imogen howson

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Imogen Howson's blog can now be found on her website, at www.imogenhowson.com/blog.

Moving house - virtually

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:09:00 +0000

Or, as Simon Cowell would probably say if I was a contestant on Britain's Got Talent or the X-Factor, literally moving house. Which would be wrong and would cause me to shriek at the TV.

Anyway, the blog is moving to Wordpress. Eventually my whole website may move there too, but that will entail help from M.G. Braden the magnificent.

Come visit me!

Imogen Howson at Wordpress

Patriotism is being forced upon me

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:11:00 +0000

As if it's not enough that I am surrounded by England flags (houses, cars, iced buns in the baker's shop, Facebook pages...) my groceries just arrived and my harmless little British-grown mint and parsley are in these new plant pots.

Okay, yes, I live in England and Britain, so it would be unreasonable to expect to avoid the relevant flags (although I deeply dislike both and covet Canada's nice maple leaf), but do they have to become part of my interior decor just because I want to make a broad bean and mint pate for next weekend?

Different ways of responding to rejection

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 May 2010 10:36:00 +0000

Part of my job at Samhain is to staff the submissions inbox. This mostly involves logging the submissions and passing them on to the acquiring editors. Sometimes it involves answering questions from potential authors - everything from "would this plot element be acceptable to Samhain?" to "how long is your standard contract for?".

It also involves letting authors know if there's a problem with their submission. Sometimes they inadvertently send the wrong format, for instance, or the attachments drop off in cyberspace or come through corrupted.

Sometimes, too, authors send in a manuscript that we don't publish. Most often these are young adult manuscripts, because Samhain used to publish young adult books, although we don't currently do so. We also get submissions for books without romance elements, or comic books, or non-fiction, and in all these cases I send back a fairly standard letter letting the author we can't consider their manuscript.

I also read submissions and send out form rejection letters. I used to work as one of the acquiring editors so I have a fairly good handle on what Samhain is looking for. If a work seems promising I put it back in the slush pile for an acquiring editor to consider. If I know it's not suitable I send a form rejection.

Most authors don't bother replying to either the standard "we can't publish this" letter or the form rejection. Obviously, there's no need to - I assume they just cross Samhain off their list and try their manuscript elsewhere. Some, however, do reply.

This month I've had these type of responses:
(note: I'm quoting no one directly. All these responses are paraphrased not cut & pasted)

Thank you for getting back to me in good time.

Thank you for considering my manuscript. Have a great day!

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm sorry you're not interested in this manuscript, but it's not going to stop me trying to get it published elsewhere.

All these responses are fine. They're not necessary, by any means, but there's no problem with people sending them. And I appreciate the politeness - I've had my share of rejections and I understand how crushing they can be!

This month, however, I've also had these responses (again, all paraphrased):

Screw yourself. You didn't read my book properly you unlettered shallow donkey.

You've lost out.

You lied to me. YOU MAKE MY LIFE VERY HARD AND YOU HAVE NO RESPECT FOR ME OR MY COUNTRY. SCREW YOU.

I would like to point out that my paraphrases use, um, milder language than the originals. I would also like to point out that none of these responses is appropriate. Particularly because two of them were in reply to me saying that I was sorry, we couldn't consider these books because they're something we don't publish.

I mean, really. Do you want your book to be published by a publisher who doesn't publish anything else like that, and therefore has no market for it and no expertise in publicizing that genre? And if you do want us to, do you really think calling the admin assistant names is going to assist you in your goal? And what oh what is wrong with you?

The pursuit of vegetables - a long story with a happy ending.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 19 May 2010 09:01:00 +0000

Back when Abstract was nineteen, he lived with a family who had an allotment. They grew most of their own vegetables, and Abstract, who was between college and work, spent a happy time digging and getting a sun tan. There are pictures of him with a spade, looking very brown (and scarily thin) and happy.

