Introducing Countess Erzsebet Bathory...

The girl sat huddled in a corner of the room, naked and shivering on the damp mildewed carpet that smelt of mouse droppings and earthworms. Her arms were wrapped around her bent legs, hugging her knees tight to her chest: partly to try and keep warm, mainly to conceal her nakedness. Her green eyes were glassy with fear. A deep line of concentration creased her brow as she fought to keep her gaze lowered, keep it focused on the faded pink roses that patterned the carpet, keep it from straying to the body of the dead girl.
The dead girl that was her best friend.
The dead girl that was hanging upside-down, tied by her ankles to the wooden beam overhead.
The dead girl who's throat had been cut.
Dark blood was seeping from the wound, running down the sides of the girl's upside-down cheeks, through the short blonde hair, before soaking into the carpet with a moist splat; turning the roses from pink to red.
A man was standing to one side. A short-limbed, thick-bodied dwarf. His dark hair was long and greasy, streaked at one side with a startling flash of white. In one hand he held a knife, it's blade smeared with blood. In the other hand he held an ornate golden goblet tarnished to a greenish hue. Extending his arm he placed the goblet beneath the head of the dead girl. Catching the drips.
A rustle of movement from the shadows caused the naked girl to look up.
A woman had stepped into view. Even through her fear the girl was stunned by the woman's beauty, for one fleeting second hope bubbled up within her; surely no-one who possessed such beauty was capable of harm. The bubble burst as the woman took the goblet from the dwarf, wrapped her slender pale fingers around the golden vessel and lifted it to her lips. She drank down the contents in one long thirsty gulp. Thin rivulets of blood trickled down her chin.
The woman handed the goblet back to the dwarf. She turned to look at the girl at her feet. When she spoke her words were stilted, thick with an unfamiliar east European accent.
"This one," she said. "This one I will save for later."

Happy 2011 xx

Looking back over the past twelve months the highlight of my year has to be meeting Johnny Depp at Greenwich (Did I mention that?...he spoke to me and held my hand!...ahhh sigh).

But already the year ahead is looking good.

My daughter - with a bit of luck and a fair wind - will be starting drama school in September 2011, her first step along the long winding uphill climb towards her acting career. She has her first audition on 7 January, this is to try for a place at one of the country's leading drama schools: Guildhall. I wish her well.

My son & daughter-in-law are expecting the birth of my first grandchild (it's a boy!) in March. I am so excited. Not long to go now...

And my book...ah yes my book...this year I MUST finish it...

HO! HO! HO!

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!

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Early New Year's Resolution!

I know it's a tad early to be making New Year resolutions, but I have anyway.

I have decided - again! - to up my writing and competition entries as 2011 beckons. To kick off I have just emailed a short story to be considered for the Writers' Forum magazine's monthly competition. The reason for my early resolution is because the story I have sent off is called resolutions.com and I am hoping it may be placed in the January issue as it is a seasonal story. Fingers crossed. I'll let you know the outcome.

And to keep my writing affairs in order I have ordered a writers diary from Mslexia Magazine. These diaries are excellent, they have lots of writing tips, exercises, advice and a whole section to record writing submissions.

Come 2011 I will be organised....

Phew!

Saved!!

The lovely IT man at work has given me a disc that will run a programme that will retrieve my lost documents ~ and a brand new memory stick to store them on.

I love you Mr Last!

:)

I think I may have done something really silly....

Today my new laptop arrived - how excited was I! - it is a Dell in a beautiful peacock blue colour (I'm a woman...colour is important), it also has a built in web cam, can play blu-ray discs & has a slot for my camera's memory card: none of which my old dinosaur had. I was well impressed.

So this afternoon I spent a lovely time personalising my desktop, choosing my computer theme and registering to Skype (although my only contact at the moment is my daughter who lives in the same house as me!). Once I had my laptop set up just how I wanted it I decided to transfer all my documents over from the dinosaur to my new Peacock Blue. I sent them all to my memory stick then (and here's the silly - very silly - thing I did) I deleted all my documents from my old laptop and emptied the trash can (Why...oh why?). When I opened my memory stick up in Peacock Blue, for some unknown reason, none of my documents were on it!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Can I retrieve stuff after I've emptied the trash can?

Full Dark, No Stars

Every now and again I read back something I've written, be it a short story or a chapter from my novel-in-progress, and I actually think: Yay! That's good stuff, perhaps one day I will be a published author.

...and then I read the latest offer from the King of Horror himself...

I have just finished Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. It was excellent. If I can ever produce anything that is a fraction as good, as entertaining, as thought-provoking, as damn right scary, as unput-a-downable, I will be one happy chappy.

If you like King you will love this latest collection of four short stories - although three of them are not so very short. I will admit to being a bit disappointed by his recent novel Under The Dome, had doubts that ole Stevie himself had actually penned the book, but there are no doubts in my mind what so ever about Full Dark, No Stars. The man is back with a tremendous bang.

Be warned: these stories are not for the faint-heated!