What are you reading?

My 5 year-old granddaughter has a boxed collection of Beatrice Potter's books. Yesterday evening she chose The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes for her bedtime story. She was so responsive and enjoyed the tale so much that it was a pleasure reading to her. When I finished she took the book and went through it admiring and commenting on the pictures and repeating some of the phrases.

Writing and Rainy Days

I enjoy organic gardening as much as I enjoy writing historical fiction. Unless the weather is really bad I usually manage to do something or other in the garden. However, when it pours with rain and I don't want to dash in and out of the greenhouse, it's good to stay indoors writing or tidying up my office. On other occasions I tidy up the entire house.

Kill Your Darlings

I only have a few more chapters of Monday's Child, a follow on novel from my published traditional Regency Novel Sunday's Child to write, but the most recent one didn't read well. I've had to murder my darling - a twist in the plot that I wanted to use but I had to kill it. This morning, I wrote half of the new version, which reads much better, but it was very hard to relinquish my darling idea. Nevertheless, having made the decision I feel liberated.