Yay! Go me — Deadline hit

Book two in the Midlife Recorder series is now with my copy editor. It’s officially called Painting the Blues in Gretna Green. And, for all of you who are waiting to read it, it means I’m on track for a November release. I’ve also had a wonderful few days off to re-set my brain before I do the last pass through book three and get it out to my beta readers. So here follows the adult version of that infamous kids’ essay ‘What I Did on My Holiday’.

We took Lucy, our real Bichon Frise, and my very first published book (yup, I’m still at the stupidly proud stage) for a day out at the beach. Apparently authors are supposed to have a photo of themself holding their book—who knew? I certainly didn’t.

Nothing beats a great afternoon tea …

Then there was a magic gap

Needing the author photo was a great excuse to have a lovely afternoon tea and a long beach walk in a beautiful local location I don’t get to often enough when my fingers are welded to the keyboard.
So, this is Powillimount, a beautiful little beach on the Solway Firth that has a very Cornish feel, considering it’s only about 25 minutes from where I live in southern Scotland. And if any of you doubt I live as far to the south of Scotland as it’s possible to be without being in England, then look at the photo. That land on the horizon is … England.

You walk through what looks like an impossibly narrow gap (for any normal sized person) but you come out to a little hidden cove.

Of magic doors there is this; you do not see them even as you are passing through.

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Of magic doors there is this; you do not see them even as you are passing through

Linzi Day, Painting the Blues in Gretna Green

Check out the snowberries

Singing and Crying

And the final event of my break was a much delayed (thanks Covid 😒 ) trip to see Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers for the third time. Along with my wonderful hooligan of a best friend, we had a girls’ night out with a lovely meal and a fabulous evening singing along and passing each other tissues.

I’ve seen it 3 times now over the last four decades!

I know I probably sound like one of those of women that went to see a particular movie 200 times. But honestly, the original casts of each production truly have made it a unique experience each time.

The very first time I saw it in Liverpool in the 1980s. I think it cost me £1! (about $1.50 at the time) and the incomparable Barbara Dickson was the leading lady, Mrs Johnstone. She was, as you might expect, incredible. The second time, Kiki Dee took that role and Con O’Neill won an Olivier award for his performance as Mickey, the twin she kept. He stole the show and turned me into a huge fan.

I was really impressed with this current version of the show even though at first glance I didn’t know the names of any of the cast. But they were terrific. If you’re in the UK, you can see if it’s coming anywhere near you on their website. And, of course, the photo credit for the two above is Bill Kenwright Ltd.

FUN FACT
It is one of only of only three musicals to have surpassed 10,000 performances in London’s West End

Have you seen Blood Brothers? Or is it just me that loves it? If you have, I’m intrigued about whether your production did the ‘Armed police in the audience’ bit at the end? I don’t want to say too much and spoil it for anyone who might be going … but if you’ve seen it, you’ll know the noisy part, I mean. I heard a rumour that many venues now prevent that from happening and I can see why, but – I’d love to know if the version you saw did it?

And Finally

So … that’s what I did on my break. Now, I’m off to do the final run-through on book three before it goes to my beta readers, so if you volunteered to do that you’ll be hearing from me in a couple of weeks.

And I’m sure some of you will be happy to hear, Ties is currently on track for an early February release. And the cover is soooo pretty! I’ll share it as soon as I have final approval.