Anna Jones Buttimore

Over the last couple of weeks I mentioned that I was undertaking a sponsored slim for charity. Looking at my "before" photo I'm sure you can see why - I was "obese" according to our Wii Fit on 1st January. The charities I am supporting are described in my last two posts (scroll down) and so now it's time for me to tell you how to sponsor me. Please pledge a certain amount per kilogramme of weight I lose between 1st January (when I weighed 92kg) and 1st July. I am aiming to lose a total of 20kg but no more, so if you sponsor me £1 or $1 per kilogramme, the most you will owe me is £20 or $20, and quite possibly less if I don't do well. I know the temptation is always there to say "£5 the lot", but that really doesn't help me. It means whether I lose 1kg or the full 20, I am guaranteed that money for the charities, so that gives me no incentive. I'd far rather, if you planned to part with £5, that you said "25p per kilogramme" a...

I know this blog has nothing to do with my books, or any books, or writing in general. Sorry! I am using my blog to support my weight-loss efforts. Normal service will be resumed once I am thin. Last week I blogged about one of the charities I am raising money for, Godmothers, which is hoping to build six properly plumbed toilets at the Kampong Cham centre in Cambodia where 63 children rescured from sexual slavery in Phnom Phen live in safety. This week it's the turn of my other charity, something a little closer to home. We may like to think that we don't have grinding poverty in this country, but there are still many who, if they do have a roof over their heads, may not be able to afford to heat it, or feed and clothe themselves. In Southend, my nearest large town, is an estate which houses many such people, battling with every social issue from mental illness to addiction to abandonment and just plain old poverty. Southend Vineyard is an Evanglical Christian Church which do...

Last week I mentioned that I was losing weight in order to raise money for charity. Well, I'm pleased to announce that I have lost the first kilogramme, so all those who sponsored me £1 per kilogramme already owe me £1! Overall I hope to lost 20kg by 1st July and raise lots of money for my two chosen charities. I promised that this week I would let you know how to sponsor me. Well, you'll have to wait another week or two, because first I want to tell you about one of the charities I am raising the money for. Godmothers is run by a dear friend of mine, and supports the child victims of the sex-slave trade in Cambodia. Some years ago, my old school friend, Ruth, was touched by the story of a young girl who had been rescued from truly horrible and distressing circumstances by Somaly Mam, and was now being cared for and rehabilitated in a specialist centre. Unlike most people, Ruth didn't just flip the page and read the next news story - she contacted Somaly Mam and asked what...

Yeah, right. I know what you're thinking - every year I decide to diet, and yet every year I end up telling myself that I'm not fat, just short for my weight, or that the gravity on this planet is too strong, or that it doesn't matter as long as I am healthy and happy. The problem is that it does matter, and I'm not healthy, or happy (at least not with my weight), and so I'm going public with my dieting. I need all the help I can get, and shame helps. Here goes on the first weigh in... As of 1st January 2011 I weighed 92 kilogrammes. (I'm doing this in kilogrammes to remove at least some of the shame - all my British friends will be asking "What's that in stones?" and all my American friends will be asking "What's that in pounds?" Look it up, people. I'm not prepared to tell you.) I'm giving up cakes and chocolate (until Easter) and doing lots of exercise every day. I'm doing well already - the Wii Fit tells me that altho...

At the beginning of this month two feet of snow fell and we were stranded. The snow very quickly thawed just enough to refreeze into ice, and it became too dangerous to drive anywhere (I know; I tried) and pretty hazardous to walk. Our usual fifteen-minute walk to school (once the school reopened after being closed for the first week) took around twice that as we shuffled carefully across the uneven ice-sheet, with much comic flailing and many spectacular falls. On the plus side, though, the children made a great snowman, two igloos, and put the snow they didn't use on these magnificent creations down each other's backs, into each other's wellies, and all over my lounge carpet. They took photographs of themselves clutching five-foot icicles, and insisted on putting said icicles in the chest freezer. (Not a problem, since the freezer was empty.) It thawed; we and the rest of the population of our village (15,900 people) went to Sainsbury's and replaced all the things we...

This year I am really looking forward to having a holiday over Christmas. The charity I work for closes between Christmas and New Year, and this gives me a whole week off work. I'm very excited to have all that extra time to enjoy with my family and various visitors (including friends from Wyoming). But I'm even more excited to have a whole week free to finish writing the epic fantasy novel I've been working on all year. I love the writing process and can't wait to get stuck in to the creative part. Not every aspect of writing a book is quite as exciting. This past weekend I have been very busy proofreading the "galleys" (they're not called that any more, but I don't know what they are called now) of my forthcoming book. It's been hard work. The problem with writing a book is that you don't just do it once. You write the first draft, then read through it and change it, several times. Honeymoon Heist then went to a professional freelance editor...

I recently overheard a conversation about one of my favourite authors, Terry Pratchett, who has been very public about the fact that he has Alzheimer's Disease, including doing a documentary about the illness. The comment that particularly troubled me was, "He's had to collaborate on his latest book, so obviously it's the beginning of the end now." Should I be worrying about that view, I wondered? You see, I am collaborating on my latest book, and as far as I know I don't have Alzheimer's. If co-authoring a book with someone else is a sign that it's the beginning of the end for your writing career, then I might as well hang up my laptop now. This is the first time I've had help with writing a book, and I'm loving it and wonder why I didn't do it before. Writing comes fairly easily to me, but coming up with workable ideas is more difficult. So for my current book, a fantasy epic called Emon and the Empire , I'm collaborating with two fri...