Thanks Julie. Speaking of ringing ears, I took my daughter to The Police last night in Vancouver - first stop on their new world tour and first concert gig in 25 years. Wow, did they rock! Phenomenal experience.

Thanks for the invite. I'll stop back when I have more time to read.

I can imagine the pursed lips. They are positively RIFE in my family. And I feel bad when people buy it. I feel I ought to apologise...

Julie - thank you for the nice comment - you made my day! But you should have said, I would have sent you a copy. I'm glad you enjoyed it. And, in the interests of believability I tried out every one of those cocktail recipes.

Hi Julie- Thanks for the kind words. My writing is going OK, although I'll be really glad once my current non-fiction project (a ghost-writing gig working on a book about long-distance parenting) is wrapped. I've been trying to get it to write itself, but it's not being very cooperative.

Meanwhile, the fiction howls at me, insisting that I spend more time on it. If you're in the northeast of England, does that put you in Northumberland? I think Mike Myers' parents are from there, and it's how he claims he got his faux-Scots accent (says there's not much difference accent-wise). Is that true? Do you sound like Al Guthrie when you talk?;)

Oh, and speaking of writing, what are you currently at work on?

B.

Hi Julie- loved "Pick a Pig." I write a lot of non-fiction, too (who can turn down that sort of pay-day? Maybe James Patterson, but not me). Keep plugging away with your book. Like Edison said, it's 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.

Sadly, not a slave in sight when you need one. I have a bottle of tequila though, so that makes up for the lack of slaves. Unfortunately that then means I fall off my crutches, but there you go.

Julie - will you believe me if I tell you I was swinging from the chandelier? No, I didn't think so! It's either a hairline fracture or a really bad sprain. All I know is that it's really bloody sore and I can't get my stiletto shoes on. I'm not sure which is worse!

You were saying how addictive Crimespace is. Not TOO addictive, I hope. I already waste far too much time on Knees Up Mother Brown - a West Ham website, for my sins ...

Thanks for the invite.

Hi Julie .. I'm still a total newbie at all this Crimespacing game. I tried to find out more about your flying monkey because, well, it definitely makes you sound intriguing (also agreeably nuts, in a good way, of course) ... but the page was down. Hope that funky primate isn't.

I appreciate the kind comments about GM, Julie. Thanks!

VG

Julie - glad to hear you like the new BRMC. It's bloody brilliant.

Julie - the BRMC CD came out yesterday - it's called Baby 81 and it's bloody brilliant. I've put a video up which has a sneak peek at a couple of tracks from it, including one of my favourites.

Julie - thanks for your message. I see we are going to have to chat about music at Harrogate as well as books!

Hi Breanda - looking good, m'dear, looking good! I don't have an address for Keith either, or, like you, I'd have invited him along. Sorry, mate.

Julie, I tried writing to Keith Jeffries to invite him to the site, but his email address is defunct. Any ideas? By the way, I'm the pretty one in the photo.

With me right now it's a time issue. I only seem able to get in little one shot paragraphs, posts, editorials for my webzine, etc. I've never tried a full novel. But, as you can guess, I have my little shelf/stack of "how to write a novel" books.

Hi Robert. I decided to do NaNoWriMo in a spirit of sisterhood with a long-distance writing buddy who then didn't do it herself! The other - and more important - factor was that I'd buggered about with the same old stuff for too long and it forced me to do something new. I found it strange to write straight onto computer - I normally write longhand first - and I should change the info above because I have since read through it. It has potential, I feel, but it's incomplete and needs a lot of work. Some bits are fine - they flow and they're fun. Others clunk horribly. But perhaps that's always the way with first drafts. Will I do it again? Not sure. How about you?