Wrote 1,850 words this morning, which takes the total word-count for Bethany Rose up to 23,250 so far. Writing the spooky bits is such fun...! Warm spring sunshine yesterday enabled me to get some weeding done. Today's torrential rain has forced me to postpone further efforts. We have three yellow crocus and a patch of snowdrops in bloom. What happened to the rest of my crocus though? I planted heaps of them four years ago, and there has been less each year. Anyway, yesterday I had no sooner finished weeding a stretch of one border when a cute little robin came to investigate. I was looking out of the kitchen window as I was washing my hands, and saw a wren on the fence. Bathed the dogs yesterday. I managed to capture them in the bathroom by stealth. Otherwise if they hear the 'B' word they hide under the bed and will not come out! I bathed Emily first as she was the cleanest. I'd no sooner towelled her dry than she jumped back in the bath to torment Ygraine. So th

Yesterday I was at Radio City in Liverpool to meet producer Ali McBride . While enjoying the amazing view across the city centre from the top of Radio City Tower, she told me about Roy Basne t t ’s Friday show, Zone Unknown. His guests have included the Most Haunted team, parapsychologists, Bigfoot hunters and a white witch, and he hosts debates on conspiracy theories. Then we stepped into a tiny recording studio and I narrated Spanish Jones (part one), a tale of selkies, smugglers and ghosts. Ali said she will to add a few sound effects, such as the cries of seagulls and the sounds of the ocean. While it’s only part one of a three-part story, it is complete in itself. Parts two and three are set in contemporary times, whereas part one is historical. It will be broadcast on City Talk 105.9 FM tomorrow (Friday 6th) sometime between 10pm and 1am (GMT).

Richard spent a rough night due to the cold he's caught. Consequently he spent half of today in bed. He's sat in his Man Cave now, watching a documentary about The Beatles, with Saffron purring in his lap. He likes some of their music but not all of it. Saffron couldn't care less what's playing so long as she gets her ears tickled. The photo depicts one of the tattoos he's done recently.  To see more, visit his website: http://www.myspace.com/riche_tattoo_artist Anyway, while he was snoring triumphantly in bo-bos, I was busy tapping away on this puuter. Today's word count for Bethany Rose is 1,879 words. I love it when a character does something unexpected. I had no idea Bethany was going to move into a haunted house! This MS is very different in mood from Rowan. Whereas Rowan has a languid romantic feel to it, BR is much, much darker. Did anyone tune in to 7 Waves Radio today? Four members of Riverside Writers were guests on Cath Bore's Lunchtime F

The word count for Bethany Rose now stands at 11,000 words. Only 89,000 to go. No! Don't think of that!! Today's tally was 2,000. It was 3pm before I realised I'd forgotten to have lunch. Did I mention that I'd begun writing the new version of BR ? Anyway, it began to appear on my puuter screen on January 16th. I hadn't intended to spend that evening working but TV was as boring as it usually is, and while busy washing dinner dishes the start of the novel came to me. My fingers started itching, and so it began. Do your fingers itch, literally burn and itch, when you've got a tasty idea demanding to be written or painted or photographed? I find myself pulling odd facial expressions as the images of the idea flows through my mind. It's like watching a cinema screen in 3D inside my head. Who needs a remote control zapper when with a flick of Will you can rewind, rewrite, bring details up closer or move away as the story bursts into life internally? Then

The pond is still partially frozen. This doesn't seem to be troubling the ducks and geese at all. The dogs enjoyed snuffling through mounds of soggy leaves in the wood, of course. Horses have been brought to the neighbouring field, among them an adorable Shetland pony--chocolate brown with a caramel-coloured tail and mane. They thundered up to the wire fence to say hello. The dogs were on leads, of course, kept out of the reach of the horses' hooves. Later I walked into the village for a few odds and ends from the supermarket, and to pick up Richard's prescription from the medical centre. He's been having a lot of migraines lately. They seem to go in cycles; he'll get a run of them, then they'll calm down again. The staff know him by sight, whereas I have only needed the doctor once since we moved to the area, eight-and-a-half years ago. Earlier today I did more work on Turning Tides . I'd written it once already, but my old puuter ate it when it died. S

One of my Dark Fantasy stories has been nominated for the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2009 Award. Called Old World Magic , this was featured in   Ruins Metropolis , an anthology published by Hadley Rille Books. In this tale, a visit to her local New Age shop brings Tracy into conflict with the notorious fae of Caldy Hill, Wirral. Vote for my story here:- http://www.critters.org/predpoll/shortstorysf.shtml Nominations are listed by story title, in alphabetical order. Voting closes on January 14th, 2009.