He's always thought he'd like an allotment again, and we both like the idea of being more self-sufficient by growing our own vegetables. And as a wannabe-hippie tofu-knitting Green Party member, I like the idea of being organic and reducing food miles and all that virtuous stuff. So a couple of years ago we (well, he) dug up the scruffy lawn in our front garden and we planted a vegetable garden.

We had a fun time marking out plots - one for each member of the family - and choosing and planting seeds. And it was initially nice to see the little seedlings pop up.

But after that, oh my goodness, the fun stopped. I wasn't prepared for how much extra work a vegetable garden is. It's like having a huge extra pet, except one that doesn't lick your hand and purr at you.

We got weeds that outgrew - and swamped - the vegetables. We didn't manage to harvest the spinach quickly enough and it bolted. Gloworm's vegetables decided not to grow at all. An army of slugs set up camp in Sparkler's pak choi. We did all the organic-type things we could manage to repel them - I can't bear to use slug pellets, quite apart from the danger they are to birds - but it was no good. The potatoes grew deformed, with skin that looked as if it was covered in warts. And everything was covered with soil that I knew was contaminated by the various local cats using the nicely dug earth as a litter tray, so I was aware that even washing off the visible dirt wouldn't necessarily get the disease-causing cat-faeces germs off the leaves.

I'm sorry to have to admit that the last straw was when I was preparing some well-chewed-looking pak choi for dinner, and found that it was not only covered with bugs but that it was home to two slugs and a worm. I don't mind slugs or worms in their rightful place, but I object intensely to them appearing in the food I'm about to eat. So I dropped it all in the sink and burst into tears. And that was the end of the vegetable garden.

Our front garden is now a pleasantly sterile wasteland of grey slate, with two neat little flowerbeds, a cherry tree, and lavender plants in pots. There may be slugs and worms and bugs living in it, but they don't visit my kitchen so I really don't care.

What made me sad was that I was back to buying plastic-wrapped not-necessarily-local food from the supermarket. I'd wanted to join a box delivery scheme for ages, but despite living right bang in the middle of farmland, I couldn't find one that delivered to us. In the autumn I see trucks of potatoes and onions go past my house - I could go out onto the main road and pick up a day's supply from the ones that bounce off the truck - but could I get any delivered to my house? No.

I was excited to find out that our local milkman would deliver a weekly organic veg box, and ordered that three times. Except that the Thursday box invariably turned up on Saturday (in response to us phoning every time), having sat in a warehouse for two days, and the veg was slimy and floppy and bug-ridden and really really so not worth it.

So I gave up on that idea.

But at Christmas my sister-in-law told me about a box scheme they used, from a company called Riverford. And oh joy, they delivered in our area!

I started using them in January, and they are awesome. They have a whole variety of different boxes you can order, from a mini box suitable for just one person, to a huge box containing ten different vegetables that's meant for a hungry family of four, and you can have whichever box you want each week. You can also make up your own box from their available products, which include fruit and dairy products and wine and beer and chocolate and dried fruit. Most of the veg and fruit is locally grown, but the stuff that won't grown in England or that's out-of-season is slow-freighted from other countries - as close by as possible.

It's all organic, the stuff from outside the UK is fairly traded, and it's wonderful quality as well. I've found a total of six bugs on lettuces so far, and two miniscule (and very cute) snails on the outer leaf of a cabbage. The root veg tends to be very muddy, but it's clean mud and comes off easily, so I don't mind. We've been able to try interesting short-season things, too, that I tend not to see in the supermarket, like wild garlic and wet garlic. And the best asparagus ever - expensive (as it is in the supermarket) but so worth it.

This was my medium fruit and veg box last week.

It's got spring onions, courgettes, pointed cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, carrots, Fairtrade bananas and rhubarb. They were all super-fresh and they taste wonderful. The packaging is all recylable or compostable or reusable and recyclable (like the box which they pick up the next week). The little bit of paper you can see underneath the box is the weekly newsletter, which comes with a bunch of recipes specially tailored to the seasonal vegetables you're likely to get each week.

