My publisher has still not taken the time to respond to me. I’m really upset and frustrated - does this kind of thing happen to everybody, or is it just me?

I’m not sure what to do next. I’m not a member of the Society of Authors (couldn’t afford the £64 fee - I know that sounds like nothing to some people, but when you’re not able to work, it’s a heck of a lot) so can’t ask them. As you know, I don’t have an agent, so have no-one to step in on my behalf. Do I just resign myself to the fact that I was lucky enough to get a book published, and leave it at that?

This is an example of how little I actually know about the book world: I got an email with regard to Public Lending Rights this morning (from a rather more successful author). Until this morning, I didn’t know that you could register yourself and get some kind of payment when people borrow your book from a library. Why don’t people tell you this kind of thing? Perhaps I missed out on the ‘New Author Induction Pack’ and that’s why I seem to know so little…

Still no response from DA. Not impressed.

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Well, the deadline has passed. Theoretically, I now own my book again. Unfortunately, I still don’t know what this means. It may well mean that the book will no longer be printed by DA, so will not be available for sale. This is my guess. Anyway, I’ve emailed them again today, in the hope that someone (anyone) will actually respond this time and tell me where I stand. I don’t even have a clue how many books I have sold!

I don’t feel like doing any more writing until this gets sorted out, so the days have been quite long. Except yesterday: I actually went out. I know it was only to sit at the hairdressers, reading a book (‘Bruja’ by Mel Odom, if you’re interested) and then to sit at my parents’ house, but at least it was a change of scenery.

Sadly, my auntie’s dog escaped at the weekend. The poor little mite was run over and killed. Mitzi was one of a pair (yorkshire terriers, I think - I’m not very good with breeds). They were sisters and inseparable, so now the other one is pining for her lost companion. I remain convinced that some animals understand loss (especially after watching a documentary called ‘Why Dogs Smile and Chimps Cry’ on Nat Geo Wild) and know that my own dogs are highly sensitive to the emotions of those around them. Dumb animals they are not.

This is nothing to do with books or writing, but it’s just something that I’ve been curious about.

Last night, as I was waiting for Journeyman to start (another time travel thing - I’m already invoking the BTTF clause, as the season finale next week looks fraught with confusion and time travel anomalies) there were about five minutes of adverts. I always look at the small print at the bottom of the screen, as this is where it usually hides the real information ie a certain beauty product claims 80ish% of women tested said there is definitely a possibility that they have less visible wrinkles, and at the bottom of the screen it says 35 women tested. That’s hardly representative of the population.

Anyway, there was an advertisement for an early pregnancy test and at the bottom of the screen it said it showed the right result for pregnant women 51% of the time! 51% effective??? Surely, by law of averages, if you flipped a coin, you’d get a smiliar result. Am I missing something here? Aren’t these tests very expensive, and doesn’t the advert suggest that it will be wrong a massive 49% of the time? Or was I just tired when the ad was shown and completely misunderstood?

In other news, I’m still having to rest my voice, so relying mainly on email (when I can be bothered to use the laptop) and texts. Or was. I have just become aware that 100% of mobile phones do not work correctly if dropped in a cup of coffee (1 mobile tested)!!!