Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Not forgetting a heartfelt wish for Minx!

Can't be there tonight, as the necessary evil of work is required :¬(

But I'm thinking of everyone there in Cardiff and the Purple book by the Purple one.

May it be a long remembered launch! Raise a virtual glass to absentees ;¬)

Minx linx

Maxine's Challenge

..yesterday was the six word biography challenge.

A fun way to exercise words and life-writing.

Here's mine:

1. Lives hard, but living is hard.
2. Ran out of gears to change.
3. Road testing an alien's ship instead.

Not quite sure how I got from 1, to 3, like that... but it's for fun, isn't it?

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Transports of Delight

Want to see your work getting around?

Then try Litro - a relatively new reading adventure for publicly transported Londoners!

Litro Link

Thanks to Seoman for pointing this up :)

Friday, October 27, 2006

Meme-alonga-meme

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
There is no such thing. I'm quite resigned to degrees of satisfaction.

What is your greatest fear?
That when I pop me clogs, that will be it!

What is your favorite journey?
It used to be from home in Northern Ireland to Rosslare in the very south of Ireland to collect our Mum from her annual journey home to Alencon, in France - but the coast trip from San Francisco to Santa Barbara last year almost tops it.

What do you consider the most over-rated virtue?
All of them!

What virtue do you wish you had more of?
All of them!

On what occasion do you lie?
On a need to lie basis, which given the fact that I have kids is quite a lot. Mostly white ones, though - I swear!

Which words do you most over use?
'Actually', and 'we'll see'

What is your greatest extravagance?

Ever?... bugger... probably having so many children! Think of all the descendents... agh!

What do you dislike about your appearance?
Where do you want me to start? It's a body!

Which living person do you most despise?
I would have had much firmer opinions on this subject when I was younger. Now I'm more uncertain, especially when I look around the world today. It's sad really.

What is your greatest regret?
Having no regrets.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Words.

When and where were you happiest?
When I was a child before the age of six-seven. They were the days, when a day seemed so damn long! Especially in mid-summer.

Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability to fit a lot more into the day.

What is your current state of mind?
I have a state of mind? I thought it was just a mind...!

If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
Nothing, really - we are what we are.

If you could die and come back as a person or thing, what would it be?
A key.

What is your most treasured possession?
My brain.

What thing would you like to have, that you do not?
Don't really do 'things'

What do you think is the lowest depth of misery?
Seeing others in depressed states and being unable to help.

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Tolerance. In large measure.

What physical quality do you like in a man?
A large cock. There - I've always wanted to say that! ;¬)

What do you most value in friends?
The ability to keep secrets and not to judge.

What quality do you most dislike in a person?
Meanness.

Who are your favorite writers?
William Blake, W.B. Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, Virgina Woolf, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Eavan Boland, Abdulrazak Gurnah... must I choose...?

Who are your heroes in real life?
A woman who used to be a neighbour of mine. I've never met anyone so original and kind. She performed daily miracles with the liberal application of tea.

What are your favorite names?
Ones that are unusual and aren't heard very often. Or old names that you've not heard in years.

How would you like to die?
Quickly. Very, very quickly.

What is your motto?
How many sugars in that?

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Getting ahead of meself!




If You Were Born in 2893...



Your Name Would Be: Vor Kin



And You Would Be: A Robot Hunter

If You Were Born in 2893

Thanks to Chief Biscuit for this one - funnily enough I used to look like this (no really, I did) about ten years ago. I hated my hair and went a la Sinead O Connor for about ten years.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Tilting away in the Northern Hemisphere

This is why October is such a beautiful month to me... amongst many other reasons!

October in our house, especially late October is known as the official month of the donning of the school tights.

It's also when I get out my crock pot and start cooking things like Irish stew, and homemade Steak and Kidney pie. Yeeeuuumm!

From here on in I start to turn my head towards the midwinter festival:

The Crumbs of a Prudent Housewife’s Year

After Dylan Thomas

When the thieving hands of time steal back
What the tilt of the seasons has lent,
When the dim twilit hour fades in our hearts
Insistent the chime of Chronos’ song.


When the cook's thought turns to humble pie
And tender stewed meat and barley soups,
Then you know truly that winter is come
All toil of the year is the tale in the broth

When the lacklustre light of dreary days
Calls the blackened kettle to hale good cheer
T’is then all good folk give greeting and say
You won’t feel it now, ‘til Christ’s Mass is near.’

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

A Blog of the Book

I thought it might be handy to blog the book making process so I've started a blog especially for the purpose over here, to keep it separate from here, and as a record.

So, any news about it you'll find there!

Like I don't have enough to be doing with this blog already, huh?

Friday, October 13, 2006

Astonishing News!

I received a telephone call last night at 21:30 from a very nice man in Kerry. Hmm, I thought to myself as the Kerry lilt asked for me by name, I wonder who this is calling at this time of night.

You see, our landline number is one of those that people seem to ring by accident - is that the insurance firm; the radio station; the local newspaper; are all questions that I get asked a lot, so when someone asks for me by name and I don't recognise their voice I am woken out of auto-answer mode.

Imagine my astonishment when this sonorous voice introduced themselves as the editor of a small press publisher in Ireland and went on to tell me that the press' editorial council had selected my manuscript as one of six books to be published next year - contingent on funding!

Finally! After two years of hawking the manuscript around, sometimes with publishers not even able to read it, my work has persuaded a small press to take it on and give it a launching pad.

You know, I do believe that some of Inner Minx and skintwriter's luck is starting to rub off on me!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

All Done!

Woo hoo! I shall go off now and get inebriated as students are meant to and will be back to normal by the weekend.

Oh how I shall enjoy doing nothing, without feeling guilty!

For a short while anyway.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Eyes Down...

...for a full house.

Blogging will resume as normal after the 11th October, when the exam is over.

Then, I will swap blind panic stove lids, through which I can see nothing, for my rose tinted spectacles, through which I shall fondly appraise the nineteenth century - until the exam results in December of course!