It's been an interesting challenge for me to have to base our meals around the vegetables that turn up each week, rather than planning meals and adding veg as an afterthought. And I've offered my family some less-than-appealing meals, like Scotch Broth that was so disgusting no one except Abstract could eat it, and vegetable goulash that was just completely bland. And sometimes I've managed it badly and the compost bin has been fed with past-their-best beetroots and swede.

But we've discovered some great new meals, too (roasted winter roots with sausages, apple and celericac soup, broccoli and cauliflower gratin, colcannon with cheese), and rediscovered some veg-heavy favourites (vegetable casserole with cheese and herb dumplings, low-fat chilli, puff-pastry vegetable and cheese tart, and something I like to disguise with the name Golden Sunshine Vitamin Soup. "Yes, but what's in it, Mum?" "Golden sunshine vitamins, darling.").

And it does kind of make cooking more interesting. However easy the meal (pasta, pasta, pasta), I get bored cooking it if I've done it too many times. So having to put extra effort into using up Jerusalem artichokes or carrots or celeriac might be harder work than shoving pasta into boiling water, but it's much more interesting.

This week,though, I made up my own box out of stuff I specially wanted. Portobello mushrooms, new potatoes, wet garlic, cucumber, tomatoes, asparagus and blueberries. We're going to try one of the Riverford recipes with the new potatoes, and have it with garlic mushrooms and poached eggs. Then at the weekend we're having asparagus tarts and blueberry muffins. I love my veg box.

Unexpected presents

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:54:00 +0000

The Model Auntie and Dr T-shirt bought me an authentic Bakewell pudding from Bakewell, and sent it to me in the post so it arrived unexpectedly this morning. I was surprised and happy!

Lucy the cat, not to be outdone, killed a mouse, refrained from eating it (as she would normally do), and left it on our bed in a little patch of blood. I appreciated the thought but I would not say I was entirely happy.

This fortnight I have mostly been...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:30:00 +0000

...reading Stephen King books (with a break for Chalet School when I'm eating, cos really, Stephen King and food - not such a good idea). So far I've re-read Lisey's Story, Carrie, Cujo and Firestarter, read The Dead Zone, begun but not finished Insomnia (cos I was bored, sorry Mr King), and am now reading Duma Key. Which I thought would go the way of Insomnia, but I'm actually pretty hooked now so that's good.

...recovering from a weird mini-bug that hit me, most inconveniently, on the day I needed to prepare for Sparkler's fourteenth birthday sleepover party.

...making Delia Smith's chocolate cake, Immi Howson's pizzas, and Sasha Knight's seven-layer avocado dip. All very very good.

...wondering why being ill makes me go such a frightful colour - and why on earth anyone would look at someone like me and have the colour white leap to mind. I suppose to claim your ethnic group is sallow-yellowy-muddy-colour doesn't sound too great, but maybe we could go for Parchment. I can imagine the census boxes now. Black African, Black Caribbean, Pakistani, Chinese, Indian, Parchment British, Parchment Irish, Parchment Other.

...celebrating that, even though the election result is decidedly weird and may or may not be a good thing, we have our first Green MP ever and the BNP didn't gain any seats at all.

Head full of politics

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:10:00 +0000

I'm sorry, there are no doubt many things I could blog about but right now we're a week away from a General Election and the only things I want to mention are the leaders TV debates and #bigotgate on Twitter and the insane leaflet an independent candidate has put through our door, and the fact that every billboard in our area is plastered with Conservative campaigning posters...

Ooh, I'd demonstrate with a picture if I'd managed to take one, but one of the Conservative posters has had a big sticker stuck along the bottom which reads "Paid 4 by a tax dodger", which completely charmed me when I saw it this evening.

