Cold feet.............

Well, that was May then............

I've not posted much in the last week or so because my head wasn't in a great place, but then it never is at this time of year.  Normally I try to find something to distract myself with, but this year I wasn't as successful so got a bit down, particularly not helped by the fact my work colleague bought her baby into work to show off yesterday......*sigh* just the wrong day for it completely.  As my counsellor has been telling me, look forward, not back, breathe and move on.........

This weekend I am going to have to be social... one of my oldest and closest friends is having a birthday party ...... okay so her birthday was back in April but it's her aunt's birthday next week and they are having a combined do as between them they are 100 years old.  It's open house, with wine tasting (which I won't be doing) and a bbq, there is even some live music in the evening.

Trouble is, I really actually don't want to go.... which sounds terrible....... now if it was just a weekend away with my friend then this would be fine..... but, her family treat her (and me by extension) as though we are still teenagers....... even her younger sister does this, we think it's because she's married with children and a teacher to boot she seems to think it's appropriate to talk down to us.... but I have an even bigger problem.......... there are going to be people there that I haven't spoken with for about 10 years.... people who were formally quite close friends.... and people who the ex carefully segregated me from, who she used rather under hand means to keep them away from me and who I really don't feel up to facing and being sociable with.

I am sure that I am probably being over dramatic about this, but the whole idea of going over there is making me feel a bit sick this evening.  I've managed to use the critters as an excuse not to stay over, I am driving over during the day and staying for a few hours before coming back home.... I did contemplate phoning up tomorrow and telling her the car had broken down and I couldn't make it, but that wouldn't be fair... Part of me just wants to crawl under the duvet and hide..... but this is one of my closest and oldest friends, and one of the only people who stuck by me all through the crap the ex put me through and didn't believe a word of the lies she spread.

Gah, it's at times like this I want someone there to be able to go with me and back me up, or just to give me a hug and tell me it will be fine.

May's reading material.........

Noo! Not more books!!

So, I know it's not the end of May till tomorrow (though serious consideration has been given to cancelling the day on the grounds that no one seems to like it) and I don't think I am going to finish another book before then so, the books I read in May

Tough to pick a favourite this month as there were a number I really liked.... If pushed I'd probably go for Fire Horse with Dirty Laundry, Soul Magic, The Fight for Identity and Off: Stage Right in close contention

1. Dirty Laundry – Rhys Ford – this is the third book in the series and happily its getting stronger as it goes on – I think because it focuses on the same main characters throughout rather than trying to make every character that stumbles in the MC of their own story.

2. Armed & Dangerous – Abigail Roux (r)
3. Stars & Stripes – Abigail Roux (r)
4. Mind Magic – Poppy Dennison (r)
5. Body Magic – Poppy Dennison (r)
6. Altered Heart –Kate Steele (r)
7. Screw the Fags – Josephine Myles – very nice short follow up to Screwing the System

8. The Naughty Boy – Lisa Henry & J. A. Rock – a sort of side story to The Good Boy focusing on one of the lesser characters but very well done.

9. The Last Chance Ranch – D.G. Parker
10. Snap – Allen Renfro – This was my “pick it for me” book – it’s not a romance, it’s a twisty darkly psychological ride in a very disturbed mind.  It’s a very good book but it’s a difficult read and I am not sure I actually enjoyed reading it.

11. A Wild Ride – Andrew Grey
12. Be My Alien – M.A. Church & Julie Lynn Hayes
13. The Fight for Identity – Andrew Grey – 3^rd in the series, and though not as good as the 1^st definitely better than the 2^nd.

14. A Road Not Taken – Jennifer Thorne
15. Fire Horse – Mickie B. Ahsling – This author is fast becoming one of my favourites.  Really liked this story of an injured polo player which starts in the present day but then gives the back story of how he got where he is.

16. Kestrel’s Chance – Harper Fox
17. Bolt Hole – Amy Lane
18. Finding Shelter – M.J. O’Shea – unfortunately, like the previous book in this series, this did just seem formulaic and in places unbelievable, a series where again minor characters really didn’t need to have their own book

19. Good to Know – D.W. Marchwell
20. Off: Stage Right – Jamie Samms – This was a very well written story which really had four main characters splitting into 2 couples.  Though one couple was the main focus of the story the other played an important part.  I would have liked to see more of the development of the second couple and wonder if there will be another story with them.

21. Soul Magic – Poppy Dennison – really good final book in this shifter/mage/vampire trilogy.  These three books will definitely be read again.

22. The Tin Star – J. L. Langley (r)
23. The Broken H – J. L. Langley (r)
24. A Purrfect Match – Chris T. Katt
25. Who moved my holepunch – Anne Brooke
26. Until Forever Comes – Cardeno C.
27. Good Bones – Kim Fielding (r)
28. Buried Bones – Kim Fielding – I am enjoying this series of shifter books, probably because there is very little in them about the shifter law and packs
29. Caged in Myth – J. T. Fairfield (YA)

I am not counting in this list the four LHNB stories that I've read .... though they go towards my Goodreads book count, whereas the re-reads don't so it helps even things out!

Long Weekend Witterings........

Hurrah, for it is a long weekend.... and for me longer than most as I decided that I deserved to take Friday afternoon off work too.... mind you, there is something that feels decidedly naughty about skipping out the office at midday whilst everyone around you is still working, it isn't even as though you can walk out in company as lunch in our office is 1 - 2 pm.

Anyway, going back slightly, on Friday morning when I got up to walk the dogs I noticed that my edits had landed for my LNHB story...... cool, I could look at those later I thought...... then I decided to have a sneak peak before work......... and wished I hadn't....... anyway to cut a long story short..... I am an English person, writing in English, a story set in England.... so nope, I'm not changing my spelling, phrasing or colloquialisms .... and the suggestion that a more worldwide audience wouldn't understand certain things, really? So why do so many UK based authors have worldwide sales when they use British English??

I was a little irate when I first read through the suggested changes... but thankfully vented in the right place and got some very good advice about how to deal with it.  The first edits were done Friday and I finished them Saturday morning and send the file back........ fingers crossed it will be passed to formatting without needing further tweaking.  I don't know when it will be out yet, but I am less anxious about that this year than I was last.

At some point I have to write a blurb type summary thing to put up - yeah, am about as good at making those up as I am at thinking of titles......

The rest of yesterday was very chilled out - with a side order of housework which unfortunately always needs doing.  I have also, hopefully, located a gardener.  I am arranging for them to come round and quote for a complete hatchet job on the wildflower meadow I've been cultivating and then for a weekly/fortnightly maintenance visit.

Today is a "Family" day.... my mother is matriarch and family elder of one side of our family and we are meeting up for lunch with them for lunch........ which I am sure will be lovely. It's my sister's partner's first meeting with them and, bless him, he's really shy and getting nervous already about it.  I have been made to promise not to tease him.  Other than that there will be baby worshiping (joy, so not the right time of year for that for me!) and entertaining the 4 year old.  I am just hoping that all that is enough to keep my rather ditzy aunt off the subject of when am I going to find someone and settle down - before now I'd had the excuse of my sister also being unattached...  There are so many comments I could make about it, but I am already under strict instructions not to wind the relatives up.......

Tomorrow looks like being a good day for putting up the other bookshelf I got from my sister - she finally gave me the bolting together things yesterday.... with luck Hugo won't have completely wrecked the thin plywood bits that i have to nail on the back of the shelves before them, cos the damn cat keeps using them as a scratching post.

Right, time to go pick some tunes to play in the car on the way down........... I wonder what I can force the rest of the family to listen too  (well, my car, i'm driving, my tunes!)

Is it rabbit hunting season yet??

Okay, well the good news to start with - when I got into work this morning I managed, before IT got themselves organised to look at my plea to fix whatever went wrong when yesterday, to find the back up from the last save I did on the file and consequently only lost around 3 hours work.... which I managed to catch up and re-input this morning..........

Rupert the Plot Bunny
Okay, yes, in my imagination this is what he looks like
and those ears are made to be story idea receivers!

So, I pottered through the rest of my day, occasionally flipping on and off line to talk to my imaginary friends
when the subject came up of "what bad things would happen should the Lexan disappear or get destroyed"... which lead on to the fact that the Lexan, like the cockroach, would survive nuclear disaster and will be handed down from Top to Top for generations to come.

This of course lead to the fleeting thought of .... what happens to a Top's playroom and equipment when they pass away.... and the shocked elderly solicitor having to hand over a paddle or other instrument as a bequest...........

Then of course Rupert got involved and suggested a lovely little plot........ well little is an understatement as before I knew it I'd typed out a brief summary!  Though I had to stop there as it was a YA thread, and my musings were in danger of sending me into non YA territory at a rate of knots.

My imaginary friends aided and abetted the damn bunny..... even resorting to bribery!

So just when I have it decided that I am writing my F/F historical about Enid and Phoebe during WWII it appears that at the same time I am writing a D/s story about a young probate solicitor who has been charged with dealing with the estate of Miss Harriet after she suddenly passes away  - which results in him falling into the world of D/s relationships ..........

I have suggested my imaginary friends should find me nice pictures for potential characters - Jamie, the solicitor, Miss Harriet (okay, yes she's deceased, but I am going to be in her house rather a lot to start with, and other members of the local scene, including a potential other half for Jamie....... even if the story doesn't get written... though from the clamour the mini plot I posted got I think that I will be pressed to write this one... at least I will have some nice pictures to look at ;)

In the meantime........ I may declare it open season on rabbits before Rupert gets any more ideas............

In which I am unimpressed.............

Grrrrrrrrr!!!

This would be me at about five to home time this evening.  After working on a file for the last four days, I clicked to save the work before turning off my computer and as the programme closed down something felt "wrong"...

Yep, when I double checked, it had not only lost the 5 hours of work I'd done on the file today......... but it had lost every sodding back up, saved version and in fact all trace of the damn thing from the system.

I have done nearly 40 hours work on this file......... I am going to have to do it all again

I am not impressed ... there has been swearing, foot stomping and shortly there will probably be vodka.......

Well, that wasn't too bad as far as weekends go...

I did quite a lot of baking and organising of meals for next week, I did some knitting, some reading and a tiny bit of cleaning (couldn't find the enthusiasm for that!)

Erm, I might also have blown the kettle up........ but that wasn't a planned event.  It just kind of went "pop", "pop", "bang".... and then smelt of burning......... I wasn't even near it at the time....... okay so I might just have put it back on the stand before it happened, but really, it wasn't anything to do with me...... I almost had my longest ever relationship with that kettle...it had been with me for over a year, which is kind of a record.

I also realised that I should never, ever, be allowed to do the online grocery shop at midnight or thereabouts, whilst I am on a buzz from a night out........... this would be the reason for doing lots of baking and trying to sort out meals for next week... who ever filled my order at the shop probably has me down as a complete weirdo now!

I also did a lot of research for the story I want to write.... my mum let me interview her and a couple of her friends who she'd talked to about what I was doing agreed to be interviewed too (and they know the story will be F/F and will possibly contain some explicit material but this didn't phase them).   Mum also did some other research for me and handed me a stack of books to use as well.  I spent a good few hours doing more research later on.

I have main characters, I have a setting, I have a time period..... now I just need to write..........I am setting myself a goal of 5000 words a week.  Which should be manageable and not to overwhelming.  I'd like to have most of the story written or plotted by the time I go to the UK GLBT Meet in July - though I know this is only 6 weeks away.... that said, for once I don't have that feeling of "I can't do this" which normally stops me from writing before I start......

Talking of the UK Meet .... I finally did my intro piece for the Meet the Delegates section of the blog... it should go up on Thursday.......

I think I shall curl up in the corner of the sofa this evening and relax.........

Late night round up post.........

Okay, so I am seriously breaking all the rules of pumpkin time by being (a) still up and not in the least attempting to go to bed - particularly on a "school" night and (b) being on the computer at this time of night.........  but hey, sometimes, you just kind of have to break the rules *grins*

Anyway, the reason for this first........ am way too wired to go to bed right now...... I've been out this evening with one of my work colleagues to the National Theatre Live screening of This House (which is a kind of political drama revolving around the events in parliament from 1974 to 1979). It was hysterically funny but at the same time because you know these events really happened rather poignant at the same time.... the actually story is very well told and there were some fantastic performances.

I got home about half an hour ago and have since sorted the dogs out and am currently making myself drink a mug of hot chocolate in the hope that the buzz I am on at the moment goes down before I crash big time.... I have a sneaking suspicion that I am this wired as I am stupidly over tired past the point of wanting to go to sleep.

Hmmmm....I want a cookie with this hot chocolate, but I appear to have nothing remotely sweet in the house.... oh no hang on.... I am sure there is some chocolate in the fridge..........

Found some..........

So what else has been going on in the mad world that I inhabit...... well today at work was "Appraisal Day".... which the team secretary accidentally told me the date and time for over two weeks ago (I wasn't meant to be told in advance).... anyway, because of this I'd managed, unsurprisingly, to completely wind myself up.  I mean, I've worked for this company for nearly five years now and although I've been through the process every year I am still haunted by the ghosts of appraisals past when I worked for some, well shall we say, firms that weren't so good about looking after their staff.

Appraisals for the first ten years or so of my working life were excuses for my bosses to rip me to shreds about every single thing they could think of, point out your shortcomings, set completely unreasonable targets and crush any hopes of advancement.  I know this firm is different, but still, every single bloody year I get myself into a complete and utter tizz about it......... there might have been a minor melt down last night, only I was going to a friends house for dinner but when I got there she took one look at me and took me out for a meal where I had to hold it together and not think about it.

The appraisal itself took all of 20 minutes, I met every objective last year, made targets - both financial and time, obtained my professional qualification and had positive feed back from my clients.......... okay so yes, I made a mountain out of molehill yet again..... at least it's over for this year!

Other than that, I have picked a story to start on - after a chance comment to my mother about the F/F story resulted in her taking a trip down memory lane to her time when she was evacuated during the war to Lancashire.  She has photographs, and some reference books and even though she was only five at the time some rather strong memories.  I am interviewing my own mother on Saturday........ and then interviewing a couple of her friends who were in the area at the same time and are a little older than she is.  I've quite a bit of proper research to do for the factual background but at least nothing that can get me arrested this time!

I haven't heard back from the editing team yet about my LHNB story......... oh Goddess I hope there isn't too much to correct!

I am trying desperately to do an "about me" post - which involves answering 5 questions - for the UK GLBTQ meeting in July..... but I either sound very boring or completely insane......... not sure which one to go with on that.........

Okay, I really really ought to think about going to bed.... even though they are still up too I am guessing the dogs will still go off just before 5 am and demand attention........ and I have to get through work tomorrow (though big boss and team leader won't be in the office... tra la la....) ... and I can't sleep in Saturday as I have two parcels at the post office which I have to get before 8 am....

I really am waffling aren't I.... okay, time to shut up, try to calm down, and possibly even get some sleep... maybe.... soon.... honest....

Writing, wibbling and what next....

One other thing I did yesterday was to run through the final edits of my LHNB story .....my beta reader's are lovely wonderful people .... and one is from henceforth going to be known as the queen of punctuation.....Anyway, all them assure me that the story is good.......... though one does think that Roger the cat should have had a bigger role, and a percentage of any profits I ever make from any writings in future....... I feel she may be applying to be Roger's agent.... I didn't want to break it to her that he was fictional.  

Then after much wibbling... well me having put the e-mail together and attached the document, then letting my finger hover over the send button... I submitted it........ early... well, 3 days before the deadline is early for me.  I now just have to wait for the editing/proofing team to come back to me with queries, comments, and "what the hell is this" comments...

Now normally when I've finished writing something that's it, done finished, and for a while ... sometimes a very long while indeed... I don't want to write anything else...... Which meant it came as rather a surprise yesterday evening, having read for quite a lot of the day, that when I contemplated doing something different I didn't actually want to go through to the lounge with my knitting and chill out in front of the TV... no instead I wanted to write some more... I mean.. what!!

