Sunshine, storms and stories...... or what I read in July....

So, that was July........ a month in which the UK had some unusually good weather with record temperatures over more than a couple of days - so of course we all moaned that it was too hot........ then there were storms......... and, well, yeah, there is still a lot of heavy rain around... which feels much more like the UK summer we are used to!

So whether hiding from the heat or the downpours, there were books read.... Again I am still reading the LHNB stories, but not counting them on here if they are under novella length (which I have decreed is 30,000 words)  That said, some of these stories have been excellent (okay, some haven't, but hey, these are freebies, done by a mixture of new and established authors and kudos to all for taking part).

My favourite this month probably goes to Rick Reed's Caregiver - which I had on the Kindle for ages before I took the plunge to read it - yep, it deals with difficult subjects, doesn't shy away from how terrible the early 1990's were for those with HIV but was overall hopeful, particularly as you read with one eye on your own memories and one eye on the progress we've made since in dealing with the disease.

My biggest let down this month was probably Forever Promised, the last in the Promises series by Amy Lane.  I'd read the first, then got the third in a challenge so read the second as well, all good, okay, there was character torture above what was truly necessary but hey, that was expected.  Then there was the final book...... and yeah.... it was what the author wanted, whether it was needed is another question.  I did find however that by the fourth book I was playing "spot the author" (and or her family) in the characters in the book... I think I found one in every story..........

1. Keeping Promise Rock – Amy Lane (r)
2. Making Promises – Amy Lane
3. Living Promises – Amy Lane
4. Born This Way – Poppy Dennison - cute and different shifter story, but nothing earth shattering

5. Needing You – Alicia Nordwell (LHNB, novella length)
6. The Song – Eric Alan Westfall (LHNB, novella length)
7. Bound by Law – S. E. Jakes
8. Private Eye – S. E. Culpepper - this was my Pick It For Me book this month - really nice read and I will be picking up the rest of the series

9. Fifteen Shades of Gay (for pay) – T. Baggins - very nice well written story with a lot of humour running through it

10. Lionheart – Sharon K Penman (historical) - this author is one of my favourites and has been since my mother took me to a bookshop before going on holiday and instructed me to find the biggest book I could in the shop.... the writing is really nice and the historical facts particularly accurate, plus she writes her historical women as women who did things, not women who were floating around in the edges of society.

11. A Midwinter Prince – Harper Fox
12. Shadows in the Night – M. A. Church
13. Forever Promised – Amy Lane
14. Sacred Hearts – Dev Bentham - I enjoyed this one, but the blurb was misleading as it makes a big point of the MC's alcoholism, which in the end is a tiny teeny part of the whole story and not really that important in the overall scheme of things

15. Caregiver – Rick R Reed
16. Ties that bind – S. E. Jakes
17. Three wrong turns in the desert – Neil Plackay - I tried to read this a couple of months back and failed, I just wasn't in the mood, but this time something clicked.  I like "mainstream" action/adventure type stories and this the same type of thing but with an M/M twist.

18. Without Reservations – J.L. Langley (r)
19. With Caution – J.L. Langley (r)
20. With Abandon – J.L. Langley (r)
21. Hitched – Sean Michael - guilty pleasure :)  but a nice short with the original characters

22. Closure – S. H. Allen (LHNB, novel length +50k words)
23. The Gentleman’s Keeper – Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon
hummmm, only 23... yeah, but there was a weekend away, and a weekend with visitors.... I am sure that the reading rate will be back up to usual next month..... which is August...... and I am still wondering how... cos I am sure five minutes ago it was only Easter!

Some days...

things are out to get you..... well me anyway.....

I went back to work this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find only 2 phone messages, 25 e-mails and no post after my 3 days off........ however, I had to jump straight back in and draft a document that has to be served on a Court deadline by Wednesday.... after which I'm afraid to say my work ethic and motivation both left me.   I managed a bit more work but was hardly a model employee.... and there was serious clock watching from about 2 pm onwards...