All of which means I'm fairly boring to anyone in the UK who's not interested in politics, I'm very boring to everyone not in the UK, and I'm potentially pretty offensive to anyone who doesn't agree with me on immigration and education and benefits and inheritance tax and whether Gordon Brown singlehandedly caused the global recession. So, you know, maybe safer not to blog. I'll just keep Twittering, cos of course there's no potential for causing boredom or offence there, right?

Three things for Tuesday: Good cats, tea sets, honey

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:12:00 +0000

Three things making me happy this Tuesday:

Good cats.

While Xander roams around the house and urinates in inappropriate places (we now have silver foil spread in every corner of the sitting room in an attempt to discourage him, which looks insane), and chases Lucy our established cat, and wails his head off at being confined to a single building, and eats other people's food, Willow quietly eats her own food, and curls up in corners, and goes sweetly to sleep in my lap. And uses the litter tray and only the litter tray, and doesn't chase anybody. I am very fond of Willow.

Pretty tea sets.

Abstract bought me this teapot/teacup set for my birthday, and I have since added to it with the matching sugar bowl and milk jug. Today I used it for drinking rose-flavoured tea which I bought from Betty's Tea Rooms in York.

Crystallised honey.

For some unknown reason, the standard clear honey I buy from Tesco sometimes comes crystallised halfway up the jar. It doesn't melt in tea and coffee quite as quick, but it tastes amazing. Yesterday I had it in a sandwich with white bread and butter, and it was fab.

Herding cats

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:43:00 +0000

After Xander had done some hopeful wailing at the kitchen/conservatory door, we let him and Willow out to explore the kitchen. After which he became very very interested in the kitchen/hall door, so we let them out to explore a bit more of the house.

So then he chased Lucy and sprayed urine on the side of the dark green sofa, which has now been cleaned with a bleach solution to kill the scent and is very slightly, yes you guessed it, bleached.

Obviously we're going to have to let him and Willow have the run of the house one day, but at the moment it's not working out too well. So yesterday Xander was, once again, mostly confined to the kitchen. Poor Xander.

"But I know this thing opened yesterday..."

"Maybe if I put my paw up here and look hopeful..."

Cats love iPads (not mine, sadly)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:26:00 +0000

Oh my goodness, yet another reason why I should have an iPad.

Three things for Tuesday: Editing, Cats, Socks

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:21:00 +0000

Three things making me happy this Tuesday.

Editing again! I've taken on one editing project to cover a Samhain editor's temporary absence for urgent medical treatment, and it's super-fun so far. The book is nice and clean, which makes my job easier, and it's a totally absorbing romantic suspense story - I got to the end of my quota of pages yesterday almost before I realised, and was kind of sad to stop.

Obviously, I'm editing for a reason that I wish didn't exist - although I interact with the Samhain staff mostly only via email and IM, we've been working together such a long time everyone kind of feels like family, and it's awful when one of us has serious health problems. But it's nice to be able to offer something of practical benefit, so I'm very glad I started off editing for Samhain because it's been relatively easy to pick up the threads of doing it again.

Black cats! Xander and Willow are settling in. Xander is very friendly - demands stroking and the other day charmed me by rolling onto his back so I could stroke his tummy. Willow is much quieter, and possibly still recovering from her neutering operation, but we've been honoured by having her curl up on our knees some of the time.

Today we let Xander through into the kitchen for the first time since he wee-ed on Sparkler's PE kit, having taken the precaution of moving said PE kit and putting catfood down in the corners of the room. Apparently this discourages cats from using the corners as litter trays, because they instinctively don't want to soil their food areas. Xander wandered around sniffing everything, climbed on the back of the chair to look out of the window, then went back to his nice safe space of the conservatory.

They've both had upset stomachs, which has led to the most unholy smell coming from the conservatory and permeating the whole of the house. But that seems to be clearing up now, and mopping the floor with a bleach solution has worked wonders for neutralising the smell.

