Yesterday

Yesterday was spent doing this:


Yes, we made sushi. It is not as easy as one might imagine. But if you concentrate, take your time, pay attention to the instructions given in this excellent book, you can produce something like this:


Well, to be fair, they’re the ones my girlfriend made. Mine weren’t as pretty or, um, able to not fall apart. They were delicious.
***
Today has been a wee bit irritating.
Before I could make a start editing my ms as per the fabulous Anne Brooke’s suggestions, I had to sort out the random large chunks of text that Word had decided to convert into italics. (This involved deleting the Italics Style, creating a new one, and adding every single instance manually.) No logical explanation for it at all – I can only apologise to Anne – it must have made reading it a real nuisance.
Anyway, that’s done now so I can concentrate on the actual words, rather than what they look like.

Two Birds, One Stone.

Well, kind of. (See how birds are creeping into my writing, more and more?)

First bird:

Rosy has just tagged me.

“1. Pick up the nearest book.2. Open to page 123.3. Find the fifth sentence.4. Post the next three sentences.5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.”

Okay. My sentences are:

He’ll tell her later. When they’re home. When they’re alone.

*

Second bird:

The above sentences were from Leading the Dance, by Sarah Salway. The reason I had it to hand was because my girlfriend has been reading bits of it. The reason she’s been reading bits of it is because last night, while discussing my short stories and short stories in general (see what she has to put up with) we got talking about one of Sarah’s stories she read ages ago, ‘Jesus and the Aubergines.’ She said it was her favourite short story ever.

Sarah, if you’re reading, that is high praise indeed.

***

And a huge thanks to Anne, who’s doing me the huge favour of reading my current WIP. Trusted readers, and those who find the time for you, are seriously hard to come by. Thanks Anne – looking forward to hearing what you think.

We Have a Title!

After much head-scratching, face-pulling, and scribbling, I have now come up with a title for my coleslaw story.
It is: Sack Tactics.
I would like to thank my new Moleskine (I know, I know) for its help during the procedure.
Now – to make sure it’s finished and right and doesn’t need any more fixing.

Six Things About Me

The delightful Sarah tagged me the other day, with this:

Link to the person that tagged you – i.e. me.Post the rules on your blog.Write six random things about you in a blog post.Tag six people in your post.Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.Let the tagger know your entry is up.

So, here goes.

1. Before I was a writer I was going to be a rock star. (I am better at writing than I am at singing or playing the guitar, so everything worked out in the end.)

2. In the Lake District a couple of years ago I saw a wild golden eagle. Now, where birds (feathered) are concerned, there’s no stopping me.

3. I have the best girlfriend in the world.

4. I am not very tidy but I am organised. This confuses many people.

5. I am not a particularly interesting person.

6. I can’t think of a title for my coleslaw story and it is stressing me out!

***

So, who to tag? Um, let’s see. How about Lane, Anne, Lexi, Jenn James and Rosy.

Wow!

Actually, there is more than one wow today.

Wow #1.

Alicia Silverstone is, according to here, going to play the lead in a US adaption of best selling author and lovely person, Kate Long’s The Bad Mother’s Handbook. I loved the ITV one which aired last year (Catherine Tate played the lead in that one – pics here). Fantastic news. You can see the interview I did with Kate a couple of months ago here.

Wow #2.
… would be this latest post from John Lenahan.

Wow #3.

I signed up to one of those stat counter wossnames a little while ago and I’ve been really surprised and thrilled to see just how many people drop by on my blog. Thanks folks!

(Interestingly and strangely, over fifty people have found their way here courtesy of this image of a Landseer Newfoundland I posted ages and ages ago.)

Wow #4.

Well this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve pinched something from Sarah Salway’s blog. It’s her fault for posting such cool things. (They’re plastic bags tied to a NYC subway vent, by the way.) Enjoy…

Coleslaw

Today, and I mean all day, was spent writing a short story. Well, the first draft of one anyway. I have just finished. And, at the moment, I’m pleased with it. It was the result of a prompt I gave my writing group a week or so ago. The prompt was: It reminds me of coleslaw. You’re all welcome to use it.