My Diary – Archive

Well, that’s another year gone. I’ve always thought of time as being somewhat elastic, if you know what I mean. I can well remember being at school and thinking I wasn’t going to survive the six weeks until the next break, now six weeks is gone so fast my head spins. I don’t know where December went – I can’t believe it’s January already.

I had an excellent Christmas – I don’t celebrate New Year – with my wonderful family and ate too much food. I’m determined to lose another 10 pound before I go on my second cruise in April so I’m eating more sensibly now. A friend of mine has joined a gym and actually visited a couple of times – any bets as to how long she’ll continue to go? I got three big metal birds to go in my garden for Christmas gifts – I’m so lucky to live where I do and have such a beautiful garden to put them in.

I’ve now got someone who takes down my Christmas decorations for me – worth every penny – and he also tidied the shed when he put the boxes and the tree away. I’ve already booked him for next year to put them up as well as take them down. For the first time since I moved here – five years ago – I remembered to tip the two lots of dustmen – I don’t know why I haven’t done it before as I always used to do this at the old house.

I’ve been working hard on the third book in my new Harbour House series and it should be handed in to my editor sometime this month. It’s not actually due until March but I like to have a few weeks in between books when I can relax and read fiction instead of research books. This book will be out in May or June I think.

2025 is a significant one for me – I’ll become an octogenarian in May – I don’t feel or look that old but I do notice I get tired more easily than I used to. As I was never particularly sporty, the fact that I couldn’t even run for a bus now doesn’t bother me. I can do my hour of gentle exercises every morning, take a short stroll with my friend and her little dog when the sun is out, and still do my own housework. I’m holding a party on my birthday for thirty of my friends, fellow writers and family – it’ll only be the second birthday party I’ve had outside my home. The last one was when I was twenty-one! It will also be the last one so I’m going to enjoy it.

My brother who is two years older than me keeps saying that people over eighty are living on borrowed time! I’m determined to be here when I’m ninety just so I can say that I’m older than my horrible stepmother was when she went. I also intend to  to keep writing for another five years at least, maybe not as many books, but as long as I’m enjoying the process and my wonderful publisher, Boldwood, is still prepared to put them out then I’ll still write them.

I’ve got no new books out this month but the second book in my Harbour House series is out beginning of February, Stormy Waters at Harbour House, and also the first two of my six book Regency series, The Duke’s Alliance will be out as well.

Until February

best wishes

Fenella J Miller

Are your decorations up? Mine are. Always up on 1st and own by 30th as I don’t like them up in the New Year. We’ve decide not to give gifts to anyone but close family this year – so much easier for everyone. I donated to charity instead. I finished my gift shopping yesterday -thank goodness for Amazon!!

Has been a poor month healthwise as I’ve had one thing after another. GP said it was a compromised immune system, that I’d pick up and feel better soon. Hope so.  On the plus side I’m losing weight and will be where I want to  by the spring, if not before.

I’m 21K into the third book of my new series, Harbour House, and the first book, Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House came out two days ago.  I’ve already got 79 reviews and all of them good. I was going to write Victorian sagas next year but have decided to stick to Harbour House until it’s completed. The second book, Stormy Waters at Harbour House is also on pre-order. Not sure how many books, but probably seven or eight. The first two of my Pemberley series came out last month, and last two next week. Do  try them if you didn’t read them when they came out a few years ago. If you liked Pride and Prejudice you’ll love these too.

Return to Pemberley, Trouble at Pemberley ( a ghost story), Danger at Pemberley and Scandal at Pemberley.

https://mybook.to/atpemberleyone  https://mybook.to/PemberleyTrouble  https://mybook.to/PemberleyScandal  https://mybook.to/Pemberleydanger

I hope you all have an enjoyable  festive holiday and a peaceful and healthy New Year

Until 2025

Fenella J Miller

Late again – sorry. I’ve just returned from my first cruise and unfortunately I was unwell most of the time. A recurrence of the infection that put me in hospital in June. Thank goodness they have an excellent medical team on board and the very strong antibiotics prevented it from getting worse. Despite the illness it didn’t put me off cruising and I’m really looking forward to returning to the same ship, Ambience, Ambassador line – in April when I’ll be sharing a cabin with a friend. I realise that this is going to be an ongoing health problem that I’ll just have to live with – getting older isn’t fun but the alternative is worse. I’m going for my flu and Covid jabs today so no doubt will be unwell again for several days, but three days of feeling rough is worth it for the protection they give you.
I handed in the second book in my Harbour House World War II series set in Wivenhoe, Essex, Stormy Waters at Harbour House on 9 October and as of yesterday I’d completed the second round of edits. The first book, Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House, will be released on 29 November. It’s on  pre-order – I hope you fall in love with the characters in the same way that you did with those in Goodwill House. The first two books in my four book series At Pemberley, Return to Pemberley and Trouble at Pemberley were released on 31 October. I expect most of you read them when I indie publish them a few years ago but if you haven’t and you love anything Pride and Prejudice related I’m sure that you’ll enjoy them. The second two in the series will be out on 14 December. Boldwood have also taken my six book Regency series, The Duke’s Alliance, and the first two of these will be released, I think, in January. I’m about to start writing the third book in the Harbour House series which will be handed in next February and published, I think, next summer.
It’s election day in America and I, like most sensible people in the world, will be holding my breath waiting for the result – hoping against hope that Harris wins. The thought of a another four years of that fascist, would be dictator, Trump, doesn’t bear thinking of. We have a stable Labour government, not perfect, but moving in the right direction.
I’ve just had my garden fence repainted – it’s a bit brighter than I expected – but I love it. Unfortunately the chap who did it has also dripped paint over a lot of my garden path and terrace. He said he’s coming back to fix that but so far hasn’t appeared. The nights are much longer but the weather here is surprisingly mild for November – I’ve still got some bedding plants flowering. My bulbs are planted, shrubs pruned and I won’t be seeing my gardener until the spring.

