Lexie Conyngham's Blog: writing, history and gardening.

Saturday 30 June 2012

Fourth book just out!

Well, it's working its way through the mysteries of Kindle uploading, anyway. Thank goodness - and thanks to my ever-patient graphic designer who turns my scribbled pictures into covers! And to all of you who buy the books and write lovely reviews (gosh, this is starting to sound like an Oscar speech). Anyway, I hope you all enjoy 'An Abandoned Woman'.

Allotments full of weeds only just under control - too much wet, warm weather. I've taken a middle-sized decision to drop one teaching job next term and do more writing (and indeed housework, I suppose!), but it hasn't quite sunk in yet so the stress levels are still a bit high. Eventually I'll tidy that bit of my mind away till the next time it's needed. In the mean time the other teaching post needs some work done before August, and the next book is calling me ... The knitting, however, is currently slightly more resistable, for some reason! But there's decorating to do, and tidying to do, and other work taking up two days a week. Oh, well - better get on!

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Publication in sight!

That's it, the text is typed and proofread and put into one document and then the formatting, which always goes a bit iffy at that point, has been checked and corrected again. The cover is drafted, though no doubt there will be discussions over it (I like it, but another idea has been suggested which I might try, too) and I'm quite pleased with my efforts to draw donkeys ...

There is a tent in the garden. This is not a problem, as such. It's a new tent, and I, being an old Girl Guide, am used to the type where you pace out the angles of the guy lines and raise the tent poles in one large and glorious movement (followed, at one memorable camp near Hastings, by a large and total collapse as the rotted dolly pegs fell to pieces). This tent I removed from its bag, then I turned to read the instructions and was roundly walloped in the back as it put itself up - upside down, as it happens. The reason it is still there, however, is that putting itself down seems to be beyond it, and is a problem roughly similar to folding a road map up in the way it is meant to go - oh, yes, I suppose we're supposed to use some app on our phones to find our way round these days, not nice foldy map things.I wonder if there's an app for teaching tents how to fold themselves up?

Ah, well.