Relax, Conserve Juices...

Well, well, well. Isn't the Tory leadership race exciting! 

What's that? It's not? Not even a little bit? Not even the teeniest, tiniest bit exciting? No? Fair enough, you've convinced me. To be honest, I only brought it up because I was looking for something newsy to riff on for this opening paragraph. Aside from horrific wars, and gossipy sideswipes at the new UK government, that's about it. Of course there's the US election, or the awful hurricanes that seem to be regular fixtures these days. Lots of people enjoyed the Northern Lights last week, and some Nobel Prizes were announced. Can I riff on that? Nah, I'm just not feeling it. Maybe all my creative juices have been spent on my book. Why don't you read the next paragraph to see if that's true.

A still from
 last week's vid

Writing News

I've finished the first draft of Chapter 4 and started Chapter 5. Hurrah! If you follow me on TikTok, Insta, or YouTube (and why would you not?) you'll have seen me talk about my self-imposed deadlines for this draft. By the end of October I'm aiming to have finished to the end of Chapter 6. If I keep up my skej, I'll be done with draft one by the end of February 2025. This is massively quicker than my usual writing rate and I'm properly proud that I've stuck to the plan so far. Let's see how it goes over Christmas. That's the time when whatever wheels I have, truly come off. I'll need to conserve the juices wherever possible, and write my ass off the rest of the time.

Culture

A real life museum exhibit for you this week. You know, like, PROPER culture, not just me banging on about the TV I've watched? Last Sunday I went to the Holly Johnson Story exhibit at the Liverpool Museum. It was marvellous - filled with  art, costumes, album covers, and with Frankie Goes To Hollywood's tunes blasting throughout. Scarily, Holly - icon of my childhood - is now 64 and having a bit of a resurgence. I've got tickets booked for his tour next year and now I've immersed myself in the exhibition, I'm well up for it.

It's not bad, 
ya know

Food and Drink

In a vague bid to be a touch healthier, I've been investigating non-alcoholic wines for use on an odd evening, now and then. I've tried this before. Several years ago, I turned up at a house party that I was driving home from, with a bottle of non-boozy red wine. It was gross. I drank it because I'd bought it and that was the plan, but urgh! It was like the warmest, weirdest berry juice you've ever tasted. I assumed that was to be my first and last foray into non-alcoholic beverages. UNTIL NOW. Kylie's only gone and done it. Minogue not Jenner's fizzy pink non-wine wine is actually pretty good. Would I mistake it for the real thing in a blind taste test? No, course not. Have I had several bottles over the past few weeks and enjoyed them regardless? Hell yeah! In related news, Guinness Zero is actually delish. For real. Taste testing would be genuinely interesting because I'm not convinced I'd spot it.

Widnes looking good

Out and About

The recent weather has been OPTIMUM for morning walks - where I'm located, at least. Bitingly cold but with bright sun emerging mid-route. Some mornings require a scarf as well as the hoody, and these days we're at the point of wearing T shirts underneath. It's a thrill to get out of bed right now, so long may it continue.

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, whoever you're doing it with, remember what Frankie said? Relax!

Have a lovely week, folks.

Spotlight on Boston...

Last week my brother was in Boston for work, and it drove me mad. Honest to God! His Insta output and regular photo dumps on the family WhatsApp were making me DESPERATE to visit. And why? Well, judging by his pics (and his flatmate's excellent vlogs) there's an overwhelming amount of pumpkins, orange floral wreaths, and general autumnal cosiness going on in Boston right now. 

And what have I got here? Well, I rewatched Spotlight in the week, to try and feel the Boston vibe. It's an excellent film but more focused on the investigation into the Catholic abuses scandal than seasonal autumnal cosiness. And I've also learnt that the character of Ray Donovan is from Boston. I've seen a few episodes but never felt the need to dive in. That left only one option. I hotfooted it to Tesco and The Range to buy 'Cosy Autumnal Tat'. I've made a feature of the fireplace, you see. What with an actual fire being uncool due to gas prices and climate change, I've repurposed the space. It may not be Boston but it's cheered up my cosy-vibes-needing heart, no end.

Aiming for autumnal
cosiness and not a KS1
nature table.

