Here’s what this writer’s life was like on the hottest day of the year.

6.30 Too hot to stay in bed, so I got up and made tea (it’s never too hot for tea). I’d hit a snag with the ending of book 2 in my cosy crime series, but woke with part of the answer and wanted to get it typed before I had to go out.

9.15 Breakfast eaten and more tea drunk, I picked up the box of books and things I’d packed the previous day. I’d done that before we realised Gary would have to stay in for a vital delivery and therefore couldn’t drop me off. The box didn’t seem that heavy when I left home…

10.00 – 2.00 Barbara (left) Mandy (centre) and I talked to people about writing (and the heat) and tried to interest them in joining Solent Writers’ Circle. I think we did pretty well. Several people took our leaflets either for themselves or others they thought would be interested. One of the other groups in attendance is interested in some of our members going along to talk to our, and in having me give a reading / talk.

The photo (thanks, Christine) gives away the fact we drank tea, but at least I hid the large wedges of home made cake (which Mandy actually resisted!)

2.30 – I didn’t have to carry my box back! (Thanks, Gary)

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to cool down, drinking tea, a little more writing and research into the make of car my character Cameron would drive. Thanks to the many people who answered my query on Facebook. That was an interesting and fun exercise.

6 ish – A cup of tea and then a walk looking at cars. Thanks again to Gary who told me what I was looking at. I spotted a couple of Jaguar XFs actually in our road, which seem perfect. (I’m not as unobservant as that might suggest, I’m just not a car person.)

7 ish – Had dinner and switched to wine. Wondered how weird it would be to knock on the door of a person I don’t know and ask if I could sit in the driver’s seat of their car for a moment and then take a quick look at the boot to see if it’s big enough to hold a body.

Yesterday I sent my new cosy crime novel to a small selection of publishers. The list was small, because there aren’t very many publishers with good track records who accept direct, unsolicited submissions. That’s totally understandable, as there’s a huge number of authors hoping to get published. I know my chances of success aren’t big, but I’ve written the very best book I can and feel it’s worth trying.

Don’t worry – there was tea and cake! The day wasn’t typical, simply because it takes a long time to write a novel. And rewrite and edit it. And to have two lovely friends read it, and to edit taking their feedback into account. And for the three of us to go through that process twice. I’m really lucky to have that help and support – and the help and support of others with different aspects of my writing life. Thank you!

Got up, made two cups of tea and drank both while checking my emails and starting to edit a short story. Not sure what time that was, as I put my watch down on Sunday and couldn’t find it. Being purple it’s hard to spot if it’s on my battered kindle, or a discarded jumper.

7.19 Made two cups of tea. Took one in to my husband who was just waking up. Drank the other as I continued editing. Soon Gary joined me in the shared office and started work on more of his amazing 360 images.

9.30 ish Gary brought me a cup of tea, reminded me I had an appointment at 10.06.

10.04 Blood test. Yep, I got in early! Just a routine check thing, and they only took about a spoonful, but look at the impressive size of the dressing! (Sorry about the tea stain)

10.07 Decided to visit all three churches in Lee-on-the-Solent to see how easy it would be to walk in and steal the silver. I was pleased to find them all open, and to all have nice looking crosses, candlesticks, flower arrangements and the like. None of it looked to be made from precious metal, or to have any value other than the spiritual kind, so I left empty handed.

11.30 Home for tea and breakfast.

12.00 Checked my emails again. Still no acceptances or rejections from the magazine editors I regularly submit to. There wasn’t for the whole day, and that’s extremely typical. There were messages from my lovely writing buddies with feedback though, so I continued editing, taking their comments into account, all afternoon – with the odd tea break of course. Again that’s typical, as writing new words is only a small part of a writer’s job, particularly when it comes to novels.

18.00 Cooked dinner, plus some meals to freeze. When I get going on a novel I sometimes have long writing spells, so it’s useful to have something ready prepared. The church visits were research for the first scene in the second book of my Little Mallow cozy crime series and I hope to start writing that fairly soon. Book 1 is almost ready to go out to publishers – part of the editing I worked on was the dreaded synopsis which most publishers ask for. These are HARD as you have a limited word count, often just one page, to explain the plot, mention all the major characters, give the main twists and reveal the ending. Not easy when it took 80,000 words to do that in the book.

20.00 Switched from tea to wine and watched Only Connect, University Challenge and the new Chris Packham documentary. Don’t judge me. Other than a few episodes of SpringWatch, that’s the first TV I’ve watched since the coronation.

I thought you might be interested to know what a typical weekend in a writer’s life is like. I’m not really the best person to tell you, as I don’t have a routine, but here’s what the last two days have been like…

Saturday 5.15 Get up, make tea and put in insulated mugs. Drive to location to photograph ships with, and for, my husband. Realise I left the tea at home. Take many pictures.

8ish Get home, drink the tea. Spend hours updating all the broken links and other information on the site (please tell me if you spot anything I’ve missed.) Much tea consumed. Also ice cream.

1.30 go to another shipping location. Drink tea, take many photos on narrow spit of land.

7.00 Almost get swept away by huge tide! (OK, was mildly surprised how fast the tide came in and nearly got one foot a bit damp.)

Go to secret overnight parking spot. Drink tea. Make dinner. Look at photos. Spend the night in the van. Dream people buy my books to fund my tea habit.

Sunday 6.30 Make tea. Write synopsis of my latest novel. Have more tea, which by then is much needed.

10.00 We go to Mottisfont Abbey. Drink tea. Photograph roses (for me, for fun). Have a tea break. Photograph more roses (see slideshow below). Leave two minutes before the rain starts.

3.00 Get home. Drink tea. Have ice cream. Discover the synopsis needs to be half the word count I had so edit it. Drink tea. Write elevator pitch. More tea.

6.00 Start editing photos. Have tea, and then food. Read. Lie in darkened room.