Time to relax at least for a bit.

I finished another psychological thriller on my TBR pile about a week ago and decided that I needed a break from all the tension. I have to say that, thanks mainly to Twitter, I have been able to pick up some excellent thrillers and I am grateful for that. But I felt it was time to turn to the gentle world of Jane Austen and so I took Emma down from my bookshelves. I have read it so often that I nearly know it by heart but this does not lessen the enjoyment. You know that line in the song The Second Time Around? Well, reading Emma is "like a friendly home the second time you call". It is like visiting old friends where you can talk as if you had seen each other only yesterday. Randalls, Hartfield and the village of Highbury, they represent a sheltered world which is gone for ever. The no-nonsense Mr. Knightley and Emma, who we have to like even though she thinks "a little too well of herself", because with all her faults, she is basically like us all: good at heart but liable to make blunders.

I should, of course, be editing my Sergeant Alan Murray novel. I have finished the first draft and now comes the hard work. But I do it for fun, I keep reminding myself. I hope to have this fourth novel in the series ready for publication by September at the latest. A plot for a Christmas novel is also starting to tick over in my head but I haven't got beyond thinking about the main character. 

Writing is a wonderful pastime. It beats knitting bed socks, let me tell you, at least for me. I never could learn any kind of handicraft. At least if you are a writer you can repair, unravel and start anew without having to pick up wool and needles or scissors or whatever. 

Maybe I'll just read one more chapter of Emma to keep the feel good effect going. Might start on editing tomorrow.

 I am currently reading a crime novel. It is perfect for what I want at this moment in time. I don't really have any idea who the killer is and to be honest, I don't care either. I like the detective - at least a bit. She'd be one of those people you see at parties where you stop and chat for five minutes before moving on to someone else.  The story is well told, all the suspects could have dunnit. But it lacks something, a pinch more salt in the cooking, maybe.

In the previous novel which I read, there was so much action that my head buzzed when I finally put out the light and tried to settle down to sleep. This too was well written if a bit over-long. It kept me puzzling to the end which was a mild surprise. 

On reflection, I think I almost prefer the book I am currently reading because it is not going to intrigue me too much, just holds my interest.

Since writing this I have finished that crime novel and I must say the unfolding of the plot was a bit hairy. I didn't even try to fathom it, just thought "oh, it was him". And yet, I enjoyed the story and will look for other books by the same author - this one was written ten or twelve years ago so maybe the plot lines have become more believable. There are so many books out there and they all have their merits, their strong points and their weaknesses, just like the people who write them. It's a comforting thought.

 Sleepy News

I read the other day that a university in some part of the United States has been researching the effects of insomnia on fruit flies. Me neither and I couldn't agree more. 

I read this because the words sleep and insomnia caught my attention. I don't own up to being an insomniac. I'm what you'd call an irregular sleeper. In my wild youth, I could I could sleep for oh around 10 hours or more. Then marriage and children changed that a bit. And now, when I live on my own and could sleep for 20 hours without someone saying as much as "fruit fly", I can't. 

I try to do all those things that are recommended.  I don't have my mobile in my bedroom (unless I need to set the alarm for any reason - no reason since lockdown), I do not have a television set in the room. I read for around half an hour, usually a crime novel. Then I switch off the light, turn on BBC's Radio 4 or RTE's Radio 1 and try to drift off to sleep. I wake around an hour and a half later and toss and turn for at least an hour. When there's a full moon, I usually can't drift off for longer than that, so I trot into the living room and scroll Twitter or read poetry for an hour or more. I go back to bed and finally doze off, waking at around 8.30 a.m.  I have learned to live with it, more or less. Tried taking a sleeping tablet but that didn't seem to do the trick. I guess I need less sleep, unlike the fruit flies.

In case you are dying of curiosity, the university doing the research discovered that when deprived of sleep, fruit flies crashed into walls, totally disoriented. Maybe I should look at those sleeping tablets again....

Time to read the old favourites and find new ones

I have so much more time to read at the moment that I am trying to stretch out what I haven't read yet and pick a few favourites from way back. It's nice to have a TBR pile next to my bed but I have nearly got to the end of it now and while searching for new stuff, I like to relax with someone that I have enjoyed before and know I will enjoy again. It's like visiting old friends. If I'm feeling particularly vulnerable, I choose Jane Austen. My favourite of hers is Emma followed by Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion. But with the exception of Northanger Abbey, I love all her writing. She was witty and perceptive and her characters are very true to life.

If I'm in the mood for something a bit different, I read Eric Ambler's novels. He is probably forgotten nowadays and yet, in my opinion, he was a great thriller writer. I have just finished A Kind of Anger and I still admire his story-telling and the plot. The next Ambler on my list is The Nightcomers - I have the American version and the title the U.S. publisher used was State of Siege. Either way, it is another Ambler classic - the ordinary not very virtuous guy gets caught up in a situation which he has to find a way to deal with. An interesting thing for writers who like to learn from others is Ambler's use of smell to make a character even more sinister. In one of his thrillers, the bad guy's cologne smells of "attar of roses", those being the days when aftershave was not so much used, although I suppose if it were a modern story, any brand of cologne would be as effective. Somehow, this scent conveys a sense of menace which it is hard to define.

Currently, I have started re-reading The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsythe. Again, this is a masterpiece in suspense. I believe he had some difficulties in getting it published because everyone knows that Charles de Gaulle was not assassinated. However, the sheer skill of his writing and his background knowledge of international police workings interwoven with historical figures, has made this a classic.

If all that has not made me give up and put the quill back in the goose, I shall do some work on my current crime novel in the Sergeant Alan Murray series. I have been struggling with parts and problems of the plot but yesterday when I was out walking, something clicked into place and now I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get going again.

To writers everywhere, I wish you inspiration and to readers, lots of fun reading those stories.

 What do you mean?

Some famous writer -I'm too lazy to look it up, but I think it was Ernest Hemingway - once said something like "never use a ten-dollar word when a one-cent one would do". He probably said it more elegantly but the meaning is the same. Most of my favourite authors write good, plain English. There are others - not my favourites - who search for what they reckon are admiration-inspiring long words that I have to look up to get the meaning of.

This aside, I am currently amused by the new expressions which have crept into our language. One of my favourites is "imposter syndrome". Now there's an idea. When the going gets tough at work and you're wondering if it was your best idea to take the job, you can put it all down to imposter syndrome. Does that make you feel better or worse? If it were me, I would feel worse. A syndrome?  Really? Just because the going is rough? Who thought that one up and spread it around like soft butter?

Another word I smile over is eclectic. Great if you play Scrabble. What happened to good old-fashioned "varied" or even easier to spell, "diverse"? They have the added attraction that they are easier to pronounce after a glass or two of savignon blanc. 

Then again, you won't be going to one of those parties where you trot out these terms, that is unless you are talking to the family pet.

 A Perfect Christmas - a not too serious look at the hype around the holiday season.

Browsing various websites and the glossy magazines that come with the Sunday newspapers, I came across several bits of advice for having "the perfect Christmas" and even for having "the perfect covid Christmas".

I'm afraid that my initial and not very elegant reaction was : give me a break! Who needs advice on having a perfect Christmas? What is a perfect Christmas, anyway? Women - and it's usually women - work so hard to present that crispy, golden turkey and those mouth-watering veggies, crispy roast potatoes (yum, yum) and get the right wines to accompany them and everyone turns and smiles gratefully at them as the family is seated around the perfect Christmas dining table. Angelic children put up "santa stop here" signs and go into rhapsodies over their presents. Men buy perfume for their nearest and dearest because they've seen that advertisement on television where this glamorous figure rides bareback around town. Really?

And what is the perfect "covid Christmas?" I suppose if you look on the bright side, with all the restrictions in place, Aunt Nellie won't be able to come and criticize your decorations and stare blankly at those rather gorgeous gloves you got her.

All that cheery advice - it's enough to make you want to eat your Christmas stocking.

However, help is at hand. If you completely disregard all the cozy suggestions of what food, what presents, what wine, how to do it all, and simply relax - cook a beefburger with a generous portion of French fries and tinned beans, give everyone cash instead of toiling around the shops in your mask, and just have fun. Be glad to share this special time with your loved ones and do FaceTime or Skype with those who can't make it. But above all, despite the situation we are in, let's be happy and merry. Sing those old traditional Christmas songs together, play cards or any board game that unites everybody. And let us be thankful for what we have right now.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

 How Did That Happen?

I checked my fridge today and discovered that I have an almost unused jar of Dijon mustard. When did I buy that? For what? I really can't remember. I had some hotdogs for lunch and applied a very thin coating of the Dijon mustard, because this stuff is hot or is spicy the right word? Anyway, it tasted good. I must have bought it for a very specific recipe as I'm not a mustard person, more a fan of mayonnaise which goes with everything, right?

Anyway, it reminded me of the need to de-clutter cupboards and the fridge and check the "best by" dates on everything. It's amazing what you turn up. In my spices and herbs section, I found a little jar of mixed herbs which was nearly 2 years out of date. Yike! But then, I thought dried herbs lasted forever.

De-cluttering is important to our personal lives, too, though. Like the Dijon mustard, there are things I think I like, or that I liked in the past, and now I'm not so sure. 

I'll be doing a big clean before I put up my Advent decorations at the end of the month. Now that's a tradition for me and one I am not going to change. 

Speaking of Christmas, I have a lot of fun writing my Christmas romance novels. Here is the latest one, available as Kindle ebook and paperback. Here's the link if you want to have a look: Christmas Romance at Windfall lodge