When will I have time?

Next week peace will be restored at home when school starts back and I will have quiet again.

Sadly I've still got to go out and buy a few bits and pieces yet, and I've put off the labelling until everything is gathered. Shoe fitting of teenagers is the worst bit, and still to be done...

I've decided that I'm going to set myself some rewards for getting tasks done- writing tasks that is. It might help with the motivation.

It occurred to me, when I glanced at the book shelf and saw a number of DVDs (history related) that I've bought and haven't had time to watch yet. So I decided that I'd reward myself with time to watch one of the DVDs when I reach a preset target.

My first target is to get the first five chapters of my novella written.

Now the difficulty is choosing which DVD to watch as the reward for getting to the end of chapter 5:

• Casanova -with David Tennant as the young Casanova.
• Becoming Jane- about Jane Austen.
• The Duchess- about Georgiana Spencer who became the Duchess of Devonshire- big hair and dresses a plenty.
• The first series of Poldark...

There's probably a few modern ones I could borrow from my sons if I wanted something different.

At the moment Casanova is in the lead...:-)

So do you use a reward system at all or just when writing is getting tough?

One Woman's Too Hunky Hero is Another's Delight...

Don't worry the sun hasn't gone to my head- well not too much...

If you have popped into Sue Moorcroft's blog in the last few days you will have seen her latest post 'Call To the Nation's Women: Help Us Find The Perfect Man!'

There you will find the results of The Festival of Romance's poll on romantic heroes- from asking 58 UK Romantic Novelists their opinion.
Can't say I'd entirely agree with every the items in each category: essential, desirable but not essential and not important.
I'd possibly move one or two around...

[The poll even made the Book Blogs slot in the online version of the Guardian. Do read the comments below Alison's Flood's piece, especially Sue's response to one of the commenters about hygiene...:-) ]

So if you want to give your personal view, follow the link to take the survey-further down the page on Sue's post.
The survey closes 19th September and the winning entry drawn (of those who include their name and e-mail address at the end of the survey) will win tickets to the Festival of Romance being held 21/22 October in Hunton Park, Near Watford. (You can still do the survey without leaving your details.)

While I certainly agree with the 'essential' list, I would add 'height' to it from the 'desirable but not essential' listing, but I could be biased as I'm married to a wonderful man who's
 6ft 2.

So what do you think of the author results?