MY CLUSTR MAP

Writing is a lonely business. I sit here in the Welsh countryside with only the occasional cow passing the office window while I pound away at the keyboard and, once in a while getting out to have lunch with the far flung authors in the Romantic Novelists' Association Carmarthen group. We did that yesterday. A glorious sunny day, delicious crab salad and great conversation.

Mostly, though, it just me and the clustr map to let me know where my blog visitors are coming from. To remind me that the books don't just disappear into cyber space, but are out there, being read by people all over the world.

All those red dots are a comfort but I've just had an email warning me it's time to archive my red dots and start over with a clean sheet so I took time out to look at where you all are.

Chile? I'm not sure I've had visitors from Chile before -- I'm rather excited by the fact that I seem to be making more of an impression in South America generally. I suspect you all prefer the rather hotter romances, but I have another sheikh on the way for you. And a hot kitchen scene that I'm hoping Phillipa Ashley will add to her "whew" scene in Her Wish List Bridegrrom.

But back to the dots. I notice that there's one on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe right by the Victoria Falls. Ah, memories, memories.

The dh took me there for our first date -- a very long time ago. We flew from Lusaka to Livingstone for the day, looked at the Falls and I stood right where that photograph was taken on the Zambian side of the border. I had long, very dark hair and was thin. :)

We took a trip on the Zambezi, drove through the local game park and checked out a tribal village.

I've had lots of new visitors from India and Pakistan this year following the opening of Mills & Boon's local office on the sub continent -- and more from South East Asia, too, maybe as a result of that.

There are a couple of dots in Israel which may indicate that I've finally had a translation there; it was a sudden rash of dots in Germany that gave me the heads up that I was getting a load of reprints there early this year, as well as a couple of new translations.

And I'm really curious to know who is out there in Kyrgyzstan, Albania and Nepal reading my blog.

MISSING THE BLOBS...

I had this warning that my Clustr map was about to be archived (obviously there comes a point at which it would be totally red!) and so I've just been to take a fond look at it, remind myself where all my visitors come from.

Most of you are from the States. That's not surprising. It's a big country with a huge population and lot of wonderful women who love to read romance. I've been to the US three times -- Washington, Denver and New York. The dh is desperate to make a trip, but he's just bought a new computer so it won't be just yet. There are a lot of visitors from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, too.

Some places are surprising. The Sudan, for instance. And Iraq. Military, maybe. Or aid workers. And Arabia. Some of books are translated into Arabic, but I suspect that along the Gulf it's probably ex-pats who are reading the books and visiting my websites.

I spent many years there myself, in Qatar, Bahrain and Umm al Qwain. I once even spent an uncomfortable hour on the tarmac somewhere in Iraq when we weren't allowed to leave the plane -- BA had complained about a bump in the runway, apparently and so we were all being punished. It was a very long time ago...

And Africa -- my spiritual home. I've had visitors from all parts on Africa this year. North, south, east and west. I'm not sure how the books finds there way there. A few "export" editions, I imagine and maybe people visiting leave books behind. I spent a few wonderful days by Lake Malawi; I wonder if a tourist left a Liz Fielding there? And the Kenyan coast. Know it, love it... No one from Zambia, yet. I met the dh there -- our first date was a trip to the Victoria Falls.

I've had a lot more visitors from India following the opening of the Mills & Boon office. I look forward to some of you dropping by to take part in contests and share your reading preferences.

I love to see the islands light up. There's someone on an island in the Atlantic that I think might be the Azores. I thought they were lower down but I'm a bit hazy on it's exact location. I need to look it up. The Seychelles, Mauritius. Places in the Pacific that I don't know. And Iceland... That's a place I've always wanted to visit.

What I find amazing is that there are so many people, in so many far flung corners of the world, who know my name. Who I am. Or are you all looking for other Liz Fieldings? I changed my server recently and to get Liz Fielding in my email address I had to add 08. Who are those other seven Liz Fieldings? Enquiring minds want to know!