Great news! The Bones of Summer paperback is now available on Amazon UK and I’ve even got my first review from Unique Logophilos, which you can read here. It’s a positive and also very interesting one, and the issues raised are certainly making me think. Thanks, Ann!
I’m also pleased to hear that seven of my meditation poems have been accepted for publication by Ashé Journal, so I’ll look forward to that for sure. Thanks, Sven!
And here’s today’s meditation poem:
Meditation 161
The wolf lurks
in the shadows,
waiting for the smallest hint
of inattention.
His eyes glow yellow
against the dark
and his black coat
would be sleek and warm
on your skin
if he touched you.
I’ve spent some time today marketing Bones now it’s out in the UK – the University have put the information on our intranet too which is lovely, and I’ve emailed a few people with the news. I do hope that anyone who buys it enjoys the read as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
Meanwhile, at work, we’re still sweltering in the heat and I’m still pondering the mysteries of Steering Group reviews. I’ve now – with Ruth’s and Andrea’s help (can’t think of these things on my own, you know …) – drafted a couple of pages of questions which includes a table for comments. Tables for comments always look impressive, I think. Well, I hope so anyway.
Managed to slob by the lake again at lunchtime as any concept of walking anywhere is totally beyond me. I’ve just finished reading Annie Proulx’ Brokeback Mountain in preparation for writing a piece comparing it with the film for the upcoming Adaptation Week at Vulpes Libris. Honestly, it’s such a raw, strong and lyrical short story – I’ve read it so many times already and yet it still makes me feel utterly and totally shattered. In a good way. Lots of food for thought there then. My next task, and another pleasurable one: watching the Brokeback Mountain DVD again. Ah, it’s a tough job, eh, but somebody’s got to do it …
I’ve been creating a poster for our upcoming University event with Charles Christian, so I’ve sent that off to the English Department for their input. The actual date isn’t till October but I like to get ahead – particularly as September will be so horrendously busy here at the educational frontline that we might not even have time to breathe ...
I also mustn’t forget that the first of this week’s three Torchwood radio plays is on this afternoon, so I’m planning to catch up with it on i-player tonight. Am also hoping to do a few more notes on The Gifting in the ongoing pre-edit, though I have to admit it’s going very slowly at the moment. It’s just too hot to be quick at anything. And I'm aiming to see Ugly Betty later on too, hurrah!
Today’s nice things:
1. The Bones of Summer at Amazon UK
2. Review for Bones
3. Poetry acceptance
4. Poetry writing
5. Marketing
6. Thinking about Brokeback Mountain
7. Making posters
8. Torchwood
9. Pre-editing
10. TV.
Anne Brooke - living and breathing books at the moment ...
ANNE BROOKE BOOKS: Independent writer of modern fiction
Showing posts with label literature events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label literature events. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Literary thoughts and phone mysteries
I think I’m going through my monthly slump at the moment – feeling very flat and low, but have taken my usual supply of Happy Pills this morning (where would I be without them, eh?) and am hoping for easier waters soon. Talking of which, here’s today’s meditation:
Meditation 141
The boldness of water
breathes in
his footsteps
as if they were fish
or a summer dragonfly
dancing over a storm,
while the boat enfolds
his flesh in thunder:
rain, the easing wind,
silence.
Staying with literary matters, I'm delighted to say that Painting from Life has had another review on Livejournal, which raises some very interesting issues - thanks so much, Kassa 11, for that. Much appreciated. And, as an aside, the link may warn you that there's adult content involved but that particular link doesn't include any naughtiness (shame!). A special thanks also to Clare London who tipped me off about the review. Thank you, Clare!
At work, I am desperately preparing for the double whammy of meetings (groan …) I have on Monday – the major one is still not sorted yet but I’ll have to send the papers out today, even if only in draft form. Oh, and I’ve finally put the archiving into archiving boxes, though the mystery of how to create an archive box eluded me until Chaplaincy Ruth took pity on my sobs and groans. The instructions told me to look at section D of the flat-pack box in order to start making them up – but there was no section D. Sigh. Thank goodness for the motor skills of parents – it took Ruth about 30 seconds to work it out whereas I’d been struggling for at least five hours. The unfortunate thing was that by the time I’d created my boxes, someone was in the archive room (which also doubles as the meeting room) so I couldn’t get into it anyway. I kept nipping back and peering threateningly through the glass but they were unmovable. Ah well. UPDATE: it’s done, hurrah! I managed to sneak in when nobody was looking and squash the wretched boxes into their spaces, aha. I just hope there's no more archiving for a while, as we're strapped for space.
