Driving back from Oxford this afternoon after a very pleasant day plotting this n' that with jemck, I found myself listening to Word of Mouth with Michael Rosen. Today's topic was synthetic languages: not simply Esperanto, but a piece on (and in) Klingon, and interview with former Cambridge fan Colin Fine about Lojban, and a fascinating interview with sf writer Suzette Haden Elgin on Laadan. Very interesting, and I recommend it. It's here for the next 7 days: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtnz

Skirt of the day: burgundy patchwork.

Happy Birthday to the multi-talented and fabulous seanan_mcguire.

I finally got to see Avatar last night. It needs a longer post than I have time or brains to make right now, but I will say that I enjoyed it (despite its flaws) and it unquestionalbly sets a new bar for CGI, 3D and on-screen fantasy/SF worldbuilding.

What I will observe is that James Cameron would clearly love to have been the one to have filmed Starship Troopers.

We'd made an arrangement that if it started snowing, I'd come back into town and collect Trevor. Out in the orchard, a few flakes started coming down, so I kept an eye on it, messengered him and set out - by the time I got out of the back door, the snow had increased but there was still a thin line of wintry blue-green sky over the Tor. By the time we'd got out of the shop and on the road, it was as though someone had emptied an eiderdown over the landscape.

Just in time for Twelfth Night, which is either tonight or tomorrow, depending on how you count (I treat it as the 6th). So I have said a sad goodbye to the Christmas tree, taken down the decorations and cleaned the house. Not a bad day to treat the snow as an excuse and hole up with various pieces of work and, for a break, THE NINE TAILORS, set in a similar landscape across the country and partly at this time of year.

I am in Thog's Masterclass:

http://news.ansible.co.uk/a270.html

(In the New Year extra).

Just goes to show. This one got past everyone.

Not exactly back to work, as we have been working all week and most of the weekend. It is very cold here - I saw a string of wild swans flying into a clear red sunset this evening, one of the moments where I realise just how beautiful this region is. There are peewits on the water meadows and this morning T and I saw a heron perched on someone's gable, and a small white egret in one of the rhynes.

We also have a small sparkly horse. True to his Shetland origins, Snowy hates it when it's hot, but despite having a perfectly adequate barn to go into, prefers to stand out in the cold and on Saturday was covered in glittering frost.

Sid has been off his food for the last day or so and I noticed that only one of his fangs seemed to be in evidence. We just checked and though the fang is still fine, the gum isn't. So I will be taking him to the vet tomorrow, always a joy as Sid hates, hates, hates going in the car. Meanwhile Cass went out last night and met the badger and there was a lot of disgusted snorting and grumbling. Lily still won't go out at all after dark.

Chapter 25 of Grass King revised (and the opening rewritten). Downhill from here, I hope.
The marquis set off for the US today. He was due to fly at 15.00 hours: he rang about 17.15 hours to say they were just boarding. All was smooth until the gate, apparently, when everyone had to be body-searched, along with their carry-on. He's bored now. I just hope the rest of his flight goes well.

Skirt of the day: black flouncey.
My shoulders are out of practice with typing. Ouch.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear desperance, moshui and jpsorrow
Happy Birthday to you.

Clearly 4th Jan lies under good stars where the writing talents are concerned!

Creative writing tutoring

As some of you know, I have been working for Adventures in Fiction, a creative writing mentoring programme based in London, which takes a limited number of apprentices each year for various genres. I will now be offering this service privately, and hope to be able to offer it both online and in person (I met my previous student on a regular basis, but this is dependent on geographical location!).

I will only be dealing with SF, Fantasy and Horror, or any related sub-genres, and will be offering:

- manuscript proposal appraisal (first three chapters and synopsis)
- full manuscript appraisal (novels and short fiction)
- submission package assessment

I can also offer tailor-made packages, depending on your needs and requirements. If you want an assessment of your initial three chapters, to see whether a manuscript is worth continuing, we can look at this. If you have a whole novel, and would like it taken up to the point where you are ready to submit to an agent, I can structure a timetable for you and take you through a chapter-by-chapter assessment. This process is likely to take about a year (unless you’re a very quick writer!) and I will make you rewrite if I think it’s necessary.

You can start at any point. I am very thorough – this is aimed at the serious writer who is aiming at a professional career. We start with an appraisal, and if I think your expectations are unrealistic and that you would not benefit at this point from a full appraisal program, I will tell you. However, I am solution-oriented and my criticism will always be constructive!

The aim of this process, like the workshop itself, is to prepare work for publication. Obviously. I cannot guarantee that, although I would note that my last student has just had her first novel published as part of a 3 book-deal. I can put you in touch with former students if you wish. For other genres, including detective fiction, post-colonial fiction and literary fiction, let me know if you would like details and I will pass you on to Adventures in Fiction.

