Do children get easier as they grow older?

I always presumed that as my children grew older, things were get easier.  I would start getting time back to myself.  I was so wrong.  In some respects things are easier,  The fact that I go pop to the loo without someone demanding to know where I am.  The fact that I can even pop to the shops and leave them both home alone knowing they are quite safe but the time factor gets harder,

Back in the days when they had first started school, we would come home and before long it was bath, book and bed and I would still have a reasonable amount of the evening left to myself.  Nowadays I think the kids would literally go to bed at the same time as me if they could and I'm 100% sure that on some nights my daughter is still awake when I go to bed. 

Not only do they go to bed a lot later we also spend most nights of the week running around from one club to the other,  Some nights it is 8 pm before we even get in, never mind thinking about getting them to bed.  I need a big sign in the back of my car declaring Mum's Taxi.

Then there are the weekends.  I used to love a Sunday morning chill out,  To crawl out of bed, laze around safe in the knowledge that we didn't have to be anywhere in particular. Now my Sunday's involve an alarm clock and getting dressed up like an Eskimo enduring all weathers while I watch my son play football for an hour and a half.

Would I swap any of it?  Not a chance. 

Review of Fearless by Jessie Keane

I have loved all of Jessie's previous books and this one did not disappoint.  It has everything a book needs, brilliant characters, romance, violence, laughter and tears.

We are thrown into the world of Josh as he aims to become King of the bare knuckle Gypsy fighters, with his young sweetheart Claire by his side, he has the world at his feet.  Little does he know that Shauna is just waiting to get her hands of him and will stop at nothing to win his affections.  Playing dirty means nothing to her she just wants to get her hands on him no matter what the cost.

When Claire suddenly disappears Josh's search for her is futile and he finds himself in the arms and in the bed with Shauna.  Now that she has him in her clutches she will not let him go.

This book really builds as the characters reveal more and more of themselves.  Claire is not the meek and mild girl that she once was and Shauna shows her most evil and nastiest side but revenge is always sweet.

This book made me cry in places and laugh in others.  The one thing I loved was the ongoing love triangle that just weaved deeper and deeper.  We are thrown into a world of violence, blood and brawling but true love will always win.

Removing the word 'and'

I have been working on a story for a fair few months.  Picking it up when I can and trying to get on with the editing process. The story initially took me 10 minutes to write as the idea flowed but I am now 6 months on and it's still sat here. I have to admit that my grammar does tend to be a little on the sloppy side so I wanted it to be as near perfect as I could manage. 

So,  I was almost at the stage where I thought it was ready to be sent off to my chosen magazine.  I've pondered over full stops and commas.  I've added capital letters and tweaked my words.  Checking my word count, it was spot on.  Time for the final print out.

I read it a further time and was horrified to note how many times I have used the word 'and'.
The story just didn't flow it was littered with the little bleeders.  I have spend a further 2 hours this afternoon removing almost all the 'and' words and totally re-written whole sections. 

I have to admit that I am now starting to feel proud of my little story. Just removing that word has made such a big difference to my story.

How can one little word cause so much trouble?

Wish me luck as it is almost ready to go.

When the idea's flow

I read an article the other day about a writer that found her best ideas came to her whilst in the bath.  I honestly don't have many baths preferring to shower twice daily instead but I thought I'll give that a go.  Ran myself a nice hot bubbly bath and settled back and waited for the ideas for to flow.

All I can say is baths don't work for me.  I found my eyes travelling all around the imperfections and noticing all the places I'd managed to miss when cleaning.  Closing my eyes to block out the room I was soon interrupted by my ten year old banging on the door begging to be let in as he desperately needed a poo.  That's why I don't enjoy baths.  For me they are far from relaxing and by the time I got out all wrinkled I was trying to plan in the time to re-decorate the room before Christmas.

I realised tonight that the time when my idea's flow is whilst washing the pots. That boring mundane job that I have to do every day, sometimes 3 to 4 times and that's when my creative juices start kicking in.  The problem is that until now I haven't really noted anything down straight away and by the time I get to sit down the idea has gone.