Roll on to home time and I get home to discover I forgot to get the dogs dinner out the freezer.. now it's in my freezer not theirs and after it semi defrosted and then froze again it was absolutely rock solid ... I ended up smashing the bag of beef bits on the concrete outside until enough broke off to feed them ... okay, not as bad as having to jump up and down on the frozen ribcage of a sheep which is what happened last time I forgot to defrost their food, but still....

I was organised and cooked something sensible for tea (pasta) and made lunch for tomorrow...... then went to wash up....... and was viciously attacked by one of my sharp knives which had been lurking unseen under the bubbles in the washing up bowl..... I maintain this is what happened, I didn't just grab a handful of cutlery without looking.. anyway..... the cut isn't that deep along the bottom of my index finger, but it does sting quite a lot....

Unfortunately then the kettle decided to join in and as I went to open the back door to let the dogs out I put my hand on a puddle of water on the work top... which I didn't realise the base unit to the kettle was also sitting in....whilst plugged in.... and with the power on ... I "jumped" a fair distance across the kitchen.... and tripped the fuses on the kitchen circuit. which set the house alarm off........ thankfully the kettle isn't broken though.

I am now sitting carefully out the way of any kitchen equipment for the rest of the evening just in case........

It's oh so quiet........

So, this evening, shortly after Grand Prix watching and tea, my visitors clambered into their car and headed back up north of the border (they'll get in around 2 am - but it's easier this way as the baby will at least sleep in the car for most of the time).....

This means, my house now feels extremely empty and quiet.  I've got the radio on, but the critters are all absolutely shattered so the usual background noise is missing, as well as the noise from the visitors - well the baby anyway.

This shouldn't be a problem, after all it's approaching five years since I lived with someone else, but this evening I am feeling very flat and lonely.  I really enjoyed having these visitors to stay - not least because it's like having family as they don't expect to be entertained or have their time planned out to do things, their idea of a holiday is to relax, chill out and not have to do anything but be lazy.

I am sure the normality (ha!) of my life and house will return shortly, but just for now, I am feeling like I really want someone here all the time............. which I will probably get over quite quickly, but still.......

Beware the streaking woman........

Thus spake my guest to her daughter from the depths of the bed in the spare room this morning as she heard the bathroom door open ..... and both put their e-reader/tablets up over their eyes to avoid the sight of me racing down the hallway post shower to my own room...... the baby didn't object... but then at 3 months old I don't think strange naked people bother her.  This is the trouble with usually living on your own... little things you do with no one about to comment on get done when other people are in the house...

The 19 year old strongly objects to nakedness in any form (unfortunate, as the 4 year old is at that stage where she doesn't do wearing clothes...) but that is part of her Aspergers/Autism... she also doesn't want to see, hear, read or participate in anything to do with sex... Not that her mother and I might occasionally wind her up about this......

Suffice to say I am having a fun time with my visitors.  They came down on Wednesday (a day in which I cleaned for England), but on Thursday I had to abandon them to go to my mother's birthday lunch (which my aunt and uncle gatecrashed... ), but yesterday we had a drive out into Derbyshire, went for ice-cream and visited my mum so she could have half granddaughter cuddles..... I took a photo and sent it to my sister saying that mum obviously needed her own grandchildren... her partner read the text as she was driving and promptly had a panic attack *snicker*

Today the half daughter is going to be a tree surgeon and landscape gardener as she is going to take down a self seeded elderberry tree and cut my lawn.......... hopefully... before it rains.... she's psyching herself up with Iron-bru and lemon biscuits at present.....

We don't intend to do much bar be lazy for the rest of the weekend... but it's very good fun..... there may also be more streaking, just, because....

Monday madness.....

