Holidays and families

Late as usual. Murder by the Sea has been out for nearly three months and is apparently doing all right. Holiday in Cavus as relaxed as ever, met all the old lags and generally did nothing. Had a book signing as several of them had taken copies with them, and have some great pictures of people (Sue, Marie and Alison) reading by the pool!

Book, however, not doing nearly so well as my friend Julia Williams - whose Strictly Love hit the zeitgeist bang on the button, and is a fantastic read. Comes with a free "How to Dance" book, too!

Also had a lovely weekend with my cousins in Burnham-on-Crouch. Lovely place. Unfortunately my poor cousin Penny is now going to have to put up with me more than she wants as I liked it so much I'm transporting it to Kent to use it in the next novel. Yes, folks, despite public opinion, there will be a new Libby Sarjeant book out next June. Let's hope the credit crunch doesn't affect the book trade.

Eldest daughter is happily half way through her second pregnancy, and I'm still fighting against my "Nanny" title. I shall have to coach my grandson when he's a little older, then he can choose a name for me - which could be dodgy. Eldest son still gigging and he and his partner Clare looked after cats for me while I was away. Needless to say, one of them ran away (just like school guinea pigs dying during the holidays) but came home again with an abscess. All sorted now.

Younger daughter currently on tour with a prog-rock (?) band called Karnataka, playing London Astoria2 tonight and having to dash back to Cambridge to teach. Younger son still living in frequently flooded "garden" flat in Manchester, working hard and not playing as much as he'd like.

That's up to date. I'll try and remember to update a little more frequently, but I'm so lazy!

Lunches, departing children, Hamlet and the CWA

A little better - only two weeks since the last entry.

In which time, I have been to the Lady Mayoress of Canterbury's Ladies of the District lunch - invitation only, of course! - where the guest of honour was Lady Mountbatten. Very interesting, good food and service in Abode, the former Chaucer Hotel. The following day, to London with daughter Louise, to lunch with Katie Fforde, who wanted to interview Lou about her job, as she has a character in her next book who does the same. We are going to the next of Lou's public gigs in London together for Katie too see how it all works in practice.

This week, daughter Philly has finally moved out, to go and live in Cambridge with fellow band members, and take up a temporary job with the Faculty of Engineering. Hollow laughter. I feel rudderless. All four have now gone, and although I was on my own for a couple of years before, it never felt permanent. This time it does.

Yesterday went to see Nothern Ballet's production of Hamlet which was superb. Very controversial and explicit, sexual and torture scenes depicted with graphic realism. Made me cry at the end, though. Difficult thing for a ballet to do...

Still battling on with the CWA conference. Nearly there as far as bookings go, but now have the ghastly finicky bits to do, as well as paying for my own place. Can't afford it, either, but there you go. Where's my second-in-command? Not heard of in ages.

Murder by the Sea has taken a new turn and I feel somewhat happier with it. It won't bear much relation to the original idea, but you can't have everything...