life goals

Happy Easter, everyone, in the original sense of the word – celebrating the time of Eostre, goddess of the radiant dawn; a month of upspringing light, associated with rebirth, joy and blessing.

We’re counting our blessings today at Casa Jilly. Two years ago this week, my husband almost died. One moment I was cracking jokes about man-flu and wondering if maybe he had a chest infection and needed antibiotics, the next we were in an ambulance heading for the resuscitation room. It was a very, very close-run thing, but with the help of the fantastic staff at the Whittington Hospital in North London, he pulled through and is (almost) as good as new.

I’m embarrassed to admit that while it was happening, we had no idea how much trouble we were in. We were worrying about Continue reading →

Everything really is bigger in Texas.

Last Sunday I wrote about my plans and expectations for this week’s RWA National. I borrowed a quote from the 2013 conference in Atlanta, where Jennifer Enderlin of St Martin’s Press encouraged us to dream big and have unrealistic expectations, because if we don’t, who will?

I set out my Big Dream, which is to follow the traditional publication route – find an agent who loves my writing and buys into my career goals, an editor who will help me make my books as good (and as marketable) as they can be, and a publisher with the marketing know-how and commercial clout to help me develop a readership and build a career. Sounded pretty ambitious to me.

I don’t know whether it’s something in the water here or Continue reading →