The world from my window

We've just had a photo session, Mr Grigg and me, here in the kitchen. It's usually me behind the camera - I've never been much of a one for inflicting my fisog on the world. Invariably, pictures of me on the web are of tea cups, tiki masks and Fra Newbery's painting The Spirit of Bridport . I also use this one a lot.  I like it. I took it. But I'm not in it.  'Smile girls,' I yelled from afar. 'Jump up and down a bit.' So they did.  It's one of my favourite pictures. But, over the last few months, it's me who's had to be the subject of the photographs.  'Can you send me a nice photo of you by the sea?' the feature writer at Good Housekeeping said to me last summer. 'Do you really need it?' I said. 'Can't you use a picture of the Greek village we lived in, or a back view of me?' 'Well, not really,' she said. 'It's a two page feature and it's all about y...

They say that good things come in threes... Well, two good things have just happened to me, writing-wise. There's a feature about my year in Corfu in the October issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. One of their feature writers contacted me after reading this blog. I didn't make the front cover but then Tess Daly is rather beautiful, even if I've never actually watched Strictly Come Dancing . And then I had jaw-dropping news that I'd won a holiday for two to Peru (to Peru! ) in a travel writing competition for Saga and The Daily Telegraph. There are two things I'm waiting to hear about, but I won't jinx them by saying what they are.  The moral of this story is you have to be in it to win it - you need to put yourself out there, here and everywhere, if that's what you want. Yes, you'll get rejected - lots of times - and wonder if it's really worth carrying on. But if you love writing, you're passionate about it, you just do it - as w...

The country mouse is off to town tomorrow. I am booked into a travel writing workshop at the ITV Studios in London under an assumed name. I have been looking forward to this for some time, as it is run by travel writer Rory Maclean , of Magic Bus and Falling for Icarus fame, and the Guardian's Dea Birkett. I heard Rory Maclean give a talk once and his gentle, Canadian tones sent me into another world. I have just found out who the guest editors are and I am working myself up to do a pitch. I am rubbish at selling myself so this afternoon I will be busy dusting off some things I did earlier in an attempt to make my sparkling prose speak for itself. What is filling me with glee, however, is the prospect of staying the night with Curious Girl , my old flatmate I haven't seen for 10 years. We shared a house together when we were training as journalists in Plymouth nearly 30 years ago. Her calmness, fashion sense and individuality always impressed me, a timid sheep who hid under a...