Life is too short …

… to stuff a mushroom, as Shirley Conran once put it. I should have known better, then, than to spend the most part of Sunday, stuffing mushroom sauce into vol-au-vents – followed by asparagus – followed by trout pate (not the same ones, you understand). At the last count, it was about 65 of them. I was expecting potentially 17 neighbours for drinks (postponed, if you remember from before Christmas.) In the event, a couple dropped out, and a couple who came, had to buzz off quickly because of a forgotten bridge supper; so I grossly over-catered. In addition to the above, I made two large pizzas, and provided mini blinis and wholemeal squares with smoked salmon and on and on, ad infinitum. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and lots of wine went, because no-one was driving. I’m glad I did it, but I did feel, at one point in the day, that though time flies as you get older, stuffing the vol-au-vents seemed to go on for ever, and take as long as a Latin lesson when I was 14.

What a relief it was to get out of the kitchen and back to my computer – and on the writing front, lots of nice little snippets of news.

First, my article on Self Publishing has been published on line by Laura of Hags, Harlots and Heroines (http://www.hagsharlotsheroines.blogspot.com/)

Second, I’m delighted to say that Adrienne Dines, whose books are published by Transita, is happy for me to include her words of praise on the cover of Tainted Tree, and has in addition, offered lots of advice and support. She seems a really lovely person.

Finally, news of my novella, A Bottle of Plonk, published by Goldenford (http://www.goldenford.co.uk/) and Virtual Tales (USA) (http://www.virtualtales.com/). Claire at The Deli, North Camp, Farnborough, (http://www.capegoldbiltong.co.uk/) has released a copy into the wild, as part of the Book Crossing scheme. Also, one of the reading circle, at our last meeting, volunteered the unsolicited comment that he’d read A Bottle of Plonk and enjoyed it very much. I was delighted – I didn’t know he’d got a copy. He also added his comments to Amazon, saying: An ingenious and page-turning read. The author has created a written version of "La Ronde" but updated to present day mores. A first-rate read if you are looking for romance with sharp edges or worthwhile comment on widely varying relationships.