Guest Post - Jackie Kabler on The perils of ice-skating...!

The final part of my debut novel, The Dead Dog Day, took somewhat longer to write than I'd anticipated, because I had to type it with just one hand. This was because last December I, in my infinite wisdom, decided that it would be a marvellous idea to go ice-skating with one of my oldest friends. How fabulously festive it will be, I thought! A lovely mid-morning skate on the gorgeous rink outside the Natural History Museum in London, followed by a yummy lunch in our favourite little Italian restaurant. Sounds fabulous, right? That is, until you realise that we're talking about me, a woman so clumsy she can barely cross a room without walking into a wall.

Hence, fifteen minutes after stepping onto the ice, I'm being escorted off it again by two paramedics, my right wrist so badly broken I can't even look at it without wanting to pass out. Five hours later, my oh-so-sweet and tolerant friend and I finally leave the nearest hospital A&E department, where I have had my wrist bones pulled back into vaguely the right position by three doctors while I sucked frantically on gas and air. But the wrist-pulling wasn't enough, so a few days later (two days before Christmas Eve) I am back in hospital having surgery to insert three pins to fix it properly. 

I went straight back to work on Boxing Day (I'm a presenter on shopping channel QVC) with an extremely painful arm in plaster, artfully disguised by a variety of drapey scarves. But because of the weird position my hand was now fixed in, effectively I was now unable to use my right hand for anything at all. It was surprising how quickly I adapted - things that at first seemed totally impossible with one hand, like inserting contact lenses and using hair straighteners, were soon being done, slowly and awkwardly. And then, of course, I had a book to finish, and a deadline to meet, and being one-handed simply couldn't be allowed to interfere with that. So, for two long months, I slowly typed the final chapters of my novel with just my left hand. 

Ten months on, the right one is still slightly wonky and doesn't work properly, and I'm still having physiotherapy to try to correct it. But at least typing isn't such a slow process these days. And no, I won't be going ice-skating again this winter. I think we'll just head straight for the Italian restaurant this time...much safer!

The Dead Dog Day

Amazon link

 When your Monday morning begins with a dead dog and ends with a dead boss, you know it’s going to be one of those days. And breakfast TV reporter Cora Baxter has already had the weekend from hell, after the man she’d planned a fabulous future with unceremoniously dumped her. 

Now Cora’s much-hated boss has been murdered – the list of suspects isn’t exactly short, but as the enquiry continues the trail leads frighteningly close to home. Why is Cora’s rival, glamorous, bitchy newsreader Alice Lomas, so devastated by their boss’s death? What dark secrets are Cora’s camera crew hiding? And why has her now ex-boyfriend vanished? 

The race to stop the killer striking again is on…

About Jackie Kabler

Jackie Kabler worked as a newspaper reporter and then in television news for twenty years, including nearly a decade on GMTV. She later appeared on BBC and ITV news, presented a property show for Sky, hosted sports shows on Setanta Sports News and worked as a media trainer for the Armed Forces. She is now a presenter on shopping channel QVC and her first novel, The Dead Dog Day, is now available for pre-order on Amazon ahead of its release on 22nd October. 



Find Jackie on Facebook - www.facebook.com/jackiekablerauthor
And on Twitter - @jackiekabler 
And on her website - www.jackiekabler.com

Thank you so much Jackie for sharing that painful sounding experience. I hope your right hand fully recovers, and that in time you may be willing to look at an ice-rink again! Although I suspect if that had been me, I would have probably broken both ankles to go with the wrists!