Had a fantastic time with Jane & Ang at Prezzo’s last night – we were the last ones out of the restaurant, so I think they were desperately waiting for us to leave, poor things. Will they accept another booking from us? We’ll have to see, eh …
Today the rainy season appears to have restarted, and I think I’m coming down with a cold (Jane/Ang – take those vitamins – now …). I have taken my Echinaforce tablets and am attempting to think positive thoughts. If that doesn’t work, I shall resort later this morning to my super-cold zapper pills.
Apart from that, it’s all quiet on the Western Front today, Carruthers … the curse of August on campus indeed. Though, to be fair, I’ve been doing a fair amount of urgent work on the website and sending out the odd set of minutes here and there. As you do. It was too cold and wet to go for my usual lunchtime walk, so I ended up sitting in the nearest meeting room for half an hour with my Star Trek Monthly magazine. Never say I don’t have elegance and discernment. It’s a great read!
And ooh! Ooh! Apparently, my new mobile phone has arrived at Lord H’s work – well, we think that’s what it is, but he won’t open it as it’s addressed to me. No matter how much I ask him. Sigh! So I’ll have to wait till later this evening to get a chance to play with it. As it were. I do admit to having slight worries when he described the size of the box it came in – have I unintentionally bought a brick?? We’ll have to see …
Tonight, Lord H is battling the weather to hunt the buffalo (aka doing the weekly shop) and I still have the ironing to do. Actually, I’m sure I have ironing to do that isn’t even ours. Which adds weight to my theory that when Lord H and I are out, half the people in the street sneak in and add their unironed items to my basket. Then when I’ve done it, they make the return journey to claim their belongings. Damn it. So, taking into account the low level of my ironing skills, there must really be a lot of crumpled people walking about town.
Later on, I might see how I feel about adding a few more words to The Bones of Summer – but only if I’m in the mood. And I’d also like to think about drafting a piece of flash fiction for this week’s Writewords Flash Fiction theme of “my favourite food”. So what should I choose? Chocolate? Green olives? Chips? Mashed potato with gravy? Custard? Ah, the list is endless – so much choice, m’dears, so much choice! Oh, hello, I think it’s olives:
An acquired taste
Angelina smiled her most seductive smile, reached out from the bed and took two green olives from the side dish.
‘Olives?’ her companion asked, an answering smile on his face.
‘Oh yes,’ she purred. Without breaking his gaze, she ate one of the two, licking the juice from her fingers. ‘One for me.’
Then she eased the other into a place where olives weren’t accustomed to residing.
‘And one for you,’ she said.
Other interesting news - Flame Books are considering bringing out a 2nd edition of A Dangerous Man - with quotes on the back cover - so Michael had better spruce himself up in case he gets the chance for a second outing. You never know your luck, eh ...
Today’s nice things:
1. A possible rerun for A Dangerous Man
2. Writing
3. Getting a new mobile – I hope!
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
ANNE BROOKE BOOKS: Independent writer of modern fiction
Showing posts with label magazines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magazines. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Had a fantastic time with Jane W in London yesterday - soooo good to talk with her and feel normal again. Or what passes for normal in my head. And the Indian food was wonderful too. Have never had chicken momo before - it was ace. Must have it again.
Spent most of the day at Farnham Maltings helping Irene with the Goldenford bookstall. Mind you, I was in a bit of a rush to get there, it being one of those days where it takes me years to get ready. I think when I'm old and fragile, I might not bother to get up on some days at all, as the effort isn't worth the benefit really. Anyway, I couldn't find anywhere to park in the Maltings car park and then the one near the river was full too, so I had to park miles away in virtually another county - well the other side of town - and hump my big box of books all the way back. Groan! However, with my new muscly arms, I can now shot-putt for Russia. Should they choose to ask me ...
To be honest, it wasn't really the best day to have an indoor stall - not with the sun shining, Wimbledon, a local show in the next town and the bike race stuff going on. Even the other stallholders said it was the slowest they've known it be for a while. That said, I managed to sell two copies of A Dangerous Man (thanks, Pip, and kind-hearted stallholder next door!) And we also shifted other Goldenford books so we almost broke even, which was (almost) nice.
