Richard took this photo of me yesterday. It was taken in our garden; you can see part of the thick curtain of glossy ivy which climbs up the wooden fence by the contorted hazel tree, right by the entrance to the Grove or "circular lawn" as I obliquely describe it in my latest Hubpage: http://hubpages.com/hub/Adeles-Garden

The photo was taken for use with my author's bio for a horror/dark fantasy anthology to be edited by Raven Digitalis, who started this project two years ago. Raven intends to submit the MS to an interested prospective publisher on October 1st. My contribution was Spanish Jones, part one of which was broadcast live on 7 Waves Radio in October last year. It's a tale of pirates, selkies and witches fighting to the death on Hilbre Island and Middle Eye. Anyway, here's hoping that the MS will be accepted.

Meanwhile, Riverside Writers have now received one quote for printing our anthology. Obviously we're waiting for other quotes to come in, but already it looks like being a choice between two local companies. I sent emails to members this morning to tell them Gary Smailes from Bubblecow http://www.bubblecow.co.uk/ will be joining us at the next meeting.

Yesterday Richard arrived home clutching Cajun chicken and two wonderfully dreadful films: one had Godzilla and Rodan battling with a three-headed chicken-ish winged thingy, and the other film featured a giant shark (which ate San Francisco bridge and leapt skywards to chomp a plane) battling to the death with a giant octopus, which ate a few ships and an oil rig or two. Both films deserve a place beside Shark in Venice! and King Kong Lives - the one where Kong has a heart transplant and takes a fancy to a Lady Kong with a ginger rinse. Awful but hilarious, all. The Cajun chicken was good, too - peppery spicey, just as it should be.

Plans to tackle some more gardening were halted by today’s incessant soft rain. Instead I finished writing ch. 18 of Bethany Rose then had a book cull. I collect far too many books for the space available. Any non-fiction book that hasn’t been opened for five years might as well be consigned to the category of Outgrown Or Boring. Off to the charity shop with ‘em!

We watched a peculiar little film yesterday: The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes. Beautifully lit, and very surreal, the film used puppets and/or automatons as well as live actors. Basically, it’s a story of a piano tuner who is taken to an island-based mental asylum to repair a series of automatons. The asylum’s doctor seems to be madder than his patients (or at least that was my impression.) An interesting if rather puzzling film; it’s plot reminded me of something from the Twilight Zone or Tales of the Unexpected.

I’ve now finished reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, which took me a little effort to get interested in as the opening scenes are set in a tavern, and pubs hold no attraction for me. However, once over that little hurdle, I soon found myself hooked by this tale of how a young boy from a travelling troupe of entertainers worked his way towards becoming a man of legend and infamy. When the troupe is slaughtered, he’s left to survive on his wits until he figures out a way to enter the university. He soon learns that life in the highbrow world of academia can be just as dangerous as life on the streets. A very good read; entertaining, thoughtful and well-crafted. I have every intention of reading Volume Two.

My niece, Cat, will have three teeth removed today. Ouch.

Richard got the results of his blood test yesterday. His blood sugar is a cause for concern, and also his kidneys don’t seem to be functioning as well as they should be. The doctor expressed concern about his weight, too. All that will be done for now is that Richard will have another blood test in three months time to evaluate any changes.

Chester was lovely on Monday. We lunched at The Coach House then meandered round the shops, stopping to watch a man playing the violin whilst balancing on one leg on a trapeze wire.

I replenished my supply of frankincense and myrrh, and then—several hours later—we enjoyed tea and cake at The Blue Moon Café, which has become something of a traditional stop-off point for us whenever we go to Chester. What can I say; they do excellent cake! And the café sits at the perfect point for a cuppa before heading back in the general direction of home.

We called into St John the Baptist’s Church, partially as Richard wanted to photograph the Norman ruins. Two exceptionally chubby squirrels came to inspect his efforts. Clearly they are used to tourists… These cuties positively wobbled with podge as they scampered over autumnal leaves and mosses—adorable little creatures, with cheeky faces and alert black eyes.

Richard took a few shots inside the church too, while I wandered around and soaked up the energy. This church stands on probably the oldest religious site in Chester. Before there was ever a Christian church built the site was in use for religious purposes. It stands directly on top of a ley line.

