June in Review

notes from my writing desk

June has felt like a really long month this year and has incorporated every sort of weather (apart from snow but we did have hail!).

The beach, winter in June, and an unwelcome discovery

We started off at the seaside for my birthday. My brother rented the cottage that we used to stay in as kids in Southwold and we spent three days there with him and his family and my dad. The weather was mixed, to say the least, and we ended up with a slow puncture and had to call the AA, but we also had the most magnificent afternoon tea at The Swan.

When we got back to Yorkshire, it was like winter again for a while before a 3-day heatwave and now it is back to a typically Yorkshire summer (sun, cloud, showers, wind).

Mid-month I had an MRI scan in these attractive scrubs. I’d had a niggling pain in my hip and my rheumatologist wanted to make sure that my inflammatory arthritis hadn’t spread to my pelvis. It was a shock to discover that the pain I’d been walking around on for two months was a hairline fracture in my pelvis! Honestly, 2024 really is the gift that keeps on giving.

The fracture will heal, I can walk on it but need to balance rest and movement (I am allowed to do yoga thank goodness) and last week I had my last day in the office until August so I can take some time out to heal properly. Locking my things away in my drawer at work gave me very strong March 2020 vibes….

It is typical that the heatwave stops as soon as I have time to enjoy it!

A conversation

I had conversation with a fellow writer at the end of May in which I was told that she had never met anyone who produced the number of books I’d produced in the time I’d done it while still working a day job.

It was something I’d never thought about.

My reaction to a life-time of chronic illness has always been to work twice as hard to prove I can. I do not recommend this course of action. I cannot honestly say it has served me well and this fracture has been a bit of a wake-up call. I have to look after myself a bit better. I’ve asked for an extension on the book after the one I’m currently writing (which will be book twelve) giving myself a year to write it rather than the usual 9 months and I’ll see how things go from there. I’m trying to spend this summer working out what I want, and how I see things moving forward. I’ll keep you posted.

Book news

I had a new book out on Friday. It’s published in all formats (including my first UK hardcover) and you can buy a copy here, order it from your local bookshop or borrow it from your library. If you do read it I hope you enjoy it!

And book eleven (which I think publishes in spring 2025) is now 50,000 words long. I’m hoping to finish it before I go on holiday again in September.

Finally The Secrets Of Summer House came out in Slovenia last week!

A month in reading

The Secret Garden Affair by Erica James - a gorgeous dual timeline, set partly in the summer of 1981 against the background of the Royal Wedding and partly in the period from the 1920s to 60s, this is a story of family secrets and revelations, slowly eked out, with lots of gorgeous gardening descriptions. If you follow Erica on Instagram you’ll know how lovely her own garden is.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Armin - the story of a group of women who up and leave their complicated lives temporarily to rent a castle in Italy for a fortnight in April in the early 1920s. I remember loving this when I read it years ago but for some reason I didn’t on this reread. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it just wasn’t the right time.

The Grief House by Rebecca Thorne - I adored this twisty, paranormal thriller about grief and life after death and the desperate lengths we’ll go to in an attempt to live the life we think we deserve.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton - this was another re-read and I’m afraid I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read it now. I’m intending to write a longer post on rereading books in which I’ll talk about this more but I will always recommend this glorious book. My favourite novel that is not written by Dickens or Stephen King…speaking of which…

Cujo by Stephen King - I think you’d have had to be living under a rock on the moon to not know the premise of this one but, strangely for me, I’d never actually read it before. I’m slowly working my way through King’s backlist (it’s slow because he’s still producing so much frontlist!) and Cujo was the next one. I thought I had read it years ago but realised, as soon as I started, that I hadn’t. It was a very bold move to give the dog a POV but it works brilliantly (I suspect that no other writer would ever get away with it).

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - the penultimate finished novel in the Mega Dickens Readalong, and I’m quite sad that it’s coming to an end. I think this is my second most read Dickens novel after Bleak House (and probably my second favourite although I do remember being very fond of Our Mutual Friend so we’ll see in August when I read that). I do know that every time I read it I find something new to love in Pip’s adventures. This time I became rather obsessed with the Compyson subplot which I’d always dismissed a bit before. (Trivia question for you - what is the connection between the Compeyson subplot and Stranger Things?)

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How was your June?