It’s publication day today for Bonfire Surprise, Wordsworth Short #42. This is a story I wrote a long time ago after reading a news item and writing a story around it for a course assignment. It was published in India, in Women’s Era magazine, and since then it’s been in the Twee Tales collections and Words Worth Reading. I made the cover and the graphics in Affinity again. Now I’m building up the templates, these little jobs are getting quicker and quicker. You can buy Bonfire Surprise here.

Father O'Rourke was a chirpy fellow. He was well-fed, well-rounded and well into his sixties. He was also a popular character in this tiny hamlet in Kent, and the villagers were always calling on him to perform one service or another. Tonight it was the turn of the McMahons, newcomers to the village but also the new landlord and his wife at the local pub.

And here we are. Another week has flown by and October is already almost over. We had an early start on Wednesday. Not only was the garden man coming back for one last tidy around, the new internet was coming too. One said they’d be here between 8:30am and 1pm; the other didn’t give us a time. The internet guys were here first, but what should have been a fast and straightforward job turned into a mammoth session.

…now the work starts… The garden man was back again yesterday, but this time he sneaked up on me and took me by surprise. I was in the process of unlocking the back gate so he could get in when he got here, and all of a sudden I heard him call good morning!  I peered through the gate to the front, but he wasn’t there.

The garden man was supposed to be coming back today, as he had an appointment yesterday. But his appointment was cancelled, so he turned up yesterday after all. (I don’t like calling him ‘the gardener’, as that feels a bit pretentious. For me!)  Before he got here I had to move my car over on the drive, so before he went to work, the poet moved it for me, right off the drive and at the front of the house.

I’d already done quite a bit of work on Friday when I got round to writing the blog post. But I got through a lot afterwards as well. I’d just posted Friday’s story on Patreon. Once I updated the blog, I scheduled the same story I’d posted on Patreon to post on here in exactly 4 weeks and 1 day. Then I remembered that Amazon doesn’t like it if Draft2Digital send them a story that’s already ‘freely’ available online, despite it being behind a paywall *and* being for sale as well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to Storm Publishing for letting me see an advance reader's copy of Blood Runs Deep by Doug Sinclair. This was my first introduction to Doug Sinclair, and I had no idea was I was letting myself in for. It was also readers’ introduction to DS Malkie McCulloch in the detective’s debut crime novel set in the Pentland Hills.

So I didn’t do a great deal yesterday other than editing. Editing, editing, editing. All day. I did do some housework, and I did feed and water the garden birds. I also shared the gig list. But the rest of the day was editing. Or transferring edits to screen. I spent the entire day on this client work and I did finish it before tea time, which was great.

…the body, not house… My initial exercise plan arrived from the physiotherapist, plus the link to take it forward. We had a look at the exercises. They were all right, but I need a pair of dumbbells and a kettlebell in order to do some of them. So we had a look at what was available and didn’t have the first clue where to start.

I started the day yesterday downloading garden magazines on Readly for the past year. If I can keep a year of magazines downloaded, then I’ll always have it if that magazine is pulled from the platform.  At the moment, I’m perusing jobs to be done in October. We have to wait first, for the garden chap to come and reinstate the boundaries again and bring the trees and bushes under control again.

I mean, how is it already the 7th of October? It’s blummin ridiculous. Friday So, what happened on Friday? Well, I had some regular weekly tasks, which I did: Weekly finances, whereby I update my books each week now, rather than save it up for a day when my tax return is almost due. And Weekly backup, whereby I back up my working directory to a portable hard drive each week. 

It’s publication day today for my BOOKAZINE Words Worth Reading: Issue Five. In this issue: Short Story: Bonfire Surprise Short Story: Fireworks at Killiecrankie Complete Novella: Stevie Beck and the Haunted House Hotel Short Story: Burn Novel Excerpt: Catch the Rainbow – Part 2 of 4 From the Archives: Trick or Treat The next issue is due out in January. You can buy Words Worth Reading: Issue Five here.

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

Gosh, this is a long one. Make your favourite drink and pull up a chair… Monday The poet was up bright an early on Monday morning to head off down south again for another 2-day trip.  For a brief and silly moment, I thought I might be able to start my day at 7am, so I could fit everything in without working into the night.

And here we are - already 2 days into October and, already again, misty mornings are upon us. I do love this time of year, although winter is my favourite. I’m worried that if we blink we may miss the rest of 2025. I already feel as though the entire year has passed us completely by. And yet, so much did happen.

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Well, hello to October, and hello to new graphics. Yes, I finally got around to making my own graphics for the hello and wrap-up posts. Go, me! I’m still feeling a bit overwhelmed with work, mainly because the editing is starting to pile up, but also because the great novella challenge is such a huge commitment. I am enjoying it, though.

Wow. I thought August had gone fast, but September came along and said, ‘Hold my coat!’ The new schedule does seem to be working well, and I didn’t have half a battle with the internet this time. Well, apart from when we didn’t have it still. It’s been so slow since it came back. I’ve been doing so many other things that don’t require a connection.