Now Rupert (plot bunny from hell and all round pain in the arse) bless him, his little grey ears pricked up at that and automatically ran through the list of potential stories that he's carefully filed in the various sections of my brain.... There are two adult M/M - one fantasy, one contemporary crime, an adult F/F historical, 2 YA LGBT stories - one a result of the short from April I did, the other involving a comment from my sister that she wondered if her cat (who isn't fat, she has a small head........ and hasn't been given the nick name Samosa because's currently triangular in shape) could have a staring roll as a shifter (her human counterpart also being somewhat larger than average).....and then there is rather a lot of pressure from certain quarters for me to get on with the 2nd book in the YA mainstream series I am writing......

After some argument with the bunny......... really, it wasn't worth it I don't know why I didn't let him just pick for me........ it was between three for now...... the contemporary crime (which needs research), the YA about my sister's cat, and the F/F historical.... which is based upon an old family story about one of my great aunts during the war........ 

Now I never thought much about writing adult F/F before - I mean, it's a big close to home... and well, people might think I actually do or have done some of the things I might write about...... but this one is really kind of grabbing me at the moment........ I need to do some general research and dig a bit into the family side of things, but I think that might be the first thing I do.... maybe... unless Rupert has other ideas and thumps his bloody great big bunny feet down..........

See if it wasn't bad enough, my physical life is run by the dogs and cats, and now my brain is at least partially controlled by a rabbit....... whatever next..........

Sometimes it's best to be graceful about things....

Right about now I should be at my mother's house, enjoying a Sunday evening meal with her, my sister and my sister's partner......... I'm not though, I'm at home waiting for the water to boil so I can cook myself some pasta.

The reason for this is because sometimes it's just better, certainly where family are involved, to admit that staying away is the better option..... My sister and her partner have been moving him into her house this weekend... which is to say last week on top of them both working full time they finished rearranging, cleaning and decorating the study and attic room in her house - the study is to become the guest bedroom and the attic her partner's home office - although he works as a librarian in his spare time he's a racing/equine journalist.... then yesterday they hired a van and did the heavy moving out of his flat.  Today they've unpacked the van and organised the house.

Now part of this meant me inheriting a book case - hurrah - you can never have too many book cases, well, I can't anyway.... at about midday I was told I'd inherited two book cases if I wanted as the one they were going to put in the attic was too tall.  Okay, good, more bookcases, yay!

When they dropped them around they were both snappy and obviously tired.  They took upstairs the made up bookcase but left the other at the bottom of the stairs (it's flat pack) for me to take up and set up (though they forgot to bring the bits and pieces to enable me to do this!).

I mentioned that I'd see them later for tea....... to which my sister snapped rather stroppily "You're coming?" which rather pissed me off, as it was said in a "what right have you to come, mum's cooking for us" kind of way.  Now I know that's not true, but I didn't say anything.   When they'd gone I phoned mum and told her I wasn't coming because my sister was obviously overtired and if I went we'd probably end up bickering all through the meal at each other - I love my sister dearly but we can seriously get on each other's nerves and wind each other up on occasion.

I hope they are all enjoying their meal........ I've been productive in the meantime.... Hugo and I have put the book case in place and filled it with my children's books.... Hugo made a very good book end at times... I think he sat on every shelf as I was doing it..... I just wish he didn't have to jump on and off my shoulder because that got quite painful after a while......... I suspect it's part of the revenge for me terrorising him and Gina by hoovering upstairs earlier on!

Little things........a round up post....

Well my LHNB story is finished.... and has gone off to my kind and wonderful beta readers who volunteered to read for me and comment (and in the case of my friend and non m/m reading beta reader - she's open minded, she can do smut, she once had a chastity cat - to get the highlighters out and turn it into a hallucinagenic rainbow with snarky comments - though I have assured her this year, there are no comparisons to vegetables this year).

I am having a night off from the story tonight and heading out for a well deserved break from the computer!

