Trust me.  Go here.

Husband:  Are you going to get out of the car?

Me:  No.

Husband:  Are you going to get me my coat out of the boot?

Me:  No

Husband:  Are you enjoying this immensely?

Me:  Oh yes…..

…going away together, for a week in blissful seclusion…

…arriving when the floods have just gone down, and the rivers are still in spate…

…special, secret places:  some familiar…  

some new…

…mud, glorious mud…

…the path less travelled (yes, I did walk through this)…

 that leads to new discoveries…

and the one bathed in light…

 that takes you to a happy place ….

…autumn colours

… and magic moments,…

…unexpected play

… and the end of a fantastic week.

Ahhhhh.  Made it.  Today we go away on hols for a week.

Scottish castles, forest, hill and glen, with a few lochs thrown in.

And THIS time, when I visit the longhouse that’s just like Kier’s cottage in Run Among Thorns, I’m going to try and remember my camera….

See you in a week!

I wouldn’t say I’d particularly lost my smile, it’s jsut it’s been a bit furtive and shy recently.  But this morning, under the influence of a weekend of dancing in the rain (more in a later blog), walking in the sunshine and, it has to be said, a large hazlenut latte, my smile came out to play again.

I remembered, as my face warmed to it, that old colleagues used to love the fact that no matter how awful the day, I could be counted on to have a smile for them that somehow made things better (the constant supply of chocolate in my desk drawer helped, too)*  I’d like to be the one who can be counted on to smile in this job, too.

If you want a laugh, go to google images, and search for Big Smile.    Worth it. 

*Once, a valued colleague came and plumped down in a chair next to my desk, looking glum.

“Hello,” I said, “what’s up?”

“I’m having a terrible day, “he said.  “And I thought, ‘I know, I’ll go and see Anna.’  I thought you’d probably make me feel better.” 

Smiling broadly, I opened my drawer, reached in without looking and handed him a chocolate bar.

“I was right!” he exclaimed joyfully.  He nearly wept tears of gratitude.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some hours after writing the above, I got two bits of great news – first, another review, a real goodie, from Sabine at Novelspot:

“From the first page, I couldn’t put down Anna Louise Lucia’s Run Among Thorns. The story was a fast and furious trip with two fascinating characters that drew me into their world before I knew what happened.

Filled with sexual tension overlaid on a well-built story, this romantic suspense novel was everything I could have asked for in a summer read.”

You can read the full review here. 

The second was the news that I’m short listed for an award!  Night Owl Romance are running their reader’s choice awards, and I’m included in the romantic suspense catagory!  Now, I’m not going to ask you to vote for me, but I am going to ask you to head on over and vote for books you read and enjoyed – support Night Owl and have some fun.  Go on… 

Five more days of work, and then we’re both escaping to our favourite little cottage in Scotland, on the edge of the Galloway Forest.

Walking, writing, eating well, reading copiously…. I can’t wait.

After something of a non-day yesterday, I finally rebelled, decided that I couldn’t stay in any longer on a sunny day in October, and opened a map.  Scanning it for a short walk in the sunshine, I spotted a label for “Spout Force” with its accompanying path and set off.  Now, some waterfalls in the Lake District aren’t as grand as their name suggests.  But it had been raining, and the pine needles were still dripping soft raindrops on the muddy ground.

A short ascent in the sunshine, wet slate, moss and star-spangled grass under foot, brushing past brambles bearing sweet blackberries, and I found that Spout Force was living up to its name – a jet of water, punching through a notch in a cliff face, thundering down free fall to the foaming beck below.  The chasm, green-grown, dark and silent.  The water, white and roaring.

And as soon as I can persuade my phone to communicate with my computer, I’ll share a picture or two.

I have a wonderful little book with quotes in it.  I probably bought it for a prize or a present and promply forgot about it, but it surfaced in the clutter on my desk the other day.

One particular serene quote caught my eye.

The strong, calm man is always loved and revered.  He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm.  (James Allen)

Which immediately made me think of Gareth, in the current WIP, DANGER: DEEP WATER.

Because he is a rock – kind, gentle, strong, with an immovable sense of honour.  He’s not the kind of man Lisa, the heroine, is used to at all.  Perhaps that’s why she’s so committed to provoking him, to knocking him off-balance.

In Dangerous Lies, my second book, Gareth showed his colours, established himself as a friend in a tight corner, a generous, but private, ruthlessly self-contained man. 

Which is why it came as such a surprise when, about a third of the way through DANGER: DEEP WATER, he turned into the World’s Angriest Man.*

Then I happened to look at enneagrams one day, and found something that made me laugh out loud.  Because Gareth is clearly a One, a perfectionist, “focused on personal integrity and … wise, discerning and inspiring in their quest for the truth,” chiefly demanding perfection of himself.  And what is the chief vice of a One?

Anger.

You’ve gotta laugh.

* Admittedly, she’s just blown up his yacht.  Well, not her directly, but the trouble she’s trailing behind like the poison tail on a dark comet.  So he’s lost his home, refuge, all his possessions…. etc etc…