This has been a week full of frivolity and writing, just the way I like it. ;) On Tuesday, Mr Darcy and I hopped the bus into town to meet up with friends (3 adult women for me, 3 babies for him) at the café in the Leeds City Art Gallery & Central Library. It was really fun - I'm so glad that the women from my prenatal class are all getting ( Read more... )

...and, OOF.

Before we left the house, 13 days ago, we turned the heating way down to save on energy bills. Smart, right? Well...unfortunately, while we were gone, the temperatures swooped down to well below freezing, and our house is an old stone cottage where the cold sets in and stays. The moment we walked in (at least, the moment after our ( Read more... )

Very belatedly summing up...it was a really lovely Christmas. People genuinely seemed to like the presents we'd chosen, we got fab presents of our own, everybody admired Mr Darcy (but of course!), who got to meet two sets of uncles and aunts for the very first time, along with a whole bunch of cousins...and my very best present by far came from ( Read more... )

Today is a red-letter day for more than just its date. Today, I finished my first short story since Mr Darcy was born! It's my brother Dave's Christmas story (yes, I know, it's late...luckily, both of my brothers are understanding!), and it turned out slightly differently than expected. He asked for a story about a traveling circus coming into ( Read more... )

How is your willpower when it comes to opening Christmas gifts? Mine is weak, weak, weak. I'm proud of the fact that Patrick and I have never once opened each other's Christmas gifts before Christmas day (and it's a real struggle on my part, believe me!)...but when it comes to gifts from anybody else, I have to fight myself to wait as long as ( Read more... )

I have never, ever seen so much snow in Leeds! My Michigan heart is in heaven. The world outside the window is white and fairy-tale-beautiful, and I'm blissfully enjoying the feeling of having a real winter at last! If it weren't for the fact that we have to drive somewhere this morning, everything would be perfect. Unfortunately, Leeds - where it ( Read more... )

Woot! My science fictional comedy of manners, "The Andrassii Agreement", has been published in Lone Star Stories. You can read it here! I'm tempted to burble on and on about the story and the magazine at great length, but instead I'll just say: I'm very happy about this publication, and I love the image Eric picked to go with the story. Yay ( Read more... )

The good reason why I haven't been posting much in the last couple of weeks is because I had a family visit. Yay! The bad reason is because I've been sick with an irritating feverish infection that didn't quite clear up with the first round of antibiotics...and then, since I didn't get myself back to the doctors soon enough, it got a lot worse in ( Read more... )

This morning, not only did Mr Darcy let me stay in bed until 7:30 (comparatively speaking, bliss!), but I woke up to the best kind of news: my short story "The Andrassii Agreement" has sold to Lone Star Stories! It'll be published in the December issue. "The Andrassii Agreement" will be only my second published science fiction story, which makes ( Read more... )

It's been a really good week for books. On Thursday, Patrick and I went to the library for the first time since MrD was born. Hooray! It felt like coming home. I loaded up on books, including one based on a recommendation I'd seen online: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. And oh, wow, did I love it. Set in 1946 ( Read more... )