Which translates as.... I'm off to my mother's to use the washing machine......... which brings me to Hugo the Evil Naked Cat's latest bad behaviour..... When I was sorting out the laundry tonight he was watching me closely, giving me that "there is a cat staring at me, oh Goddess what's it going to do now"......... to discover that in fact it wasn't what he wanted to do, it was what he'd done....... the little sod had pee'd in the laundry basket!  So now I've have to wash absolutely everything tonight.  When I told him I wasn't impressed he just looked at me with that "yes and" expression, flicked his tail, headed to his food bowl and cried........... git.........

I decided to have a couple of crackers with cheese before I went out as my lunch had been uninspiring enough to end up in the bin......... okay, word of advice....... if you decide to sneak a little corner of cheese off the block, don't eat it from the sharp side of the small sharp knife.......... cuts on the tongue hurt like hell and don't stop bleeding for ages.......... ahem.... yes, well, you learn by experience apparently........

For a short week this one appears to have gone on for quite a while.... work is completely dead at present, well there is plenty of work to do, but no fraught e-mails and phone calls making unreasonable demands... I even got a thank you e-mail... I nearly fell of the chair!  Anyway, roll on 5 pm tomorrow and the weekend....... when I have a new book case being delivered..... well I say new, my sister is rearranging the entire house for the other half to move in (which also happens this weekend) and I inherited a new bookshelf... Hopefully the children's books will get a much shelf that the cats can't throw the books off!

More neurotic wittering.......

If I had to do it by hand we'd be here till next year....

I am still writing........... there is now less than a week to go before the submission deadline for the Love Has
No Boundries story and I am not finished!

I think I am starting to drive my wonderful support group to distraction with my rather disjointed paranoid mumbling about it.... but they are to nice and supportive to admit this.

The story itself went over 15,000 words this evening........ and the final couple of paragraphs are done.  I actually only have probably another 2000 words to get it to the end (it will be very slightly longer than last years effort).

I have some very generous victims, I mean volunteers, who have agreed to beta read for me.... brave and wonderful souls!  Hopefully the weekend will see the final edits and I can turn it in at the 11th hour, just making the deadline....... which is kind of par for the course for me!

I have to admit, unlike last year where the characters came easily, this year has been more difficult.  I don't know whether that is because this is the first attempt I've made at a contemporary piece.  My YA playground is usually fantasy - well fantasy ish anyway, and I love writing historical pieces - mainly because I get to do research first and build myself a world from that.

Having said that, as the story has gone on I've become very fond of my characters and their fight for a happy ending .... I'm quite amused that in the snippets I posted I've been accused of creating angst.... yeah, me! angst!! Who knew I could do it!

There has been some research involved in the writing - I've learnt about five aside football, how to treat a dislocated shoulder and the role of a banksman.......

Welcome to the "hypothetical basement".....

it's a small peaceful room you will find adjacent to the gutters... no amount of bleach, polish and a feather duster will make it completely clean... but hey, no spiders..... 

The "hypothetical basement" came about this morning as my sister was telling me how her own basement (a real one under the house) was now sparkly clean, dry and ready to have her other half's extra stuff placed in it when he moves in next week........... Now when I suggested that if I had a basement it would be just a sparkly clean, she laughed!

Now admittedly the conversation just before this had centred on my writing, and specifically my LHNB story  which she had been helping me with by answering stupid questions like... what is my character's cat called? and what is the name of the Italian restaurant they are eating at?  She knows there is some smut involved, but chooses not to get involved in that.

However, for some reason she found it hysterically funny that I've had to work through my "no sex, I'm British" moment over the last few days....... Now I can talk smut, personal preferences and just about any form of kink to my friends (overshare? never! no such thing!!) ... but I was having some problems putting it in writing.......... last year my LiAW story prompter asked for story, not sex, and if there was non graphic or fade to black was fine.  Normally if I am writing I write YA.  This year though my prompter had specifically said the climax of the story shouldn't be the sex scene...... which meant there had to be some action during the story......