As has been well documented....... I am not fond of Mondays......... or at least, not ones where I have to go to work!  Particularly in weeks like this where I try to fit 5 days of work into 2 so I can have guilt free days off to spend with my visitors...  Usually, by this time on a Monday evening I would be suffering from severe Mondayitis, resulting in me having to relax on the sofa with my Kindle and idly wonder in between chapters how long it is till bed time ....

Postal fairy
Tricksie little beasties that must be
handled with care

Not today though *grins*

Some time early last week I had notification through the power of the interwebs that a friend had captured a

postal fairy and after some negotiation with the pixies who run the folklore delivery service, persuaded her to carry a parcel across central Europe and up to the north of England... a terribly difficult, dangerous journey as treacherous mountain passes have to be crossed, dense bear infested forests must be traveled through, there is the perils of big cities where the domestic cat is the biggest peril faced... and on top of that there is the busiest stretch of water in the world to be crossed....... Added to that, the poor fairy had to lug her heavy package all this way in temperatures not usually seen....

But today she made it!  And whilst I wasn't in, my very nice (if slightly eccentric) neighbour spotted her flitting around the front door, lured her into their house with the promise of a refreshing lemon and lavendar infusion.

By the time I got home there was a note through the door and no sign of the fairy.... but I got my parcel....

Goodies!!  

Which contained some very nice goodies, including hand made natural soaps, chocolate thins (now in the fridge for fear of melting), some very special hand made cherry jam from the senders own garden, a bookmark and some nice little fishes that suction onto the bottom of the bath to stop me slipping (what can I say, my friend knows my accident prone ways!)

I am now feeling very loved.... and all that remains to say is.... THANK YOU!! to my friend :)

LHNB Story reviews.........

So, my story has been up for a month and, being as I had nothing exciting planned for this evening, I had a small drink to steel my nerves and decided that I would be brave and look at the comments that it's been getting - not on the thread itself but on the main site...

This was quite a bit step as it took me over six months to look at the reviews last year - yup, coward!

So I took a deep breath and looked........ now I had seen the star ratings my GR friends had given it so I knew that some people had liked it, but wow... I am kind of blown away by some of the comments, and not a little amused.

It's odd for an M/M story a lot of the major comments I've had have been praise for the way that Michelle was written.  Which as I am not a fan of the "evil female" that so many authors seem to think is the only person of the opposite sex a gay man knows I was really pleased about.

There are some negative comments about Nick, and the way he dealt with the whole thing.  Totally valid points, but it's hard to get how he was feeling across as it all in first person from Simon's point of view.  I knew there would be some people who wouldn't like the cheating aspect of the story but there hasn't been as much negativity about this as I thought there might be.

My favourite comment was the reviewer that said that other readers who enjoyed J.L. Merrow's work might enjoy the story - which given as I am rather a fan of this author made my evening.

Quite a few seem to want a sequel of some sort..... and I am contemplating re-visiting the characters at Christmas to see how they are getting on..... and most importantly whether Nick and Roger the Cat are getting on any better or whether an armed truce has been called :)

Who knows, I may manage to feel a bit more positive about my writing.... that said, please, next year.... remind me how stressful the whole procedure was and stop me from getting over excited and picking  photo!!

Roll on the weekend.........

Given that I've only been at work for 4 days this week (actually only 3 so far) this week has really dragged....  Okay, so it's probably the after effects of the come down after a good weekend, the fact that it is unusually warm (hell we've got a heatwave warning... yes... in Britain... it's virtually unheard of) and that I am not sleeping because of the heat.... but really, I'd swear this week has been at least a month long.

But, there is only one more day to go till we get to the weekend.... though I am sure that tomorrow night will be as much of a wash out as every evening has been this week - the side effect of work locking all the windows in the office to make us rely on the not fully functioning air con has been to give me the headache from hell by the time I get home.

This weekend there are plans for a major clean, tidy, sort out the spare room and generally get organised for on Wednesday I have visitors coming to stay... now these visitors know me well, and accept that my house is home to the critters so don't expect hotel standard accommodation.... but I am not entirely sure that Hugo hasn't sequestered something revolting under the bed in the spare room and these things must be investigated!

