1. Lying in bed listening to H.E. Bates' A Little of What You Fancy on BBC 7. The Darling Buds series is the ultimate in feel-good novels. The first time I read one, I couldn't believe something awful wasn't about to happen. I love Pop Larkin's luxuriant descriptions of the expansive Ma.
2. Getting a rejection slip from Mslexia. This might seem like a bad thing to non-writers, but it's not. First, every rejection slip is a badge of honour: It means you have sent a piece of writing out into the world, and that is an achievement in itself. Second, this was a very good natured rejection slip -- it said that the story had been shortlisted, along with 59 others and that 'Some submissions were rejected in order to create a balance of contrasting items. It may be that yours wasn't included because, by bad luck, it had exactly the same subject matter as a slightly stronger piece of work.'
3. In the (paraphrased) words of my poledancing teacher: 'That bit at the end where you stopped yourself falling. You were supporting your own weight on your arms, which you said you couldn't do. Now I know you can. Busted.'