Irene and I did get the giggles in the afternoon though - 90% of the minimal amounts of people who came through the door seemed to whizz past the stalls at such rates of speed that we christened them the "fly pasts" - much like a lesser version of a Red Arrows display, but not as high up. My theory is that in fact there were hundreds of people milling around, but they were moving so fast that it was impossible to see them with the naked eye. My other theory was that our stall was somehow in a temporal anomaly zone so that we weren't ourselves actually visible to browsing customers in this historical period. Unless they were truly determined of course. Ah well, eh - better luck next time!
Tonight I'm going to attempt to do some of the cleaning and then chill. The neighbour has very sweetly attempted to invite us to supper, but I made an excuse as I really can't deal with any more people today. I am socialised out.
Oh, and I've just finished the latest edition of Mslexia - which wasn't actually as irritatingly 1970s as it usually is. Must be the new editor or something. I was pleasantly relieved. Still wish they'd update that so old-fashioned layout though. Sigh.
But tonight all manner of thing shall be well, as it's our delayed pizza, ice cream and wine night - hurrah!
And here's a poem:
Zoo
Sometimes
when I stare at the tiger's
knowing eyes,
I wonder if in fact
it's the animals
who are free
and we who are
in cages.
Today's nice things:
1. Selling two copies of ADM
2. Giggling at the lack of business
3. Dinner!
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Pink Champagne and Apple Juice
Goldenford Publishers
Spent most of the day at Farnham Maltings helping Irene with the Goldenford bookstall. Mind you, I was in a bit of a rush to get there, it being one of those days where it takes me years to get ready. I think when I'm old and fragile, I might not bother to get up on some days at all, as the effort isn't worth the benefit really. Anyway, I couldn't find anywhere to park in the Maltings car park and then the one near the river was full too, so I had to park miles away in virtually another county - well the other side of town - and hump my big box of books all the way back. Groan! However, with my new muscly arms, I can now shot-putt for Russia. Should they choose to ask me ...
To be honest, it wasn't really the best day to have an indoor stall - not with the sun shining, Wimbledon, a local show in the next town and the bike race stuff going on. Even the other stallholders said it was the slowest they've known it be for a while. That said, I managed to sell two copies of A Dangerous Man (thanks, Pip, and kind-hearted stallholder next door!) And we also shifted other Goldenford books so we almost broke even, which was (almost) nice.
Irene and I did get the giggles in the afternoon though - 90% of the minimal amounts of people who came through the door seemed to whizz past the stalls at such rates of speed that we christened them the "fly pasts" - much like a lesser version of a Red Arrows display, but not as high up. My theory is that in fact there were hundreds of people milling around, but they were moving so fast that it was impossible to see them with the naked eye. My other theory was that our stall was somehow in a temporal anomaly zone so that we weren't ourselves actually visible to browsing customers in this historical period. Unless they were truly determined of course. Ah well, eh - better luck next time!
Tonight I'm going to attempt to do some of the cleaning and then chill. The neighbour has very sweetly attempted to invite us to supper, but I made an excuse as I really can't deal with any more people today. I am socialised out.
Oh, and I've just finished the latest edition of Mslexia - which wasn't actually as irritatingly 1970s as it usually is. Must be the new editor or something. I was pleasantly relieved. Still wish they'd update that so old-fashioned layout though. Sigh.
But tonight all manner of thing shall be well, as it's our delayed pizza, ice cream and wine night - hurrah!
And here's a poem:
Zoo
Sometimes
when I stare at the tiger's
knowing eyes,
I wonder if in fact
it's the animals
who are free
and we who are
in cages.
Today's nice things:
1. Selling two copies of ADM
2. Giggling at the lack of business
3. Dinner!
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Pink Champagne and Apple Juice
Goldenford Publishers
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Handbooks and mad professors
Busy bee today - hardly had time to go to the loo at all. Which was probably a good thing bearing in mind the extreme chill of the day. Spent the whole of the morning redoing the mentoring handbook and fiddling around with fonts. There's nothing like a good font fiddle to get the blood racing really. I do so love getting my teeth into a good secretarial task. Just like the old days when I used to do audiotyping and take letters etc. Marvellous. In fact, I was twice asked my opinion on how to do a Word task today, and found myself saying phrases like "source data" and "interactive textboxes". Goodness, how impressed we all were - me most of all. Sometimes I even sound like I know what I'm talking about, and have to lie down for half an hour in a darkened room to recover. It's what they always say - if you can spout the right language in the right context, you can fool 99% of the people. But don't worry - at heart, I still don't have a bloody clue.