I am really looking forward to this visit... I haven't seen my friend and the half daughter since last May, their visit in October had to be cancelled as they were moving into the graveyard.... and since then the latest half daughter has arrived... she's coming to stay too.... though at 3 months of age I am not expecting scintillating conversation or anything :)

The older half daughter I have plans for....... I intend to bribe her with birthday cake (it's the day they come down) in the hope that she'll strim the front and back lawns of the hip high grass.......

Mum and my sister arrive home the same day my visitors arrive... and on the Thursday we are taking mum out for lunch for her birthday..... it's all go round here!

Other than that I am really looking forward to four and a bit days of sitting around and putting the world to rights.....

Reality returns with a thump.........

There's nothing quite like returning to normality with a bang.

Yep, the weekend high crashed and burnt as today I was back at work......... I was in the office by 8 am, on the basis that there would be catching up to be done...... and surprisingly my team leader was already in. As I logged onto the computer she waved an envelope at me and said "shall we go do this now"..... which lead to a moments panic as my mind went "oh, shit, what the fuck have I done now??"

I dutifully followed her to one of our meeting rooms, sitting in trepidation and waiting whilst she fiddled with blinds and things.  Then she calmly announces that everyone had their annual pay review last week when I was off and this was mine.  Oh, okay, fine.  So after the obligatory explanation of how much the team had to share out between us she let me know that I'd been given a just over the cost of living payrise (providing the cost of living doesn't go up in the next 12 months that is.......... it says a lot when 20 years after I went to university i still don't earn enough to have to pay back my student loans!).  I questioned whether there were bonuses this year, to be told, yes there was, but I wasn't being given one.

Now I know these things are discretionary ... but... in the last 12 months I have been acting Deputy Team Leader (and on occasions Team Leader) to cover someone's maternity leave, and I'd achieved my professional qualification... oh, and I'd exceeded my annual time and fees targets......... apparently this wasn't enough..... obviously you have to bleed for the company now........

To say I was unimpressed was something of an understatement.  I may have returned to my desk, plugged myself into my earphones and studiously ignored everyone for the rest of the day.  Seriously I am beginning to wonder why I bother.  No matter how hard I work, what I do, what extras I take on, it is never enough to satisfy them.  They talk of company loyalty but what loyalty do they actually show to us?  Okay so most of the time I enjoy working where I do, but seriously, they appear to care less and less about their staff.

Oh, and to make matters worse, the powers that be have locked all the windows in the office and removed the keys as they say that open windows prevents the air con working properly....... thing is, the air con just doesn't bloody work at all most of the time.  As a result of the lack of fresh air I have a banging headache this evening to add to the general pissed off at the world feeling I have.

I wasn't sure earlier if I wanted to rant about how unfair this all was, or burst in to tears.......luckily I have a safe space online where some very good friends lurk with me, I vented and they made me feel wanted and appreciated.... work might suck, but at least I have friends.

UK GLBT Fiction Meet - day two

More ramblings from my attendance at this year's meet ....

So, this morning off I went again over the moors to Manchester.... I was slightly early for the kick of time so sat and drank tea whilst talking to the other early arrivals.... oh and knitting.  I did this on and off during the weekend and it got several comments.... I really much now finish this pair of sparkly purple meet socks!

So, after intros and announcements I had to go do something official.... some time back I was asked whether I could help on a panel for readers only, obtaining feed back and comments about what they liked and didn't like.  I thought I was going to be note taking, but instead I facilitated.... which basically just meant keeping order (though Charlie had the Meet Whistle, which she used frequently in that panel!).... the discussion was interesting and lively touching on several subjects but in particular writer and reader behaviour and expectations.  There will be a summary posted on the UK meet site in due course.