Writing News

It's been a slower week than I'd planned. Maybe if I'd been less preoccupied with recreating an homage to American fall in my home, I'd have got more work done. But let's reframe this. I've had a few days space from the draft so I've been able to let the story brew. It's always a good sign that my characters stay in my head when I have a break. It means I'm excited to get back to them. And that's exactly what I'll be doing this week.

Jackson Lamb in Slow Horses

Culture

I TOLD you the telly was going to get good, didn't I? Is anyone watching Ludwig? It's a BBC series with David Mitchell, being nerdy and introverted but solving murders with his puzzle-setting mind skills. It's GREAT. All on the iPlayer now for your amusement. Then on Netflix there's Nobody Wants This. It'd be a perfectly standard rom-com without the casting, because the two leads have chemistry. That's chemistry with a capital C. Kristin Bell and Adam Brody are great together. Fans of the OC will particularly enjoy lovely Seth Cohen all grown up and sexy. I've absolutely devoured the new series of Heartstopper, and once again lamented the fact it didn't exist when I was at high school. It tells a compelling narrative of high school friendships whilst providing essential information about eating disorders, mental health, teen sex and sexuality. It's surreptitiously educational and I'm here for it. And then there's Slow Horses. It received nine Emmy nominations recently (winning one) and I'd never heard of it. Now, I'm two series in and have also started the books by Mick Herron. All marvellous. Finally, I finished Richard Osman's latest book. I thought it was great.

Food and Drink

What I'm about to write will make me sound smug and ridiculous but here goes. Last week I ordered my Christmas turkey. I KNOW. I'm an absolute dick. The thing is, by the time I usually get around to ordering it (the end of October in previous years) the size I need is sold out. I have to order a smaller one and come Boxing Day, make various family members promise not to help themselves to meat until it's obvious there's enough. I don't need the stress. So this time, I've got in early. I've ordered the Marksies turkey that feeds 12-14 people and I won't have that particular worry this year. In related news, if you're into festive food porn, the Marks and Spencers food brochure is a cracking read. 

Out and About

Inspired by my brother's mate's Boston vlogs, I tried to make my own. My plan was to film bits and pieces of my day last Thursday, with a view to putting them together in a video. It didn't work. Mainly because quite early on, I forgot. I've got footage of a train pulling away from the station (not even the train I was on, but I filmed it for effect) and I've got a sweeping view of the pub, with the disembodied head of my friend flashing past at the bottom of the shot. My final clip was quite nice. It was of me, drinking my pint, in the red glow of a bar. I quite liked the way my face looked, so in a moment of self-confidence, I put it on my Insta feed. I won't be making a vlog of my Thursday any time soon, but I did have a good night out.

Have a lovely week, folks.

How Far Can You Go?..

I've never read the wizard books. When they came out they weren't my thing, and now? The reported views of the author mean I won't be giving them a look anytime soon. I have, however, watched the films. Back to back, about ten years ago. Generally speaking, still not my thing, but an OK way to pass a few days. 

I preferred the first two Harry films. Magical school stories. A bit of threat, a bit of humour, with it all coming good in the end. That's how I remember them anyway. But then the vibe shifts. In the later films, the tone is darker, scarier, and there's real peril. What was fun family frolics at the start of the stories, becomes a sinister, creepy drama by the end. If a child of eight or nine reads the first book, it wouldn't necessarily be a great idea for them to power through the whole set of seven. Not at that age. Or maybe they'd naturally lose interest when it all got a bit grown up. Or maybe they'd love to keep reading and who am I to say they shouldn't read books that are slightly too old for them. I know I did when I was a youth. Who am I to sensor reading content to hypothetical fantasy readers?

There's a reason for this train of thought, of course. I'm writing my own series of books for young people. The Leeza McAuliffe Stories start when Leeza is ten. She turns twelve in Book Two, and in the book I'm currently, she becomes a teenager. The difference between ten and thirteen is massive. Well, it was for me, anyway. For cis girls in general, I think. Puberty has well and truly kicked in. Adult experiences are seeping in as childhood ones are becoming lame. Legally, there's still years to go 'til official grown up status is reached, but the tide has turned. This needs to be reflected in the story. 

