Ice Diaries

Ice Diaries came out this week. It's the latest book by Lexi Revellian and I loved it. She just goes on getting better which I wouldn't have thought was possible.

Tori is stranded in an England covered up to 20m deep in snow; can she find her way south to warmer climes?

There's a great cast of characters and I was so drawn into the story that I was surprised to look up from the book and see autumn leaves instead of snow! I recommend it.

If you pop over to Lexi's website you can read the beginning of the book for free as a taster. I admit I didn't bother; after Lexi's previous books I went straight to amazon as soon as I saw it was out.

Only two problems:

1. I nearly put the book aside in the middle when it became too tense.

2. I should have been writing my Nanonovel instead of reading a whole book in two days.

Meh. It was worth it!

On the first day of Nano

I've written 2000 words.

It always surprises me how tired I feel afterwards! I need to write 1786 words a day if I want to get to 50k by the end of November, allowing for two days off. Because I do have a life, and I've got a brilliant day of skating and Christmas treats planned thanks to where my Beloved works.

The first day or so is usually the easiest as I use up all the story I've already worked out. I wonder how long it will be till I run out.

Space opera and Georgette Heyer

How can it have taken me so long to find the Vorkosigan saga?

This science fiction series was started in the 80s. Mind you, I was a bit busy in the 80s what with having babies and all.  I still find it hard to realise that it's been available all these years and I've only just discovered it!

For those of you who haven't discovered it yet: Lois McMaster Bujold has written a series that is pure space opera in the early books, with a Georgette Heyer type romance later in the series, and some murder mysteries. All set in the future.

I love her world; I love her main character; and in the last few months I've read nine or ten of the books. I can't get enough. This is addiction at its worst but at least it's non-fattening.

Chicken

A lot of Nanowrimoers have friends who don't understand why they would want to do such a strange thing as to try to write a novel in a month unless there's some big prize at the end of it.

For me, it's like running a marathon. You have the professional athletes who aim to do it in less than three hours as part of their training and other people who train for months or years just to be able to say that they've run it at all.

And me? I'm the one in the chicken suit. I don't take it seriously, I'm not aiming at turning professional, so I might as well have fun along the way; but boy what a major achievement if I get 50k words written in a month.

If you're doing Nano this year, what's your reason for doing it?

Getting ready for Nanowrimo

My word-count spreadsheet is all ready with this year's dates; the widget is up on the blog; and I've set up a folder in my Dropbox account. I've saved my link to Written? Kitten! and I've got plenty of chocolate to reward myself. Is there anything I've forgotten?

Oh yes. Plan my novel.

Well, I've got three whole weeks to do that in.

Eep!

By the way, the wordcount spreadsheet is available by email if anyone wants one. It may be my greatest success of Nano.

Too cute for words!

It's the run-up to Nanowrimo and I've discovered Written? Kitten!

Previously I'd seen Write or Die but Written? Kitten! is a far better incentive. For every 100 words you type you get a new picture of a cute kitten.

I think it could make me positively verbose! Who can resist the lure of a kitten?

A discovery

I met Sarah Wynde in the comment trail over on Lexi Revellian's blog. She was explaining her views on fan fiction and sounded like someone I'd like to know, so I visited her blog. And found her self-published novels. And discovered that they are delightful.

A Gift of Ghosts is a paranormal love story written in a fresh, lively style. It's an easy read and light-hearted despite a plot that touches on drug overdose and suicide. I felt amused and entertained the whole way through. The plot builds to a crescendo and although the ending wasn't a surprise it was entirely satisfying.

I liked the gradual uncovering of the rules for the paranormal in this universe and the way that they seem to have an inner consistency, even if we don't know everything yet. The main character's struggles to make sense of her experiences of the paranormal within her scientific worldview were fun too.

There are three novels in the series. I'm about to start reading number two!

Full disclosure: I didn't pay for books one or two. I intend to buy book three!

It's slow but we'll get there

It's hard to believe that an agent would turn down a book because the main character was gay but at least the story has a happy ending: Viking (a Penguin imprint) has taken on the book and it will be published in two years time. Without 'straightening' the main characters, as the agent is supposed to have requested.

The story is here.

And on a similar note, next Sunday is Bisexual Visibility Day, at least it will be in London! People are meeting at the Mad Hatter pub, where I often meet with Nano friends. If you live near Southwark, you might want to pop along.

Whether we're straight, gay, bi, or anything else at all, we can support each other's right to be treated fairly and with respect. This picture from Richard's Facebook page says it for me:

NSFW

What to do when you're bored

A naughty insect bit me a couple of weeks ago and this weekend my leg reacted as if it had been burned, turning bright red and blistering. The picture here (not for the faint-hearted!) is of my leg after the antibiotics had started to work so it's not even at its worst. The line of black biro is where the doctor drew round the edges of the redness to see if it was still spreading.

I have to sit with my foot raised to reduce swelling and I can't go to work. I feel like I should be enjoying being able to crochet and read and surf the net with no guilt feelings and do you know what? All I want to do is to get out and move around. I'm just glad you can't die of boredom.

I'm missing cycling. I'm missing walking. Heaven help me, I'm even missing work!

Any suggestions on what I can do for the next day or two until I'm back on my feet again?

Mighty Hunters

 

Score for the last four weeks

 

Rufus:

• one dead mouse
• one live and apparently uninjured mouse
• one nearly dead mouse
• one dead mouse that he proceeded to eat in front of us

Bonnie:

• one dead and mangled frog, left in the middle of the otherwise spotless hall to welcome us on our return from holiday
• one dead water rat

If we had a mouse problem these cats would solve it. As it is, I live in dread of what they'll bring home next.

But they look so cute!