After that I went to panel on humour in fiction, which had some great examples of what worked and didn't work, with additional comments made from the floor.... then there was panel on HEAs and sequels, which also touched on epilogues and whether anyone actually liked them.

Marie Sexton made today's keynote speech which was about the fact that you shouldn't have to explain or apologise for what you write or read. She then bravely took questions from the floor.

After lunch there was a discussion on what people wanted next year in Bristol, both panel/discussion wise, but also in terms of evening entertainment, facilities etc.

There was lots of time to talk during the day but by about 4.00 pm people were starting to drift off so I decided that it was time to go home.

I am not sure how, but Rupert apparently snuck along in my bag over the weekend and, well it's a good job I know my way home as he whispered most of the way back with some ideas he'd like me to transcribe for him... bloody bunnies... next year he stays home!

And yes, there will be a next year... the dog sitter is already booked so I can stay away... now just have to arm twist some friends who I think would enjoy it to come with me :)

UK GLBT Fiction Meet - day one

Okay, this isn't any sort of official summary this is just about my day :)

And it started early after a really bad night's sleep - but off we went by 7.30 am over Snake Pass in the early morning sunshine.... and into Manchester.. where I promptly got lost and went around the hotel about 3 times before I found the car park...... I swear my sat nav lies to me..... okay, she doesn't really, I just wasn't concentrating... possibly...

So I met some other people in the lift on the way up to the meeting room and there were a lot of people sat around having coffee .... some obviously had a very good night on Friday :)

I found Clare London and delivered a transatlantic hug as requested ... she was very pleased and was saying how much she is going to miss Chris at GRL this year.  I then knitted whilst we waited to start - and got quite a few comments as I was doing so :)

The first panel was about covers and what sells....... and how we might not like the decapitated naked torso but it helps with sales.......  After that I went to a panel run by Aleks Voinov, Victoria Oldham (of Boldstroke Books) and Becky Black on aspiring authors (what can I say, sometimes i have delusions that I might write something publishable one day)

Then there was lunch..... when I sat and nattered to Charlie Cochrane, her daughter who is general dogsbody for the event, and Liam Livings about all sorts of things.

After lunch there were tables set up for different conversations and I again found myself on a getting started at being published table..... though the conversation wandered around a lot including dealing with over ambitious plot bunnies, how we write, the importance of honest friends to read for you and for some reason I then ended up talking about different YA authors and how a lot were offering a wider range than just M/M books (which reminds me, must get some web addresses for these for tomorrow).  I may just have also got a potential first line editor for a certain brat-fic story that I could be writing.... not sure entirely how that happened!

I met up with Anke, who was lovely, and we talked, dogs, holidays and her visit to England as well has how much she misses seeing certain conversations she used to see on line.

Today's key note speaker was Elisa Rolle, who is one of the most long standing M/M bloggers.  She was talking about her introduction to gay romance (through E.M. Forster's Maurice which she bought with her pocket money when she was 14) and how the genre has evolved.

After that there was a sales opportunity for authors.... in which I had a wander round and looked longingly at lots of books before setting on getting a copy of Aliens, Smith & Jones by Blaine D Arden, I narrowly missed the last copy of A Party Boy's Guide to Dating a Geek by Piper Vaughan but made up for it byy buying probably the only books by J.L Merrow I don't already have......... I may have had a minor embarrassing fan-girl squeeing moment at her - but I am sure she will forgive me for this - she gave me one of the really nice embroidery thread bracelets she'd made.

Then alas I had to go home to deal with rent a mob and the nikked ones....... who were quite unimpressed to see me.  I have since unpacked my swag back... I have lots of post cards, book marks, a memory stick of stuff, note pad, couple of key rings and badges... oh and lots and lots of pens.....

Tomorrow I am going off again in the early hours for day two............... and next year I am so staying over and doing the whole thing!

For Kat.........

