Here a snip, there a snip

I shall be quiet for a week or so now. A little operation is imminent.

My eyelids have drooped dramatically this year and my optician suggested I consider an eyelift. Then two ladies at book club mentioned they’d had eye lifts on the NHS so I asked my doctor and he said yes and it all went through very quickly. I did tell the doctor that my mouth wouldn’t match once my eyes were done and he laughed and said the NHS weren’t going to fall for that. This op' is not cosmetic! That’s what he thinks.

The consultant said I was lucky there were no wrinkles in my forehead. Wrinkles would have meant him cutting across my forehead, along the hairline, and yanking everything up. (Yanking is not the medical term he used.)  Apparently this procedure only affects the eyes and there was I thinking that it might mean goodbye to baggy knees.

Next week I shall be impersonating Jackie Onassis  i.e. wearing very large sunglasses, while the bruising heals and then all will be revealed and before, during and after photos and story sent off to a magazine.

A blog and a book

A couple of treats for you today. When you stop writing and take a rest you could visit the new Julia Douglas blog at www.juliadouglasromance.blogspot.com

And, if you feel like escaping to Spain, Kate Lord brown has a new short story up on Kindle. It was her German editor's idea, and is being published there next month as a prequel to 'Perfume Garden'. Kate thought,  if it was up in English for free for a couple of days,  it would be a way to say thank you to everyone who has supported her books:

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Last-Rose-Summer-ebook/dp/B00CSH8X48/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1368709819&sr=8-5&keywords=kate+lord+brown

US http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kate+lord+brown+the+last+rose+of+summer

To sign or not to sign

Most of you have more than likely seen or heard about the new DC Thompson contract which is asking for a lot more rights for no extra payment. If you believe this contract is unfair to writers then please join our silent, peaceful protest. From now until the end of July we will not be signing the contract or sending any fiction stories to My Weekly, The Weekly News or People’s Friend.

Please note that this action isn’t trying to convince writers not to sign the contract, whether they sign or not is up to them, this is just about sending a message to DC Thompson that writers deserve better. The more writers that take this stand hopefully the more impact it will have.

Giggle Blog

Susan Jane Jones http://susanjanejones.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/all-aboard-the-giggle-jerker/#comment-1750 began a giggle blog last month and is posting a giggle at the beginning of each month. Now others, including me, are joining her. We all need to laugh, or at least smile.

Here's my giggle.
My friend, Babs (name has been changed to protect the gullible), asked me to help her perform a miracle with a new hair product she'd bought via a shopping channel. 'It's hair string,' she told me. 'You put a bit on your hands, rub them together until the stuff gets sort of stringy and then you sort of push it up under your hair. It's supposed to make it look thicker, add volume…'
She sat in front of her dressing table mirror and I stood behind her while she read out the instructions and I obeyed them. We weren't expecting such a transformation. The stuff actually worked. As I tweaked at her hair it sprang outwards, filling out, lifting up,  looking gorgeous.
'Gosh,' said Babs. 'I look like Dolly Parton.I hope it washes out. Oh, and I'd better not lean against any walls in case I get stuck to them.'
Both feeling very clever we went downstairs for a cup of tea. As we sat chatting I watched Bab's hair slowly flop until it was flat to her skull.
I left soon after, before she looked in the mirror. I didn't have the heart to tell her she'd gone from fully blown to wilted in the length of time it took to demolish a cup of Tetley's.