Richard bought himself a copy of The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, which completes his collection of their films, and while I wasn’t looking he bought me two dark faeries—long, slender, ragged-winged porcelain figurines some 10” and 8” tall, which are now on top of my puuter desk.

Writing
I’ve just completed a 5,000 Sci-Fi story—albeit for a tweak and a polish—which I'll probably call School. The deadline to submit this is coming up fast. I’ve also got another story, Fantasy again this time, to complete (or start, even) for a deadline in just over two weeks time. This reminds me of something Tim Hulme said at last month’s Riverside Writers meeting, when a new lady had asked about our writing projects. He said we have an entire month to work on each project, which means we usually leave writing anything until two days before the meeting!

Despite this morning’s torrential downpour, I headed into the village to attend to some business and browse the sales. All I wanted was a new black blouse, an evening-type style. I came back with two books, which is entirely typical of me. I always was the world’s most hopeless clothes shopper. I need a pet Gok.

Anyway, as I’ve put Bethany Rose on hold while I contemplate the shredder, I’ve been busy editing Tamsin, which I’ve not even looked at for a while. So far I’ve edited up to chapter 7. This is the last time I’ll edit this MS, unless a publisher wants a specific change. Otherwise I’ll be tweaking for the sake of tweaking.

Richard and I have begun watching a series called Blood Ties starring Christina Cox, Kyle Schmid and Dylan Neal. It’s based on books by Tanya Huff, and the two episodes we’ve seen have been enjoyable. Richard said he much prefers it to Buffy as it’s far more adult and gritty, and the characters seem more believable.

Lately, he’s been working his way through a Marx Brothers boxed set of films, and last night he watched an ancient Buster Keaton silent film while I finished reading a biography of a rather interesting fellow—lion trainer, bar-room pianist, author and independent thinker (and doer).

And I’ve done a bit more to the oil portrait which I’ve been working on for a while, too. There’s not much more to do to it now—a few almost-transparent pale touches on the skin, and that’s all.

You can now read an excerpt from Rowan on my website.

I've also been updating the site as a whole, and I'd like your opinions on what works and what doesn't. Can you think of anything that's missing; more pictures, perhaps? Does the site hold your interest, or would you like to see more of less of something? All comments, including negative ones, are welcomed.

My website: http://www.adelecosgrove-bray.com

Venice

Last night we watched Shark in Venice, which is even more funny than Jaws. The hero wrestles with the great white, which grabs him by the shoulder then the waist. We watched his severed lower leg drift down through the waters--and then he gets out of a hospital bed with no more than a bandaged wrist. What a tough guy!

This was followed by Don't Look Now, which has a youthful Donald Sutherland running around the wintry passages and canals of Venice. Actually, the plot held minimal interest for me but I enjoyed looking around the city.

I have got to visit this city! I've been saying that for a few years already... Why? Well, it's the proximity of the water; the way the houses are like little islands; the sheer romance of the place; all those cute little bridges and crumbling buildings. Some have named it the world's most elegant slum.

If there was one place on Earth that you'd like to visit more than anywhere else, where would it be?

A good article on turn-offs for lit agents: http://www.writersdigest.com/article/what-agents-hate/

The turn-out for the writers’ workshop broke all Riverside Writers’ previous records. There weren’t enough printed handouts to go round, unfortunately. So much for my guess-work! Among the crowd was Sci-Fi author Colin P Davies, who visited our group as a speaker some years ago. http://www.colinpdavies.com/index.htm

Anyway, the workshop on constructive criticism generated a healthy amount of group discussion, which was one of my intentions.

The practical exercise I’d prepared brought some levity. I read one page of what was supposed to be the start of a novel, which was written awfully on purpose, and people had to pretend that a member of the writers circle had presented this in all seriousness. How, then, would the group offer constructive criticism? Once they’d all stopped laughing, I pointed out that if they were to laugh at fellow writer’s efforts, then that person might be terribly upset and never come back. It was interesting—and amusing—to see how people then proceeded to try and conjure a diplomatic and useful crit.

Soooo, on with my own work… Bethany Rose now stands at 49,500 which means the 50,000 half-way mark is but one hop away.

Richard has bought a boxed set of all the Magnificent Seven films. I “blinked” half way through a gun fight, and woke up to see Margaret Rutherford drinking tea. Hmm, did I miss something there?!!

