Garden starts to blossom

My wee Scottish garden is starting to blossom and look delightful.
I hope you have enjoyed watching it develop.
Once the trellis plants grow large enough to give some more form and shade, I'll post a "more mature garden" update!

Here you can see the garden from my painting room - and a little of my painting in progress.

and here you can see a calm corner, with a couple of gargoyle statues amongst the greenery

plus, a little woodpile to make a home for the garden insects

Now I'll be sitting out there, in a shady spot, writing some more to the third book in my Leaves Series.
The editor and I have been chatting and I'm raring to carry on!

A Cottage Garden

I love my garden - and it is best described as a cottage garden.
A friend on Twitter recently asked if I could show her some photos, so I've decided to post them here, because I can add more than one picture to this post!


The view of the patio area, the largest plant being a dwarf Robinia tree, v. Twisted Lady

A dwarf clematis after the flowers have gone

 Irish Eyes, patio rose

English Lavender

Passion Flower

Mallow

Wild geranium

Bears Breeches and a pink wild geranium

I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into my garden. Now I must get back to writing the third in my "Leaves" series of novels. If you want to read the first two, links are HERE

When I met a policeman... purely for research!

It has been a fascinating week on the research front.
You all know that 'All in the Leaves' is part of a series, it being the first book.
The second is 'Leaves for Chloe', with the third and final being 'The House in the Leaves'.
They can all be read independently, so no waiting for the third to actually reach a conclusion!

So, the research.... I was planning an accident in one of the books - so I had a lunch date with a policeman and a coroner's officer to find out what would happen if there were such an accident.

I now know more about accidents and Inquests than I ever knew before. From road tyre marking measurements, to taking of statements, how and when you need to be interviewed in the Police Station; to the fact that Coroner's Inquests are always opened and immediately adjourned. That allows for the release of the body for burial. The Inquest hearing may be another further six months to a year down the line, especially if there is a fatality, which would need a jury trial!

There were so many interesting factors involved, I can see me writing more books, that include all I learned from this most fascinating pair. Only I'll have to change genres. Which I wouldn't mind doing. A meaty murder mystery, perhaps, or maybe even a horror!

This is an interesting road I'm travelling!

Short Stories, a review and a Summer Break

I was so busy yesterday that I never got a chance to blog!
This is because I've been doing two very important things.

Firstly, I've been working with my reflexology people in advance of my summer break. I get to spend the month of August with my hubby, because he's on leave from college, where he works as a lecturer. We spend the time doing couple things and enjoying each other's company. Mostly the computer stays off.

Secondly, I've been putting together a book of short stories!
I'm hoping to have it out before my novel All in the Leaves gets published.
The title of the book of shorts is 'At Sanctuary's Gate.'
I've had a few people reading, editing and reviewing for me - and I thank them for their time.
Author Amanda Martin (Baby Blues and Wedding Shoes, Dragon Wraiths) read them for me and gave me her thoughts:
"Evocative imagery, unusual viewpoints and heart warming tales, At Sanctuary's Gate has it all. Each story packs a punch in a short space of time and leaves you thinking."

Here's the cover image for you to enjoy. 

I may get a chance to visit here and there, if not, see you in Sept!

PS: You can find Amanda's blog here 
and her Twitter account HERE

June Paintings and a shift in Focus.

We're in July - and normally I would publish a post showing you all of my June Paintings, in case you missed them on my painting blog.

In June, I took part in a Challenge to paint every day - and I produced a painting a day for the whole of June. If I post all thirty paintings, this post will go on forever! If you'd like to see the paintings, take a look at my other blog HERE
There are five posts with June paintings, one post each week.
The post a week taught me its a good schedule, so that will continue, there and here. Art on Monday, Life on Friday. 

Now that the Challenge is done, what's next for me?
Now my focus is more on my novel, All in the Leaves. Two days after finishing the June Challenge, I finished the first edit of the whole novel. The second edit is quarter of the way through. The third and final edit is one fifth completed. Second and third are not being done by me - all I have to do is rewrite any mistakes that are found.
For light relief, I am visiting your blogs and leaving comments. I need to be out there in the blog community again. Thanks for bearing with me.

Missy is doing well. She's fifteen and a half now, thoroughly enjoys her walks and meeting new people. She does sleep a fair bit too, but at her great age, she's entitled. Here's a recent pic of her for you to enjoy.

My novel - an update

Good morning friends.

What's been happening here? While my painting self has been taking part in a painting-a-day challenge for June (see HERE) my writing self has also been busy editing my novel, All in the Leaves.

Firstly, I edit a chapter, then it passes over to hubby for a continuity check and then it goes to the proper editor who scours it for all anomalies and sends it back to me, marked up in colour, ready for me to change again.
Honestly, it does feel as if writing was the easy part and this is the perfectionist slog.

The exciting news was that I spoke to Matt at ebookpartnership, who was as helpful as can be - and he gave me a quote for getting my novel formatted as an e-book,  and distributing it to all major retailers.
All in the Leaves should be available to purchase before Christmas - as long as we three keep plugging away at the edit.

How do I fit all this in? Honestly, I've given up watching the tv!  I've read lots of articles from other writers, talking of the anti social element of writing. I can see how easy it would be to become aloof from friends. Writing and editing is so very time consuming. I hope when you all get to read my book that you think it was worth it. I hope I think it was worth it!

Have a great weekend, whatever you're doing.

After the Celebration

Monday was a hectic day for little Missy.
She had her adoption day celebration, new squeaky tennis balls to play with and then a visitor! She absolutely adores people - and tennis balls!
The visit lasted for about three hours.
Here's the aftermath! :)

I spent the quiet time tapping away on my netbook, writing some more to Book Two, in my Leaves series.
My plan is to have three books, which can all be read independently, or as a series. They should make sense, either way! That's the plan, anyhow.