I can do that. Mostly. Plot development and general shenanigans can be attuned to each new age that Leeza reaches. The physical markers of puberty have been covered in the first two books. In the third one, I'm writing about the giddy feelings of first love. But the thing I'm having to think about A LOT is swearing. Yep, what 'bad language' can I realistically use for Leeza and her friends without causing an international incident. Is it a big deal or not? Should I be wasting brain time on this issue? I've no idea, but it's in my head regardless.

It's my parents' fault. Natch. I grew up in a household that didn't do swearing. It wasn't the done thing. (The occasional under-his-breath shit from my dad at a televised Evertonian transgression, was as fruity as it got.) So in an act of pure rebellion and at a fairly young age, I developed a potty-mouth. I wasn't stupid. I didn't swear in front of teachers or do anything to get into trouble. But my vocabulary with my friends was pretty ripe. From the latter year of primary school, I'd say. And I remember playground swearing from other people in my class. Likewise, when I was a primary teacher, I was aware that some of the older students knew how to eff and jeff with competence. With that in mind, then of course Leeza would be a sweary old thing in her diary.

But then there are some kids that don't use swear words at all. I tried to investigate this with my older niece and nephew. They looked at me like I was mad that they might know some spicy words. Now, they could've been excellent actors who, away from adult supervision, are forever dropping C bombs, but I don't think so. I think I've been clouded by my own experiences and have assumed all youngsters are the same.

So what about Leeza? Am I going to turn her into Sweary McSweary in the next book? Well, nah. I don't want her to read like the wizard books. I want young people who have enjoyed the first book, to be able to read the whole series without too much of a jump. But the concept of her growing up means I've had to think about how to do it. You see, she's mature for her age; quite level headed and not one to give into peer pressure. She dislikes Poppy, a girl from school who's forever stirring trouble. Poppy would swear. Have I made Poppy swear? Not yet but I might. Leeza's old friend from primary school, Jenna, would also swear. Jenna's loyal and fun and has no problem saying what she thinks. She'd swear, for sure. Have I made Jenna swear? Not yet but I could. Perhaps this latest book could be the place for her to drop in a mild oath or two. It's going to have to be character led and gently done. For it to be authentic, that is. 

Me, not quite on the
adult novels at this point.

There is one way, however, that I've shown Leeza's growth in terms of language. It's the books she chooses to read. As a young high schooler, I read a lot. I'd read ahead on class novels, and pillage the shelves of my local library on a regular basis. Then, when I was thirteen, my mum went through an ill-health related bout of binge reading. The upshot was, she suggested some novels I might like to read. Novels from the book shelf in her bedroom that she'd been ploughing through whilst laid up. That's when I read the Flowers in the Attic series and a load of Dick Francis books. Dick Francis wrote horse-related thrillers involving bad guys and bad language. The Flowers in the Attic books were about a mother who induces sibling incest with her terrible parenting choices. Yep, I know. Either way, I lapped them up. I'm pretty sure I wasn't perturbed by the content or language. What would have been too much in a film, and given a 15 or 18 certificate, was much milder on the page. Or maybe it was just much milder in my imagination. However it went down, I was ready for those adult stories. And it's not like my mum had lent me porn. They were just adult characters in adult situations. Kind of. (I'll admit the incest narrative isn't your usual dramatic trope.) The point is, I was ready to read on, to read older than I was, and to enjoy the process. 

I'm probably not going to make Leeza develop a potty mouth. But as for the books she reads? They'll include adult themes. They'll have some choice language. They'll show that she's growing and developing as she navigates the teenage years. And, if anyone who reads my books is eight or nine and starts at the beginning, I'm sure by the time they get to Book 3 (and the later still-to-be-written ones that will one day exist in the world) they'll either be bored and move on, or ready to lap up the experience.

Have a lovely week, folks.

Ringing the Changes...

You know me well enough by now, yeah? It's chilly outside, I'm wearing jumpers most days, and Strictly has started. I'm in my happy place! 

The first sniff of autumn and this
is where my head's at.

The thing about this time of year, is that there's loads of good TV coming up. I've made a list of the shows I don't want to miss and it's getting added to on the daily. Then there're the books I've got piling up around me. Even though my days are filled with writing the next Leeza McAuliffe book, I'm determined to make time for other people's stories. If you don't consume stories you can't write stories, right? And even if you don't write stories, nor wish to, transmitting the lives of other people into your home can only help create a sense of empathy for the experiences of others. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox and wind my neck in. I've got stories to consume.

Costa's where the magic happens. 
(Occasionally.)

Writing News

After sacking off last week, I'm back with a bang! Chapter Three is now complete. That's Chapter Three, of the first draft of Leeza McAuliffe Book Three. There's a thing that people say. You know, people? They say that when you're writing a sitcom, you should write the pilot as if it's episode three. That means you don't waste time on explanations about who's who and where we are. If you're pretending to write episode three, you're straight into the plot and the jokes. I like that. It's a good way to write a book too. Not treating your readers/audience like they need spoon-feeding is always the best way. With that in mind, it was interesting to notice how I've been writing now that I've reached the third chapter for real. And you know what? The words are FLYING onto my screen. Perhaps because I'm straight into the plot (and jokes) I can speed through and tell the tale. That's how it seemed last week, anyway. Hopefully Chapter Four will flow just as freely.

LWFC signage everywhere!

Culture

Football's back, baby! The Women's Super League season has begun. Yesterday saw Liverpool's first home match against Leicester City (1-1) in their new home stadium. St. Helens' rugby league ground is now Liverpool Women's home too. And even though I was happy enough in Prenton Park, and I quite liked Widnes' stadium prior to that, I'm SO impressed by Saints. The Liverpool logo and badge was everywhere. Over doorways, on the stands, by the carpark... everywhere. For the first time in my supporting life, it felt like the home ground of my team. I did spare a thought for the person who's up and down ladders before and after every match, getting things shipshape for the next rugby game.* Thanks Saints! I've loved the welcome.

Resisting mash one
salmon bagel at a time.

Food and Drink

Now the weather has cooled, my thoughts have turn to mashed potato. Only my thoughts, so far. For now I'm holding off on actually submitting to the lure of the creamed spud. Because once I go there, it's game over 'til March. Once I pour the boiling water onto the Bisto granules, that's it for months. In a similar way, I'm forcing myself to hold off on the Christmas films too. It's not just mash and gravy that are being resisted. The struggle is real. We're slowly inching into a new season. We MUST pace ourselves. In the meantime, smoked salmon pate bagels have been keeping me happy until I can't take it anymore. 

Out and About

I've returned to the cinema. Yes, the gaudy, noisy explosion of summer kids' films is over. Us childfree adults who enjoy a film evening can check the listings and rely on finding something that ticks our boxes. (Inside Out 2 was this summer's hugest exception.) With that in mind, Friday night was Beetlejuice Beetlejuice night. And you know what? It was a lark! In related news, coming home in the early evening as it was starting to get dark, warmed my winter-loving heart. It continues to be of great irritation that I was not born in Svalbard. 

If you're already diving into the winter foods, good on you. If you're grieving the end of summer, fair play to you. If you're cracking and getting by, then have a round of applause from me. Wherever we're at, hurrah and huzzah to us all!

Have a lovely week, folks.

*It's now occurred to me that maybe the rugby league season isn't on right now. Maybe they're having some down time and the stadium can be Liverpoolified willy nilly. I'll probably get round to Googling that at some point.

Writing Off the Week...

When I was a student, I was expected to be in Uni for nine hours a week. OMG, the stress! Three of those hours were on Monday morning from 9am. The thing is, if I didn't feel immediately filled with energy at the sound of the alarm clock, I'd roll over and give the lecture a miss. And once I'd missed Monday? Well it made sense to give the rest of the week a swerve too. No point being half-assed. I'd wait for seven days and give it another go the following Monday. (That routine happened more times than I can remember and it's only down to my sheer street smarts that I got a 2:2.)

My University alarm clock.
I will never find the words to
adequately convey how
loud this clanged.

Fast forward to last week, and something similar happened. On Monday, I had to drop my partner at work in Chester. We were sharing a car while his was getting fixed, and if I didn't want to be housebound, I needed to give lifts. By the time I'd done the 1.5 hour round trip, my routine was out the window. No early morning walk, no breakfast by nine, and no being showered and dressed at my desk by 9.30am. The week had gone to pot on day one so I wrote the whole thing off. THIS week, I'm hoping things will be better. I've got up on time and I've done my Monday walk. That bodes well for the next seven days. Now, the rest is up to me. 