Richard has the bubonic plague a headcold. 

Meanwhile....





What can moggies do when the rain keeps on pouring down, day after day after day? Snooze, mostly....  Or sunbathe beneath the hall window.

Anyway, while Jazzy and Saffron have been taking things easy, I've been busy designing some more Hallowe'en cards - visit http://www.zazzle.com/AdeleCB to see those.
 
I've been working on Bethany Rose.  The word count currently stands at 34,500.  Obviously there's lots to do yet, as I'm aiming for 100,000 words again.  This re-write differs considerably from the original version, partially because the whole mythos of the series has evolved since I first began playing around with ideas for it.

One tricky thing is keeping the Bad Guy bad enough without resorting to gore. 

Excessive violence and shock effects don't interest me, either in novels or in films.  Once the reader/viewer has gone, "Euwch!" a few times, the reaction wears thin rapidly.  I prefer to tease peoples' imaginations, leaving their own minds to fill in the gaps.  As with some of the old horror films, which build up a lovely creepy atmosphere.  It works well until the second you see the monster, and then you giggle because it's so obviously some guy in a stupid outfit, waving his arms about and going "Gurrrrg!" 

Mind you, I actually like some of those really old, eccentric films.  Richard has a collection of the hilarious Japanese Godzilla films, where plastercine monsters battle to the death.  Over the weekend, we watched an Ed Wood film, Plan 9 From Outer Space, which was so bad we loved it. 

So, which are your own favourite fictional bad guys and monsters, and why?

Introducing - my first totally amateur video thingy!

Dark of the Night: An anthology of shadows
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,491,928 in Books
Publication Date: October 24, 2006

That's interesting... I was updating my bio details on my Amazon Connect page just now, when I spotted this. So it's suddenly begun selling again, hmm? Jason, who features in my contribution for Dark of the Night... also features in Rowan. With The Club you get to learn how Jason first came into David's strange, vicious life - which later has desperate consequences for Rowan. So the short story links to the novel, which is something I enjoy playing around with.

Monday's Riverside Writers meeting was well attended, though partly because we were joined by another writing group who are linked to John Moores University.

First, Antonia Prescott talked about her ten years experience as a children's book editor, and about the things which agents/publishers look for (originality, flair, marketable product) plus common mistakes which writers make when approaching these (format, addressing them as "Dear Sir" rather than research a correct name, approaching with a genre unwanted by that particular company etc.)

Next, Cath Bore talked about how writers can get involved with her show on 7 Waves Radio. A writer herself, she's keen to bring in other writers to share their work. The station's recording studio has now been built, and at some point in the near future, Riverside Writers will decend upon it en masse, clutching our MS in eager hands, to record material for broadcasting later.

Also, at 11am on Friday 29th, Marguerite Davis, Peter Hurd, Tim Hulme and I will be appearing live on Cath's radio show. We'll be reading some of our work and talking about our writing group.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, hubby has been glued to a DVD boxed set of old films starring Marlene Dietrich. He was watching Destry Rides Again when I arrived home. Hmm, not my thing... Would remarks about her singing sounding like a moose with a head-cold be too snarky?!!

1,626 words this morning - and chapter one of the total re-write of Bethany Rose is now underway. The draft I'm working from was originally titled Cry for Innocence but this doesn’t fit in with the theme of my two other novel titles so I simply changed its name to that of the main character, as with the others.

The old draft is only 50,000 words long, so I need to double that. I have a solid plot in mind, to amend this. Also, there are many character and plot details which need to be changed so that everything blends with the mythos I’ve developed since penning the first draft of Cry….

For those who are now totally confused, I’ll explain that I wrote Cry… first, followed by Tamsin then Rowan. They can all be read in any order, so this won’t matter in the slightest. However, I’m not happy with Cry… at all; and so it’s about to be totally re-written with a whole extra plotline in the second half, and big modifications in the first. In a way, it might be easier just to start again from scratch, but there are some bits I want to keep.

I’ll be aiming to stick to the routine I used while writing Rowan - that is, to write a minimum of 1,000 words a day, five days a week. The writing comes first; other activities come after. This way work gets done, and within a reasonable timescale.