Meanwhile, I’m getting increasingly twitchy about the frustratingly long silence from the potential (please, God!) US publisher about whether they want to take on The Gifting or not. Honestly, this business is nothing if not soul-destroying. I suppose silence is good news – as if they don’t want it, they let you know soon enough, and I certainly had the same scenario with Flame Books and A Dangerous Man, where agonising months and months went by before the “yes” finally came through – but right now it feels like a doom-laden weight on my head. Sigh. I don’t really know whether to hang onto hope or not. I keep telling myself to wait until the end of the year, but it’s unbelievably hard. Ah well. They do look like such a gloriously good fit for the novel too.
I met up with Fiona from the English Department at lunchtime to thrash out the planning for the autumn reading event. I’m hoping it’s easier than the first time I organised one of these, where I had to end up screaming and sobbing before anyone would help me. I really don’t want to go through that again – but I do believe wholeheartedly in the concept. Again, I’m hoping for smoother waters this time round. UPDATE: Hurrah! - we've been lucky enough to get the hugely talented Charles Christian who runs the Ink Sweat and Tears webzine to come and give us a reading in October, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Thank you so much, Charles, for agreeing to see us!
And, back home, I have had to run the gauntlet of rude telephone people. Honestly!! I saw there were three messages on our answer machine and they all appeared to be from someone called Philip looking for someone called Robert, with increasing desperation as the messages went on. Being a socially minded soul (ho ho), I got the number and rang back to tell the hapless Philip that unfortunately he'd been dialling the wrong number and needed to regroup. Instead of polite gratitude, all I got was a rather abusive reply asking: who the hell I was, and where was Robert (who apparently is a refrigeration engineer) and what number did I think I was on when he definitely had the right number, and therefore it must be all my fault. I told him I had no interest in his problems, I had merely been trying to be helpful, but in his case I wouldn't bother again, and I put the phone down. Really, the cheek of the bloke! Lord H and I have decided that if the pesky bastard rings again, we'll blow a whistle down the phone, beat him with twigs and wish him long agonisingly hot days with no fridge. Really, if the unfortunate Robert has gone AWOL, I have every sympathy ...
Tonight, it’s Springwatch – will the dipper chicks survive their fledging??! The tension mounts, believe me. And Lord H and I are hoping to book our June holiday – I’ve been waiting to see if Dreamspinner Press need me to do anything else for the publication of The Bones of Summer on 22 June, but I haven’t had any response to my request, so I reckon I’m going to book anyway. They do know I have earmarked that time as hols, plus I’ve already signed off the galley proofs (with slight queries about the strange italics font) and I do desperately need to get away. I just hope I don’t upset anyone by taking a decision …
In the meantime, I’ve written a short poem about spaces (again – but different ones …) and I’m still working on that pesky short story about letters. Perhaps I should have stuck to a story about texting, eh?
Today’s nice things:
1. Poetry
2. The Painting from Life review
3. The reading event
4. TV
5. Holiday booking, come what may
6. Pondering short stories.
Anne Brooke - bamboozed by boxes, and phone calls ...
Cancer Research Race for Life - 4 days to go!
Meditation 141
The boldness of water
breathes in
his footsteps
as if they were fish
or a summer dragonfly
dancing over a storm,
while the boat enfolds
his flesh in thunder:
rain, the easing wind,
silence.
Staying with literary matters, I'm delighted to say that Painting from Life has had another review on Livejournal, which raises some very interesting issues - thanks so much, Kassa 11, for that. Much appreciated. And, as an aside, the link may warn you that there's adult content involved but that particular link doesn't include any naughtiness (shame!). A special thanks also to Clare London who tipped me off about the review. Thank you, Clare!
At work, I am desperately preparing for the double whammy of meetings (groan …) I have on Monday – the major one is still not sorted yet but I’ll have to send the papers out today, even if only in draft form. Oh, and I’ve finally put the archiving into archiving boxes, though the mystery of how to create an archive box eluded me until Chaplaincy Ruth took pity on my sobs and groans. The instructions told me to look at section D of the flat-pack box in order to start making them up – but there was no section D. Sigh. Thank goodness for the motor skills of parents – it took Ruth about 30 seconds to work it out whereas I’d been struggling for at least five hours. The unfortunate thing was that by the time I’d created my boxes, someone was in the archive room (which also doubles as the meeting room) so I couldn’t get into it anyway. I kept nipping back and peering threateningly through the glass but they were unmovable. Ah well. UPDATE: it’s done, hurrah! I managed to sneak in when nobody was looking and squash the wretched boxes into their spaces, aha. I just hope there's no more archiving for a while, as we're strapped for space.