It just didn't seem right to be writing these things during the hours of daylight.......... smutty scenes are written at night, in the dark, with the curtains shut so the neighbours can't see......... Well that was Thursday.........since when I seem to have overcome my natural inclinations and embraced the smutty side.......so when I had finished telling my sister, she decreed that I whilst my body might be sitting in the kitchen writing, my mind was obviously lurking in the hypothetical basement where it's never quite completely clean .... I'm just wondering if I wander around my basement I'll discover the link to the wine cellar.........

Erm, well... ouch....

Okay, so, as anyone that has read this blog knows, I am a little accident prone......... and sometimes this combines with me being a little stupid.....

So anyway, you'll remember last weekend I posted about the large mixing bowl smashing into a million pieces on the kitchen floor yes?  Well, given the dogs are in the kitchen most of the time, as am I when I am home, I carefully swept the floor and then mopped it so no one would get cut paws (okay, feet in my case, I really don't have paws.. honest).  

So, almost a week passes without incident and then yesterday morning as I was pottering around I felt a sharp pain in the sole of my foot (yes, I know, I'm meant to have socks or slippers on, but it was early and I hadn't got round to it yet)..... I carefully brushed off the bottom of my foot and a teeny, tiny flake of glass came off in my hand.  Okay, cool no problem.  I carried on as usual, pottering about the kitchen, reading and suchlike (yes, I'm strange, I live in my kitchen most of the time...).  A short while later I went and let the dogs out into the run, in preparation for going upstairs and getting ready to go out, turned around, and noticed there was a trail of blood all across the kitchen floor.

Cue panic checking over of the dogs... all their paws were inspected, all the girls bits (although everyone finished seasons fairly recently).... not a thing, but there was definitely fresh, wet blood on the floor coming from somewhere.  I followed the dogs around for a bit........... then realised that in fact the blood was coming from the bottom of my foot....... oops......I'd obviously cut it when I stepped on the glass earlier.  So I cleaned up both my foot and the floor, got the bleeding to stop and put a plaster on.

It was a bit painful to walk on, but hey, it was cut, this was normal right.... well in my mind anyway.... so roll on about 24 hours to this morning.  My foot is still painful to walk on, but the tiny cut there was as healed, so it must be just sore.... well no.... I wondered off and had my shower and got dressed, to the point of putting on my socks......... when I dried the bottom of my foot and realised there was something sticking out...... so i pulled.......

Well it was a hell of a lot more painful coming out than going in........ a piece of glass, thin, but about 1/2 a cm long........ and I sliced my finger tip pulling it out........ the foot is now covered in antiseptic cream and a very large padded plaster..... the glass is safely in the bin and the kitchen floor has been re-swept and washed again.......... and we won't be mentioning to anyone outside of this blog that I am a muppet and should be more careful now will we.....

Spring Sunshine ...

Apple blossom & blue skies

I seem to have picked a good couple of days to have off work and relax.... well I say relax, the idea is to write like I am possessed..... not sure what I am possessed by, but just, yeah, generally possessed....

Very funky looking tulips

Anyway, today I had to nip out to have lunch with friends... such hardship... and on the way back my knitting and I stopped off at the park to sit on a bench in the sunshine and find inspiration.... as you do.... since then though I've come back and managed to get on with a fair bit of writing.

I've also banned myself from buying or reading any new books till my story is finished......which had better be before Monday as I have a basket full of books I want from the first part of the Dreamspinner sale..... and I am sure from a lot of the other parts too....

Pretty purple flowers

Tomorrow there will be nothing to do except writing........ well that's the plan, I am sure that I shall probably find some other things to do when I should be writing.  I've posted another snippet and am hoping for some feedback... though it appears I may have got the concept of angst.... it turns out I like torturing my characters and this is in fact angst... who knew!

Daisies in the old chimney

I took a few photographs whilst I was out and about which seem to prove that spring has made it to this part of the world ..... though I can tell by the state of my own lawn, which is suffering defeat in the war against the dandelions.......I know I joke that I am creating my own wildflower meadow, but really I have to find a gardener at some point to come sort it out!