Thank you to the kind people who contacted me after my last post, to tell me the new name of my story in the People’s Friend 2024 annual, and to share the illustration. The mine blurb used by The People’s Friend goes like this ‘Diane loses her beloved climbing rose, and struggles to find a replacement in “A Rose By Any Other Name”, by Patsy Collins.’

I thought the illustration would be pretty and wasn’t disappointed. Ruth Blair has done a great job, hasn’t she? The new title is appropriate too.

Last week I had another story accepted by The People’s Friend – my 50th with them. That one will be published in a Valentine’s issue. Yes – it is a romance!

In case you were wondering about Hunky Dory, the title of my last post, that was a favourite saying of the person who accidentally destroyed the original rose in the story. Sorry I didn’t explain that. I must have written the post before my second cup of tea that morning, as somehow showed the wrong publication cover. This is the right one.