Meanwhile, I’m getting increasingly twitchy about the frustratingly long silence from the potential (please, God!) US publisher about whether they want to take on The Gifting or not. Honestly, this business is nothing if not soul-destroying. I suppose silence is good news – as if they don’t want it, they let you know soon enough, and I certainly had the same scenario with Flame Books and A Dangerous Man, where agonising months and months went by before the “yes” finally came through – but right now it feels like a doom-laden weight on my head. Sigh. I don’t really know whether to hang onto hope or not. I keep telling myself to wait until the end of the year, but it’s unbelievably hard. Ah well. They do look like such a gloriously good fit for the novel too.
I met up with Fiona from the English Department at lunchtime to thrash out the planning for the autumn reading event. I’m hoping it’s easier than the first time I organised one of these, where I had to end up screaming and sobbing before anyone would help me. I really don’t want to go through that again – but I do believe wholeheartedly in the concept. Again, I’m hoping for smoother waters this time round. UPDATE: Hurrah! - we've been lucky enough to get the hugely talented Charles Christian who runs the Ink Sweat and Tears webzine to come and give us a reading in October, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Thank you so much, Charles, for agreeing to see us!
And, back home, I have had to run the gauntlet of rude telephone people. Honestly!! I saw there were three messages on our answer machine and they all appeared to be from someone called Philip looking for someone called Robert, with increasing desperation as the messages went on. Being a socially minded soul (ho ho), I got the number and rang back to tell the hapless Philip that unfortunately he'd been dialling the wrong number and needed to regroup. Instead of polite gratitude, all I got was a rather abusive reply asking: who the hell I was, and where was Robert (who apparently is a refrigeration engineer) and what number did I think I was on when he definitely had the right number, and therefore it must be all my fault. I told him I had no interest in his problems, I had merely been trying to be helpful, but in his case I wouldn't bother again, and I put the phone down. Really, the cheek of the bloke! Lord H and I have decided that if the pesky bastard rings again, we'll blow a whistle down the phone, beat him with twigs and wish him long agonisingly hot days with no fridge. Really, if the unfortunate Robert has gone AWOL, I have every sympathy ...
Tonight, it’s Springwatch – will the dipper chicks survive their fledging??! The tension mounts, believe me. And Lord H and I are hoping to book our June holiday – I’ve been waiting to see if Dreamspinner Press need me to do anything else for the publication of The Bones of Summer on 22 June, but I haven’t had any response to my request, so I reckon I’m going to book anyway. They do know I have earmarked that time as hols, plus I’ve already signed off the galley proofs (with slight queries about the strange italics font) and I do desperately need to get away. I just hope I don’t upset anyone by taking a decision …
In the meantime, I’ve written a short poem about spaces (again – but different ones …) and I’m still working on that pesky short story about letters. Perhaps I should have stuck to a story about texting, eh?
Today’s nice things:
1. Poetry
2. The Painting from Life review
3. The reading event
4. TV
5. Holiday booking, come what may
6. Pondering short stories.
Anne Brooke - bamboozed by boxes, and phone calls ...
Cancer Research Race for Life - 4 days to go!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Foot rubbing, literature events and the Honorary Chaplain
Got in this morning to at least six zillion emails. What is wrong with people? Why do they want to communicate so much? Honestly, anyone would think they had nothing better to do … That said, most of it is my fault for sending out so much stuff last week which needed a quick response, mainly in the catering area. So I am hoist by my own petard. Ooh, I do love a good petard.
I think I got most of it under control by lunchtime though – so I could lie back and enjoy my reflexology session with a clear conscience. In fact, I was so relaxed that I drifted off towards the end and woke myself up by snoring. How unpleasant for poor Emily! Still at least the rest of her week will be easy. Getting my session over on a Monday is no doubt a good thing for her.