See this picture

Imagine these are all the positive vibes

that are being sent your way

to help whilst things are tough

Hang in there

You are brave and strong

Warning... whining ahead.........

I am on holiday........ well that is to say, I am not at work... I carefully booked 2 days off pre UK meet to get all the stuff I usually do on a weekend done so I can go away without worrying (and I've Monday off to catch up on sleep/relaxing as i am pretty sure already that even going as just a day visitor to the meet will mean I push myself too hard and over do it)

That said, it's nice to have days off work in July when for the first time in 4 years I am not using them to madly finish my assignments before the course deadline.... see there was an advantage to qualifying :)

After work last night I had a "talk about myself" session with my counsellor...... and joy of joy, he wants to talk about relationships and why I won't let anyone close..... then I got told off for being non co-operative when I kept changing the subject.......

Today I was meant to start off by relaxing post dog walk and, hopefully, getting in a couple of extra hours sleep...... only it's Thursday, which is bin day... okay this shouldn't usually be a problem, I've never known the bin wagon come until at least midday...... oh no, not this morning, 6.30 am and there are flashing lights, beeping reverse warnings (complete with woman's voice telling us loudly that's what is happening) as the wagon makes it's way backwards down the croft...... suffice to say there went my plans for extra sleep.

This morning I did laundry...... then it was time for Dental Torture, Part III........... the idea was to try and do two fillings ........ yeah, that failed, I have one filled tooth and one more gap, as the other tooth disintegrated in quite spectacular fashion.... the anaesthetic has worn off now and I swear that missing tooth hurts more than it ever did before the damn dentist started fiddling with them......... Part IV (the final segment) happens on 23rd July......... and that will involve having an impacted wisdom tooth removed........ joy.......

The rest of the day I was supposed to be taking it easy, only I couldn't settle to anything.  I decided to knit a new Kindle cover..... only my magic looping skills failed and against a wall of frustration the entire ball of yarn, circs and about 2 inches of knitting ended up getting thrown across the room.......  I tried to read, but I can't sodding concentrate....... the cats keep screaming at me for no reason and I have just about had it completely with the dog over the back whose owners just let it bark none stop........

Add to this that although I'm excited about the weekend I'm also really nervous...... I can't really put into words why, when I think about it I start feeling sick.... I did wonder about just not turning up, but I promised to note take at a panel on Sunday.......

Right now I'd really like a hug and for someone to tell me that it will all be fine.... *sigh* yeah, not going to happen in this lifetime....... I shall remain doomed to be the mad animal woman that lives in the house with the massively overgrown garden that the kids point and laugh at from a safe distance but run away from if I get within talking distance..........

In which there is melting.............

Temperatures are climbing rapidly round here to +30Cc  (okay, yes, this isn't high for some people, but for us it is)  anyway, last night it didn't get much cooler and after a pointless attempt to explain to the cats that I really didn't need their little furnace like little bodies draped over mine as I was trying to sleep I was a gnats grumpy... not helped by the fact the dogs drank their water bowls dry and by 2 am needed more water and to go outside, for obvious reasons.

Gina
Twisty cat! Sunbathing on the damp towel I wasn't
allowed to hang up...

Dog walking this morning was very lethargic... and I left them to go to work with 2 full water bowls (each with a block of ice in as well as water) and three large wet towels spread around the kitchen floor... which is tiled and stays reasonably cool..... okay I got to head out to my so called air conditioned office and for once was thankful that I have to park in the multistory car park down the road as it at least meant the car was cool this evening.  There has been more pathetic lounging about by the dogs at home this evening ... though I have taken pity on them (and me) and dug out the fan which is now blasting away in the kitchen

Hugo
Not impressed at being woken from his, erm, 14th? nap of the day

Meanwhile, upstairs, the naked ones are having a ball.  During the day they empty their food bowls and then lay about soaking up the sun's rays until they actually become too hot to touch, particularly on the white/pink bits of skin (yes, I put sun cream on them this morning).... unfortunately, all this food and energy has to go somewhere, which means, come bed time when the moths come out and the odd fly heads upstairs it's an insect chasing free for all...........