The corner of Chapter 3's
plan and my messy desk.

Writing News

What with my giving last week a swerve attitude, I didn't start Chapter 3. No matter. It wasn't a complete waste of a writing week. I went back into Chapters 1 and 2, and neatened up a couple of plot points. As I did, I noticed that I've been doing a lot of telling and not showing, instead of the opposite way round. That'll need to be ironed out in the edit. But for now? It's onwards and upwards with draft one. Hopefully.

Tori from Heartstopper
and Solitaire

Culture

I've started reading more of Alice Oseman's novels. The Heartstopper author and illustrator has written four novels featuring some of the same characters. When we talk about writers creating a world, it often means sci-fi or fantasy. I love it when the world that's created is realistic and relatable. I've started with Solitaire, which focuses on Tori. She's in 6th form, is irritated by much, and I like her a lot. I also rewatched Beetlejuice and The Truman Show, listened to this pod about The Truman Show, and watched Netflix's The Perfect Couple, which was a hoot. Oh, and now that Only Murders in the Building is back, I'm cosily entertained every Tuesday once more. 

Not my actual pie
but a damn good
representation of it.

Food and Drink

It's not all Instagram recipes and fancy schmanzy ingredients. No sireee! On Sunday, after a particularly cold and blustery week, I was craving gravy. It's been months since I've eaten anything approaching a roast, and I still wasn't ready for the full meat, veg, and potato two ways. I was also NOT up for summery salad nonsense. There was only one option. Chips and pie! The chippy by mine sorted me out, and in no time at all I was picking out the pieces of steak* of a Hollands, and leaving the thick gravy to be dunked in at will. It was FIT.

St. George's Hall

Out and About

This is technically Culture but so be it. On Friday I was at St. George's Hall for a Backyard Cinema showing of Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet. It's a great film, natch. But the soundtrack? Oomph, the soundtrack! I mean, it's great on Spotify, but can you imagine a live gospel choir and band performing the songs throughout the evening? Can you? Can you? Because I can! It was marvellous. An invigorating and life-affirming experience for a Friday night in town. More of that sort of thing please. 

Reading this back, it's not all bad. Considering I wrote the week off, I did get some stuff done. And hopefully this week will be all the more industrious because of it. Yes? No? Who's to say? 

Have a lovely week, folks.

*Regular readers may remember I don't eat meat. I do, however, eat meat products. Just as long as they're not solid flesh. Gravy, it's transpired, is the perfect non-solid meat delivery system.

The Awesome Ache of Adolescent Angst...

Folks, I've fallen down another rabbit hole. 

I was well jel of Molly here

This time, it's a mostly wholesome obsession with 1980s teen films. Since I've had the power to tape them off the telly, I've watched many of them, repeatedly. But over the past weeks, I've gone deep. I've fed myself a concentrated diet of Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, and Rob Lowe, to name but a few. Think The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire, and Pretty in Pink. Even now, they make me ache with teenage angst. Crazy, huh? And as someone that was technically a child when these films were being made, the aspirational coolness that they exuded, hasn't diminished with age.

Me, aged 16. As far from
cool as it's possible to be.

It's probably no coincidence that Saturday was thirty-five years since I started high school. Or that this month marks the thirtieth anniversary of starting sixth form college - a developmental marker that saw the dawn of the person I am today. It may have happened a decade later than those childhood films depict, but I was still uber-conscious of the coolness I hoped/failed to exude; of the me I was trying to project. Despite the coolness that had been modelled to me by those films, the startling jolt of realisation - that I was not cool in any way - would come and go at regular intervals. But the aim was always there. I wanted to be one of the Brat Pack. I wanted to be Molly Ringwald or Ally Sheedy. I wanted to date Andrew McCarthy.

