I am new to blogging so please be kind

Well, I have made a huge giant step for mankind, no I have not stepped on the moon or any other planet although there might be a few of you reading this, be wondering just where I have been all this time. I suspect there are some who are a great deal younger than myself who have blogged from day one so please kind souls, bear with the slow bunny.

I can hardly believe that it is three months since I started Writer's Bureau comprehensive course which I am thoroughly enjoying I hasten to say.To be honest, I have had quite a few cracks at the whip with these sort of courses so this time I am determined to make it work and this could be many ways of practising the art of writing. I voted to do fiction so I have been scouring various sources to write fiction. I have already devised a story based on the Susan Lamplugh case, well the idea anyway for after all, that is where writers are inspired, surely. Also been reading Woman's Weekly fiction to say nothing of online stories so on the whole I can safetly say, I have been doing market research, perhaps in my conscience, a little oo much maybe, who can tell but I have the final part of my assignment, the analysis.

Writing has always been my ambition really, probably inherited from my uncle,P.R.S.Hunt,my mother's brother, who wrote articles and book on horticulture and gardening, the latter did not quite rub off on me but the former did. That is not to say that he did not write stories of course but returning briefly to hortculture, if there are any green fingered peope reading this, scour your bookshelves or visit a second hand book shop and I bet you will lay hands on just on of his many books, beautifully illustrated by his wife, Cynthia Newsome Taylor. Sadly, he died while were were abroad in Portugal and it was ironic that my mother was going to do some research for him at the time - mind you, where she would have found the time with my father's lofty position as Naval and Air attache, I do not know but when my mother is determined to do something, she will do it as a rule.

So now I have done a blog. I suppose it is an introduction about myself. Yes I have had a few things published in the past, an article in the Lady a few years back about the ludicrous regulations that prohibit parents taking photographs of their children performing on the stage, simply because that nasty piece of work Ian Huntley spoiled it for everyone else then I wrote a piece about our local Corncraft in Suffolk Norfolk Life, I have twice been te local correspondent so writing and publishing has seeped truly into my bloodstream from an early age. In fact one particular school prefect who set a small number of us a punishmnt exercise to write a composition - don't ask me what it was now, I could not for the life remember although several of my contemporaries said I was not really even involved but I went ahead nonetheless - what harm could it do, it was practise after all and you can never have too much of that if one wants to be a writer. I hasten to add it was pen and ink on paper as there wasn't a typewriter around bar the one used by the school secretary of course but fortunately in those days, people could read my handwriting which is perhaps more than they can do today, namely my mother. However I digress. It transpired that my exercise did the rounds among the prefects because one of them said they were so impressed with my piece of work. I must have blushed slightly with pride, especially when she asked if there was anyone in my family who had the talent to write so I volunteered my uncle's name - well who coul resist such an opportunity. Who knows it might well have helped to sell one of his books, unbeknown to me.

Your next question that might be floating in your mind is, do I have a lavish large study with a massive desk, rows of bookshelve etc. No I don't and perhaps I only wish but contrary to the old saying 'be careful of what you wish, I am going to do the opposite. No, my workplace is well, small by perhaps many people's standards. Now this should be a lovely exercise for your imagination until one day, I buy myself a digital camera and take a piccy to quote the current colloquial expression. My study area is by the back garden door which faces north. At this time of year with a plastic wire and wood framed trellis. Occasionally the odd local wasp flies in to see if humans work as well as they do or perhaps they are afer something juicy and sugary. I have a two drawer wooden teak desk, top one holds my pens, staplers etc, lower one holds notepads, stickies, etc. On the desk itself, a wire tray rack which needs overhauling and sorting out, a printer, above which a noticeboard. I have a cd player to my left and telephone, one with large numbers so if I can't find my specs and in a blind panic to find the numbes, they are staring at me - joking! Also to my left are jumble of washing powder boxes, useful for keeping index cards then a filing cabinet, also needs sorting, on top of which, a photocopier an laminater
To my right, white panted computer desk which I had since 1990 from the time when I had my very first computer, an Amstrad - sounds almost like the dark ages when I look upon it. Served me well to a point but one certainly did not have the fonts that are available now, not to mention the software as a whole. Now I have a flat screen and a slightly smaller CPU. Yes I am slowly catching up on the natives. One day, who knows, I might consider a scanner although lord knows where I would put it if you can imagine my desk at present. Oh yes, on the desk where I work generally, a collection of pen dispensers and desk light, updated as well, smaller and more malleable - hope I spelt that correctly and bright blue, the anglepoise I had before gave up the proverbial ghost last year in March.

Must close now, at some point I will write on of my short stories or perhaps the early stages of a novel for you to read. The important thing is, I made a start with my very first blog