Every year, I tell myself that I'll (somehow) get loads of writing done over the children's school holidays. This year, I tell myself, I'll definitely find a way!

And every year...

Well.

Hahaha.

Quite. We'll just leave it there, shall we? ;) (...says the woman who's managed a grand total of 430 words over the past 3 days...ah well ( Read more... )

One of my very least favorite feelings in the world is saying goodbye to either of my brothers, and in the last 24 hours, I've had to say goodbye (for now) to both of them. Wahh! Luckily, my brother Ben is coming back into town next week with my wonderful sister-in-law, so I'm already looking forward to seeing him again soon, but it'll be at least ( Read more... )

It's been a hard, upsetting and scary few weeks in international and national news, and tomorrow we'll be voting, here in the UK, on whether or not we should stay in the EU. Not only is that a huge, nerve-wracking issue for everyone who lives here, but the rhetoric of the Leave campaign has been absolutely full of anti-immigrant vitriol. As an ( Read more... )

Oof. We've had a fair number of stress factors going on lately (including the horrifying discovery yesterday that our washing machine had been leaking under the floor for the last month with scary results - auggggggh ( Read more... )

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh ( Read more... )

Well, drat. All those warnings were right after all...and after a month of devouring the first four seasons of The West Wing, I've given up midway through Season 5, because the drop in writing quality was just too disappointing. I miss the old TWW! I'll go back and try Season 5 again one day, when it's been long enough that I can't directly compare ( Read more... )

Over here, Germ Central Command has ruthlessly taken control of my life, as I transitioned seamlessly from a rotten flu to a horrible, feverish cold. Sigh. In other words, I don't have many out-of-the-house adventures or writing advancements to report...but here are some things that have brightened the past week:

1. Emily BrownOh, am I grateful ( Read more... )

1. Hamilton: the Musical. I discovered this through the cast recording, and WOW.

So, for context, I've always liked musicals, as a genre, without feeling a great urge to watch or listen to them all that much...except once, when I was 12, when one hit me like a lightning-bolt: The Phantom of the Opera. It was soooooo romantic! And historical! And ( Read more... )

1. I just finished reading Kate Milford's book Greenglass House, which was WONDERFUL - warm and charming and mysterious and fun. You can read my Goodreads review here.


( Read more... )

MrD is still in the middle of his two-and-a-half-week school break right now, so it's mostly family time over here, with bits of sneak-writing slotted in wherever/whenever I can manage them. Mostly, we've been doing a lot of reading (MrD and I are in the middle of re-reading Mr. Popper's Penguins right now), visiting castles, playing in the park, ( Read more... )