Spent a happy, if exhausting, lunch-hour at my back strengthening class. I think the honeymoon period is over for sure now, as we were stretching parts of our quivering bodies that not even the trainer was sure we had. Mind you, I think we gained several inches in height afterwards, so by the time our five-week course is over, no doubt we'll all be 7 foot, blonde and ten years younger. It's amazing what the University sports centre can do for you ...
This afternoon, I minuted an extraordinary meeting of the Student Affairs Committee - which was a riot: an hour of intense conversation which included several inspirational thoughts (mainly from my boss, who's a top-class ideas man); followed by five minutes at the end when our professorial chair (bless!) told us what was in fact going to happen as, because it wouldn't be like last year anyway, he'd already decided what to do. Well, perhaps he didn't say that in so many words, but that was the gist ... My, how they all laughed. Not. Mind you, I do love a man who can run rings around everyone on the politics front, and it's always a pleasure to see a star performance, in any circumstances. And at least he can now say, hand on heart, that the discussion has ... um ... taken place. Kind of.
The delights of food shopping after work, then home to TV and collapse. Oh, and the rejection from Smith's Knoll poetry magazine has arrived - but goodness, they're slack this year; they've taken a whole six days to return my envelope. My my, dears, I'd get your act together if I were you. Anyone would think you'd actually considered the stuff ... Mind you, they did say they'd like to see more, so I can't be too scathing, I suppose. (On second thoughts, nah, being nice wouldn't be natural.) Maybe they can save me paper & money next time by sending me my poems back before I've actually written them? Now, that would impress me.
And I've had some nice comments on the section of "The Gifting", which I uploaded onto the Writewords (http://www.writewords.org.uk) site a few days ago - which is a boost, as I wasn't sure about that particular piece. Best get on with some more writing then sometime.
Today's nice things:
1. The back class
2. Doing secretarial stuff
3. Getting nice comments on Writewords.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
Spent a happy, if exhausting, lunch-hour at my back strengthening class. I think the honeymoon period is over for sure now, as we were stretching parts of our quivering bodies that not even the trainer was sure we had. Mind you, I think we gained several inches in height afterwards, so by the time our five-week course is over, no doubt we'll all be 7 foot, blonde and ten years younger. It's amazing what the University sports centre can do for you ...
This afternoon, I minuted an extraordinary meeting of the Student Affairs Committee - which was a riot: an hour of intense conversation which included several inspirational thoughts (mainly from my boss, who's a top-class ideas man); followed by five minutes at the end when our professorial chair (bless!) told us what was in fact going to happen as, because it wouldn't be like last year anyway, he'd already decided what to do. Well, perhaps he didn't say that in so many words, but that was the gist ... My, how they all laughed. Not. Mind you, I do love a man who can run rings around everyone on the politics front, and it's always a pleasure to see a star performance, in any circumstances. And at least he can now say, hand on heart, that the discussion has ... um ... taken place. Kind of.
The delights of food shopping after work, then home to TV and collapse. Oh, and the rejection from Smith's Knoll poetry magazine has arrived - but goodness, they're slack this year; they've taken a whole six days to return my envelope. My my, dears, I'd get your act together if I were you. Anyone would think you'd actually considered the stuff ... Mind you, they did say they'd like to see more, so I can't be too scathing, I suppose. (On second thoughts, nah, being nice wouldn't be natural.) Maybe they can save me paper & money next time by sending me my poems back before I've actually written them? Now, that would impress me.
And I've had some nice comments on the section of "The Gifting", which I uploaded onto the Writewords (http://www.writewords.org.uk) site a few days ago - which is a boost, as I wasn't sure about that particular piece. Best get on with some more writing then sometime.
