??? Okay, as it’s almost Halloween let’s start with Mr Fazakerley, as spiders were always fondly referred to at home, when I was a child. And we all know you never kill spiders, don’t we? Spiders are good. At least, according to my mother, who, quite literally, wouldn’t harm a fly. (not sure my pals in some parts of the world would agree!)

???So yesterday a friend gave my grandies packs of Halloween sweeties in black nets…and there I was, wallowing in the bath, (reading, of course) wondering why one of them had dropped their empty net in my bath instead of putting it in the bin…

 Yeah, I got lucky with my bathing companion ?

???Yep. You know the rest. Believe me, I have never moved so fast in my life. Usain Bolt has nothing on me when I discover I’m sharing my bath with a spider!  But then I discover Mr Fazakerley is dead, and guilt wracks me, because I’m responsible for his demise. But at least he met his end in a cloud of fragrant foam.

Only child syndrome?

Are my characters real to me?

As real as anything else in this world that I can touch, see, hear and smell. When I was small I had a chair where I would sit and dream up friends, as well as scenes where I’d be outgoing me, instead of painfully shy me. And those dreams were absolutely real, and far more enjoyable than ‘frightened of her own shadow’ me, let alone, ‘scared to enter a room full of strangers’ me.

When I played the piano I would think up scenes to back with a soundtrack of my music, just like the movies. The characters responding to whatever emotion I invoked were also absolutely real to me.

So yes, my characters are real to me, which is why I know the heroines for my next four books, because they already inhabit the world inside my head.

Scoop

My next 4-book series (maybe more, we’ll see), in my head, at least, is called,

??? THE SAPPHIRE SHEIKHS ???

Hope you like the title! And will (eventually)  have its own web site for you to browse.

( attached to the SS site so you can navigate there easily.)

And those real characters?

(Little Pot of Gold? That’s Tumeric tea to stop our joints creaking, gals ?)

I keep thinking about Rosie, a secondary character in my next release, A Night of Royal Consequences, who plays a tiny role, but does so with such spirit and selflessness,showing herself to be a true friend to the heroine, Callie. Man, Rosie needs a sheikh! And boy, is she going to get one!

And that’s more than enough for today or the writing will never happen!

May your bath water be spider-free, your joints well-oiled, and your imagination as boundless as the ocean.

Love to all,

Susanxx