Countdown to Caerleon

Not long now. Only 4 Big Sleeps and I’ll be there, at Writers’ Holiday which is held at the University of South Wales, Caerleon, Newport each year.
I wish I could go back to 2007 when Jane Wenham-Jones, Trish Maw, Irene Yates, the beautiful Maureen Devlin, who died in 2009, and I shared a floor. (There are five en-suite rooms to each floor.) But we can never go back in time. Each year changes, but every one of them has been good.
I think this will be my tenth year and this time I am a delegate. Usually I teach so this is going to be different again. What is always the same is the friendliness of Writers’ Holiday, the huge amounts of good food, the generous tutors and speakers…
If you’ve never been then think about 2012, when I’ll be teaching and Jane Wenham-Jones will be a speaker, and go to www.writersholiday.net to keep an eye out for next year’s programme and booking forms. It’s worth every penny. And if you can’t wait and can cope with last minute decisions, nip over now and put in a late booking, then introduce yourself to me on Sunday.
You’ll have to be quick. There’s only 4 Big Sleeps remaining.

A word from Wolfe

A few words, actually. They are from Humbert Wolfe and I'm not sure when they were written. Definitely ages ago.

You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
Thank God, the
British journalist.

But seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there's
no occasion to.

News of the What?

My old Gran would have hated it - the death of News of the Screws. She would read it from cover to cover, every Sunday without fail, and all the time she would be tutting and sucking in her breath. And she'd mutter very quietly, 'It's all S...E...X!'

Smooth or ribbed?

‘Smooth or ribbed?’ groaned Sir Walter, hose around his ankles, as he reached into his doublet pocket for his trusty Durex.

Think I’ve gone mad? No. I’m just mad about a silly story in The Telegraph announcing that ‘Mills and Boon “cause marital breakdown”. Apparently romantic novels are a cause of marital breakdown, adulterous affairs, unwanted pregnancies, and are a danger to relationships and sexual health.
That is the verdict of an article in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, which said women struggle to distinguish between romantic fiction and real life. Poor us. Stupid women who can’t tell the difference between the ‘chiselled menfolk' of fiction and the bloke with the beer pot we’re actually married to. (Not the LSO I hasten to add, in case he reads this.)
Miss Quilliam, who is a sexual health professional says her profession ‘like condoms - for protection and for contraception - and they (romantic novels) don't.’
To learn how dangerous romantic novels are to your sexual health and relationships click on the link below to read more extracts from Miss Quilliam's article which was published by the BMJ on behalf of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8620883/Mills-and-Boon-cause-marital-breakdown.html