It does, doesn’t it!

VERY excited to have this! #RosieWalsh #TheOneDayYouWereMyHusband — coming to a bookshop near you in two months’ time!

@annecorlett.bsky.social in London today for work and saw this window display @ the bomb factory Holborn… Thought of you!

Do you ever get the impression that the people (AI?) who sign off on these things have never seen a real-life woman…?

Oh, I love this!

Thanks for that, Steve...

Once got the last train home & found a dog tied up outside the (shut) Sainsbury’s next to the station. No owner in sight. Took her home & called the council the next morning. Her v relieved owner came & collected her. Turns out they’d popped to the Sainsbury’s but forgotten they’d taken the dog…

Town cryers should be reintroduced, but for telling everyone what bin night it is.

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We have floofy paws here too!

Oh… those paws…

That’s true!

Oh, this is lovely! (Although is it wrong that a part of me is slightly disappointed it’s not an extract from WINTER’S WISHFALL…?) x

What are you reading atm? I’m reading two novels (one is for my book club), and loving both: THE PHOENIX BALLROOM by Ruth Hogan and THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller.

I am going to do the same from now on!

And, just in case you’re wondering, THIS was the perfect ms bag — except mine was white. (Also, I wish I’d bloody kept it, because this one is selling for over £100…!)

As a general rule, I’d print out 50 pages of a submission and take it home to read. But sometimes it was hard to remember which printout came from which submission. Also: if it was brilliant, 50 pages was NOT enough. And if not, 50 pages was too many…

I did find one — but, oh my goodness, keeping on top of submissions was tricky…

Back when I started as an editor, email (rather than physical) submissions had become a thing but we still had to print them out to read… I became OBSESSED with finding the PERFECT manuscript bag.

Ha! This is me practically every walk I ever take with my golden retriever…

Oh — that’s brutal!

Ha! Thank you for clarifying but I’m sure it WAS a FORTUNE. It must seem insane to anyone submitting now, when it’s all done with the touch of a button!

I got my first job in publishing in 2002. Looking back now it seems incredible, but at the time agents still submitted physical manuscripts by post. And publishers read and then returned them by post (unless they made an offer on them, of course). Agents and publishers spent a FORTUNE on postage!

Now I’ve realised that, I’m going to start trying to make time for those moments! That’s the plan, anyway…

One of the reasons I’ve been so quiet on here is that I switched from X at the same time as I went from working in-house to freelancing. The former lends itself to regular posts (look at the cover/proof/finished copy, etc), whereas with freelancing, I’ve realised you have to create your own moments…

I’ve not been very active on here but have decided that’s got to change! I used to love bookish Twitter and really miss engaging with people there — so I’ve made a (very belated!) New Year’s resolution to visit blue sky more regularly…

In case you need proof…

Ah, I know the feeling, tbh…

Oh… sending love to Old Dog… x

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