I now need to start editing the first draft of Rowan, which I haven’t even glanced at for eight weeks.

I also need to do more to a Sci-Fi story, working titles The Immortalists or The Karens, which is about a girl named Karen who is reanimated from a DNA sample. I’ve done 2,000 words of it so far, and it fulfils this month’s Riverside Writers’ project (which is what inspired it) but I feel more could be done with the idea. I’ve reanimated one Karen – but what if there were ten, or a hundred Karens?

Last night I was working on a new dragon design for my Zazzle merch. I’ve had a few requests for more “witch bears”! There’s one flying on a broomstick in my sketchbook… Requests, anyone? *chuckles*

We saw a gorgeous film called The Spiderwick Chronicles, which appeals to the childlike side of me – it’s full of odd little fairyfolk, helpful brownies and bad goblins and evil ogres, etc. Enchanting fun.

Oh, a few people have asked me why I’ve not updated my blog on the Wirral Globe newspaper. There seems to be some kind of technical error with their newly redesigned site. I’ve contacted them regarding this issue but have yet to receive a reply. I’ll keep you posted.

A useful article by Kurt Vonnegut here:- http://literature.sdsu.edu/onWRITING/vonnegutSTYLE.html

I’m hiding from the millionth (at least) screening of Bridge Over the River Kwai. It’s one of hubby’s favourite films, but it’s guaranteed to inspire much yawning from me….

We saw another awful film yesterday - Bottom Feeder. Basically, a genetically-altered man/dog/monster chases a bunch of people up and down what it surely the same corridor, and predictably proceeds to shred and eat them. The survivors wake to find themselves about to be injected with the same genetic-mutating gloop which made the man/dog/monster, and so the story is set up to begin again. Save me from any sequel, please.

I wandered round the sales in Birkenhead – mountains of clothes at low, low prices… But no wonder the shops couldn’t coax people to buy them. Look, I’m 5’ 2” tall; a skirt which is almost as tall as I am will make me look like a garden gnome – the alternative was skirts so short the waistband was (almost) the deepest part. Can we have something in the middle of these two, maybe?!!

Anyway, what I actually came home with was a new pair of scissors. Thrilling stuff, hmm?

Ah, but I’ve begun having a clear-out of my gran’s old chest-of-drawers, which acts as a stationary cupboard. One drawer done, three to go. What odd things I found – red and green sealing wax (I kid you not), a miniature wooden peg, a slightly crumpled Snoopy… Not to mention desiccated elastic bands, mangled paperclips, dehydrated Tipex, etc. And useless scissors, so old and worn they’re, well, useless.

I’ve been transferring some old RPG stories from floppy disc onto CD for posterity. Glancing through this old material was fun. Taking part in the messageboard-based RPGs was fun too, at the time – thesedays I don’t have that kind of time. Or the inclination, if truth be told.

If I've been quiet lately, it's because I've been busily creating a new on-line shop. I've got absolutely heaps of designs to add yet but you're invited to take a look at the Flash player above, which will show you what is available so far.

Aside from drawing teddy bears, I've been hiding from the football. Richard's avidly watched every match (she says, yawning profoundly). My buddies have begun an alternative competition: which is the best-looking of the European football teams. Currently in first place is Italy, with Romania in second place, and France in third.

We've also watched some films - Cloverfield, which was mostly about aliens smashing stuff; Iron Man, which was mostly about a guy in a cyber-suit smashing stuff; and Eragon, which was great fun (loved the "flying with the dragon" sequences!)

Just watch this guy...!   

hazeldixon, xfangs_upx and xneed_coffeex - in plain language, my sister and her two daughters - met by chance in IM last night. We had fun playing with the emoticons, and I related the tale of the tail – Saffron’s tail, actually, which I managed to grab hold of just in time to prevent the little darling snaked her way off up the newly-opened chimney.

The cat was not pleased. But a grumpy cat is easier to contend with than a huge bill from the Fire Brigade for rescuing the daft moggy.

Yes, we now have a new fire, hearth and surround. We also have an unexpected heatwave, so relishing the former will have to wait until the latter has subsided. Maybe autumn sometime. Ah well, I always was one for forward planning.