Please email me at liz(at)arkady(dot)org for further information, including a full breakdown of costs.

Online writing workshop

I will also be offering an online version of my current genre writing workshop, which will run for 4 months. I am intending to hold further (offline) workshops in London and Glastonbury this year. Again, please contact me if you would like further details.

To everyone who has enquired - I'll be working out the postage tomorrow and will get back to you all as soon as I know what it is likely to be.

If anyone else missed the original post and would like signed copies of my books, please email me at liz(at)arkady(dot)org and I will send you full details.

It seems to be 2010: Happy New Year. 2009 wasn't too bad for me personally, but it was very hard on friends and family, and I hope 2010 it far better for you all.

It's got off to a rocky start here, though. My aunt died this morning. She had been ill for some time and increasingly frail and it was expected. But it's still sad. The marquis has been packed off to LA for the week by his employers, so I am All Alone for the week. Oh, and Ish has been in another fight and is on antibiotics again and was thus shut in for several days.
He does not appreciate this.
So far he has pee'd on:
the carpet (several times)
the kitchen windowsill
the wall in the hall
two duvets
the wireless router (it survived unharmed).
He is not a popular cat right now.

On the 26th I was driving up to Cambridge from Woking in between various Christmas visits. (My brother kindly agreed to be driven up with me and then head home, thus getting round the issues of me not having a car and there being no trains.) As we passed through Harston I took a peek to see what the pub that's not the Queen's Head was calling itself now.

This year it's the Three Horseshoes, and they've got an appropriate sign. Now, if you google for 'Three Horseshoes pub sign' images you get a lot of signs showing three horseshoes side by side or in some sort of pattern. But the management at this place had gone for something more artistic. Alas I didn't stop to take a picture, but this drawing represents their new sign:



Oops.

Late last September I went for a wander round Greenwich with tamaranth that, at her suggestion, finished off with a walk up the Thames path to the Dome. I got this memorable picture with my iPhone and T got some very striking ones too - the light was incredible. I resolved to come back with my main camera, and the weekend before Christmas (and the last sunset before the Winter Solstice) I retraced our steps.

( Cut for lots of photos )

More photographs from this set here.

Well, Part 2 of 'The End of Time' was not quite as bad as I had feared.

( Read more... )

Folks, for those who don't know, we've just had a fright with a cat (not one of ours): lily pollen can be fatal to cats and kittens. I love lillies, but it isn't worth the risk. For more info, Goggle 'cats and lillies' or check out the link below.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals-and-Nature/Question319206.html

A beautiful clear day, which is now going down behind the ash trees into a fiery sunset.

We went to dinner with friends last night and E made raclette, with her new raclette set - I haven't had this since a rather disastrous exchange trip to the Haute Savoie when I was 16. We had it for Easter dinner and this was the only time in 3 weeks that I felt I'd eaten anything: the family were the social climbing bourgeousie and rationed everything to minute portions. The mother, whose name I have obliterated from memory, was one of those permed, chic, gaunt women whose faces are pinched in an expression of permanent bitterness and disapproval, and her daughter was obsessed with tennis and boys. I spent the whole visit, when chez Bourgeois, drawing spaceships for the little boys.

E is Breton and thinks that my exchange family were deeply unnatural and probably not actually French at all, so we are agreed that this memory of raclette will be much more positive.

While waiting for dinner, we took it in turns to go down to the street and watch the eclipse of the moon, which was fascinating, like all eclipses.

T and I went home about 10 and did stay up until midnight. I walked out to the orchard to salute it - very cold indeed, with a heavy ground frost and a distinct sense that the trees were alive, and waiting.

Today, we took the dogs to Collard Hill, which is a protection area for the Large Blue butterfly (obviously not in evidence at present): a long spine of land extending out into the Levels.

We think we have fixed the washing machine and the dishwasher. Fingers crossed.

I am going to spend the evening re-reading GAUDY NIGHT.

We will be running a short series of 1 day workshops based around the Dark Goddesses in 2010. All will be on a Saturday and based in Glastonbury. Cost is £80 for each day. Email me at liz(at)arkady(dot)org if you are interested and I will send you the relevant details.

17th April - Morrigan workshop


5th June – Hekate workshop


4th September – Sekhmet workshop


9th October – Cailleach workshop

I'll be running a workshop based around the Welsh goddess Elen in February.

Date: 6th February (10 am - 5 pm).

Cost: £80

Venue: on the Somerset Levels, near Glastonbury (indoors and out!)

This will involve some study and also some ritual/practical work. As usual, email me on: liz(at)arkady(dot)org if you are interested or need more information.

My friend and fellow Open Rights Group legal volunteer Francis Davey discusses e-books and digital rights management.