Christmas is getting closer

The tree is up, the decorations have been strewn haphazardly across the floor. Little voices are singing their versions of christmas carols, others are humming along because they don't know the new words yet. Are we looking forward to the 25th? Yes and no. It's nice to hear singing, I won't be able to use Santa as an excuse to get them to clean their rooms, but also I won't have to brave christmas shopping. Every year I promise myself I won't leave things til the last minute, and yet every year I do.

My Laptop Died

Oh my hell, my laptop just died. There's nothing happening. The battery is gone and the only place I can get a replacement is in the UK... and even then they don't have any in stock. The battery recharger cord won't work.... frakkin hell!
Yes I did back up my work, but this is my laptop! Serves me right for not getting a Macbook! I need a Macbook. *throws self on floor and kicks feet vigorously*

Hiatus

I'm performing major surgery on my WIPs visceral cavity right now. That is the cavity that I have concerning visceral responses and character depth. The good news is the WIP is reading better, I like using all my highlighters (thanks to Margie Lawson) and I'm coming up with neat ways to say things.
I therefore won't be blogging on this little blog for a week. Give me a week and I will be back. But there are entrails spilling out of my story and threatening to go septic, it's time to bring in the big guns Pink Highlighter Central!
Be back soon

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Yesterday I celebrated my son's 5th birthday. Even though the rain meant we didn't get to go to the waterpark, we still had a good time. He's at that age where fart jokes rock! So here's one just for him... Love ya baby.
Time is flying by, the older I get, the faster it goes. I wonder if Einstein ever encountered that? The older you are the faster you go? Hmm, that could have some seriously cool implications for geriatric superpowers.
The edit is going well, I think. Have been pushing visceral reactions into my characters scenes left, right and centre. I also bought Margie Lawson's "Edit" package, which my wonderful friend and ring in CP Diane assures me will help big time. Righto, anything that helps will be welcomed with open arms right now.
About to go and print out my entire mss and then go line by line through it. I do most of my editing on the computer, but I've been promised that having a hard copy is better to catch the little things.
What about you, how do you edit? Do you only use your computer? Or are you a paper and pen type writer?

Pricey Edwardian Fashion

I found out yesterday that some hats the ladies wore back in the day would cost the equivalent of over $4000 today. Holy spegolli's Batman, all that for a hat? You betcha. Most cost at least two weeks wages worth and many women had to pay off their hats before they received them. So to lose one's hat was a veritable disaster in those days. Needless to say they were held onto their heads with rather large hat pins.
The chambermaids would also collect a lady's hair from her brushes and wad it up into a sort of nest then use this to plump up her hairdo. Goodness me, did men know what was going on in those huge coifs?
The joys of researching, I have come across more wonders of the Edwardian age, I'll save them for another post though.
Just a short one, must dash back to the editing.

Early Riser

It's 5.30am and I'm hiding out the front office while my family sleeps. I'm still waiting to hear back from my beta readers on two WIPs, so I'm thinking I should start fleshing out the next one. I have a few storylines/plots I've been toying with, but nothing takes my fancy right now.
I wonder how other writers come up with idea after idea. I had one for a paranormal involving a ghostly heroine, but isn't paranormal almost dead at the moment? (no pun intended) I asked a few other writers if this were the case and they mentioned that if you write a stunning novel agents aren't going to knock it back because it's a paranormal. So it's not the genre that really matters it's the depth of plot/characters you write that's important.
Oh well, why didn't someone tell me that already? LOL.
I'm blogging over at RWA Australia about query letters and I've interviewed Richard Harland over at WeLoveYA.

Steampunk Serenade

Tor.com is having a steampunk month and is offering a range of short stories, comics and articles on my favourite subject. There's a whole plethora of links to other blogs/websites dedicated to Steampunk.
"Steampunk is what happens when Goths discover brown." Jess Nevins

There have also been Steampunk weddings and wedding cakes featured around the blogs.

Just a quick one, I'm in the middle of cleaning up the house.