Hugo can get round the bedroom now without touching his paws to the floor - okay it's a long wobbly leap from the top of the door to the wardrobe and vice versa but he usually manages it...... I just he wouldn't use me as a mid point leaping station between door and window ledge going the other way.

This weather is set to last until well into next week, which is going to make me very grateful the UK Fiction meet is inside!

Fun in the sun......

Well, it feels like summer today.... it's been warm and sunny, with temperatures reaching about 28C which is pretty good for here.

This morning I got up early and sorted the house and critters out quite early whilst it was fairly cool, then headed off to meet a friend for ice cream and gossip at the local home made ice cream farm shop place...... I was not very good though.... I had a scoop of snickers flavour and an extremely naughty scoop of cappuccino flavour... which had chocolate coffee beans in it .... yummm.... the resultant sugar/caffeine high kept me going for the rest of the day :)

After a quick stop over at home to let the critters out and give them some attention I headed to my sisters house where she and her partner were throwing a party to celebrate his moving in.  I was put in charge of their very large, shiny new bbq.... which after setting fire to the nice purple flowering plant thing behind it was deemed possibly not to have been the best idea in the world....... in my defence had they simply let me built the coals up and light them properly this wouldn't have happened, but they'd bought these stupid bags of coals that you just light the cardboard outer of, and the things seem to have some sort of accelerant in them which made them flame spectacularly.

By the time the first guests arrived I'd got it under control and was happily cooking away - I even got to have one side for veggie stuff and the other side for meat eaters.... I might have got a bit territorial about the bbq when my sister tried to use the implements i was using for the meat on the veggie side....

Anyway, the early attendees were those with children.... including my sister's best friend and her 3 year old twins, E and A, her sister, who also has twins (I and R), although they are nearly 8 and both have learning difficulties and I is  also deaf and partially sighted.  Then there was J the youngest at 21 months.... now the girls, E and R, had decided on proper party dresses, in E's case complete with fairy wings.  J had decided that he wanted to wear a party dress too... and looked splendid in his bright pink sparkly skirt..... the best thing in the world was that no one there turned a hair that he was wearing it (which his mum was saying is quite different to how her husband's family reacts if he's dressed up like his older sister).  It was more of an issue to persuade A that he needed to wear his trousers and pants under the chaps he was wearing, having split the cowboy outfit with I who was wearing the hat and jacket..........

Later on, after the children had gone home, there were further arrivals and a serious amount of proper ale and beer was brought out for sampling......  though beer is something I can't have due to the yeast in it.... not to mention that alcohol and antibiotics aren't a good mix.... I slipped off home after all the food was cooked ... though when I got there I realised I'd cooked but not actually eaten anything myself.... which, erm, means the only thing I've eaten today was that ice cream...... 

aside from all that, I've got sunburn......... my forearms, chest and face are rather impressively deep pink.......... time to go find the aloe vera gel ......

Reading related ramblings....

Okay, so there has been a bit of a spat recently about the number of M/M books which contain children .... pauses for mental image of squished flat children tucked in between the pages to disappear....

Now as far as I can tell, they've always kind of been there - usually in the guise of younger siblings or left overs from a previous relationship.... and in some books some of these kids are majorly aggravating little shites, in others they are cute and get all the best one liners........ oh and in others you wonder if the author actually ever had anything to do with children as they just don't act at the age they are meant to portray....(even saying all that... I am still going to be even more picky about how domestic animals are portrayed - in terms of irresponsible or unrealistic ownership practices, inappropriate behaviour and training, wrong breed descriptions etc... etc... yeah I know, but personal bugbear)

The trend recently, and which appears to be getting the most negative comments, is the fact that no relationship seems to be complete to the Happy Ever After unless the couple has a child or two - whether that is adopted, via a surrogate or bequeathed somehow.