Tonight I dried my hands, grabbed my notebook, jotted down the idea and went back to the pots.  Now I have something that I can work on later on and hopefully will find myself in a new routine with a note book now placed in the kitchen perfect for this pot washing moments. The only problem with that is it now takes my three times as long to get the pots cleared away.

When do you find your best ideas spring to mind?

Review of Into the Darkness by Sibel Hodge

I picked this book up on amazon for a bargain £1 and it is probably one of the best £1's I have ever spent.  This book takes you on a gripping roller coaster ride into the darkness and back,  I have sat here for 3 full hours unable to put the book down until the heart stopping end. Probably the most chilling aspect is the thought that these places could actually exist in real life.  Unfortunately I think they do.  A part of me actually wants to google it to try and find out more.  I know that I won't for fear of what I could find.

Having read Sibel's previous books I was already aware of the characters of Maya and Mitchell but you don't have to read previous books to enjoy the story and learn about the characters.

This books starts off as what appears to be three separate stories.  First we meet the victim who is imprisoned in a cell. She's been kidnapped.  She is interested in criminology and psychology and in particular the twisted minds of serial killers but little does she know that her digging around has set her up to be the next victim.

Story two is the detective.  He's winding down and tying up loose ends, due to leave his job in two weeks time he doesn't want to be landed with a new investigation into the murder of a retired couple in a rural farmhouse but he soon finds himself in the thick of things and uncovering more than he anticipated.

Story three is the vigilante.  He's ex SAS and he's soon on the trail to track down the victim.  Unbeknown to him it's his friend's daughter and he will stop and nothing to track her down.

This is a brilliant twisty book. The characters back stories are slowly revealed and cleverly interwoven together.     This is the best thriller I have read in a long time.

How I found the author Lesley Pearse

After posting a book review yesterday about The House across the Street written by Lesley Pearse it got me thinking about how I discovered the author.

My Grandma worked in a charity shop and loved books and reading as much as I do.  She would always bring me a bag full of books that she thought I would like to read.  I have to confess that most of the books she brought were not really my taste and they would get bagged up and sent to another charity shop whilst telling little white lies that I enjoyed them so as not to hurt her feelings.

I was eight months pregnant when a bag full of Lesley Pearse books appeared. My grandma told me she had read them herself and really enjoyed them.  It was a hot summer and I was feeling really fed up so came in to have a lie on the sofa.  I had a rummage through the books. There was a lot to choose from but  I picked up 'Remember Me' and after reading the blurb on the back thought I would give it a go.  From that moment on I was hooked.  I didn't move for the next five hours and my husband came in from work to no tea. The final month of the pregnancy found me reading, Till We Meet again, Never look back and Trust me to name but a few.

I've gone on to read every book and always eagerly await her new releases.  My Grandma and I weren't overly close but we did share the love of a good book.

Review of The House Across the Street by Lesley Pearse

I couldn't wait to read this latest book.  I am a big fan of Lesley's books and have the whole back catalogue and this one was another winner.  It kept me reading well into the night.

This story follows a young girl called Katy.  She lives in a normal house, in a normal street with an almost normal family but a when a fire rips through the house opposite and the finger of blame is pointed at her father, things take a drastic change.

The owner of the house is tragically killed but as her story unravels and we find out the reason for the mysterious visitors it is easy to relate the domestic abuse to the thousands of cases that we hear of today.  The is a gently handed aspect of the book and one that many people can probably relate to.  It seems though although today big leaps have been made in the help that women can get, the reality is that things haven't changed a great deal.

When Katy decided to play detective she finds herself in a life threatening situation and she has definitely bitten off more than she can chew. Will her friends find her in time or does she have the means to escape herself.

As the story unravels and the back story to the characters is unravelled you can't help the tears that well in your eyes. I didn't want this book to end.    It's a heavy subject that is written lightly but intensely with the magic of family, friendship and love cleverly interwoven,

You need to read this book,