The Girl and Boy are sharing a room for the first time. We bought them an educational bedside light - a globe, which also has animals all over it in their countries or seas of origin. As The Girl turned it gently last night, taking it all in, she sounded out the letters A-F-R-I-C-A and then said "Africa! That spells Africa! It's hot there. I learnt that from the television. I learn so much from the television don't I, Mum?"

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Just before I start at the beginning, I must begin at the present, because something small but significant has occurred - involving a large piece of fruit - which has rendered me incapable of thinking back to a time before this small but significant occurrence with fruit, err, occurred.

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Actually, I wish I had forgotten about my blog, but since April and all that moving to the other side of the planet business I have been feeling terrorised by the blog. "Must blog about this," I have thought. An awful lot. At 3am, mainly. Once I even got out of bed, went downstairs, made tea (loose leaf, in a pot, which you will understand if you've ever tried Australian teabags) and prepared to sit down at the laptop. But it is very cold in Melbourne and the house makes noises that I cannot be sure about yet so I went back upstairs and lay quietly with The Girl for a while...

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March 2003
(Just found this mad letter I sent to my old school friend)

Hello hen

Seeing as you’ve lost my address and fone number I thought I may as well send it to you along wi a letter full of tripe! ….first break…just going for my bath….back soon.

I’m back. Gave the dead-ends a walloping as well. Maybe I should take a wee course in shoemaking, it’s the only thing I don’t do.

I joined that FRIENDS REUNITED on the net. If you want any contact you have to pay £5 for the year. I paid because I saw the first boy I ever kissed was there. You lot made me kiss him through the railings between the boy and girls playgrounds. I think I was about 13! So I emailed him, telling him what I remembered and he emailed back! He said he remembered a lot worse events from his school days and that a kiss should be one of the nicer memories.

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I had planned to post an essay on doing school visits here today and even started writing it, but got to 300 words or so and decided that it really wasn't happening and that I should probably try it some other time. And I will; it's just a bit frustrating because I meant to do it ages ago.

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Have finally managed to put Hallsfoot's Battle on the website and you can find it here (click onto full post for links). Oh, and the photograph with the novel entry is Madeira. In case you're wondering ... While The Gifting one is of Egypt. A free book to the first person who leaves a comment attached to this journal entry telling me - correctly! - which photo was taken by Lord H and which was taken by me. Give reasons for your choice! Hell, never say I'm not nice on occasion. I'll even waive postage. Mind you, the free book has to be one of mine, aha! Though you can't have it until I'm back from my hols, sadly. If you've already got all of my current books, thank you, thank you a thousand times and you can have the next one instead. As well as my undying affection - which is probably in itself enough to terrify you all ...

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I’ve always wanted to buy a black kitten and call him Poe. I first heard the story, The Black Cat when I was about ten years old. We listed to it in class, on a cassette player. Ever since then I’ve had this daft idea that if I ever get a black cat, I’d call it Poe...

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Had a lovely Clarins facial and massage today - utter bliss. Charlotte (the therapist) had to struggle to make some kind of inroad into my stiff-as-a-wall back though. And as she's on the petite side of petite, it was quite a struggle. But I do feel better now and my shoulders have come down - if temporarily - from my ears. Phew! Bad backs are the Writers' Curse, you know. One of them at least. I really have to go back to my daily relaxation exercises - they do make such a difference.

I also managed to pick up a copy of June's Writers' Forum magazine, which contains a very challenging article about print-on-demand writer-publishing and the current Amazon (shame on you, Amazon ...) nightmare by the wonderful Siobhan Curham. This includes several mentions of Goldenford (what a fabulous publisher!) and some quotes from me. Plus a picture. Gosh, thanks, Siobhan! Fabulous article, and I nearly look human too - how do you do that?!? ...

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I've been trying to work out why so much of study of literature assumes that I'm dead, when I really do feel quite alive. The thing is, I've finally discovered some hard-core literary theory - narratology, apparently a branch of structuralism - which is absolutely fascinating not just in itself, but because it maps very exactly onto my own experience of writing. Where necessary it gives new, more precise words to the things that I and most writers think and worry and decide about, but reading it's a bit like having walked all over a town, and then, literally, being handed a map which shows where all the places I've walked fit together. I can even use it on others' accounts of their walks, and understand where they went.

And yet all these critics do their talking and thinking and analysing on the basis that what the author 'meant', what I was trying to say, is not the point: that the only thing you can talk about is the text on the page, and how the reader interprets it. Fine. That's the rules of their game, and their game is interesting. In fact, it's so interesting that it's been bothering me a lot that I don't seem to be allowed to play, simply because I am the author: my authorial intention isn't allowed to be a playing piece, or a space on the board, or even a dummy hand. And yet I watch their game, and it's full of moves I know, decisions I've taken, ladders I've climbed and snakes I've slid down.

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Woke up to a gloriously kind review of Thorn in the Flesh today from the utterly lovely Sarah Watts (Optimist) on the Writewords site, which I include below:

“I’ve been meaning to write a review of Thorn in the Flesh for some time. It’s taken a while partly because I haven’t known quite what to say. It’s like a discovery you look forward to sharing with someone special - but you don’t want to tell them too much and spoil the surprise. Surprising it certainly is. Having read three of Anne’s novels now one might expect to see a certain pattern emerging – qualities in the writing that makes you think – ah yes, this is typical; this is similar to what she did before. Many of us are happy to read our favourite authors confident that they will deliver more of the same ingredients that worked so well before. No – think again. Each of Anne’s books is gloriously individual – each builds on the strength of what has gone before to deliver something new – a fresh experience for the reader. When I read Thorn in the Flesh I literally could not put it down. Anne delivers a compelling story that keeps you turning the pages. I found her strong central character Kate entirely believable. She is depicted with searing honesty and the character is fearless in her refusal to compromise – to conform to expectation. I imagine that because of this Kate is a character the reader will love – or love to hate. Here is a woman who is attacked in the sanctuary of her own home – whose certainties and securities are torn away – what happens next? Where does she go from here? Thorn in the Flesh is not a comfortable read, it provides no cosy solutions and ultimately it gives no easy answers. It gets under the skin of the reader and causes you to look into the void – to imagine the unimaginable. It is to the credit of the author that the character’s journey is so believable. To me there is truth in the story and integrity in the writing. The story taps into the resonance of ancient myth delivered with the pace and assurance of a modern thriller. Read and enjoy.”

Gosh, thanks hugely, Sarah – that’s really made my day!...

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