As Cats Protection supporters, we do a lot of fundraising. This includes street collections -- that that is what DH is going to be doing tomorrow. Dressed as a large white cat. I think we get sympathy money. Anyway, I won't be joining him -- my excuse is that my feet won't stand the standing, if you know what I mean. Well, I have just had a steroid shot into the Morton's Neuroma, and it's still sore. Really it is.

So I'm staying home and hopefully getting some more words down. 11000+ so far. Still a long way to go, but next week the Queen of Plots and I should be able to get our heads together and thrash out something more.... Watch this space!

Computer hate!!!

Hate it, HATE it when the damn thing crashes in the middle of something!

I was blogging about my current inability to write lineally. As in, start at the beginning, go on until you reach the end, then stop. I can't write that way, laudable and great though it may be. My brain doesn't work like that. Hey, even when I read I have been known to skip whole sections. My sad little brain is pigeon-holes, stuffed with ideas, scenes, phrases -- all sorts. When I write, I start clearing the interesting stuff out, discarding the fluff and droppings (I'm sticking with the pigeon analogy, see) and try to beat the bits into some shape. Eventually I have enough to string together into a narrative of sorts.

I'm not alone in this. One of my favourite writers, Diana Gabaldon, apparently does the same. So who am I to say she's wrong?

Hoping that next week I can flog the brain into working again...

Love it when characters let slip a few more hints about themselves. It may never make it onto the page, but it rounds them out in the writer's head. I hate cardboard characters who let themselves be shoved around willynilly -- so I try not to write them...

Key West Sunset

Key West Sunset.

Well. 10,000 words into AGAINST THE TIDE, (with Chris Quinton) which is a m/m cop/buddy/thriller set in Tampa. (Why Tampa? Well, I love Florida, and Tampa is a great city. Also I wanted to include the Keys -- Key West, if you didn't know, is the capital of the Conch Republic, and a Mecca for the Beautiful People of all three sexes and inclinations. If you ever get there, don't miss the Mallory Square Sunset Celebration!)
So -- 10,000 words. Trouble is, I don't write linearly. I write scenes and hope to stitch them together eventually. I'm ace at the bromance stuff, the relationship bits, and while I have a pretty good idea of the Plot, Plot isn't my strong point...

This is DH posing for me at the end of Interstate 1.

 

 



 

 

 

 



About me.

Now back in North Wales after four years in Grand Cayman, in the Caribbean (proof positive that no good deed goes unpunished) I am 48 years married (to the same man!), with one son, three cats and one grandson. I love to read - anything, in a pinch. I think it's an addiction. I love classic SF, history, travel, and animals. I've been writing for as long as I can remember, but first teamed up with Chris Power (see Chris Quinton) in the '70s to write 'fan-fiction'. After some time (and several awards!) we branched out into writing our own brand of 'cop-show', and from that, to writing fantasy and historical fiction. I am always happy to get any kind of comment about my work. Creative criticism, even. Tell me what you liked, why you liked it. What you didn't like, ditto! MY CATS CLEO (Darktower Dilana) is a Tortie-Tabby & White Maine Coon girl, a real stunner, and already a Premier. A sweetheart who  has the whole family under her velvet paw! CLEO has no hobbies. She has Purrr-poses of Life... Watching birds, washing other cats, being beautiful. MERI (full name Adfursh Meriadoc Brandybuck, but we only call him that when he's being a bad boy) is a Usual Silver Somali. He came to us after Pippin, his predecessor, went to Rainbow Bridge. He shares many of Pip's endearing qualities. Hobbies include lying upside down while having tummy stroked, asserting dominance over all other cats, and eating. Meri is a registered Pets-as-therapy (PAT) cat. One of a select few in the country, but now retired. RUFUS (Brizlincoat Brigadier) is a Usual Somali. He is a full Premier and was on the way to Grand when he decided that this was not a good career choice. Hobbies include Escapology and plucking out his tail fur.

bad birdwatching

I am a Bad Birdwatcher. According to Simon Barnes, this is okay -- I can enjoy and appreciate birds without needing to know the latin name, or anything else about it other than -- it's a bird. I like watching it.
Having been on the receiving end of some real put-down comments (It's an Indigo Bunting. In winter plumage. So it's not indigo! (Should I have known this? Do I care?) And: you can't have seen a flamingo, they aren't in this area!
well, this was later comfirmed by an independent birder, so ya boo sucks. I still get twitted about it, though...
I'm getting better. I can identify a whole raft of birds, some quite uncommon, and I can get quite excited about seeing them do their thing (known as 'observing' in ornithological circles) but I have to admit that I most enjoy birding when the weather is warm and dry and I'm in Florida.
Having said that, on one freezing outing a few days ago, I was thrilled to see a stoat. Can't see them in Florida...