YUCK ROCKS AMERICA .......

I was chuffed to get a text message from Sarah the Publisher the other day advising me to check out a review of Yuck 1 written by someone in AMERICA! How exciting is that? Take a look for yourself - the link is http://www.literacylaunchpad.blogspot.com/ and it was written as part of a scheme to get 100 bloggers to review 100 'great books' printed in an environmentally friendly way! It makes me blush to relate that the reviewer's kind words and complete understanding of the whole concept of Yucketypoo damn near brought a tear to my unpracticed eye! It reminded me just how proud I am of it! I so want it to become read worldwide because its message does affect the entire world! In fact I can't believe it hasn't reached more people yet because it is just so completely unique! There is nothing else like it on the market - even its sequels are totally different - but, as hard as I have tried to get someone of note to comment on it, it still remains something of a non-entity. Ah well - good things come to those who wait, I guess. And getting a review from America is but definitely a step in the right direction.

You know it is astonishing just how much better I have felt about myself as a writer since I became unemployed. It is the one thing that stabilises my mental and emotional well-being; when I have got a pen in my hand I become somebody else, somebody with passion and meaning. So it will come as no surprise to anyone that I have gingerly taken up the pen (and the laptop) again in between signing on, filling out endless streams of application forms and attending interviews. I have started to make notes and squiggles again and two days ago made a significant start on draft one of my local interest book. I also found out, quite by chance the other day, that I'd had a poem published in The Daily Mail! Plus I have two others appearing in anthologies over the next couple of months, all of which bodes rather well for the future, methinks!

Watch this space. The Writer ain't beat yet ......

OUT ON A LIMB - NOT!!!

I am so, so, so sorry to have abandoned you but you just will not believe what is going on in my life now! Talk about Eastenders - I tell you, Albert Square has nothing on me! After months of harping on about how much I loathe, detest, despise and hate my job, guess what? I've been made redundant! Really! I left the Friday before last. It all happened in the space of four weeks - from the first email being sent round to everyone to me walking out of the door for the last time. What a relief! I'm serious! Now don't think for a second I am being flippant here. I know how serious redundancy can be (let's face it, I have been through it before) and, despite the fact here are loads of jobs out there, here I am, a week or so later still job-hunting, still filling out application forms and checking jobsites every day - and yet still so pleased that I am no longer stuck in that bloody office!

Within the first week I had secured two second-stage interviews but neither amounted to anything and since then - zilch, zip, nil, zero. It isn't through lack of trying either. I have kept strict records and the number of jobs applied for so far totals 26! I am so sick of application forms that they are coming back to haunt my sleep night after night - the same questions, the same layout, the same everything. Only the company names are different, everything else is identical. Weren't CVs supposed to put an end to all this? I am not joking, when I complained of writer's cramp one day last week as I filled out a form I had picked up ten minutes before, Hubby snorted with laughter and said "Don't tell me you've got writer's cramp; you're a writer! How can you have it already, you are not even half way through that form!"

Now don't think he hasn't been Loving Supportive Hubby personified because he has. He has lifted my spirits every time I have started to flag and, if anything, seems horrified that I haven't been snapped up by somebody already. I feel kind of sad sometimes though because I know that if we could afford it, he would tell me to stop wasting my time looking for jobs and start using my time to knock up the odd bestseller or two. It is the one thing he hasn't been able to give me in all the years we have been together and I know that really bothers him.

I have decided to be more constructive with my writing during this time, though. After all there are only so many jobs, so many application forms and so many phonecalls I can actively pursue at any one time and the fact I am not stuck in front of a computer for eight hours during the day means that getting back to the laptop in the evenings has become enjoyable again. Hence my first blog in - ooo - weeks!

Watch this space; I have a feeling I will be back sooner rather than later. And keep your fingers crossed for me that some wicked commission comes my way which will pay me a packet and render the jobhunt - well, redundant ...

LONG TIME NO SEE...

The most horrendous thing happened to me last night! Knowing we had guests to dinner, I stopped off on the way home from the Day Job to get a few extra things, decided to pay with my Maestro card and was knocked for six when the card was refused twice. Fortunately I had enough cash on me to cover it but I was so embarrassed. I couldn't understand it. I only got paid two days before. Then I remembered - the mortgage and a number of direct debits had all gone out together and this was one of the few months of the year that the input date of my salary differentiated to Hubby's.