And there was a brief period of time today when I was an Honorary Member of the Chaplaincy - for always answering Ruth G's phone when she's away from the desk. The Chaplain declared the new role and my employment in it at 10.10am, but when I said that I was deeply touched and was already wiping a tear of joy from my eye, he sadly had to withdraw the offer at 10.11am due to an "excess of sarcasm". Surely not, we cry! Ah well, I like to think I had a brief but glittering career. Though I don't think I ever got an answer to my response of: but that's not What Jesus Would Do ... My, what fun we have here at the front-line of Student Care, m'dears. Talking of which, this week's heroes are Wilfred Owen (for being poetic and unlucky, the ideal combination for the modern age), Greg Norman (for playing so well and bravely at yesterday's Golf Open final and getting a well-deserved second place), Mark Cavendish (a cyclist Carol is keen on) and Brian Trubshaw (a fighter pilot, I think, and picked by the Dean, who's mad on planes). A sad lack of women, I fear, but I'm hoping to make up for that next week.
Meanwhile, I’ve been having a lot of fun arranging a February literature event for our new English department. The English Professor wanted it to be based around the theme of love, so I had the top-notch idea of inviting the glorious Emma Darwin to give a reading from The Mathematics of Love and/or her upcoming A Secret Alchemy, which between them take in the themes of transgressive and secret love. And – result! – Emma has agreed to do it, so thank you, Emma! Already I am hugely looking forward to February.
Tonight, I am at the shops (oh joy …) and I really absolutely utterly must get some petrol somewhere. Otherwise, I’ll be pushing poor Rupert (the car) home. I do so hate hovering above Empty. Ah, in so many ways. And later it’s “New Tricks” on TV – how I love to slob, of an evening. Though, is it me or was "Midsomer Murders" last night so completely over-the-top that it disappeared twice up its own bottom and exited laughing? Lordy only knows what was going on.
Before we go, it's time for a poem:
These days
I'm so focused on what lies ahead,
all the imagined treasures,
untasted yet
that I forget
these current pleasures
with which my journey's fed.
My, how I love a bit of philosophy for a Monday.
Today’s nice things:
1. Reflexology
2. Arranging a reading event with Emma
3. TV
4. Poetry.
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
I think I got most of it under control by lunchtime though – so I could lie back and enjoy my reflexology session with a clear conscience. In fact, I was so relaxed that I drifted off towards the end and woke myself up by snoring. How unpleasant for poor Emily! Still at least the rest of her week will be easy. Getting my session over on a Monday is no doubt a good thing for her.
And there was a brief period of time today when I was an Honorary Member of the Chaplaincy - for always answering Ruth G's phone when she's away from the desk. The Chaplain declared the new role and my employment in it at 10.10am, but when I said that I was deeply touched and was already wiping a tear of joy from my eye, he sadly had to withdraw the offer at 10.11am due to an "excess of sarcasm". Surely not, we cry! Ah well, I like to think I had a brief but glittering career. Though I don't think I ever got an answer to my response of: but that's not What Jesus Would Do ... My, what fun we have here at the front-line of Student Care, m'dears. Talking of which, this week's heroes are Wilfred Owen (for being poetic and unlucky, the ideal combination for the modern age), Greg Norman (for playing so well and bravely at yesterday's Golf Open final and getting a well-deserved second place), Mark Cavendish (a cyclist Carol is keen on) and Brian Trubshaw (a fighter pilot, I think, and picked by the Dean, who's mad on planes). A sad lack of women, I fear, but I'm hoping to make up for that next week.
Meanwhile, I’ve been having a lot of fun arranging a February literature event for our new English department. The English Professor wanted it to be based around the theme of love, so I had the top-notch idea of inviting the glorious Emma Darwin to give a reading from The Mathematics of Love and/or her upcoming A Secret Alchemy, which between them take in the themes of transgressive and secret love. And – result! – Emma has agreed to do it, so thank you, Emma! Already I am hugely looking forward to February.
Tonight, I am at the shops (oh joy …) and I really absolutely utterly must get some petrol somewhere. Otherwise, I’ll be pushing poor Rupert (the car) home. I do so hate hovering above Empty. Ah, in so many ways. And later it’s “New Tricks” on TV – how I love to slob, of an evening. Though, is it me or was "Midsomer Murders" last night so completely over-the-top that it disappeared twice up its own bottom and exited laughing? Lordy only knows what was going on.
Before we go, it's time for a poem:
These days
I'm so focused on what lies ahead,
all the imagined treasures,
untasted yet
that I forget
these current pleasures
with which my journey's fed.
My, how I love a bit of philosophy for a Monday.
Today’s nice things:
1. Reflexology
2. Arranging a reading event with Emma
3. TV
4. Poetry.
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
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