- My book that is due published in September - It Started With A Pregnancy, is really the book of my heart. To sum it up, a diabetic midwife falls pregnant and starts to freak when she realises she can't control her diabetes the way she used to. Been there and done that. Twice. For someone who has spent their life knowing when a hypoglycaemic attack is about to hit, and could usually always avert it, to have a total change of condition and have NO signs of oncoming hypos is/was terrifying. I could have normal, rational conversations with people with a blood sugar of 1.2 (normal is between 4 and 7, hypo warning signs usually show when it drops under 4). Even my family were freaked by it. And for a control freak like me, well....
- I'm a trained nurse and health visitor. I've worked in medical wards, orthopaedics and coronary care. I've also worked as a District Nurse and as a health visitor I was addicted to the smell - yes, the smell - of newborn babies. You really didn't want me near your child!
- My favourite kids were the ones who refused to do the assessments. The ones who threw the bricks off the wall instead of building a tower. The ones who you tried to coax to say five single words and all they would say was NO. The ones who wouldn't draw a circle or a cross but would look you in the eye and take the crayon along the wall. I like kids with spunk.
- As a student I was once asked to put cream on someone's APRON. I was working in the ward from hell, with the Sister from hell, so I pulled the curtains, armed with my tub of cream and thought "Wherever the apron is I'm going to get it." The poor patient had cream from the top of their forehead to the tips of their toes. Incidentally, the APRON is the roll of fat that hangs over your belly!
- I once auditioned for ballet school in Glasgow, but wasn't really sure I wanted to go. I did ballet, tap , modern and jazz dancing until I was 16.
- I used to be a good girl. At school I was known as a goody two-shoes. I've never done drugs and didn't start drinking alcohol until I was 19. Please note, I said used.
- My radley bag collection (from the last post like this) has unfortunately grown. I now have 18 bags, and a suitcase (which isn't that great!). All the bags are absolutely essential and none of them I can do without.
- I wrote my first Mills and Boon when I was 17. It was a medical and was called Hidden Love and involved a typewriter and that horrible tippex white paper for whenever you made a mistake. Funnily enough I got a standard R, as it would now be known, and took myself off in a huff for a bit. I didn't write my next one until 2009.
- I'm taking my beloved and my kids to Eurodisney this year at Christmas and we are going to stay in the Disney Hotel at the park entrance, all with my M & B advance!
- I have two wonderful critique partners for whom I am extremely grateful. Nancy (Sheandeen on eharlequin) and Rachael Johns, both take a bow. I am not going to forget that I couldn't have got published without you!
Now, I would love to pass this on to others. Feel free to download the pic and participate!
Great facts Susan - loved the good girl and the M&B at 17 especially.
ReplyDeleteEXTREMELY jealous about the taking your family to Eurodisney on your advance. Oh and MORE jealous about the Radley collection. I have yet to start my collection, but I'd LIKE to :)
Yay my flab has a name!
ReplyDeleteI was a complete swot at school too followed by a period of intense badness!! Nothing better than a good girl going bad ;-)
Yay also for Eurodisney, that's wonderful! Your boys (and you and hubby will love it). Those advance things are pretty useful huh?
And I totally agree re. crit partners. They are fabulous and you have two very wonderful ones :-)
Hi, you're so right about new born babies. I was amazed when I had my first and only, they really do smell slightly perfumed when they come out. 'Aint nature amazing! Loved the facts and can't wait to read your book.
ReplyDeleteRach - getting really fed up having to sign in and comment on other computers. Blogger hates me at the moment and doesn't recognise me from my home computer. Radley's are an addiction. Don't start because you'll never stop. Just wait until your release in December and all that lovely cash starts rolling in.....
ReplyDeleteJoanne - my flab and your flab can be a lovely matching pair! We will have to pick names for our Aprons! - and no-one will know what the hell we are talking about!
Cara - looking forward to seeing you in Wales. I will be the crabbit mad woman who's been up since 5am trying to get there. Meet me with some wine!
And yip! I was the baby smeller!