T'was the Fright Before Christmas... A round up of Creepfest.

It's the last day and I hope everyone has enjoyed the hop! I've met some great people, given away a whole heap of books and picked up some readers, so I'm really happy. I've not quite reached my blog hop target of giving away 100 eBooks so I plan to continue the give away until I hit 100! If you've not yet entered to get a free copy of Alone, please stop by my facebook page and follow the instructions.

I wrote this poem for a guest blog but I thought I'd share it here as it's appropriate to the season!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Creepfest

Christmas Eve, I’m woken by the sound of moans,

And in the distance comes the rattle of bones.

Outside I come to stand and stare,

For what monstrosity should I find there?

Not bells but strung skulls are what I hear,

The elves who didn’t work so hard this year.

The reindeer snort, huffing hot air in plumes,

 Eyes glow red as they paw with cloven hooves.

Santa’s not fat or jolly – those were lies,

He’s a skeleton with black holes as eyes.

Nightmares in his sack contain little cheer,

He’s here to deliver Creepfest this year.

An unexpected break!

Our local beach in Spain!

This weekend my lovely parents have very kindly offered to fly both myself and my two girls out to Spain to visit them. Unfortunately, my poor husband will have to work, but he's planning on spending the week eating what he wants, watching whatever he wants on tv, and not having to get up at the weekend, so I don't think he's too upset.

So three weeks from now, I'll be jetting off to sunny Spain and escaping the crappy British weather, hurrah!

Of course now I know I'm going to be away for a week, I have to get organised, work-wise. Alone is now being filtered over to the editor and I'm hoping to have the rest of the book with her before I leave, which I think is do-able. On top of that, I have three short stories I need to finish; one for the Digital Digest blog and publication, one for an anthology, and another for the 'Just One Bite' competition over at AllRomanceeBooks (check out here for info).

So I'm going to be a busy bunny and I need to get focused. Alone is my top priority, but I have committed to the others as well and I hate to let people down. My short for 'Just One Bite' is pretty much done but does need to have a visit to an editor before submission. The continuation of 'The Body Farm' for Digital Digest is probably going to give me the most problems. I still need to schedule all my blog posts plus have the next installment due in by the 15thof next month, just before I leave.

On top of all this, the kids finish school next week so I'll be juggling work with looking after two under fives as well. Phew! So what's everyone else up to? Busy with work, chilling out with the kids, or (like most of us I expect) trying to juggle both!

A Balancing Act...

*WARNING* The following is basically me having a bitch!

I know I'm not the only writer out there who is trying to juggle a young family with career aspirations, but boy, sometimes it is hard. With the Easter holidays comes no pre-school and so I currently have my four- and one-year old at home with me all day. We also now live out in a village and do not have a car, so daytime activities are pretty much limited to going for a walk.

The problem is that I still need to work. There are deadlines that need to be met and I have to bring in a certain amount of money each month to keep the day job from the door.

Yes, of course I would much rather be at home writing than out doing some job I hate, but it would be nice if some provisions were made to be able to do the work that needs to be done. Currently, I'm up at six a.m., entertain kids until six that evening, get housework done/cook meals/wipe bums, finally get kids down for eight-ish, manage to do a couple of hours of editing, and then I go back to bed.

All I can say is, thank God for cakes/crisps and Nick Jnr! (Bad Mommy!).

Anyone else out there struggling with kids over the holidays? And please, no earth mother/home schoolers may respond (only kidding, I seriously don't know how you guys do it!).