My Diary – Archive

I’ve got my Christmas decorations up – they  always appear at the beginning of December and are gone before New Year.  I love seeing my  home decked out in red, and looking out of the window when it’s dark and seeing my neighbours outdoor lights is magical.  I’m lucky I don’t do any cooking over Christmas as my wonderful daughter-in-law does both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. I have a small family gathering the week before Christmas courtesy of Waitrose! I make a Pavlova and crème brûlee – my guests are always happy with what I provide. We play silly games, exchange cards and presents and it’s worth the effort and the washing up.

My health has been problematic since the end of September – I’m now on my seventh or eighth lot of antibiotics – and if these don’t finally clear up the infection I have to have some other antibiotics by injection.  I honestly think that the antibiotics make me as unwell as the infection.  Getting old isn’t pleasant but the alternative is far worse. At this time of the year I always think about the family I no longer see – maybe one day I’ll send a message to one of them just to tell them that we might not see each other, have any contact whatsoever, but I still think of them everyday.

I’ve just finished writing the third in a four book Regency series and am in the process of getting the first one published and the fabulous Jane Dixon Smith is about to do the covers for me.  I didn’t think I’d indie publish again as I’m so happy with Boldwood but I do like writing the occasional Regency and there’s no point in writing them if I don’t get them out for my readers.  The first of this four book series, The Earl’s Unexpected Wards, The Earl’s Bride, should be out early next year. I’m waiting for two research books and then when I’ve read those I’ll be able to start my next book for Boldwood.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting me this year and  hope that you all have a fabulous festive occasion and a peaceful and joyful New Year.

Fenella J Miller

I’m sorry that I’m five days late with my monthly diary. I’ve been unwell – still am – but hopefully things are going to improve. Have had two CAT scans, an ultra sound, plus several armfuls of blood and a procedure and have just been given the all clear. Nothing nasty – what a relief. Up to my excellent GP to find out what’s wrong or I might go to a consultant at the private hospital and see if he can shed light on my health problems. Need a bit of joined up thinking – NHS is so compartmentalised.
Finished my Christmas shopping and feeling very smug here – fortunately the people I buy proper presents for wanted money. So much easier and you don’t have to wrap it! I wasn’t looking forward to December and having to put up the tree and decorations but now I’ve been given the all clear on two counts then I’m feeling a bit more enthusiastic. My wonderful daughter-in-law and grandson are going to come over and do it with me as I can’t manage the boxes and Christmas tree manoeuvring.
As I’ve not been well for weeks – months actually – my writing has slowed down recently to non-existent. I’ve only fifteen thousand left to right on the third book in my new Regency series and I should have finished it by now. I must start my sixth book for Boldwood, another Harbour House installment, by the end of the month. I don’t have a title but I do have the story in my head. This one will start in May 1942 when the Blitz has more or less finished. My aim is to continue the series until the end of the war so unless I skip a year or two there will be at least another six books. It’s a good thing people are enjoying reading them.
The fifth book, Trouble Comes to Harbour House, has now gone off for proofreading and it will be out beginning of February next year. The cover is done and should be up in the next day or two. This book is different as it has a villain as the protagonist to the main character. No romance – but I love it and so does my editor and I hope you do too if you download it.
I don’t like fireworks and believe that there should be no private fireworks allowed at all – only public displays and not too many of those either. Last New Year the neighbour directly behind me put huge fireworks against my garden fence which is only 20 feet from my bedroom window. The noise was so loud it traumatised the cat and I literally almost fell out of bed. Someone in the village lost a horse a couple of years ago because of fireworks.
The only good thing about being poorly for so long is that I caught up with my reading – I’m reading almost a book a day and at the moment have four books waiting for me by my four favourite authors.
Fenella J Miller

September has been a difficult month for me in various ways. My health hasn’t improved but I have a cat scan at the weekend which hopefully will tell the consultant what’s wrong. A very dear friend, someone I was at school with, has been in and out of hospital and like me seems to spend more time with medical people than she does with her friends and family. Then yesterday I heard that my bridesmaid, four years younger than me, died in hospital. Brenda had a liver transplant thirty odd years ago and for the last few years things have been going wrong for her health wise. She used to ring me up most weeks for a chat and I hadn’t heard from her for a while. I wasn’t surprised when I got the news, obviously I’m very sad for her, for her husband and her family. She was the oldest niece of my husband, my only bridesmaid, and we stayed in touch over the years.
As she was more or less housebound – with a compromised immune system she had to be so careful since Covid – she became obsessed with collecting things. She told me she had a hundred thousand keyrings – I’m not sure there were that many but there was certainly many thousands. She also had a huge collection of ornamental elephants and pigs and also teaspoons. I think finding something else to go with one of her collections was what kept her sane.
On October 7 the fourth book in my Harbour House series will be published – Blitz Spirit at Harbour House. The cover hasn’t proved as popular as usual and I think it’s because the main characters look dishevelled. They have just emerged from a train crash caused by a dropped bomb and my editor wanted them to look less than tidy.
The fifth book, Trouble Comes to Harbour House, is with my editor now and will be out on February 1.
At the moment I’m writing the third book in my new Regency series – I have exciting plans in hand to join forces with two other historical writers and publish under an umbrella name so we can promote and support each other’s indie books. I thought I was finished with indie publishing but my experience with DP publishers has proved less than successful and I withdrew this series from them. I want them to be enjoyed and read so no option but to do it myself.
Hopefully I’ll have better news healthwise next month.
Best wishes
Fenella J Miller

