It’s been a real up-and-down start to the year. There have been some positives, like the fact we’ve jumped a huge waiting list and managed to get an annual let of a beach hut. I love the beach hut - it’s the sort of place where you really feel the stress ebbing away as the sea swashes up and down on the sand. I love how it’s so different every time we’re there and there’s never any telling whether we’re going to have enormous crashing waves by our feet, or a calm sea with loads of rock pools to potter around. The kids love it too, and even Little Nutter seems to have a grip on the ‘rules’ for the beach and doesn’t stray too far away. I can sit and write, the hubby drinks coffee, and the kids are a couple of feet away digging to China. Idyllic bliss!

There have been some negatives too - quite a few stresses at work and Little Madam’s school report. It was pretty unexpected - she’s a very bright girl (in all apart from Maths!) but hadn’t done too well in her end of term tests. The school were panicking, until we pointed out that test time happened during Little Nutter’s worst week of the month for being awake all night. Their solution was quick and so immediate that we’re still trying to catch our breath from it. She could board during the week and come home at weekends; that way she is getting 5 decent nights sleep per week instead of the 2 nights a fortnight that we all get when Little Nutter is away at respite.

It was a non-choice. I hate her being away from home, but I can’t in all conscience deprive her of an education and her future. She loves it, of course. She dutifully phoned home for the first couple of nights and then we didn’t hear from her because she was having too much fun. She’s gone skipping gleefully back this week and I’m stuck at home with a boy-filled house until the weekend again. It’s wonderful that school are willing to do this for her and that she’s got the opportunity that so many siblings don’t have, but it really makes me mad that she’s had to go because of the autistic disruptions in our home. Things shouldn’t be this way.

Firstly, can I say in true ‘bah humbug’ style how much I appreciate the genius that is Amazon’s next day delivery service? It means I can still shop at the last minute (in good old time honoured tradition), click away merrily, blanch at the total, avoid all the crowds and have a nice chap from Royal Mail drop the lot off for me the following morning. All for under a tenner in postage. Bargain!

Today is all hands on deck cleaning and tidying. The spaniel has hidden and the cat is watching us suspiciously, daring anyone to move her on from her comfy perch on the back of the sofa. The Christmas tree is about to go up for an autistic 24 hours of “No tree! No tree!” and pressies are going to miraculously wrap themselves so that I can hit the sherry before Santa.

So, there’s a Christmas card for you - thank you for making the world a brighter place. Hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow.

With one of my manuscripts under serious consideration at the moment, I’m almost chewing my fingers off - the nails have long gone and I’m almost down to the knuckles. So, it was lovely to see a comment about it from Helena Pielichaty on her blog.

"Lunch with a David Tennant fanatic and a-soon-to-be-published head of English. Great kids. Great staff. Great stuff."

At this stage, I can only hope. The book’s a good one; I just need a bit more patience before I wear a hole through the rug with all the pacing! Helena has more faith in me than I do!

Helena is fab, by the way. If you haven’t read any of her books, you really should. I picked up Never Ever a while ago, mostly because I was writing a dual narrative and was looking at how a few writers did it. I was hooked. It’s actually rare for authors to nail teenagers so well, but I was reading along, smiling and nodding, thinking ‘Yes, I teach him,’ or ‘I remember having one just like her a couple of years ago.’ Accidental Friends was also a wonderful read. Full of warmth, a clever structure, and real characters that you can’t help but empathise with.

So, once today’s training for the Olympic team’s pacing event is completed, I’ll write a bit more of my demon and then get the Christmas tree up so we can have a happy Neurotypical Christmas, albeit with a few more trains around the manger than is strictly necessary for a Nativity scene and a spot of Weetabix for Christmas lunch for the Autistic contingent. Have a good one!

I’m still in full flow with my NaNoWriMo novel, but the jobs are stacking up to be done. I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet, not to mention the tons of Christmas cards that I need to finish making, write out and get into the post. We’re going to try and tackle a Christmas tree this year, hopefully without too many Autistic melt-downs, so that needs to be bought and put up, and Little Nutter is cheerfully making everyone Christmas stockings at Fun Club. If you think of Mickey Mouse reproducing all those brooms in Fantasia, you’ll get the general idea of the chaos at the moment.

The house is a mess - there’s a pile of laundry the size of Everest to do before I can pack the Chatterboxes suitcase for their trek to Grandma and Grandpa’s on Thursday. Once they’ve gone, it’s time to excavate their rooms into some semblance of normality before they’re back. Little Nutter’s room needs stripping out and repainting as well in preparation for his new SafeSpace arriving hopefully early in the New Year.

Not to mention all the end of year testing and exam scripts that need to be marked, recorded and targets set for 2009. But what’s that between friends?

In a word - ARGH!

