Butterflies, Cats, Ice Giants and Temptation
I think my favorite discovery of my adult life has been butterfly houses. Back when Patrick and I lived in Vienna for 6 months in 2002, we had VERY little money, but we loved visiting the Imperial Butterfly House at the Hofburg Palace - we went there for my 25th birthday and again any time we could justify it, because it was so lovely to walk around the palm trees with butterflies flitting all around us. Last year, we learned that there's a butterfly house not too far away from our home in Wales, so we went there for my 39th birthday, too, and we went back again this past weekend.
Sadly, I have no pictures to share (because all of mine include very happy little boys whose online privacy I'm trying to respect). But it was a VERY happy moment in our family's weekend. :)
What I do have, of course, is dozens and dozens of pictures of Pebbles, because I can't resist taking adoring photos of her every day. The M.E./CFS means I have to spend quite a bit of time every day lying down - but who minds lying down when they have such a sweet cat purring on their chest? And PhotoBooth makes it irresistibly tempting to take photos of her every day as she does it. I am restraining myself with a HUGE EFFORT from posting all of them here (because I know not EVERYBODY is in love with our new cat and really wants to pore through dozens of them)! But here is one picture of her sleeping:
Just one cat-photo per blog entry isn't too over-the-top...is it? (Maybe don't answer that question!)
And it's been a busy week of writing. I finished up the first three chapters of my new MG project (tentatively titled A Grumpy Princess's Guide to Ice Giants & Other Catastrophes) and sent them to my agent, who liked them, hurrah! Whether or not it will be my next contracted book (to be published in 2019) will depend partly on sales for The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (since they're set in the same fantasy world), so...in other words, now would be a lovely time to buy (or pre-order) The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart if you haven't already! Because I would loooooove to be able to write the rest of my grumpy princess's guide. It's so much fun!
Next week I'll be diving into edits for my spies-and-fairies MG book (to be published by Bloomsbury in 2018 - I just saw a first cover sketch for the US edition!), which I'm really looking forward to...and in the meantime, I've been working on my first revisions to my adult romantic-fantasy novella, Snowspelled, which should come out later this year.
So I've been busy with lots of different fun projects! And it's been great to have a Pebbles-cat cuddled up against me as I work.
But I WILL NOT break down and post another photo of her now. Must...resist...temptation...must! ;)
(Ending this entry NOW before I lose control and post ALL OF THEM!)
Sadly, I have no pictures to share (because all of mine include very happy little boys whose online privacy I'm trying to respect). But it was a VERY happy moment in our family's weekend. :)
What I do have, of course, is dozens and dozens of pictures of Pebbles, because I can't resist taking adoring photos of her every day. The M.E./CFS means I have to spend quite a bit of time every day lying down - but who minds lying down when they have such a sweet cat purring on their chest? And PhotoBooth makes it irresistibly tempting to take photos of her every day as she does it. I am restraining myself with a HUGE EFFORT from posting all of them here (because I know not EVERYBODY is in love with our new cat and really wants to pore through dozens of them)! But here is one picture of her sleeping:
Just one cat-photo per blog entry isn't too over-the-top...is it? (Maybe don't answer that question!)
And it's been a busy week of writing. I finished up the first three chapters of my new MG project (tentatively titled A Grumpy Princess's Guide to Ice Giants & Other Catastrophes) and sent them to my agent, who liked them, hurrah! Whether or not it will be my next contracted book (to be published in 2019) will depend partly on sales for The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (since they're set in the same fantasy world), so...in other words, now would be a lovely time to buy (or pre-order) The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart if you haven't already! Because I would loooooove to be able to write the rest of my grumpy princess's guide. It's so much fun!
Next week I'll be diving into edits for my spies-and-fairies MG book (to be published by Bloomsbury in 2018 - I just saw a first cover sketch for the US edition!), which I'm really looking forward to...and in the meantime, I've been working on my first revisions to my adult romantic-fantasy novella, Snowspelled, which should come out later this year.
So I've been busy with lots of different fun projects! And it's been great to have a Pebbles-cat cuddled up against me as I work.
But I WILL NOT break down and post another photo of her now. Must...resist...temptation...must! ;)
(Ending this entry NOW before I lose control and post ALL OF THEM!)