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Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Three things for Tuesday
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!
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| Sunday, March 14, 2010
Birthdays and book lists
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.
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| Friday, March 12, 2010
Blogging at Samhain
Come visit me. I'm blogging over at the Samhain Blog, and there's a picture!
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| Tuesday, March 02, 2010
I just bought...
...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.
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| Monday, March 01, 2010
Oh look, it's March!
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!
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Scented Danger
a Red Riding Hood Anthology story
from Drollerie Press
Within the Darkness
Blood of the Volcano
Shadow-Weaver
A Cloak of Feathers
Linked
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