I finished the NaNo experience on a little over 61,000 words which, given the mad pressures elsewhere in my life at the moment, is something I’m really proud of. The story is in full swing at the end of Day 4 (out of 7 planned days), with two more full days to write, as Day 7 is pretty much only for wrapping up the story. I’m anticipating the draft weighing in in the 80-90,000 word range, which is far too long for what I’m writing, so I’ll start the pruning and editing after I start the Christmas break from work.

So, although Nano is officially finished, I daren’t stop yet. I’m chipping away at the rest of the story and hoping it’ll all be finished in draft by 21st December. It’s flowing well at the moment and it’s getting pretty addictive to write. I want to see what happens next, and that’s always a good sign!

And it’s December. I’m not entirely sure where 2008 has gone - I seem to have blinked and missed it. Lots of work to be done and three more weeks at school to do what feels like millions of assessments in preparation for next term. Little Madam and Tiny Flirt break up next week and I haven’t even made a start on my Christmas cards, or even my Christmas shopping yet! It feels chaotic. It is chaotic. But I’ll have the carols on and be baking mince-pies before I know it. I’ve just got to finish this novel first

So, my tastes are a little more expensive than Julie Andrews’ (although I’m very fond of paper packages arriving in the mail as well) but I’m currently enjoying my latest acquisition. I drove to Leeds to pick him up last night and 90 minutes later, I’m the proud owner of a gorgeous brand spanking new Audi in what’s termed Condor Grey. Whether or not that means it’s going to enjoy feasting on small dead things, is yet to be seen, but watch out bunnies and pheasants in the wilds of North Yorkshire because we’re doing the school run tomorrow night.

Jeff is remarkably fun to drive, it has to be said. We had a good play on the way home and he’s got a lovely vroomy engine with a bit of kick to it. I can’t wait to let him stretch his legs a bit on something other than motorway - twisty country roads, here we come.

NaNoWriMo is nearly done for another year. I’ve rattled off 47,000 words of first draft so far this month in what looks like is going to be an 80,000 word story. It’s very much a draft, but some of the bits have made me giggle out loud. I’ve discovered all sorts of fun characters that I hadn’t planned and, although sometimes it’s been a huge struggle with all the pressures from work, it is being hilarious fun to write as well. I should be finished the NaNo challenge tonight - the trick is to keep on rattling those words out and get the whole first draft done before Christmas. That would be a real achievement.

Here’s hoping±

It’s that time of year again, and I’m blasting through the first draft of a story that’s been eating my brain for the best part of a year. It’s nice to finally get it out of my head and see it coming to life on paper. I’m half way through the NaNo word count and about a third of the way through the novel, so it’s definitely happening.

As you’d expect, writing at this sort of speed, the quality is pretty uneven. There are some glorious bits that really make me laugh and I know they’re going to make it through to the final draft, but there are also some hideous bits (including the bit I’m finishing up at the moment) where I suddenly realise that I’ve got the character’s motivations all wrong, they’re total cardboard morons and deserve to be incinerated at once.

I’m going to doing an initial redraft over Christmas to knock it into readable shape, but I’ve got this tingly sense of ‘this is going to be something good’ that stops me from hitting the ‘delete’ button.

Some things are quintessentially English - afternoon tea, the crack of willow and leather colliding, red telephone boxes that you can fit 14 people in if you’re very inventive, summer days out in the pouring rain during which we all have a jolly good time. You get the idea.

One of the things I remember so well from my childhood is the Speaking Clock and the very posh woman on the other end telling you in pristine RP that it was six-oh-two-and-twenty-seconds. It was comforting, it was reassuring and, most importantly, it was British!

Imagine my horror at the latest ‘clock’. J.M. Barrie’s Tinkerbell is going to be telling the time. Yes, I know he’s a feted English author, but we’re not talking English fiction here. Oh, no. We’re talking Disney-sponsored Tinks high on cheerleader perkiness. Trust me, clicking on that last link is not for the faint-hearted!

There are no words ---

I’ve been feeling a bit at a loss since my form left school. It’s always strange having a group of kids you’ve had since they were little, watch them grow up and then suddenly they’re gone. The cogs of the school keep turning, but they’re not there and it takes a while to adjust to life without them.

Two of my lot popped in to see me today with one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done. They’d been down in the art room and had produced an enormous poster for my wall with their hand prints and a lovely message from each of them. When you’ve got a couple of 16 year old boys thanking me for ‘helping to make me the person I am’ and being soooo appreciative of all the nagging and teasing and chivvying I’ve done for the past four years, it makes me really quite teary.

Yes, the job can be hideous at times, but knowing you’ve made a difference… knowing they appreciate it just that bit… It makes all the difference in the world.

Some days, teaching is the best job there is. I’m dead proud of them too!