Writers, historical and writers very young

Well this has been a non-event of a week. I won't bore you with the details of my nose blowing, which has subsided to about a blow every hour or so, but now M has the dreaded bug and he's ploughing through yards of tissue. Having passed the lowest point last week when what I really wanted to do was go back to bed and have someone bring me cups of tea and tomato soup (it didn't happen) I have now made it to the post office and to Sainsbury's. M, in the meantime, felt really horrible yesterday and today, and undoubtedly will have to stay home tomorrow, when I go to friends.

I have been reading the recently published Goldenford novel by Jay Margrave, Luther's Ambassadors, and although I'm not normally a great fan of historical novels, I am going to be very brief, so that I can get back to it. It's about Anne Boleyn's machinations in her quest to get into a position of power at Court and it also includes Jay's hero, Priedeux, who was the star of her last novel, The Gawain Quest. I'm finding it very interesting, and it will make me look up Anne, to find out more about the real historical story. We at Goldenford were very pleased to hear a few days ago that Luther's Ambassadors is to be the Editor's choice in February, at the Historical Novel Society, and its review will be featured in their magazine and on line.

Inspired by this, I decided to send Tainted Tree to the Historical Novel Society for a review, in the hope that it will fit into the category of a 'multiple time novel'. I have always regarded it as contemporary novel, but with the description of events in the early part of the century, Addie's grandmother's letters from WW2 and her mother's diaries and letters from the sixties, it does actually give something of a cultural history of the 20th century.

I missed Guildford Writers this week, but hope to be at the Goldenford meeting next week, when we can discuss a programme of events to promote our books to a wider reading public. Well maybe one or two, at least.

I had a chat on the phone with the offspring today, and was pleased to hear that GD3 (seven) got an award from the headmistress for writing something with 'fantastic adjectives'. Creative writing groups may dismiss them, but adjectives are alive and well at primary schools. At around seven, I was praised for a story which contained the word 'suddenly'. Good to know that one of my grandchildren may be following in my footsteps.