On reflection...

You know it's Christmas when...

Credit: William Lam

you lose track of time
your belly feels permanently distended

you eat Quality Street instead of supper

you empty the dishwasher twice a day

you run out of underwear 

you pick pine needles out of your jumper

there's no more space in the recycling bin

you start talking about a 'dry January'

you play board games with the kids

you find shreds of wrapping paper under the sofa

you have to unpack the fridge every time you want the milk
you tolerate a Lego super-structure in the middle of your kitchen

you eat re-fried sprouts until the end of December

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, or at least survived the surfeit of turkey and mincemeat! Thank you, everyone, for continuing to read the blog and for supporting my writing. Emma x

Year in review

It has become a tradition on An Author's Notebook to list some of the most popular posts in 2016. Enjoy a bit of pick 'n mix and see you in January!

Humour from Hermaphrodite Mum: Meditations on festive theme
World events: Friendship 'trumps' politics
On holiday: Hotel living
Women's troubles: Pause for thought
Brexit: After the fall
A book in the making: Tales from the tropics
Real life: Dogs and friendship
People-watching: A woman like Sally
Some self-analysis: Character study


P.S. If you received a Kindle or an iPad for Christmas, don't forget you can download my latest novel, The Puppet Master! 

"Emma is such a talented writer and her books are easy to read as they flow so smoothly that you quickly become engrossed in the story. The characters in this, her latest novel, soon became my friends or enemies. Her description of the way of life in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the late 70’s comes from her experience of growing up there and I understand her mother helped her enormously to bring to life those memories. The ex-pat life combined with high society in Indonesia are all very exotic and appear on the surface to be a life of bliss. However there is a dark side to this story." 

--CountryWives review of The Puppet Master 

If it's an iPad - lucky you - be sure to download the Kindle app first and purchase The Puppet Master on the Amazon website, rather than on the Amazon app ;-)