Long socks! I'm tall and I have big feet, both of which factors lead to me getting a sad little cold space of skin in between the top of my socks and the bottom of my leggings. I realised I should fix this when I found myself continually borrowing Abstract's socks, and finding them much, much more satisfactory. So I just damn well went and bought some men's socks for myself. They come nearly up to my knees, they're super-soft, comfortable and draught-proof. Success! And why on earth I waited till I was thirty-seven to do this is anyone's guess.

Two new family members

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:46:00 +0000

Ladies, gentlemen and all blog readers, I'd like you to meet the two latest members of the Howson family: Xander and Willow.

I make no apology for the extreme geekitude of their names, but I do apologise for the quality of this picture. You'll notice a strange green blur, which is the reflection of the camera strap, because this was the first time the cats seemed properly relaxed and I was scared to disturb them so I took the picture through the door of the conservatory.

The conservatory has been set up as Cat Central at the moment, complete with food, litter tray, beds, fleece covering the sofa, catnip sprinkled around, and climbing frame/scratching post/box-with-holes, in which Willow, the very shy girl, instantly took refuge.

They've been with us about six hours so far. They've eaten, drunk, sniffed catnip, Willow has used the litter tray and Xander, on a brief trip into the kitchen, has helpfully made similar use of Sparkler's clean, dry, folded PE kit which was in her PE bag ready for school on Monday. They've also purred in response to attention, very very slightly - it's like they don't know quite know how to react to people.

Lucy, our already established cat, is aghast and appalled. But fortunately, due to Cat Central, she doesn't have to interact with them till she's a bit more used to the idea. And until Xander learns that PE bags are not litter trays.

(Xander making himself comfortable on Abstract's chair. In the bottom left corner you can see the climbing frame/scratching post/box-with-holes in which Willow is hiding.)

Cats

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:52:00 +0000

The day before Christmas Eve, 2009, Abstract and I wrapped our beautiful tabby cat, Panny, in a fleece, and, leaving our daughters in tears waving goodbye at the window, drove him on his last journey to the vet.

At the vet, as the injection took effect and he went limp under our hands, Abstract and I both cried as well.

Panny was about ten years old, and dying of an incurable and unpreventable disease. His mother, Poppy, had been our first cat, and when she had her one litter of kittens Sparkler and I watched them being born, and Sparkler named them as they emerged. Sparkler was nearly three at the time, which is why they ended up named Sammy, Panny, Jessie and Tessie. I told my sister the names over the phone, but she got confused and ended up telling my mother their names were Sammy, Hammy, Hessie and Tessie, which is even odder than their real names. We sold three of the kittens, but we kept Panny because he was the most insane - and therefore most amusing - one.

The day after he died we buried him in the garden, and cried again, and his disrespectful adopted sister, Lucy, came and looked with interest at the freshly turned earth as if she thought it might be a lovely new litter tray.

We talked about getting a new kitten, and so, a few days ago, we went over to our neighbour's house to look at her latest rescue cats. The kittens were gorgeous, as kittens always are: fuzzy and energetic with very round eyes and very little pointy tails. We liked them all, but as I held them none of them seemed like ours. Then we went round to the cat chalet at the back of the house and met a brother and sister, both black, both very sleek and beautiful, eight months old. The boy was very friendly and loved strokes, but the girl cringed when anyone put their hand near her head, and lay quiet and nervous in Sparkler's arms. And when we came home to decide which kitten to go for, we all ended up saying something along the lines of, "The kittens are so cute, but that brother and sister..."

And ten minutes later the girls and I ran across the road to tell our neighbour that, please, we'd have the brother and sister.

They're being neutered this Friday, after which they can come home straight away. So expect sleek black beautiful pictures...and the grand announcement of the names we've been debating for the last two days!

