September was a lovely month, with loads of sunshine and happy distractions.

In September I:

• Went on holiday, hurrah! Went on our first big holiday in a while, down to London and then Brighton. Had brilliant weather while there, caught up with good friends, and saw some fantastic things – Shakespeare at the Globe theatre, the Harry Potter Studio Tour (which was incredible – I’m even more impressed with the crew than I was before), the dinosaurs at Crystal Palace park, beautiful Greenwich and the Meridian line.
• Caught a bug (boo) but got to stay beneath the covers and read lots to compensate for about a week
• Did some work on my manuscript and uploaded a section of ‘The Waulking Song’ to Authonomy for people to read (this will be temporary)
• Arranged my new office and made it a nice place to work
• Made some big plans for my work, which I put into action in October
• Had some lovely strolls in the Botanic Gardens
• Read 8 books
• Was struck by the fact that it’s been a year since I quit full time work to write
• While I was ill I started watching Buffy again from the beginning, and I’m addicted. Thank you, Netflix.
• Managed to set up my telescope and see some astonishing lunar images

Books read have included How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, the entire Rain Wild Chronicles series by Robin Hobb (the week I was ill) and Echo Boy by Matt Haig.

After reading all the Hobb books I’m in a right mood for fantasy, so if you have any recommendations please do make them in the comments here or via social media. I have fairly diverse taste and read widely in the genre, so anything goes.

The month in pictures: