Coming soon...

 I have loads of exciting news but right now I'm not at liberty to tell. So here's a quick peek at just one of my big announcements coming soon. 

Guess what this is...click here.

When your home life takes over...

We are now just over the 24 hour mark with no working boiler.

Yesterday was a living nightmare with water pouring out of the boiler, three shivering children and an aged dog on the brink of collapse. The corgi engineer actually said he couldn’t believe it when he saw it; that the flooding was the worst he’d ever seen.

Added to that, I have a terrible cold. The estimate is that it will be around 2 weeks before we can have a new boiler fitted.

The timing of this is strange and has almost transported me back through the decades. There’s a lot going on at the moment in my personal life (little of it good) but this intensity of cold has served to remind me of when I lived with my mum and dad up in Glasgow.

So I know we’ll survive. We’ll get through this. It isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, or that ever will happen.

Back then I knew things would get better.

And they will again, this time.

Happy New You.

How has 2016 been treating you so far? Hmm, I thought so!

We expect so much of a new year, a sweeping away of old anxieties and problems, a laying-out of destiny's store, allowing us to cherry-pick the brightest moments to hook our hope onto, as if with the coming of a new calendar, we can instantly become different people living different lives. Or is that just me?

I love New Year and really do see it as a chance for change. I admit that this is lunacy. After all if I haven't managed a change for a duration of the entire previous year, how do I expect to do it in the course of one evening, from one split-second to another, as the clock strikes midnight? And yet I do.

So this year I did something completely different to what I would normally do at midnight. Did it affect a change - well it's a little early to tell, but the initial signs aren't bad, although they are somewhat far from actually being good... Suffice it to say that I'm still working on that!

If you are a reader of this blog, you will know that I purposely moved house just before Christmas so that I could be here for New Year. I also bought myself a new bed and new things to go with it. Psychologically it was a great thing to do as well as being so much better than the old bed.

I am still clearing things out of my old house and into my new one but soon even that too will be ended and a new era will have fully begun. Change happens whether we want it to or not in life and for so long I have been desperate for change, even whilst I was the very one preventing it. So some deep self-analysis has been required. If this sounds maudlin, be reassured, it is the very opposite!

Tomorrow I will pick up with my latest book which is only about eight chapters from completion. I can't wait to get stuck back into my writing.

So in the meantime, whilst you are waiting for news of the latest book,  you can always check out my Owners series or Split Decision by clicking on the links to the right of here.

Happy Reading! x

Review time!

I've put my back out, so currently I am walking around like an eighty-five year old and getting more and more annoyed with myself.

However this came through on LinkedIn yesterday: "Carmen, have begun The Owners, Vol.1. You certainly can write! Best. John." Ok it's rather straight to the point but it's still a great message to receive. And since the gentleman in question is a professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, it's rather a pat on the back!

So my question is this: how long is it going to take you to discover my books? Eyeballs to the right, quick march! Now click on the link! Be brave - you only live once.

Happy Reading!

Thank you!

Many thanks to the Stroke Association who hosted one of my talks today. Talking about my books never fails to excite me and it is always lovely to have such an appreciative audience.   


Writing stories is both the hardest and the easiest thing I have ever done. It is hard because it requires you to bare your soul and to commit yourself entirely to the story, but it is also the easiest, because for me writing is not a choice, it is a compulsion.


The one question I am always asked at any of these events is how do I find the time to do everything. The truth is that I don't. Like all of us, there are times when I am forced to make a choice between what I want to do and what I have to do. Mostly I am sensible with my time - but not always!


My point here is that I will notice if I haven't written a chapter that day, but the kids will never notice if I failed to vacuum. Life is short. And sometimes it's hard. Live it how your heart dictates.


Carmen x.

Competition Alert!

In doing a Google search I came across this competition which seems to be offering a chance to win $50 by posting a review of The Owners Volume I.


As I have literally just pasted it here, please check that the competition is still running. Oh and do me a favour by emailing me the review too...I can't offer you money but I will be forever grateful.


http://biblio.co.uk/book/owners-volume-i-capuano-carmen/d/737809472


Happy Reading.


Carmen.

Update.

My link to Amazon is now up and running however BlogSpot is still having issues logging on posts. Please bear with me.


What I would like to talk to you about today is something I feel very strongly about and something which I know you do too. I want to talk about the Rolf Harris situation and people who are like him.


But this blog post is not just for the adults, indeed I am aware that a large number of children read my posts and so today, this is exclusively for them.


My younger readers.


Summer is here and its warm outside and the nights are lighter for longer and you want to be out with your friends...I get that, my children are exactly the same. So when your mum or dad tells you to be home by a certain time, it can seem like they just want you to be bored at home and not out having fun!


And anyway you are safe, right? You are with your friends and there are lots of you and besides you are nearly 10 or 11 or...


Let's get one thing straight - your age doesn't matter. You are still a child. And your parents DO know best!


We live in an increasingly dangerous world. It is not the world that I, or your parents, or many other people would wish it to be but it is the real world. Your parents know and understand this and that's why they want you home at a certain time. It's not because they are evil and want you to be as bored as them, it's because they are worried for your safety.


When I was your age I was always warned to watch out for 'bad men'. Well I am telling you now there are bad women too! And they come in all shapes and sizes, all colours and nationalities and most importantly, all ages!


Don't just think that its younger adults who might pose a threat to you...some of them could be older than your grandparents. Evil young people don't disappear in a puff of smoke before they get older. They age just like everyone else. So just because its an old man who suggests you walk up the road with him, don't think this is safe to do!


TELL YOUR PARENTS!


And one more thing kids - don't grow up too fast! I know the world has moved on since I was a child but its a universal fact that kids can't wait to be older.


[It's funny too 'cos once you are older you will spend all your time trying to stay young :)]


Whilst you are a child, play like a child, talk like a child and this comes from the heart, dress like a child. Leave the little tops and the short skirts for when you are much older and don't fight with your parents when they stop you trying to wear clothes that are too old for you.


You only get one shot at being a kid, so enjoy it!


Here is the number of Childline, a helpful organisation 0800 1111


 http://www.childline.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx


If you are in America you should call  1-800-4ACHILD.