Review writing, theatre and fan mail

Something about today's meditation made me feel as if I was being held in place somewhere, in a measured kind of a sense, so here it is:

Meditation 155

May the purple sun
stain your fingers
and tongue

from the grapes
you feed on
along the path,

and when you cross
the humming cornfield
may its ripened light

brush over your skin
for just as long
as you walk there.

It is the moment,
not its holding,
that shapes you.

The great joy of this morning is that I've actually had an email from a reader who's just finished The Bones of Summer and who says the following:

Just finished "Bones of Summer". All I can say is 'wow'. I'm going to have to find your other books which I gather are published, not e-books. I'm very glad this one was so I could be 'introduced' to your writing.

Well, gosh! Thank you so much, Edward - that's so incredibly encouraging and has put a smile on my face all day. Which has been widened still further by one of my writing friends emailing me saying how much she's enjoyed the novel as well, so thank you also, Sarah - very much appreciated!

For the rest of the day I've been working on my review of John Wray's novel Lowboy (Canongate) for Vulpes Libris and that's due to be up on site on Friday 10 July. Wray's work has raised a lot of questions in my mind, some of which might not sit too well with the generally glowing and highly enthused reviews this novel has been receiving elsewhere - but hell it's certainly making me think. Which can only be a good thing. And there's no gainsaying the man can write, but ... but ... Ah well, the end of that sentence will have to wait until July, I fear!...

I've also sent off more short story submissions to various places and was intending to send some poetry submissions off too, but I think the combination of a low-grade headache and submission overload means it must wait until I'm feeling stronger.

And I'm back to thinking about the edits for Hallsfoot's Battle. Hell, does anyone remember that? This time round there's rather a lot of work I have to do before I even pick up my virtual red pen however, so I've started reading through The Gifting and making notes about the people and the settings and the traditions as I go. So far I have about 5 pages of notes and I'm about a quarter of the way through the read. But at least it's getting me back into the feel of the Lammas Lands and Gathandria, of Simon and that pesky mind-executioner, all of which I need to have fresh and deep in my mind when I come to editing Hallsfoot in reality. There's still a feeling of sadness though as of course The Gifting no longer has the hint of an interested publisher attached to it, so I'm very much working without commercial hope in my fantasy career at the moment. It's a difficult space to inhabit.

Anyway, no matter. We hobble onwards. And I have fan mail, hurrah! And yes, sadly, I have actually started a Fan Mail File, so I do understand that I have no shame and an ego the size of Manhattan. A difficult combination at the best of times ... The file itself is small but perfectly formed, of course. Meanwhile, tonight, Lord H and I will be off to see Ruth's husband, Douglas, in Much Ado About Nothing. Which apparently now has scenery (double hurrahs!) and people aren't falling over it. It's such a wonderful play too - one of my favourites of Shakespeare's comedies.

Today's nice things:

1. Poetry
2. Fan mail for Bones (did I mention that?)!
3. Review writing
4. Short story submissions
5. The pre-edits for Hallsfoot
6. Much Ado.

Anne Brooke - glad to be able to provide the 'Wow' factor, at least once!...