Sunday, July 26, 2015

It's summer!

Not that you'd ever believe it this weekend! It's been pouring here in the South East of the UK since Friday.

The latest news Chez Cookman is fairly pedestrian. Two weeks ago I was at Queen Mary's University in London for the Romantic Novelists' Association annual conference, despite having stated some months ago that I was leaving the Association. However, I've been a member for so long, and most of my best mates are members, so in the end, I decided I'd stay, despite having not tried to write romance since the eighties. The conference was fun, and I was sharing a Uni "flat" with some of those best mates, Katie Fforde, Judy Astley, Bernardine Kennedy, Susan Alison (who drew my lovely Steeple Martin map) and Catherine Jones. Catherine was also one of the writers I went "on retreat" with back in March. Both events, conference and retreat, seemed to involve a good deal of alcohol...

For my eldest daughter's birthday, I took her up Lunnon for a bit of culture. We saw High Society at the Old Vic - Maria Friedman's production, with the lovely Joe Stilgoe, whom Louise managed to have a word with afterwards. We also discovered we knew one of ensemble dancers, which was fun. It's a terrific production - best musical I've seen in years.

The next event is youngest son Leo's birthday. He's coming home from Brighton next weekend, and weather willing, we are having a garden party. After that I shall withdraw into my usual hermit-like existence until I go on holiday, where I shall become sociable again.

Work-wise, Libby Sarjeant 16 is under construction, but about to undergo a change of title. My publisher thinks Murder En Pointe is not quite appropriate, and on second thoughts, though I still love the title, I agree with her. So she, my editor and I are all flirting with different titles. If only I didn't have to have "Murder" as the first word!

I'm also slightly distracted by the thought of a second series. New agent Lisa and I had a chat about this at the conference, and it's been swirling around my head ever since. The trouble is, I only just manage to keep up with Libby, so when would I write it? And Libby isn't going to go away!

Have a lovely summer, everyone.

1 comment:

Natalie Kleinman said...

I'm in the very lucky position of living on the Kent/London border, Lesley. All the delights of the capital are to hand but in no time at all I can also 'Escape to the Country'. I have to admit to being a fan of the programme - I so like to see how other people live. A natural curiosity or a writer's nosiness? Both, I think.