Why I've not been blogging.

I've been avoiding the blogging - I have, I have :(

Because every time I try to think of something to post, I'm always thinking of crappy, depressing stuff, which is no good. I'm currently ill with a horrendous (and I mean horrendous) virus. We're ALL ill: me, my little girl and my partner.

Writing has not happened in a week, 'cause this cold is like the evil queen bitch of all colds and I've been laid out, barely able to move for a couple of days.

I managed 1000 words last night, which is awesome :) Haven't managed it tonight, even though the story is all there in my head. I run out of energy when I go to write it down, and that's assuming I can with the little one coughing her guts up :(

So ... this is why I've not been blogging. 2014 is still challenging, with so much going on within the family, and I don't want my posts to be all about illness and dying ... and strange viruses that I fancifully wonder aren't induced by some top secret spraying of chemicals into the air that the government could have done around the same time that they announced London had gone above the allowed air pollution levels for the city (which was around the time this cold kicked off - a week ago).

New things you may have missed....

The new paperback cover for The Spell Of Summer

My radio interview up in Manchester and also meeting loads of fab readers and authors - I will conjure up the energy to write about that.

General chit-chat via Facebook (that's where you go to really stay up-to-date)

That's all from me for now. Over the next month, imagine me with my head down trying to finish The Spell of Summer, because time is running out and the universe is throwing up a whole load of obstacles this time around - one after the other :/

A brief update on death, a busy life, and my current WIP.

What a month it's been for me. My mother passed away on the 19th February (in case you didn't know) after suffering from breast cancer for four years. She was only 57. It's been hard to write this month, because in all honesty I'm pretty exhausted - sort of exhausted in my mind, and there's so much to catch up on and do at home, too, with my own family, and my daughter, as well as a host of other things that need to be done after someone dies.

So, writing The Spell of Summer is both a reprieve and a challenge. It's a good thing I like challenges. I'm hitting around 1000 words a day at the moment - I'd like it to be 2000, but I find myself tiring out too easily (it doesn't help that I have a cold right now), so 1000 it will have to be until I can get back up to speed. That's fine. 1000 words a day still finishes the book on time.

I'm leaving you with three things today, one is the new book trailer for The Spell of Summer. Then, a brand new excerpt from the book, shared on Facebook yesterday, and the last is a link to an online radio station where I'll be doing an interview this Sunday, after meeting up with a few readers and authors in Manchester on Saturday. I am sooo looking forward to it, but yes - life is busy right now! Lol.

EXCERPT from The Spell of Summer, copyright © Dianna Hardy, 2014. All rights reserved. (Text subject to change before publication.)

“Uncle Jamie! Look what I've got!” squealed his approaching little niece – the whole crew behind her – delight shining from her eyes at the colossal, spiral-shaped ice lolly that was almost half her size.

“Wow! That's … er … huge. You gonna finish all that?”

Becca nodded enthusiastically, not a trace of doubt evident, that he couldn't help but laugh.

The boys were already to the bottom of their ice cream cones.

A dripping one was held in front of his face. “For you,” said Pippa.

He eyed her suspiciously. “Is that supposed to be ice cream? It looks like it's been eaten.”

“Me,” butted in Becca, voice muffled by her lolly. She slurped her way free of it. “It was my ice cream, but a big, fat wasp attacked it.”

“Aaaah… The screaming?”

His sister nodded while Candy let out a low whistle signifying that the memory of the tantrum was just a little too much to bear.

“It was a really big wasp, Uncle Jamie. I think it was trying to sting the ice cream.”

“So, I get a half-eaten, wasp-stung ice cream for lunch?”

Merri laughed.

A real laugh that sort of tinkled out of her – not that insane crap she'd pulled earlier in the ocean – and it was the first time he'd heard her laugh today. No … for over a decade. It sort of threw him.

It also made him want to make her laugh more, and he was so completely fucked. So much for getting his life back together…

Released June, 2014. All info about this upcoming summer read here: http://www.diannahardy.com/the-spell-of-summer.html

(Click to enlarge image)

Check out my live radio interview on Sunday at 12pm until 1pm, on The Book Worm, at Fab Radio International: http://www.fabradiointernational.com/  See you there!  

Dianna xx