Today's nice things:
1. The back class
2. Doing secretarial stuff
3. Getting nice comments on Writewords.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
Friday, December 15, 2006
Shopping and writing
Not quite as snappy a title as the good old "sex and shopping" line, but there you go. Things I bought in Godalming (where I had to be up with the larks to do battle with the Christmas shoppers once more): 2 packets of Epsom salts (for the bath - Grandma was right after all ...); 1 Surrey Advertiser (don't bother - nothing in it); 1 eye test (for next week). Hmm, give a fictional character that combination and they're either a serial killer with an eye problem, or an optician with a gardening fetish. Both of whom would live in Surrey. So no change there then.
Spent most of the morning and the early part of the afternoon sorting out the beginning of the fire element section of "The Gifting". A thousand words later (82,000 now in total) and I have some clues as to where it's going. Phew. And I've started to write the death of one of the characters. How I do so love doing that - the ultimate power: it's mine, all mine, aha! And it sparks up the balance with the remaining characters too, which is also great. Double aha!
Popped into see Gladys late afternoon - summary: talkative but frail. But at least the hearing aid problems seem to have solved themselves. Which is a relief on all sides.
Have just finished the latest edition of "Tears in the Fence" magazine. I thoroughly enjoyed some of the poems and poets - though as usual others left me cold - and there were also two particularly rivetting prose pieces included this time, both of which seized me by the guts and wouldn't let me go. Funny how it wasn't the one about the sex worker and all her many and various activities - a little too obvious for my liking. The ones that had me captive from the first sentence were far more subtle. Punchy too. And yes, that combination can happen.
I've been thinking about communication recently. Had a great time with Jane W last night - we had a good talk about some pretty deep stuff, but then again she's always someone I find I can do that with. Funny how there are only two or three people I feel I could actually talk honestly to, and the rest of the time talking is actually a way (for me) of keeping people at bay. Ha! They're the enemy, don't you know?! On the other hand, writing stuff down enables me to be far more honest and open on a more consistent basis than the voice allows; I always prefer email to the dreaded phone, and certainly prefer writing a blog to seeing people. Hmm. Maybe I am a hermit after all. Parties? Bah, humbug!
Tonight, Lord H is out at his office Christmas party (which has never extended to partners, thank goodness) - he's dreading it, so here's hoping it's not as terrifying as expected. However, the weekend of social interaction for both of us is fast approaching indeed - argh!
Today's nice things:
1. Writing
2. An evening in.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
Spent most of the morning and the early part of the afternoon sorting out the beginning of the fire element section of "The Gifting". A thousand words later (82,000 now in total) and I have some clues as to where it's going. Phew. And I've started to write the death of one of the characters. How I do so love doing that - the ultimate power: it's mine, all mine, aha! And it sparks up the balance with the remaining characters too, which is also great. Double aha!
Popped into see Gladys late afternoon - summary: talkative but frail. But at least the hearing aid problems seem to have solved themselves. Which is a relief on all sides.
Have just finished the latest edition of "Tears in the Fence" magazine. I thoroughly enjoyed some of the poems and poets - though as usual others left me cold - and there were also two particularly rivetting prose pieces included this time, both of which seized me by the guts and wouldn't let me go. Funny how it wasn't the one about the sex worker and all her many and various activities - a little too obvious for my liking. The ones that had me captive from the first sentence were far more subtle. Punchy too. And yes, that combination can happen.
I've been thinking about communication recently. Had a great time with Jane W last night - we had a good talk about some pretty deep stuff, but then again she's always someone I find I can do that with. Funny how there are only two or three people I feel I could actually talk honestly to, and the rest of the time talking is actually a way (for me) of keeping people at bay. Ha! They're the enemy, don't you know?! On the other hand, writing stuff down enables me to be far more honest and open on a more consistent basis than the voice allows; I always prefer email to the dreaded phone, and certainly prefer writing a blog to seeing people. Hmm. Maybe I am a hermit after all. Parties? Bah, humbug!
Tonight, Lord H is out at his office Christmas party (which has never extended to partners, thank goodness) - he's dreading it, so here's hoping it's not as terrifying as expected. However, the weekend of social interaction for both of us is fast approaching indeed - argh!
Today's nice things:
1. Writing
2. An evening in.
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
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