I ventured out into the rain to take pictures and found this fellow slithering off to some appointment. [Read more…] about Roman de la slug…
Archives for August 2011
A small miracle…
After a year of see-sawing back and forth about whether I should keep or delete four chapters in Once Upon a Wager (which has kept the story in limbo) I think I’ve finally resolved the problem. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. It was so simple. So obvious! The resolution allows me to keep all the chapters and opens up the story for the ending I keep seeing. It puts the story right. This means the story is nearly finished. I feel like I’ve stepped out of iron shoes. I’ll soon be dancing!
Hole in the Heart…
My life often seems liken a string of coincidences that all somehow come together to make a strange magical collage. About five months ago I was randomly combing through i-tunes and somehow came across a Scottish singer-songwriter named Karine Polwart. The sample of her song ‘Hole in the Heart’ off Scribbled in Chalk really struck me so I listened to some more. I decided I wanted to buy the actual CD so I put it on my Amazon list intending to get it sometime soon, but I couldn’t wait so I went back and bought the song off i-tunes. Listening to the words I realized this was the song I’d been looking for. It’s the perfect theme for Dancing the Maypole, the book I’ve been working on for the last three years. The song has helped bring certain aspects of both the hero and heroine into focus and made my characters more real to me. Last week I was thumbing through the tri-yearly magazine for Stamford’s Art Center’s upcoming events and classes. When I saw a woman’s face and the name Karine Polwart it took me several seconds to realize what I was reading. Yes, in October she’s going to be performing in the Ballroom and I shall be gutted if I can’t get a ticket. The next time I’m in Stamford I’ll have to see if they’re selling tickets and if so to buy one. Have a listen to Hole in the Heart!
If you enjoy my photos, here’s a few of my favorite from Sunday. About three in the afternoon the Goblin decided he wanted to go to the beach…so we drove down to Aldeburgh and got there about 5:30. It was gorgeous with the orange setting sun on the endless pebbles. [Read more…] about Hole in the Heart…
Updates…
I’ve finally finished chapter 38 of Dancing the Maypole. I feel like I’ve been working on it forever, but it’s finally come together and I’m happy with it. I think there’s about four more chapters (I know always four until I come to the end). I feel like I’m at the top of the hill. So hopefully I’ll be rolling down the hill to a fast finish. Dancing the Maypole now has 103,744 words. Hopefully it will make you laugh and forget how long you had to wait for me to finish it!
Second an update on my fossil find: I sent off photos of my possible fossilized embryo…alas, it’s not an embryo…it’s not even a fossil…it’s…I shall use the experts word’s, “The object is made of micro-crystalline quartz, essentially agate. The little spheres are very organic looking, but are not fossils. They are purely silica mineral deposits.” So I didn’t find a fossil embryo, but I did find a cool rock that will always remind me of a fantastic day at the beach with my sister and my Goblin. So I didn’t find a rock that uncovered the secrets of the universe, but I’ll keep looking.
The Green Ray…
I’m having a magical rainy afternoon. I got up this morning at six as my Goblin had to leave for work by seven. He’s a very smart Goblin; there’s been some sort of problem in the Australian branch (he’d tell you he works for Gringotts) that he’s needed to help solve. I meant to eat my breakfast, but I ended up reading something and I forgot I was hungry…which is bad as that meant I forgot to take my pills. It was shortly after eleven when I sat down in front of the tv to eat. Flipping through the channels I suddenly heard French so I paused (assuming it was a commercial for shampoo or cars or something) and then an English translation popped onto the screen. A French film on tv when I’m in the mood to sit and watch a French film? Magic! It was called “The Green Ray”. I’d never heard of it. I had no idea what the green ray was (at the beginning I kept wondering if green aliens or green slime would attack the main character, a pretty French lady who didn’t seem to do more than wander around France crying, but no there were no aliens). By the time it finished I was utterly captivated. [Read more…] about The Green Ray…
Filling my empty mind…
Lately I’ve been feeling mentally empty, as if someone washed all my thoughts, dried them, put them away and then pulled the plug and drained the sink. I decided that instead of complaining to myself I’d read something. I have dozens of novels and reference books waiting to be read and at least a dozen I keep forgetting to finish. I went downstairs to look over my bookshelves and the first one to caught my eye was a paperback on the bottom shelf, a book of essays by H L Mencken called ‘Prejudices: A Selection’. I randomly opened the book and started reading, ‘Roosevelt: An Autopsy’. I hadn’t been reading long when I started thinking that all I knew about Theodore Roosevelt was that he was a President of the USA and supposedly that the Teddy Bear was named after him…and that’s about it. My curiosity aroused I put the book aside and looked him up on Wikipedia. Reading quickly through the boring early life I was soon at the important part…the section titled First Marriage. You didn’t think I was going to sit here and ruminate on politics and philosophy did you? I’m a romance writer. I want to read about love! [Read more…] about Filling my empty mind…