First day of autumn today and I was wearing a cardigan – still sunny and warm – but you can sense that summer is over at last. I can’t remember ever having had to use fans in the sitting room and bedroom so often before. Tomorrow my fortnightly gardener comes and he’ll be picking my pears, have a bumper crop this year, and the apples and the ornamental gourds. I don’t know exactly how many of those I’ve got but I think about twenty – the first year I grew them I had over a hundred but they haven’t done as well this year. Then sometime this month my bulbs will come and those will be planted and then the garden won’t need any further attention until next March April time. I’ve made eighteen pots of plum jam and eight of mixed fruit chutney – all from my plum and apple tree. I also gave away 20 lbs of plums.
Healthwise hasn’t been so good this summer – I seem to spend more time seeing medical people than I do with my friends but I think that’s the same for most people of my age. I’ve had the all clear on the tests and investigations so far and the GP said he was very happy with the results. However, I now need a further investigation, not one I’m looking forward to. Basically, I don’t have anything major wrong with me apart from arthritis and I’ve got two close friends with far more serious problems as well as my sister-in-law.
Workwise I’ve done well and have completed the fifth book in my Harbour House series – Trouble Comes to Harbour House – and I just need to write the epilogue, add the dedication and so on and then I can send it to my editor and it will be almost 2 months early. This one will be coming out 9 February. The next one coming out is, Blitz Spirit at Harbour House,  out on 9 October and this is doing really well with pre-orders. The reviews on Net Galley have also been good which is a relief. The title that came out in June, All Change at Harbour House, continues to sell consistently. This series seems to be my best yet as far as sales go.
I think I told you I sold a book to Serbia, a Regency title, a couple of months ago and since then I’ve sold the first two of Harbour House to France. That means I’ll have three books in foreign translation – something I’ve always wanted. I also got another title into The Works this month – Army Girls: Operation Winter Wedding.
I parted company with dp Digital publishing – they still have five back list Regency as they’ve already released three of them. The final two are supposed to be coming out next month but so far I’ve heard nothing about covers and so on. I got back the new Regency series and have plans to indie publish that next year when I’ve written the final two books.
I’ve booked next year’s holiday to St Malo, a research trip as I intend to set a series of Regency books based on the privateers that docked there during the Napoleonic wars. I’m also going to meet a writing friend on a two day stay in Runnymede to discuss an exciting plan we hope to bring to fruition in the New Year together. More about that in November after we’ve met. The hotel is at the exact middle point between where she lives in Bath and I live in Weeley.
Until next month
Fenella J Miller

My fabulous publisher Boldwood is celebrating its sixth birthday today – I’m so lucky to be one of their writers and have the support of so many excellent people. I won’t repeat all the information I’ve just put in my blog – pop over and read that if you want to know more about the facts and figures.
I sold the first two books in my Harbour House series, Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House and Stormy Waters at Harbour House  to Spain and to say that I’m delighted about this is an understatement. The fourth book in the series, Blitz spirit at Harbour House, should be on net galley by the end of the month. I’m writing the fifth book – it’s a bit different to the others but I think that you’ll like it just as much. This is already on preorder and doing surprisingly well considering I’m only thirty thousand into it and it doesn’t have an official title as yet let alone a cover.
I’m hoping to team up with two other successful writers and set up a publishing consortium so we can indie publish books that we’ve written that don’t fit in with what our publishers want at the moment. I parted company with DP publishers as far as new Regency are concerned and I won’t be giving them any more back list either. I still want to write Regency and I’ve also written two of a four book series of romantasy which I’d also like to see published. I’ll let you know when anything concrete has been arranged.
I’m glad the heatwave is over for the moment – 30° is just too much for me and for most people. Loki didn’t seem to mind but he did get hayfever at one point. I’ve been enjoying the cricket – not everybody’s taste – but I grew up watching my father play, learned to score, and we moved to St John’s Wood so we could walk to Lord’s and watch the cricket. I was pleased that the Lionesses won the European cup again but I didn’t watch the match, neither did I watch any Wimbledon. Too much grunting from men and women to make it enjoyable.
I’ve booked a week’s holiday for next June with my best friend – the same one I had the less than enjoyable cruise with in April – and we are going to St Malo in Brittany. I went there three years ago with my niece and great-niece, we only stayed four nights and I spent a day and a half very ill with Covid. Despite that I have fond memories of that holiday and want to go back when I’m well and stay longer. Also, St Malo was the port where privateers docked and they were heavily involved in the Napoleonic wars – I intend to set a book around this. Also I think there might be something in it for a World War II book as well.
In October I’m meeting another friend somewhere near Windsor as that’s the midpoint between the two of us. We haven’t booked our accommodation but will be doing this soon. Getting to Bath is too much for me but I did enjoy the six days I spent there last year.
Until next time
Fenella J Miller