Normally they do coincide quite comfortably but this month - not a chance. I just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me as the long queue of people at the checkout behind me, fidgeted and tutted as I rummaged around in my bag and purse for any loose change I could lay my hand to. That the majority of the £12.00 plus was eventually scraped together out of fifty and twenty pence pieces did not help. I couldn't get out of there quick enough. To make it worse, I could not barge through my front door and tell Hubby how perfectly awful the experience had been because there were our two guests , sitting comfortably, nodding a greeting. They smiled sweetly as I rattled on about how sorry I was to be late to our own dinner party but there had been long queues ... the bus was late ... the bag almost split ... the till had broken down. Even Hubby gave me a funny look that intimated I was babbling incoherently, so please just stop, you're here now, let's get on with the evening.

Do you know, when I read The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella the first time, I almost wet myself laughing when protagonist Becky Bloomwood found herself stranded at a fashionable department store with baskets full of goods she could not pay for because all her cards had maxed out! But it ain't that funny when it happens to you and I hope it never happens again. I would sooner go one on one with the hounds of hell than watch my card get refused in front of a shop full of people again! Thank goodness Hubby's pay goes in tomorrow!

Despite everything the dinner party went off well. SpagBol is always a success, don't you find? Our two guests, who are Polish, cleared their plates and beamed their appreciation as we downed our second glass of Polish white wine (semi-sweet, quite fruity, very palatible) and then attacked the Vienetta with great gusto. Afterwards, we talked animatedly about their forthcoming wedding in Krakow and they looked at our wedding photographs. They asked about my writing and bought a copy of my book (which they insisted I sign) and then left. Fotunately, soon after getting home earlier, I'd had a chance to run upstairs, freshen up and change, during which time I scrawled a brief note to Hubby to explain what had happened. He went off to work shortly before our guests departed and muttered as he kissed me goodbye at the front door, "I got your note, don't panic, we'll meet for coffee in the morning."

Once everyone had gone and the clearing up was finished, I sank onto the sofa with a bar of strong dark chocolate and watched some 'B' movie about a swarm of killer ants invading a passenger plane. Finally sank into bed around 11.30. I don't know - nothing is ever easy, is it? And really where can one go when one hits rock bottom? The answer? Forward, forward, forward. It can only get better (and surely can't get any worse) .....

ALL QUIET IN BLOGLAND

Out of the fifty copies of Yuck I ordered in advance for the book signing at St Michael and All Angels Church last month, I have sold 34! I am so chuffed! They seem to do well at Sales of Work. People like the fact they can stand and talk to a writer and that the books are signed. I know it is a hell of a long way till I reach the midnight-signings of J K Rowling proportions but do you know what? I am pleased anyway. And the second book comes out soon which will be terrific; especially since it is launched in the US on the same day - plus the second edition of the first one is being launched at the same time. Things are looking quite good for Yucketypoo, on the whole. I start to feel more like an author and less like a wannabe.

My next project is the local interest book I have been banging on about for months. I have gathered virtually all the reseach and have set myself a deadline of 1st October in which to compile it. Then I will start to write the first draft. This is exciting because if there is one thing I have always wanted to do, it is write a local interest book! Is that sad or is that a sense of loyalty to my locality? I like to think the latter. Croydon is an amazing place, really. It has its darker side as do most big towns, but it is very colourful, historic and cultural on the whole and I think it gets rather a bad press. When the book is published next year, we'll have a big launch, then more people can see what I mean.

Have noticed a very quiet period on the blogging front of late. Are they going out of fashion? Has Twitter put paid to them already? I must admit I tend to read them but only occasionally comment, so hopefully people do the same with mine. If you read it and think it is lacking something please tell me. I am open to suggestions on making it more reader-friendly. Do you want more humorous anecdotes? More info about writing? More about what is going on in the world? Just let me know and I will spice things up a bit.

Enjoy your day. The weather is gorgeous here!

SATURDAY'S THE DAY ...

Just a quick reminder that I am signing copies of my books at the Summer Fair at St Michael & All Angels Church, in Poplar Walk, West Croydon this Saturday - 11 July - between 10 a/m and 2 p/m. You won't be able to miss me - my table will have YUCKETYPOO bunting all over it - and I will standing there in my Birthday Tops and Jeans (from Hubby), smiling brightly with my posh fountain pen at the ready.

I hope the weather is kind to us that day and I hope to meet lots of people, so fingers crossed. And - very important - 10% of every copy of Yucketypoo sold goes to CLIC-sargent, the children's cancer charity. Please try to come along - it would be great to see you.

Full report next week - promise!

ANY DREAM WILL DO

Met Hubby for coffee first thing this morning - we still try to do this at least once a week despite being short of cash. I like getting up at 5 a/m. In fact I promised myself today I would try to do this more often and use the hour to write. Promising myself and keeping that promise are two different things though! It is just such a nice time of day - no people around, hardly any traffic - just me and the birds. Love it! Anyway - I digress. Back to the Coffee Shop at East Croydon. Once we had sat down with our Extra Hot Latte (Hubby) and Black Americano (yours truly), we somehow got onto the subject of the lottery. We seem to do that a lot lately. I suppose it is because we don't actually have a lot of spare cash (does anyone these days?), so we just sit talking about a Lottery win as if it was already ours.

