getting used to the extra work, so am thinking I will be getting back into this week. Phew. I’ve got some great ideas for new stories, but I need to finish Greed and Envy first.

What else have I been doing? Well not a lot. My uni course continues and I am currently reading Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country. I can’t say I’m enjoying it. I want to smack Undine Spragg, the protagonist, as she’s annoying. She’s meant to be. She’s quite horrible. As I said, I’m not really enjoying this book, but am hoping it will get better.

I’ve recently started watching Tru Blood and Grimm again. The reason for this is that there is nothing current on the box I want to watch, so I have gone back to old favourites. I’m so busy all the time and so tired by evening that I just want to watch something easy and that I know I’ll like. The last scene between Sookie Stackhouse and Vampire Bill though still gets to me!

Right, I am going to finish up. Sorry this has been so short. Til next time.

Dawn x

PS Cop26 is currently ongoing in Glasgow right now, which is a pain for getting in and out of the city. There are roads closed on some of the main arteries. Anyway, about this: 1) our First Minister cannot control the weather or flooding Express Newspaper: Sturgeon shamed as Glasgow underwater days before COP26 – despite £420m commitment | Science | News | Express.co.uk

2) Fearsome weapons, really? Daily Record: Fearsome weapons haul found by cops on board Glasgow-docked ship ahead of COP26 – Daily Record

A tad exaggerated! I actually though this was a spoof article. Many people have these so called ‘fearsome weapons’ at home and we have nunchucks as my husband was a blackbelt in karate. I worry about the standards of journalism these days.

Hi everyone! How are you? Hope you’re all well. How’s your week been? Well, I’ve got a couple of exciting things to share.

Firstly, I finally finished editing my Sisters of Sin novel. It’s called Greed and is romantic suspense story about a female assassin. As it’s part of a series, it won’t be published until early next year, but I’ll keep you posted. I have another one to write – about an assassin code-named Envy – for the series and plan to start on it next week.

Secondly, my Paisley book is finished and, as part of it, I’m just about to draft up a short graphic novel depicting one of the historical facts from the book. Once I have some images to show you, I’ll do that. The illustrations are being done by my very good friend and fab illustrator, Mandy Sinclair.

It’s so nice to have some good news to share. Something different from the norm. It still feels like Groundhog Day, but at least now I’ve had my first vaccination, I can see a tiny speck of light at the end of the tunnel!

On to TV and film. Well, I have just finished binge watching Call the Midwife and thoroughly enjoyed it, although Barbara’s demise did leave me in tears. The thing I like about this series is that it’s gentle, you don’t have to concentrate too hard to enjoy it, and the styles and music are fantastic. It’s one of my guilty pleasures and I can’t wait for the new series which starts very soon.

On to books, I’ve been trying to read, but I’ve been so busy lately that I’m shattered by the time I crawl into bed and switch the light out. I normally go up at 9pm and read for a while, but I’ve been going up at the same time and going to sleep. I’ve had a couple of extra clients for my business plus I had to complete an assignment for university, so that’s probably why.

I have got a book to start which is Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher. I really LOVE LOVE LOVE the tv series, so wanted to read the books. Got the first one to start and I can’t wait.

I’m also reading Bruce Block’s ‘The Visual Story’ which is about creating the visual structure of film, tv and digital media. It’s useful to know this stuff for my scriptwriting, but it should also feed into my novel writing and maybe even other parts of my working life. Only just started it and am hooked already.

Right, so you are up-to-date on everything at the moment. I’m sorry I’ve not had much to tell you. It’s so difficult to be exciting about writing when most of it is hard slog. However, I’m getting there with my novels and have already started planning my next series – a steampunk, fantasy set in Victorian Glasgow. I’ll tell you more about that in the future, it’s way too early just now.

Til next time,

Dawn xxx