Hello!

Well, what a week it has been! My parents are up from London to visit for the holidays, so I haven’t had a long writing session this week–but I have managed to counterbalance that with some lovely date-nights with my husband. They are a very rare occurrence for us, so I’m not going to complain.

What a handsome husband, getting a bit windswept in outdoor dining for date night.

Having said that, I have got some writing news for you all.

I was asked to do a fully cast episode of the Highmast series for the Crossroads Cantina Podcast, which I had never done before. It was strangely difficult to write a radio play when you are used to writing third person stories, but I hope it went OK. It is supposed to be coming out in September, I think, so keep your eyes open for that.

I also received an open call for Holiday short stories from my romance publishers, so I managed to make two of those this week: the first is a play on a traditional Victorian ghost story, with a romance wrapped in and is called The Blackbird, and the second is a follow-up on Charlotte and Edward’s adventures in The Heir of Drymote, which I called Charlotte’s Surprise. I only submitted them today though, so we shall have to wait and see to find out if they are successful. I’m quite pleased with them though, so even if Devine Destinies don’t want them, I might find somewhere else to put them.

My third, and perhaps most exciting, piece of news is….I am being interviewed today for the Bandit Fiction Podcast! It is a taped interview, which is very nerve-wracking, because I have only ever done written interviews before. I have the tendency to ramble when I’m nervous, but, as my husband said, they can probably edit it all down afterwards, so it will hopefully come out alright…as long as I don’t say anything too foolish!! I’m not sure when that is coming out, but I will let you know.

Apart from that, it’s been quite mundane things. I have actually managed to start growing my mailing list now, which is very exciting, but I am having rather a lot of trouble with the technological side of things. Mailchimp keeps locking me out, and Mailerlite insists on an email I don’t have. Oh well, it’s all fun and games in the end, I suppose. If anyone has any suggestions on better software, or how to manage it properly, I would gladly receive them!

I am also hoping to upgrade to a snazzier website, but, again, it’s finding the time to do it…especially when you are a bit of a Luddite, like me. Everything takes so much longer than you think it should! I have a vision in my head of what I would like it to look like, but whether I could find a way to make that happen is anyone’s guess.

In utterly unrelated news, I also have my second covid jab today. I’m pleased to get it before the term starts up again and my maternity leave ends.

Hope you’re all well and safe,

Lizzy XxX