Sisters share

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:14:00 +0000

At church for the Easter service today, Gloworm suddenly rubbed her cheek against her teenage sister's. Asked what she was doing, she said, "Putting makeup on."

Sparkler, I'm glad to say, reacted with a lot more tolerance than I would have, if the Model Auntie (my little sister) had done that to me when I was thirteen.

Three things for Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Three things making me happy this Tuesday:

1. The new "Flat White" coffee at Costa Coffee. Stronger and richer than a latte, but without the bitter edge of a cappuccino - and no irritating froth. Also, they make this beautiful feathery pattern on its surface.

2. Bikini waxes. Okay, so I'm sorry for the TMI, but these are great! My pain threshold has improved with age, apparently, because for years I knew I could never face waxing anything, but I've been going for bikini waxes recently and, while not exactly pleasant, they're perfectly copeable-with. I'm currently growing my leg hair (ugh) in preparation for having that waxed too. And then I will be smooth like silk all over.

3. Afternoon tea at a London hotel. Gloworm and I were in London for the weekend, while Abstract took Sparkler for a longed-for trip to Paris. We had a lovely time, managing to include the Natural History Museum, Hamleys and Harrods. But I think the highlight was afternoon tea at the Knightsbridge Lounge at the Sheraton Park Tower Hotel. We were exhausted and achey from traipsing around shops and museums and standing on tube trains, and to get into this haven of quiet calm, to freshen up with neroli-scented soap in the beautiful cloakroom, and to have a softly spoken waitress bring us tea and a stand of sandwiches, cakes and scones was just blissful. I had traditional tea, and Gloworm branched out and had peppermint, which she loved.

Over in Paris, the other half of our family was eating steaks and Parisian cakes and drinking red wine in pitchers, but, well, I'm sorry to be all English and insular, but I don't think you can beat traditional English afternoon tea in Knightsbridge!

Birthdays and book lists

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:08:00 +0000

Just a few weeks ago I was staring sadly at our bookcase (which covers most of the wall of the sitting room) complaining I had nothing to read.

Since then, though, I had a birthday, and acquired three Georgette Heyers (Friday's Child, The Corinthian and Sylvester). They were finished, obviously, in about as many days, but The Model Auntie then bought me Needful Things by Stephen King. I'm a third of the way through that at the moment. Three dead bodies and no anticipation that'll be the end of them...

I also acquired (oh the joy) print versions of Feral by Joely Skye, Butterfly Tattoo by Deidre Knight, Yorkshire by Lynne Connolly and Hold the Dark by Frank Tuttle, plus ebook versions of Samhain's Impulse Power anthology: Metal Reign by Nathalie Gray, Hearts and Minds by J.C. Haye, and The Mythmakers by Robert Appleton.

So from being totally book-deprived I now have an embarrassment of fiction. Horror, fantasy detective romance, historical mystery romance, contemporary romance, gay werewolf/cougar romance and lots of space opera! I won't need to complain for, ooh, another two weeks if I'm lucky.

As well as all my books (two of the Georgette Heyers were from Sparkler; one was my present to myself), I got dangly red earrings and peacock feather earrings from Gloworm, a super-sharp vegetable peeler/mandoline that could double as a lethal weapon plus a "tea for one" teapot and cup set from Abstract, a whole bunch of glorious Clinique products from my parents, some very cute shortie pyjamas from La Senza that say Sometimes Grumpy, Always Gorgeous on them from The Model Auntie, and two egg pods for poaching eggs from some friends.

Turning thirty-seven is not so bad.

Blogging at Samhain

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:06:00 +0000

Come visit me. I'm blogging over at the Samhain Blog, and there's a picture!

I just bought...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:37:00 +0000

...Love Songs by MG Braden, a short story about music and cupcakes and falling in love. You can buy it too, for just $1.39, from Blade Publishing.

