In Messes, clones and plots like a W, I said firmly that it's technique and confidence, together, which will enable your writing to be the best it can be. I do know that lots of wonderful writers aren't conscious of technique - some even avoid thinking about it for fear of becoming self-conscious - but the technical control is there, operating by instinct. And many a new writer, having written their early efforts from sheer enthusiasm trained by a lifetime's reading, then go seeking help and support. There they come across discussions of technique, see there are useful things to learn (let's hope they don't think of it as learning the rules!) but find their writing hits a temporary but distressing ugly-duckling phase. Only when they've integrated this new, conscious technical knowledge with their instinctive knowledge of how their writing works, does their work again begin to look like more like itself, than it ever did. There's confidence in technique: you can trust yourself (most of the time) to control your material and make it do what you want, and when it goes wrong, you're more likely to know, and to know how to change it.

That's about how you say things. Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer is the original and still the best book on how to find what you want to say in the first place.

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Any Leeds members out there?
Do write words members get together off the net ever? Any writers groups already going in Leeds?
I've just moved back here after an absence of over 20 years so am a bit out of touch.

Had a very bracing golf game with Marian today - though we were fairly rubbish. Apart from one glorious moment when I parred the last, hurrah! And I say bracing, as I managed to keep the chill out by means of wearing two pairs of trousers, a tee-shirt, a polo shirt, a jumper and a fleece. Oh, and my golf coat. Honestly, it was amazing I could swing the club at all. After this, I gave all the appropriate Christmas wishes to Marian & her family, as I won't see her for another golf game until the beginning of February now (sigh ...), as (lucky her) she's wintering abroad. As they say. Oh, how Surrey we are becoming!...

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A profile of me, on Normblog. Lovely to be asked, but still rather wierd for me to be on the receiving end of the questions. But it's good to think about all the things Norm asked me to think about. And he's linked to my favourite poem and song. You'll have to head over there to find out what they are!

If I ever decide to do away with The Australian, I can guarantee that the murder weapon will be a tea towel, if only because it is very likely that there will be one to hand when I finally flip.

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Meandered early into Godalming today in order to get a car parking space, but actually at 10am-ish it wasn't too bad. I'd been expecting far worse. I wandered around the shops for a while and stocked up on jumpers and other essential winter items, and also spoke to the people at Godalming Museum. The good news is that I think we have a launch date for Thorn in the Flesh of Wednesday 27 February in the evening, hurrah!

The (totally unrelated) bad news is that I had my usual annual eye test today and - after much embarrassed coughing (well, the optician is really very sweet) - it transpires that I have moved far enough into my executive years to need reading glasses as well as my usual ones. Sigh! He doesn't think I should go for the bifocal option due to the amount of stuff I do on the computer, but he suspects that over the next two years I will probably need variefocals (sp??). However, for the moment it's two pairs and a zimmer frame. Oh, sorry, that last item just crept in there ...

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Today, like yesterday, is cold and sunny. Makes a difference to the way we think and act. Christmas is close and yet I've not written a card. They keep coming through the letter box and I feel a little ashamed by my lack of enthusiasm. Writing should be an enjoyable experience or a creative one. Still, if I didn't receive cards I'd probably feel most put out. Monday night is scheduled for decking our hall, lounge etc with baubles. Maybe, after that, and when the lights stop popping out, I'll begin to get in the mood. Maybe.

In the space of just over twelve hours, there has been elation and deflation in New Successful Writer's life! It all began at quarter to five yesterday evening. That was when Hubby rang me at the office in a state of huge excitement. "I have just had a phone call from Lorraine!" he cried (who is Youngest Step-daughter by the way). "She's taken delivery of a special little package!" . Now bearing in mind Youngest Step-daughter has a baby due on 29 December, my initial rush of excitement was one of the Proud-Grandmotherly kind. Boy? Girl? Weight? Name? That we have already been told - not least by Grand-daughter herself - that the forthcoming baby is male fell by the wayside for a few seconds. "It's your book!" crowed Hubby, inadvertantly scattering all thoughts of New Grandchild. "The print version!"

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Had our first puzzle card of the season yesterday – we do always seem to get one we can’t interpret, at least for a while. Is this just me or does everyone have this problem?? Anyway, the card in question appeared to be from someone called “Sulele” and the note inside read “I’m still working on Boris & Horace. Enjoying it very much.” The plot was thickening in a suitably mysterious manner so I asked Lord H. He read the card, put on his best Russian accent and said: Ah, I am working on Boris & Horace, but I believe they will crack soon and tell me everything they know. Hmm, it’s this sort of response that makes me wonder about my husband sometimes … Thankfully, I’ve now worked out who it’s from – one of my friends who writes children’s books (hello, Angela! – what wild writing you’ve got!) – so MI5 are unlikely to be calling round. Yet ...

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Anyone who's ever hung around in an online writing forum knows that, apart from religion and politics, the subject that's guaranteed to start a ruck is 'the rules'. Whole sites have been embroiled in the fallout, as people attack and defend and take up entrenched postions. Those sites which are already cauldrons of spite, jealousy, and obssessiveness have been known to be brought down altogether. And when people have their cherished rules disproved, example by example of acknowledged good writing, their distress - though it may take a defensive form - is very obvious.

So what are these 'rules'? Generally speaking, they're the easy-to-remember things about writing that many aspiring writers get told are the key to writing better, by teachers or fellow writers or how-to-write books.

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