I do get a bit restless on hot summer nights, but it must be much more uncomfortable for those who are pregnant like the main character in my story which is published in the September issue of Take A Break’s fiction Feast. (Out now.)

The idea for the story came when I misunderstood something my husband said. I asked him to repeat it and immediately realised my mistake – but it occurred to me that if anything had prevented me getting a quick explanation I may well have reached a different conclusion. Especially if it had happened whilst I was already feeling unsettled and a little vulnerable, and was lying awake at night.

A lot of my stories originate in a similar way. There’s a real situation and I start wondering what would have happened in slightly different circumstances, or if different people were involved, or it it led to another incident.

Bordure is a heraldic term and refers to the border around a shield.

I don’t seem to have a photograph of a bordure. Clearly I need to visit a lot more castles.

It is still warm, and very dry, here – which makes the title of my story in the current issue of The People’s Friend Special very appropriate.

I love the illustration, especially the inset of Luigi’s restaurant. Luigi is a character from my romantic novel A Year And A Day. He’s a charming and gorgeous Italian who own’s a chain of restaurants. Even though he wasn’t the right man for Stella, I became very fond of him and bring him, or his restaurants, into any stories where a touch of Italian flavour is needed.

The ‘unlikely summer plan’ referred to under the illustration is based on something which happened to me. I refused a date for exactly the reason Becky gives. In my case the person asking never discovered I was telling the truth and he never asked again. I wasn’t a writer back then, but apparently I still seemed like the kind of person who’d make stuff up!

Straight means going in one direction only without deviation. Alternatively it’s used for something level or symmetrical. To straighten is to put into proper order or condition.

Straight up, implies honest and direct, unless it’s a drink in which case it would be undiluted. A straight-laced person is conventional and respectable.

I had my hair straightened once. What do you think? Did it make me look straight-laced? Should I have changed it straight away?

All my books are now available through Kindle Unlimited (except this one which is free). You can find them all here.

For those who don’t know, Kindle is an Amazon subscription service, allowing you to read as many ebooks as you like in exchange for a monthly fee. Often you’ll be offered a free trial for the first month, to see if it suits you. The books can be read on Kindles, or you can download a free app. to read them on your computer, phone, tablet etc.

I’d post the definition of apathy, but frankly I just can’t be bothered.

Not interested in finding a suitable picture either, so here’s something selected at random.

ps not really feeling apathetic, just busy exploring!

Prompt means to act with speed, at once or in a timely fashion. Promptly is how I like editors to accept my submissions, or slowly really – just as long as they say yes.

Wine vanishes with remarkable promptness when it gets near me.

To prompt can also be to incite, inspire or urge into action. I’d like to prompt you to download my free ebook or even buy this one …

A prompter assists a speaker by providing a missing word. A prompt can also be an aid to memory or encouragement to action. Maybe my blog posts prompt you to enter writing competitions?

A skeuomorph is a design feature that’s no longer needed but included because previous versions of the item (often made using different materials or in a different way) had whatever it is.

For example the decks of cruise ships are no longer made from planks of wood (as it’s a fire risk) but they’re likely to be finished in a brown material laid in strips to resemble planks. Modern compact cameras no longer have shutters, but they often make that distinctive cur-lick when a picture is taken, as they have a device added to reproduce it. Chocolates sometimes still come individually wrapped because back in the old days people didn’t always eat a whole tinful in one sitting …

Can you think of any more examples?

Synecdoche is a word I’d never come across until I opened the dictionary at random just now. Despite never having heard of this device previously, I have used it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have too.  A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which part of something represents the whole.

For example you might refer to a traditional Sunday lunch as ‘a roast’ even though the vegetables and gravy were cooked in another way. It’s generally understood that ‘a blonde’ will have more body parts than just her hair. When we refer to writing a book we generally also mean planning, rewriting, editing, proofreading and trying to find a market, not just bashing out a first draft.

Here’s a picture of a couple of birds – which, I think, is a synecdoche for a picture of a couple of birds and their shadows and a dead leaf, on some grass which has been marked to form a football pitch.