Oh look, it's March!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:43:00 +0000

Well, I did plan to return from my blog hiatus in February, but things didn't quite work out that way. I've been dealing with some health issues (two colds in a ridiculously short space of time, plus an occasionally recurring illness that came back with some fun new twists) and am clawing my way back to normality with the help of a cocktail of drugs. No, no, I exaggerate for effect. I'm only taking one actual prescribed medicine - the rest of the cocktail is vitamins and things. Sparkler looked at me taking them the other day and told me it made me look as if I were either very ill or obsessive. Which, well...let's move swiftly on!

Linked (telepathic twins in space) is pretty much done. I'm working through the second draft now, mostly tying up plot threads, writing extra scenes and (hopefully) neat little segues, and getting my continuity right.

My main project for March, though, is the final 40,000 words on my sequel to Heart of the Volcano, currently titled Blood of the Volcano (yes, it does have a connection to the plot - I'm not just going for random "of the Volcano" titles, although that would be kind of fun). I'd like to get that to my new Samhain editor in May, and hopefully she'll like it enough to contract it. I know I'd enjoy working with her, so if she doesn't like this book I'll have to write lots of others to bombard her with. Ha, the fun life of an editor.

In other news, Sparkler got an A in one of her GCSE science modules, for Physics (Physics!), no less. If she didn't look more like The Model Auntie every day I would wonder if she were really my daughter. She's going to a dance/drama/singing thing every Saturday, and is going to be in a performance of The Wizard of Oz in April, doing, amongst other things, a Jitterbug dance that look like excellent exercise but apparently kills her thigh muscles!

Gloworm is having singing lessons, and enjoying learning music with the help of a secondhand electronic keyboard Abstract picked up for her the other day. Abstract, bless him, is enjoying the keyboard rather a lot too. He last played piano about twenty-five years ago, and is having fun rediscovering his Grade Three pieces.

My more-or-less-monthly meeting with two RNA writer friends has become an official monthly meeting with three RNA writer friends, and we're starting to think about declaring ourselves the RNA Yorkshire Chapter. I think our nickname should be The Yorkshire Puddings (oh come on, what else?) but I'm not sure I really have the full support of the group on that one.

In my free time, I read the first three of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and didn't think much of them. Good premise, but the storylines didn't really work for me, and I found the relationships kind of icky. I also re-read bunches and bunches of Georgette Heyers and loved them very much.

I took the girls to see Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and, again, loved the premise (and some of the special effects) but didn't love the execution, and, with Abstract, continued to watch iTunes downloads of the second season of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, where I love the premise AND the execution AND the characters AND the dialogue. Why can't Joss Whedon write every film?

Oh, and since early January I've become the happy receiver, every week, of an organic vegetable box. Which, due to the clever versatility of the company that delivers it, also sometimes, when I want it to, includes organic beer, bananas, oats and chocolate. This week, cos it's my birthday, it's also going to include organic cider. I've tried an organic box scheme before and it was a terrible failure, but this one is fabulous. And not just cos of the organic chocolate and cider. There will definitely be more blog posts about it in the near future!

Into the cave

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:17:00 +0000

I'm declaring a blog hiatus for the rest of January. I'm a little overwhelmed with...stuff...right now, leading to me being sadly behind schedule on Linked. If my telepathic twins are to see the world I need to go into a writing cave for a while and get their book finished.

I'll be back in February, hopefully with the full 100,000-ish words ready to be edited. And hopefully in a frame of mind where blogging isn't just oh-my-goodness-another-thing-to-do task.

I'll probably still pop up on Twitter, which means updates will appear at the top of the blog, but actual blogging won't resume till February (is it significant that I keep wanting to write "in the spring"? February, as we all know, is not the spring).

Keep warm till then!

Snow days and revised schedules

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:13:00 +0000

Tuesday was supposed to be the last day of the girls' Christmas holiday, and we were planning on going to the January sales.

