Okay, so where did March go?

Sorry I’ve been AWOL, but things have been busy in Littlehales land.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the cuteness of my nephew. Alexander is doing very well and taking every opportunity to exercise his vocal cords.He’s just darling.

Every year the Upper Onny Wildlife Group survey the local area to get firm numbers on the Curlew and Lapwing population. Both of these species are disappearing from the Shropshire Hills because of predation and changes to agricultural practices. I won’t bore you with the exact details, but things will be getting even busier over the summer as I’ll be monitoring Barn Owl nest boxes too. I’m really exited about this as I love Owls and it means I'll be helping to increase the wild population by knowing where to put up more nestboxes in the future (Barn Owls are very site faithful and the young will nest nearby when their time comes). I lost my captive bred Barn Owl five years ago through old age and I’m very keen to get involved with falconry again, so this is a good compromise at the moment. I’ll keep you posted on how things go.

I still haven’t heard anything from M&B about Kiss, but at this stage no news is good news. I’ve got two other manuscripts finished, which admittedly need lots of revision, but I need fresh eyes to do that as there are problems that need fixing (i.e I need to delete vast swaths on both of them but it hurts too much at the moment to do it). So, I’m now starting on my third manuscript, which I am endeavoring to write without making the mistakes I made with the previous two which are:
Over complicating the plot.
Putting in too much historical jargon.
Not enough emotion.
Me leading the story and not the characters.
This of course sounds very easy, but as I have discovered, it's hard to get right. But I am determined to do it.
I also had an agent rejection for Kiss, which is sad, but not the end of the world. It’s still out with other agents. I just need one to say yes.

In May my crit partner Michelle Willingham’s book Her Irish Warrior goes on sale in the US. Here’s her book trailer http://www.michellewillingham.com/images/HIWMovie.swf. I can’t see it myself as I’m on dial-up (booooo). But I believe it’s faboo.