Blane from Pretty
in Pink 💖

It was whilst looking for my next teen-angst fix, that I found the documentary, Brats.(Disney +) Andrew McCarthy, crush of my youth and of Brat Pack fame, has made a film about the effect the label Brat Pack had on him as a young actor. He interviews his fellow teen-actors, now in their early sixties, about the way that term diminished them and possibly closed doors for their careers. The actors who appear to have had the most therapy (Demi Moore and Rob Lowe) seem the most accepting and upbeat, but for others (Emilio Estevez) the pain lingers. Funny, isn't it. Even the so-called cool kids didn't feel so cool. Not then, nor now. Perhaps there's a lesson here. If we each went back and made a documentary about our own peer groups, maybe we'd realise the cool kids weren't cool at all. Maybe we'd get closure about the insecurities of our past. Maybe we'd walk taller and be more accepting of our lot in life. Or maybe I'm overthinking everything as usual. Hey ho.

Writing News

Chapter 2 is done. I repeat Chapter 2 is done. Because of a busy end of the week (see Out and About for deets) I haven't started Chapter 3 yet, but like winter, it's coming. I did, however, use my writing group meeting for a suggest-fest*. In this book (Leeza McAuliffe Book 3**) I want Leeza to have more rows with her mum. She's an everyday 'normal' teenager so it's perfectly standard for her to hate her parents at regular intervals. The problem I had was thinking of things they can clash over. It's dawned on me that I've made her mother too damn reasonable. Grrr. Why didn't I foresee this? I should have known I'd want her to be the antagonist to my protagonist at some point. Happily, thanks to my fortnightly writing gang, I've got a slew of reasons why Leeza and Molly can have regular showdowns. All within character, and all - I think it's fair to say - based on our collective teen experiences. 

Culture

I've already told you the vast bulk of my viewing week. Teen films for the win! But all this high school navel-gazing reminded me of the excellent documentary, My Old School (2022). It's the story that broke in 1995 of Brandon Lee, a Scottish seventeen year old who turned out to be a thirty year old man. Directed by one of his classmates, Jono McLeod, it's a fascinating look into the motivations of why Brandon (not his real name) made the choices he did. Former classmates are interviewed, and the voice of Lee is heard throughout. (Lip synced by Alan Cumming.) It's filled with hugely relatable high school nostalgia, whilst telling a hugely unrelatable, compelling story. On top of that, the simple exercise of gathering a former peer group, a few decades after they've known each other, to share perspectives of the same period, is fascinating. I rented it from the Sky Store (the trailer's here) and it's well worth your time. 

My muesli jar of joy

Food and Drink

When I was at school, if you'd have asked me to rank all the cereals then CocoPops would've charted at #1 and muesli would be below the bottom of the list. Muesli, which my mum ate, was pointless and disgusting. Its only redeeming features were the dried bits of banana that were stingily allocated to each box. (Obvs I'd pick them out before they made it to my mum's bowl.) Fast forward to now and WHO HAVE I BECOME? I LIKE MUESLI. Before we spin ourselves silly with that about-turn, I have caveats. It has to be my homemade muesli. It has to have zero currants/raisins/sultanas. It must have texture and crunch, rather than a preponderance of oat sog, and it must be tasty. So are you ready? Here's my recipe and method, all in one. 

• Get a big jar with a lid.
• Add a packet of sunflower seeds.
• Add a packet of pumpkin seeds.
• Add a packet of chia seeds.
• Add a packet of flaked almonds.
• Add a load of oats. About the same volume as the nuts and seeds combined.
• Put on the lid and vigorously shake.

Ta-daaa! Serve with Greek yogurt, or milk. Add fresh fruit if you want, or a drizzle of honey. I use this date syrup but you do you. It's been my daily breakfast for a few weeks and it's boss.

Out and About

I'm just back from London. A friend was having a get-together so I braved Avanti and had a couple of nights away. It was utterly marvellous. Catching up on our grown up lives whilst remembering our shared memories is always good for the soul. And even though I've just made a sarky comment about Avanti, isn't it cool that I can get from the North West of England to Central London in two hours? Despite the pull of youthful nostalgia, things like that remind me it's SO much better being an adult with agency. 

More next week if you're game. Yes? No? There's no need to commit now. Take your time, have a think, and I'll see you when I see you.

Have a lovely week, folks.

*I can only apologise. Something in the back of my brain told me 'we don't use brainstorm anymore'. I Googled 'alternatives to brainstorm' and got suggest-fest. I'm not sure any of us are better off.