Until next time – best wishes
Fenella J Miller

I apologise for being nine days late putting up my monthly diary – I’ve been on a tight deadline to give in the second book in my new series and just managed to do it a day early. I like to write my books fast – eight weeks – and then give myself six weeks without writing. I do research, social media and so on but don’t actually write during those six weeks. The first book in my new series, Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House, is now on pre order and will be out at the end of next month. I have the first two of my Regency Pemberley series out at the end of this month and the second two are coming out in December. I think that will make sixteen or seventeen titles out this year – four of them new and the rest back list.

Boldwood have agreed that I can leave World War II for a while – after I’ve written the third book in this new series – and return to my Victorian sagas. Then I’ll be writing a single stand-alone Regency title to go with my six book backlist Regency series, The Dukes Alliance, which will be coming out early next year. The Nightingale Chronicles, there are four of them, my bestselling books on Amazon so it makes sense to continue that series which I always intended to do. I can’t wait to return to Victorian Colchester and leave the bombs and rationing behind for a while. I’ll return to Harbour House in 2026 and intend to write a further three books, possibly four.

On the domestic front I’ve now booked three cruises which might seem a little foolish as I’ve not even been on one yet – my first cruise on the Ambassador line, Ambience, is at the end of this month. It’s a writing retreat with my good friend Lizzie Lane. It’s only five nights and goes from Tilbury which suits me as I live in Essex. The second also from Tilbury will be in April and I’m going with an old friend and the third in August is with saga and is going to Norway and this is also a writing retreat as there will be four of us working together during the trip.

Loki continues to be an absolute delight although him arriving in my bedroom at three a.m. this morning chasing one of his little plastic spirals about the floor didn’t fill me with joy. Eventually I had to lock him out of the bedroom – I then didn’t sleep much until I had to let him out at five fifteen. He then proceeded to chase next door’s huge bad-tempered Bengal cat from the garden very noisily. I’ll be shattered by this evening.

Until next month

Fenella J Miller

How can it be the start of autumn when it’s still 23 centigrade in England? Normally in September I heave a sigh of relief and stop watering the garden and think about planting my spring bulbs. I’d have to pull up still flowering plants in order to put in the bulbs and I’m not going to do that – anyway I’ve got Nigel now to do it for me. Everybody needs a Nigel and it took me months to find him. I also have an anonymous chap who comes every six weeks to valet my car inside and out for £15 . I have a window cleaner who also clears the gutters, washes the facias and soffits and cleans my solar panels – how lucky am I? The man who services my central heating boiler is coming next week and I haven’t even thought about putting the heating on. Strictly Come Dancing starts in a week or two and I can’t get enthused because that’s the start of the lead to Christmas. Nobody thinks about Christmas when it’s in the high 20s – unless you live in Australia or New Zealand!

I discovered only two days ago that taking paracetamol every day for my headaches was actually causing the headaches – it’s called rebound headaches. I had this once with migraine tablets but didn’t realise it could happen with something you can buy over the counter. I was blaming an unexpected return of long Covid and it’s actually my fault. I’ve now gone twenty-seven hours without pain relief and so far it’s not been too bad – much harder at night – but I know it’s the right thing to do. My grandson starts secondary school next week and I’m sure he’s going to enjoy it once he’s settled but I know he’s not looking forward to it. To go from a junior school with only four hundred pupils to a secondary school – however good it is – with over fifteen hundred will be difficult for all the new incomers.

On the writing front this month I’ve plenty to tell you. Boldwood have taken a six book Regency series from my remaining backlist and I’m thrilled about that. I’m pretty sure they’ll take the other two series as well and hopefully some of the other stand-alone titles eventually. They took my four Pemberley related books last year and these finally come out in October and December. The final book in my Army girls series came out last week – Army Girls Operation Winter Wedding – and is doing well in the charts. The first of my new World War II home front series set in Wivenhoe, a riverside village near Colchester, is already on preorder – Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House – and will be released at the end of November. I’ve written 25% of the second book which will be handed in next month and come out in the New Year.

I didn’t watch much of the Olympics and certainly won’t be watching the Paralympics but I do watch the test cricket. A very English sport one I’ve loved since I was small as the start of the cricket season always heralded going out of London and spending the day in the country somewhere watching my stepfather play cricket.

Until next time
Fenella J Miller