It's been a really busy time since I last blogged, and I apologize for the gap. Book three, Becoming Lili, is due for release this weekend, and you can imagine the chaos of last minute edits, designing the cover and trying to create the blurb - a task I hate. Sitting there, staring at a blank screen, trying to sum up in a couple of short paragraphs, what your novel is about and why people should buy it. Anyway, on the home straight now and it's looking good for a weekend release. Fans of The Book of Eve will be pleased to learn it's set in the same location, but, because it's based in the 1990's and early 2000's, there won't be any character crossovers - or will there? Possibility of one or two Easter eggs for eagle-eyed readers.

Followers on Instagram and Facebook will know I've had a go at making videos, two so far, one promoting Eve and one promoting Lifesong. Unbelievably difficult to get the hang of the app, necessitating much messaging to my techie support friend, (thanks Becky), but, once we knew what we were doing, it was great fun. I think they came out pretty well, especially the one for Lifesong, which blew me away, how great it looked. To view the videos, find them on my Julia Blake Author Facebook page, or on my juliablakeauthor Instagram, or, I now have a YouTube account, where I will be posting all promo videos. You can find them by typing in Julia Blake Lifesong trailer#1, it will take you straight to them. Have a look, let me know what you think.

Major renovations have been going on in my tiny courtyard garden, and I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks - way too much time -painting trellis. What a horrible, mind-numbing, boring job that is. You paint and you paint and you paint. Then you step back to take a look, and all the little places you missed wave at you! Why don't they sell ready painted trellis? I would gladly pay the extra, just to save myself the hours of soul destroying work. Mind you, they do look amazing. My fences are painted a lovely colour called Boathouse Blue, against which the trellis, in Country Cream, look rather gorgeous. When it's all completed, I will post pictures on Instagram and Facebook, so look out for those.

Just a short blog this time, as I really have to get back to editing, but I must tell you about a funny thing that happened to me. I'd noticed a message request had been sitting on Instagram for quite some time. I wasn't too sure what to do with it, or why it simply hadn't come through, the way other messages do. Sitting with my 13 year old daughter one evening, I told her about it, explaining how it looked like a picture of some kind, but it was all blurry, and written across it were the words - blurred as might be inappropriate. Before I could stop her, she tapped the picture twice, and there, in all his naked glory, was a rather well endowed male. We both shrieked with laughter, as his ... well, I'm sure I don't need to say what ... was painted a very vivid shade of green and he still had his socks on! Needless to say, I hit the decline button pretty quickly. But am wondering, why green? Had the message been sitting there since St Patrick's Day? And what kind of mentality must you have to send a woman you don't know, that sort of picture? I guess we'll never know.

That really is it for today, as ever, all comments welcome. Take care.

Julia Blake