**Fun fact! I called Leeza's mum, Molly, because I pictured current-day Molly Ringwald playing the role, and I called Leeza's brother, Blane, because of Molly Ringwald's love interest in Pretty in Pink, played by Andrew McCarthy. Doesn't it go deep!

Everything is Copy...

There's always room for a Nora Ephron quote. That's a law I'd make if I were in charge. Nora Ephron quotes, all the day is long, please! No vote required, the ayes would have it. Back to the matter in hand, the quote I was thinking of was... 

Click link for photo source.

'Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.' 

Let's delve into that. Firstly, it's not Nora Ephron who says that herself, but a character she co-created. Tom Hanks' Joe Fox in You've Got Mail types it to Meg Ryan's Kathleen Kelly, as they embark on some email correspondence. In 1998, that's bang up-to-date. Trust me, as someone who got their first email address in 2005, it felt madly futuristic. 
So, there they are, in New York, typing away. And doesn't it show that some things are universal? I'm not in New York. Nope, today I was in Calderstones Park in Woolton. I was listening to a podcast, natch, (The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Road to War from The Rest is History) so my mind was fully occupied. I trudged through fading mulchy leaves dappled by a determined sun, feeling the bite of 12℃ air as I walked. And then it happened. I had a moment of mindfulness! Fully present, ignoring the horrors of history in my ear, and aware of every bit of my surroundings, I felt hugely thankful. It felt like Autumn. I'd made it through the summer!

Ready to GO

This week, three of my five nieces and nephews are starting big school - Reception and Year 7 specifically. It's a new term, it's a new season, it's a fresh start. And even though there's talk of a resurgence of warm weather this week, and even though it's still balmy enough for T shirts and sliders inside, my state of mind is thriving. I don't have a bouquet of pencils. I have only one. But it's newly sharpened and ready to go.

Writing News

We've broken the ground of Chapter 2. So far it's going swimmingly. I've stuck to my schedule (one chapter per ten days-ish) and my writer's block is at a minimum. Of course, Nora Ephron said, 'The hardest thing about writing is writing.' Obviously, OBVIOUSLY it can't nor won't last. The mental blocks will come, the pace will slow. But for now? Hurrah for me, hurrah for us all! Leeza McAuliffe Book 3  currently stands at 9115 words. I'm very happy.

Culture

A week ago I went to HOME - the beautiful arts venue in Manchester, on Tony Wilson Place. Rob Madge's one-person show, My Son's a Queer was on for the last few days of its run. It was stunning. Such a beautiful, funny, and moving tribute to his parents, and parents everywhere who let their kids be who they are. That basic premise of parenting shouldn't need to be said, but watching grown men leave the auditorium in floods of tears, showed that perhaps some people's childhoods weren't quite as supportive. I loved it. It reminded me of a few of the lovely kids I've taught, and the regular 'I hope they're doing OK 'wish I have when I think of them. In a complete handbrake turn, I've been binging Designated Survivor on Netflix. From 2016, with the pace and high stakes of Kiefer Sutherlands other big hitter, 24, it's completely batshit. I'm finding the constant peril, piss-funny and have thoroughly enjoyed the whole shebang. I've got two more series to devour and I will. Finally, a funny and charming BBC sitcom that recently dropped is Daddy Issues. David Morrissey and Aimee Lou Wood play father and daughter working out life together. All six episodes are on iPlayer. 

Perfection

Food and Drink

Whilst I was at HOME I ate in their restaurant. The whole menu looked great but my all time favourite dessert was featured - pistachio ice cream. Forget your sticky toffee puddings, your tortes and your crumbles. Pistachio ice cream is the sure-fire way to force a pudding down my throat. 

Out and About

There was a goodbye-summer-get-together at my gaff on Saturday including all five nieces and nephews. This is the first time we've done something en masse since the littlest NextGen Bond was born. Much of the day was spent herding cats into a variety of photo ops. With every new baby, a new screensaver is required. It's the law.

Whether you're dealing with new screensavers, Chapter 2 of your current project, or the joys of pistachio ice cream, thank you for reading. As our friend Nora says, 'Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I've accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter.' You're now a shit-tonne smarter for having read this. Well done, you! 

Have a lovely week, folks