Valentines & Valentino

I missed Valentine's Day - did you all have a great time? Cards? Flowers? It was Valentine's with a difference here, this year. The poor old pilot has been recovering after an accident in China, so the usual juggling act has been getting out of hand with looking after him, the children, work, MA coursework and finishing the new book. So I missed it. I was going to post a video 'Kiss Me Like You Mean It' as a belated Valentine to you all - but Arabic Blogger won't let me. The thought's there, along with Robert Downey Jr and George Clooney. If you feel like a little midweek romance, take a look on Youtube.

At the best of times it feels like living in a bubble here, away from the real world. We're following news events across the Middle East with interest, but life is surreally peaceful here. Add to that the fact I've been in the 'bubble' of my new book, and the real world doesn't feel quite 'real' at all. When you finish a book it reminds me of jetlag, that sense of sleep deprivation, vertigo, being half in one world and half in another.

Someone asked me the other day where would I rather be - in the 'book' world or real world. The book world is filled with colour - orange groves, blue skies, lavender mountains, war, love, passion, adventure. The real world is a groundhog day of desert, malls, laundry, lunchboxes and bunking down on the daybed with two hyperactive Siamese cats while the pilot convalesces. The book world is Rudolph Valentino in Blood & Sand. The real world is a Valentine's card from Park & Shop next to the mosque. Only a short time after finishing the manuscript and I'm already missing that world - it's either a reflection on reality or a good sign. Or both.

TODAY'S PROMPT: The interiority of books is what makes them unique - when you read (and certainly when you write), you create your own world. Which books have stayed with you, which world have you wanted to remain in, long after you read 'The End'?