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Latest news: Christmas for us was very laisser-aller, with no family commitments, no Clara and no turkey (we had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding instead). In the morning we staggered along the Pigeon House pier in howling wind and rain before giving up and making for the more sheltered nature reserve. The weather may have been responsible for the head cold from hell that descended upon me (see below). But after visiting some friends for Christmas drinks we settled down in front of the fire and exchanged presents. I got cashmere, Malcolm got arguably the best new brand of whiskey in the world. And I got Little My (see right) socks from Clara!

The girl is still in Kobe, having spent New Year in Korea (South!) The last time I Skyped

And I’ve been doing a lot of that! The first week of the New Year brought with it two deadlines: one for Fair City  (my first episode airs on 18th January), the other for a short story for Candis magazine (it’ll appear in the April edition). I was so glad to have deadlines to meet: since Christmas I have been stricken with the lousy above-mentioned cold and have spent all my time in bed, so having tasks to keep me occupied was a life saver - as I’ve said before, I am so lucky to be able to work from bed! But I had more than my fair share of duvet days last year, and my body is now crying out for exercise. Bring on the Dublin mountains - we’ve a hillwalking day lined up in a couple of weeks’ time.

But pshaw to the common cold! The good news is that my final Herceptin treatment is due soon. Clara and I plan to get hold of a half-bottle of champagne each, and Skype as soon as I get back from hospital so that we can toast the event together. I can scarcely believe that a year has gone by since I started Chemo. In any interviews I did over the course of the year, I took care to stress that I wasn’t ‘battling’ cancer, or being ‘brave’. I baby-stepped it all the way, my dears, and now I’ve finally got there. I think the only ‘brave’ thing I did was to refuse to wear a wig, and I am convinced that if more women did likewise, this pernicious disease would lose a lot of its taboo connotations. In a funny way, I’ll miss the Chemo ward. There is a real sense of camaraderie there, and the staff are just awe-inspiring. 

I’m lucky to be able to balance scripting for Fair City with work on my current novel, which I hope to be able to deliver to my lovely agent  come springtime. It’s a big undertaking, and my heart goes pitter-pat with fear every time I access the document on my MacBook. But I feel such intense pleasure once the words start coming that it’s hard to stop - unless Miss Leeloo Caswell (see pic below) comes into my office demanding attention. It will be quite a different book to the Mischief and Lissamore novels: I can’t really say more, so do watch this space.