I'll admit now that I am not huge fan of children turning up in M/M books.... though as a reader it's my choice what to read and I would never say a writer shouldn't introduce children if that is the way the characters are going and it's best for the story.  Though obviously, it may influence my enjoyment of the book, or even if I read it in the first place.

The real point of this post though is why I feel this way.  Now I've seem some comments that these children are interfering with the reader's enjoyment of "hawt" men.... for me this isn't the case.

There are very few genres I dislike, but the one I really cannot stand is termed here as "chick lit" ... which is basically romance fluff and can be summed up as woman feels incomplete despite successful career, good friends etc... because she hasn't got a man.... woman finds man... woman becomes completely helpless and dependent on man... woman is now complete... but... wait for it.... everything will only be perfect if she has children..... and they all live happily ever after...... allegedly.

Now, whilst I am a woman, this character does not represent me....... obviously as a lesbian I am not looking for a man in order to be a completely fulfilled person who is happy with their life .... and quite frankly the concept that this type of story sells, that you have to have a man and children to be happy just makes me annoyed, but it also can make me upset.

As someone who likes children but for medical reasons cannot have my own, and would never be in a position to adopt because of the strict criteria for adoption, the whole concept that I cannot be a complete person because I don't/can't have children is not something I actually believe, but it's there lurking in the back of my mind and I really don't want reminding of it in every other book I read.

When I discovered M/M fiction I was fairly newly single after an abusive relationship.  M/M for me is fantasy ... obviously.....and it gives me a chance to read stories where you can get a happy ending without the whole sell out and become the little woman bringing up the children.  So as more and more M/M stories seem to be reaching the conclusion that the couple cannot possibly be a complete family until there are children the less I am enjoying reading them and the more picky I am becoming, particularly when I find that some authors appear to be shoehorning the obligatory child into the relationship just because it's popular.

Updating by numbers....

1.  There was a weekend... I am sure there was... but it seemed to go extremely fast and I appear to have achieved precisely nothing!  Okay, there was cleaning, laundry, an exorbitant trip to the pet shop - my 2 cats cost me around 5 times as much each month than the 4 dogs - some reading, writing and finally Sunday dinner with the family (in which my sister's partner and I spent a lot of time winding up my sister.... apparently I am a bad influence... I dispute this)

2.  Am starting to get slightly worried about mum's memory.  She's been repeating herself for a while if she's tired, and she frequently calls me by my sister's name but last Thursday I told her that I was buying her a Kindle for her birthday (I had to she was starting to get stressed that she hadn't bought her books for going on her trip to Turkey with my sister in mid July).. she was rather pleased and excited, but on Sunday my sister sidled up to me and asked if I'd told mum yet about the Kindle.... because she was talking about going to buy books again.  Turns out she'd completely forgotten I'd told her, in fact she accused me of lying and that I hadn't told her.  We know that there is a family history of age related dementia, and mum is 75 this year, but before this my sister and I have always laughed at mum's little lapses, this time, not so much.

3.  I am having a very busy July.  The UK GLBT Fiction meet is in less than 2 weeks!  Then at the end of the month my friend is coming to stay, bringing all three of my half daughters!  It's going to be complete and utter chaos and I can't wait!

4.  I am back to being a "normal" employee!  Having been acting up for the last 9 months as deputy team leader (and occasionally as team leader) yesterday my colleague came back from maternity leave.... it's nice not to have the responsibility, but more so to have her back in our little team

5.  Today has been dental visit the 2nd.... I am somewhat numb around the face as it took 4 injections of anaesthetic before it was able to be extracted..... which may have been overkill as one side of my face is currently completely frozen... including my ear, which is kind of weird.

6.  That's it really for now.....  I am being screamed at by the cats.... they must be able to see the metal at the bottom of their food bowl again.... which of course requires my immediate attention!