The foot is progressing, thanks to the good care I'm getting from my wonderful hubby -- ice packs, great meals, juice, my stack of books I've saved for this period, bringing them to me on request. I've felt like a queen. So, last night I knighted him. (I tapped him on the shoulder with my hand, since we don't have swords and shields lying around the house.)
I've been reading like crazy, and in a day or two I'll start reporting on them. But today I want to pass on two nice awards Richard Hughes gave me. (what a nice thing to come back to!) Mosey on ovr to his site and enjoy his posts. He writes about Paris, reviews e-books, shares some of his stories and has an all around interesting blog. Meanwhile, thank you, Richard, I really appreciate it.
Here are the awards.
I am supposed to thank the sender and refer readers back to him/her,
then pass it on to five or more others, and then tell seven things about myself that others might not know.
So, here are my five new candidates (but, oh, there are really so many
good bloggers out there. It's hard to choose!)
1.
Lia Keyes, the founder of
Scribblerati (a wonderful writer site; come join) and an all around whirlwind wonder, whose blog keeps you informed about the writing world, tips on writing all kinds of fiction, although her specialty is Steampunk, and who manages to write a trilogy, while hosting chats . . . Oh, it just goes on and on. Go check out her site.
2.
Hope Clark, a writer with an interesting blog who also has a fabulous newsletter,
Funds For Writers, that posts new markets, new contests, new conferences, retreats, grants; you name it. Visit her blog and subscribe to her newsletter. I always find something of value at both sites.
3.
Michelle Fayard, blog hostess at Bird's Eye View and pre-published author, who interviews authors, reviews books, and greets the writing world with infectious enthusiasm -- and also had an agent request to see more pages of her work.
4.
J. L. Campbell, who has three different blogs, but my favorite one is
The Character Depot, where she raises interesting issues that arise during a WIP, invites guest authors to address issues writers worry over, and always provides food for that. once you are at her site above, you can explore the other two blogs as well. (One is devoted to book reviews.) I had the good fortune to win a copy of her e-book,
Dissolution, a good read that I'll be addressing later this week.
5.
Rosi Hollinbeck, who does it all: shares the ups and downs and angst of the writing life, passes on good articles and contests (and has been winning some of those contests as well), and writes some great reviews.
I am
posted by Neil
Let's see if this works...
When last heard from I was in Wales, for the
Doctor Who table read. And then I was off the world picking plums.
I'm still off the edge of the world right now. I was exhausted when I got here -- more exhausted than even I knew, I think. Too much travel, too much nothing ever quite stopping, too many meals on the road. I felt old and creaky and tired.
I spent my first week catching up on my sleep, eating sensible meals that I made myself, mostly veggies and fruits and fresh-caught fish (courtesy of the neighbours, who would walk up the hill and tap on the window, and give me fresh-caught mackerel and such. I gave them bags of plums). I did a lot of walking. Then I got a bicycle, and started going on daily bike rides, two miles to start with, which turned into six to ten miles each day as soon as I started to get into it. I'd take photos of things I'd pass while bike-riding using my little Nexus 1 phone camera and then knit them together with a stitcher program called
Hugin.
An interesting rock.
During the first of the ten mile bike rides, I realised I knew what the next big fictional prose story I wanted to tell is. And that I know the story, or enough of it, but not who tells it, who sees it, how it's told. It may have to go back and forth with different people telling different chapters, and bits in diaries and such. It's tremendously reassuring when that happens - an idea turns up and you know it's big and it has legs and nobody's told that story before. And that if you just get all the pieces into position before you start, the plot will take care of itself. Getting the pieces into place is going to be the hard bit.
It may be a while before I'm ready to start writing it. Lots of thinking to do first. But it's the next big story, I think.
And somewhere in there I lost about 8 pounds, stopped creaking and feeling old and travel-weary and started smiling, and wrote a couple of things that people were waiting for. Didn't write many more things people were waiting for, but I don't feel too bad about it: everything will get written eventually.
On Saturday I stop being a hermit and hit the road. Later in the week I'll arrive in Wales, to see the first couple of days of filming of my episode and be interviewed by Doctor Who Confidential.
News from home:
1) Cabal had an operation to uncompress parts of his spine, as he was having trouble walking. He's recovering. I am still worried. We chat on Skype. Or at least, I talk to him and he tries to figure out where my voice is coming from. Lorraine has done an amazing job of being there and keeping everything going, as has Woodsman Hans, and I am grateful. Now we wait. Lorraine's been keeping things updated on her blog, at
http://blog.fabulouslorraine.com.
2) On October the 25th, I'll be on PBS's Arthur. I play a writer called Neil Gaiman.
0 Comments on A Spectrum of Stuff as of 1/1/1900
Good to see you back.
I'd like to be a vegetarian, but I don't care much for cooking, and my wife would never become one. It's kind of ironic that you're a vegetarian and you love you Mac (as in a Big Mac at MacDonalds):).
I've never read The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings either.
I assume the spider made it; otherwise, you'd have been back in the hospital.
Thanks ever so much, Elizabeth. It's good to know a little more about you.
I don't know which is greater news, Mitty--that your foot is on the mend or that in giving this award you've included me on the same list with bloggers and authors such as Lia, Hope, Joy and Rosi. Wow and thank you very much!
Michelle
P.S. I love our iMac too. :)
I've heard about the rice cake being so terribly hard to make. Congratulations! I love the spider story. Can't wait to see the poem. I read the Hobbit, but just could not read the Ring trilogy, try as I might. I miss my Mac. I was a Mac person for many, many years and went to the dark side a few years ago. I'm sure there was a good reason, but I can't remember why. I'm not a coffee person, but love coffee ice cream or chocolate or vanilla or Moose Tracks or Bear Claw or...I love ice cream. Thanks for the honor.
Thanks for the awards. That's so sweet - pun intended. I'm honored.
Hope Clark
FundsforWriters.com
Its good to see you back. Congrats on the two awards. You deserve them.
Well... so you have mastered the art of making Idlis. That's great. :)
Congrats on the awards, and I hope your foot continues to heal well (and that the spiders stay on the ceiling)!!!
Congrats on the two awards. I'm happy to hear that your foot is doing well. Hang in there!
Thanks everyone for all the good wishes. I'm about halfway through my recuperate period, enjoying good reads but dying to get back to my MG novel. Your comments and visiting your blogs keep my morale high and help me to be patient.
Congrats on these awesome awards! Your 7 things are so great. And the poem about the spider made me smile, because, ya know, it tells me something sweet about ya.
Good to see you back! Congratulations on your awards!
Thanks for stopping by Project Mayhem today!