Fantastic Competition

Could you write about being a foreigner in Italy? That's the theme for a great new competition run by The Watermill at Posara and all the details are on their website. This is a wonderful place to have a creative writing or painting break. It really is as good as it looks, that's why I'm booked to go again next year for Sharon Kendrick's course.

It is so peaceful and quiet, what could be better for writing and the scenery is stunning for those who paint.

What could be more perfect than views like this?

Competition News

Finally the snow and ice has gone and daily life on the farm is normal again. Over the last few weeks the freezing conditions have created so much extra work. Its been hectic keeping water flowing to the cows and keeping them all warm, but at least the sun is shinning- for now!

One of the things I enjoy doing is entering writing competitions and I recently had the results back from the Romance Writers of Australia's High Five contest. I was really pleased with my result of 91% and 12th out of 75 entries. This is a big improvement on last years mark.

The competition required the opening five pages of a novel aimed at Mills and Boon and the feedback from the judges is well worth receiving.

Also I won a signed book from Kate Walker's Advent Calendar Giveaway. This competition is going on daily until Christmas and you can enter by visiting her blog.The book I won is Bound by Blackmail.

For my Australian readers here's a picture I took when the snow started two weeks ago. I'm sure readers in UK are fed up with the stuff.

Christmas Fair

On Saturday, despite the Arctic-like conditions, I went to the Christmas Fair at the University of Wales, Lampeter. Together with other members from my local writing group, Cwrtnewydd Scribblers, we sold copies of our new anthology, Of Cakes and Words.

This is the second anthology the group has published and this year the Co-operative very kindly funded the purchase of ISBN numbers through their Community Fund. Each member of the group has contributed poetry or short stories. The book costs £3.50 and 50p from each book sold is going to the Air Ambulance.

If you wish to purchase a copy please click here.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is a place I've longed to visit for years and last week I finally managed to do just that. Together with two friends, Jo and Andrea we had a lovely day at this wonderful palace.

Work was started on this magnificent building in 1705 for John Churchill and his wife Sarah as a reward for his victory at Blindheim on the River Danube in Bavaria.

Blenheim also recently became a film set for Gulliver's Travels, the new movie to be released on Boxing Day. You can find out more about that here.

The Column of Victory stands in the vast and magnificent grounds, which I just have to go back and explore in the summer. You can just see the Column in the distance in this photo I took from the house.







Winter Party

Last week I attended my first RNA winter party. I had no idea what to expect, but really enjoyed the evening. As an aspiring writer the best bit was being able to talk to the editor who last read my work.

The party took place in the the Library of the ImechE, but being too busy talking I only have this one photo of Jan Jones.

More can be seen on the RNA's blog.

As I left, I just couldn't resist doing the tourist bit and took this photo of Big Ben on a drizzly November evening.

Still Here!

Last month was busy. One of those months where I couldn't do as much writing as I wanted, but on Thursday last week I met up with writing friends in Nantwich. I went there in September for a talk given by India Grey at the Library as part of the New Voices competition. It was such a lovely town, full of black and white Tudor buildings that I really wanted to go back.

What I hadn't bargained on was the misty and wet driving conditions. This is a photo I took when I stopped on the way and if the mist hadn't been obscuring the view across Wales it would have been stunning.

Another reason for wanting to go back to Nantwich was the gorgeous cake shop Homemade. It is a quaint little shop that also have a cafe, but the cakes are amazing. I just had to take a box home!

We had a lovely lunch and talked so much about writing I couldn't help but come home feeling so refreshed and revived. Between now and Christmas I have several competitions to prepare for and a new submission to Mills and Boon as well as more days out with writing friends.

The Best Bit

The best bit about following my dream of becoming a published writer has got to be all the wonderful people I meet - both in person and online. Email makes it so easy to stay in touch, but meeting up again is so much better, and that's what I did last weekend in London. We met up at Victoria and Albert Museum to see the Grace Kelly Exhibition, which was really good but sadly photography was not permitted, so I took a quick photograph as we left.

Harrods was the next stop, where we browsed the food hall, perfume department and used the famous
Egyptian Escalator.

As we all met in Tuscany on Sharon Kendrick's course at the Watermill, we finished the day off in a Tuscan Restaurant.
I travelled home on Sunday through picturesque Costwold villages and stopped at Broadway Tower, a Folly built in 1799 for George William, the sixth Earl of Coventry.

I climbed the narrow stairway to the top and had a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. A plaque at the top told me I could see the Black Mountains fifty miles away, which I would later pass on my way home.

View to Black Mountains