Hello! It's been so long 😢

I have missed blogging! I have missed writing regularly and I have missed the lovely people I met on here years ago.

I have decided to try and post more regularly in the hope that I can connect with you all again. 

I don't have a great deal to report writing wise, but I am getting stuck in again. My resolution last year 2018 was to enter more competitions, I managed a grand total of three. I know. Sigh.

I did manage to come 3rd place in Grindstone's Flash fiction, I think the joy of that success must have overwhelmed me as I failed to do anything else writerly for the rest of the year! 

grindstone

Having just checked, there are no competitions open at the moment, but it's worth keeping an eye out.

They are very friendly and helpful, and they give written feedback on the entries, it must take them ages!

So here I am again 😊
With new optimism, it's a new year, let's get this darn book finished!! Yeah! (Obviously the New Year for me begins on February 13th.)

So hello again to everyone, I hope this finds you all well, I look forward to visiting your blogs again (those who still blog as I know a lot moved to Facebook etc)

Thank you for stopping by

Cate x

Bye for now, my lovely mum

My lovely mum passed away last week, she has gone to join my Dad, which was her wish since he died eighteen months ago.

I love you, Mum and Dad xx

I will miss her so much, as I do Dad, but this poem helps me remember, our loved ones are still with us.

Death is nothing at all

I have only slipped away into the next room

I am I and you are you

Whatever we were to each other

That we are still

Call me by my old familiar name

Speak to me in the easy way you always used

Put no difference into your tone

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow

Laugh as we always laughed

At the little jokes we always enjoyed together

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was

Let it be spoken without effort

Without the ghost of a shadow in it

Life means all that it ever meant

It is the same as it ever was

There is absolute unbroken continuity

What is death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind

Because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you for an interval

Somewhere very near

Just around the corner

All is well.

Nothing is past; nothing is lost

One brief moment and all will be as it was before 

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Canon Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral

Words for my Dad

A message from Dad

I saw you standing in the pouring rain
Wishing I could be with you again
When it seems that your heart will break, 
just a moment is all it takes,
that little sound in your head, 
something that I might have said
A single feather in your path, 
a funny word that makes you laugh

I'm not as far as it may seem
Close your eyes and in a dream
There's an amazing world , I'm young, carefree,
By a beautiful lake, that's where you'll find me
And when the time for you is set, 
I'll be there waiting, arms outstretched
In the meantime, think of me and remember
I have not gone, I'm on a new adventure...


This is a poem I wrote, thinking of my Dad, who sadly died last year.
I was trying to find a poem for his graveside, but none felt quite right.
I am heartbroken to have lost him, but this is how I think of him,
watching over us, keeping us safe, spending time fishing by the lake.
He was always there for me, he was my friend, he was so kind, always happy.
 I will miss him every moment of my life.

Belated good wishes

Wishing you all the very best for 2015! So sorry I'm rather late with my good cheer, I think I must have been in a daydream since mid December :) xx

The Marmalade Plot is free today on Kindle

Free book today and tomorrow on Kindle!An adventure for ages 7-10 

When a young blue alien turns up uninvited and requests accommodation, Lena and Sam's lives suddenly get a lot more interesting.

 What with damaged ceilings, broken floorboards and a suspicious mother, it's all they can do to keep the secret. 

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Meet Marmalu!