Scrabbling through the undergrowth to a landmark word count ...

... sound the trumpets and put out the bunting, people, but today I have hacked away (oh in so many ways) at the iron-clad mountain of words and I am now well into the 120,000 word range of the little beggars that make up Hallsfoot's Battle. Ye gods and little fishes indeed! Crack open the champers and I'd like a round of applause. Ah thank you, thank you ... I'm so touched (also in so many ways). Phew, eh. Trouble is there's a tad more to go before I collapse like a used-up sponge across the great wall of THE END. Hmm, is that too many metaphors, do you think? Ah well, you know what I mean. Still, it's a landmark and I'm happy.

This morning's meditation was rather tricky but in the end I came up with this:

Meditation 128

Under the trees
the air pauses

in that flow
between one part

of your life
and the next.

You taste the richness
of wild fig

on your tongue
and wonder

who it is
that beckons you.


Multiple kudos to anyone who knows where in the bible that comes from, or at least which passage inspired it. As a clue, it's new testament, which is unusual itself as I normally focus on the old - it's more meaty for poetry, to my mind. But I liked the sense of space when I read the scene and it set me thinking.

For the rest of the day, apart from scribbling away on Hallsfoot's Battle (did I say I'm now well into the 120,000 word levels? Hurrah!), I've also been involved with a fair amount of literary marketing/PR type stuff, so never say I don't know how to multi-task. I've managed, with invaluable help from Alex Beecroft, Erastes and Mel Keegan from the band of GLBT stalwarts to work out how to upload pages onto the new GLBT Bookshelf. It was hugely scary at first, but after a few tears and tantrums, and some therapeutic beating of poor Lord H's chest, it looks like I've done it, so thank you, all! I've loaded Painting from Life, Maloney's Law and A Dangerous Man, all with pictures and links, so at least they look nice.

On top of that, I've also been taking part in the Eternal Press authors' day at the Love Romance Yahoo Group. And that's been a lot of fun - the questions we've been asked are fantastic and I've loved thinking up the answers. It's certainly made me think in a lateral way about my writing and the books I produce, which can only be a good thing.

And I'm delighted to say that the lovely Charles at Ink Sweat & Tears webzine has accepted for future publication both the tankas I wrote yesterday, so that's hugely pleasing. Plus I've submitted my mental health-focused short story to the publication I was aiming it for, so we'll have to see what they think ...

Tonight, I'm easing off a little (hell, I deserve it! - I've reached 120,000 words today, did you know?...) and plan an evening of reading and doing puzzles. Well, there's not much on TV that grabs me. Wickedly however, I've opened the tin of chocolate biscuits that we apparently have to finish by the end of May (how can they have been in the flat so long without being noticed?!?), so I feel they might be demanding a fair amount of my attention too. Mmm ...

Today's nice things:

1. Getting to the high 120,000 word range in Hallsfoot, hurrah!
2. Poetry
3. Marketing on wiki and yahoo groups
4. Tankas acceptances
5. Chocolate biscuits.

Anne Brooke - having a real champagne moment
Cancer Research Race for Life - gearing up for 6 June