But the weather gods intervened and instead we went to the local country park and slid down hills on black bin bags, stood under trees and shook mini blizzards of snow down on our heads, took photos of fabulous Narnia-like land, and had hot drinks from the snack stand. Sparkler made snow angels and Gloworm made a huge snowball that she was determined to push all the way home, but it became such hard work that I made her abandon it. She forgave me (I think) eventually.

Poor Abstract had to walk home from the station that evening (two hours through the snow) because the roads were too scary to drive on. Fortunately, with huge foresight and wisdom, he'd worn his walking boots to work that morning, but it wasn't exactly the ideal end to a long day's work.

Another effect of the snow is the delaying of the start of the school term. Weather gods permitting, the girls are due back at school on Monday - a whole extra three days to play in the snow! And, as the roads seem clear now, go to the January sales today.

I planned January to be another NaNo-type month - I need another 50,000 or so words on Linked, my telepathic twins in space book - but the holidays going on longer than planned has totally thrown my schedule out. I'm already juggling work/housework/doing stuff with the girls and writing has slid to low priority. I'm going to have to put it off until they go back on Monday, and start afresh then, writing a week into February rather than finishing by the end of January.

In the meantime I think I'll take the Snowflake Method treatment to one of my other WIPs, Blood of the Volcano, and get the plot sorted out for when I return to writing that in February.

Egg Nog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:54:00 +0000

This is a recipe I sort of made up from a recipe someone gave me and another recipe in a magazine.

2 eggs
8 fluid ounces of milk
4 fluid ounces of cream
1 oz of caster sugar
a generous grating of nutmeg
a little splish of vanilla extract

Put in jug and whiz with hand blender or beat hard with hand whisk until all ingredients are blended.

This is nice served chilled by itself, or added to black coffee in place of milk or cream, or put in a mug with a shot of espresso and heated in the microwave to make an egg nog latte. I had it in black coffee earlier and it tasted like a liqueur coffee but still left me safe to drive to the local crib service. Which seems like success to me, I have to say.

If you prefer it unsweetened you can leave out the sugar. If you want it alcoholic you could add a shot of brandy or spiced rum.

Happy Christmas!

Drollerie Blog Tour: Nora Fleischer on Dangerous Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:34:00 +0000

Please welcome Nora Fleischer to the blog today! She's blogging about this month's Drollerie Press Blog Tour topic: Dangerous Writing.

Being Dangerous, or "Write your Weird"

The tricky part about writing paranormal romance: every time you try to explain it to someone who hasn't read the book, it sounds ridiculous.

"See, he's a merman, and she's a graduate student studying the merfolk as mythological creatures, and she doesn't know he's a merman..."

Paranormal romance requires complete confidence and assurance in its tone, or it falls to pieces.

"Doesn't she notice the tail?"

It requires characters who are so engaging and likeable that you are willing to ignore the big blinking sign: THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!

"He doesn't have one unless he's in water."

Even non-human characters should have human needs: love, a use for their talents, and hope for the future. And since this is a romance, a nice healthy sex drive.

"But why doesn't he tell her?"

"Because he's ashamed he's a merman."

And what does the reader get? The pleasure of knowing that in a romance novel, every deserving character gets a happily ever after.

"Poor guy."

Even if your hero has fins.

Find out more about Nora at Drollerie Press.

Or for your next stop on the blog tour, please visit Nora's blog where she's hosting Sarah Avery.

Small pleasures

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:38:00 +0000

It's the last day of term, the girls get out of school early so we're going to our local upmarket farm shop to do some Christmas shopping, there's a sprinkling of snow (lying! settling! please snow more!), and my inbox is down to just four emails, one of which is about a case-of-wine offer and one of which is about Nestle (!) making Kit Kats fair trade.

I would say this counts as worthy of celebration.

On the negative side, we've run out of milk so I just had to have my doing-the-submissions-spreadsheet coffee with leftover eggnog that Sparkler made yesterday. Oh, wait, that wasn't a negative.