Hubby is renown for his kind and generous nature and this morning I was content, once he got in full flow, to just sit and listen to him map out our future as Well Off People. "You can give up work right away," he tells me, "to concentrate on your writing. I expect we'll have a bit of a rush - maybe splash out on a weekend in London to get some new clothes and book some shows up. Once things start getting back to normal and the novelty wears off a bit, this is what I think we should do ..." True to form, he then lists out the next steps which are:

a/ Make sure the mums and dads are ok. By this he means buying them new houses and taking away the strain of paying bills with nothing but their pensions.

b/ Make sure the kids are ok. This equates to buying Youngest Stepdaughter a new car and making sure she no longer struggles to pay the bills and can maybe become the full time mum she'd like to be. Eldest Stepdaughter doesn't seem to want for much so a cash gift seems most fitting.

c/ Make sure siblings are ok - in other words, give them all a little windfall (nothing spectacular, we don't want anyone to know how much we have actually won) - just enough to clear any debts, fund a decent holiday and maybe get Bro over from Denmark for a while,

d/ Make sure the grandchildren are ok - by setting up trust funds for them which they come into at the age of 21. This means Eldest Grand daughter - almost 4, Youngest Grandson - now one and a half, and Youngest Grand daughter (11m) will particularly benefit. May not be so good for Eldest Grandson (almost 14) who will only have seven years of interest to build up rather than 17 or 18 - but then (Hubby justifies), we have already spent a lot more on him because for the first 10 years of his life he was the only Grandchild and therefore thoroughly indulged by everyone, so it kind of balances out.

Finally, he tells me, whatever we are left with we will ensure we spend - and invest - it wisely so that our futures are secure. "I will go Part Time, say three days a week," he says, "so that you are free to Write (because if I am home all day every day, you will never get anything done as I will always be suggesting days out or weekends away) - and you will then still have plenty of time to concentrate."

This is the jist of it. Of course, our plans vary depending on how much we win. If he is feeling particularly optomistic, and we are fortunate enough to win the Big One (£26m plus) - then the odd million pound house, summer home and collection of Jags, Rolls Royces and state of the art laptops and blackberrys come into it in addition to everything above. Plus generous donations to the Lifeboat fund, Great Ormond Street Hospital and to A Child We Hear About that needs a new kidney or prosthetic limb (only this one, it goes without saying, would be made anonymously). And if it's a tenner - well - that'll pay for some groceries (or the next early morning coffee) - so who's complaining?

Personally I love listening to him when he talks like this because he makes it sound so real. He has clearly given the various options a great deal of thought and he glows with satisfaction when he realises how many people we could help should Our Moment ever come. Furthermore he does not then become morose or cynical when out numbers don't come up. He just snaps his fingers, sparkles a smile and says "It must be our turn next time then ..."

No wonder I love him so much!

WELCOME TO SUMMER

It is just the most gorgeous morning! All blue skies, feathery clouds and a feeling of promise. I cannot believe it is the longest day on Sunday! I seriously cannot keep the pace! I have been making a good recovery from the operation, by the way. The stitches came out on Tuesday last week and the knee is getting better by the day with only a trace of stiffness if I sit still for too long. I have only just realised how badly affected my life was by the knee before the op! I haven't woken up in pain at one in the morning for weeks. I feel like a new me!

Any holidays planned? Unfortunately, we can't afford to go away this year but we have booked off a week in July when Eldest Grandson is coming to spend a few days and we are looking up places to go. Current strong contenders are The Clink Prison in Southwark (he will just love all the blood and guts and torture chambers) and The London Wetlands Centre near Barnes. Either way we'll take a picnic because he really enjoys the mystery of all the packed sarnies, fruit and crisps. So we have that to look forward to. We have also booked a week at the end of October where we might see if we can afford a long weekend away or a midweek break somewhere cheap and cheerful - Butlins Bognor would be all right. A lot depends on the cash situation. We are not overly bothered by our lack of holiday this year, though, considering we have been having two a year for the past five years. The last time we couldn't afford at least one holiday was the year after we got married, so who's complaining?

All in all, I am feeling a whole lot better about a whole lot of things. The second book is almost ready, the local interest book is coming together and the poetry is slowly but surely making a come-back.

Amazing the effect a bit of decent weather has on one's libido. 10CC were right when they sang about Mr Blue Sky - Hey there, Mr Blue, we're so pleased to be with you, look around see what you do, everybody smiles at you.

Back soon.