Over the weekend we watched Sommersby, which we both enjoyed. So was he her hubby or wasn’t he? Richard says he was; I’m not so sure. The Gere hubby’s feet were two sizes smaller than the original hubby. Women notice such things, despite rumours to the contrary.

One thing I was sure of was that the heroine’s pregnancy must surely have been the fastest in all human history. The tobacco crop hadn’t grown an inch taller from when the pregnancy was anounced to when the baby arrived, never mind having ripened and been harvested already.

Actually, Jodie Foster is one of my favourite actresses. I can’t think of a single film she’s acted in which I haven’t enjoyed.

Also fun was Lonely werewolf Girl, a quirky novel by Martin Millar. Think of the Borgias as werewolves, set in contemporary Scotland and London, with despairing fashion designers, dream-sodden amateur musicians, grumpy teenagers, temperamental volcano goddesses and megalomaniacs with dodgy love lives, all thrown together in a scramble to survive a fight for the family’s seat of power. How could that possibly fail to entertain?!!

Meanwhile, my own scribblings proceed. Rowan now stands at 92,000 words. This means in theory I have 8,000 words left to finish off the story. It might overrun this a bit, but I’m sure that will change during the editing process. That’s inevitable, no doubt.

Our new gas fire, hearth and fire surround gets installed tomorrow. Yaaaay!!!

This means I’ve got to dismantle my computer later today, so I can hide it upstairs away from all the dust which the removal of the current aesthetically-challenged monstrosity will generate.

Monday night saw Riverside Writers’ AGM. There’s a written report of events, including our elections, over at http://www.myspace.com/riversidewriters if anyone’s interested in viewing that. We enjoyed a record attendance, with seventeen poets and writers present. I was unanimously voted back in as Chair for the 5th consecutive year.

Last night, Richard and I watched The Golden Compass, which he enjoyed much more than I did. Then again, he enjoyed the audio play much more than me, too. Much more engaging, for me, was Kenneth Branagh’s production of Much Ado About Nothing, which had a strong visual impact and several displays of exceptional acting, particularly from Emma Thompson and Kate Beckinsale.

I took the dogs through the edge of Caldy woods yesterday. Bluebells were everywhere! What a perfect day to wander beneath the ancient trees, no?

It looks sunny but it's freezing out there. Emily has dragged her increasingly tattered fleece blanket to the patio windows where she's made herself a nest. Ygraine is reclining on my patchwork cushions in the other room, while pretending to be asleep.

I hate to disturb them but tough.  They are about to help me continue beaking in my new purple walking boots.  My trusty old ones (once blue and grey, now merely grey-ish and grey) are deliciously comfortable but have sprung a leak.  They've lasted for something like seven years, and as they regularly get partially dunked in sea water that is no mean feat.  The new ones are nowhere near as comfy.  At the moment it feels like walking on springy bricks.  Still, they are my favourite colour - and we all know how earth shatteringly important that is.  Ahem.

Speaking of purple, we watched Prince's film, Purple Rain, last night.  Yes, I know, know - you all watched it twenty years or so ago, when it first came out.  So I just caught up, ok?  Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  To be honest, I did not expect to, as most "band" films are horribly cliched - the only exception that I can think of being the hilarious Strange Fruit which was about a group of middle-aged musicians desperately trying to recapture their fading youth. 

We also watched Thirty Days of Night, which frankly left me cold - and, no, not due to all the snow.  The story opened with promise but swiftly devolved into a gore/splatter film, a genre which holds no interest for me.  Once you've gone "YEEEEuch!!" at the FX, what's left?  Nothing about the situation was explained.  The plot consisted simply of seeing who was still alive at the end. 

my beloved swing!
Originally uploaded by __Adele__.

Here's an old photo of me as a child. I spent hours on end on this swing, loving the feeling of nearly flying! I wanted wings of my own, so I could let go of the ropes and zoom up to the cloudy sky and beyond....

This morning I emailed a copy of Shell Boy as a submission to a competition called Oceans of Stories currently being run by Liverpool John Moore's Uni and Edge Hill College. Winning pieces are to be read at Hemmingway's Cafe in Liverpool on May 9th.

I've just pegged out a huge pile of laundry. Was that wise? I'm already having second thoughts, as the sky has rapidly turned an ominous charcoal shade. It rained non-stop all yesterday. Here's hoping the weather will be better on Monday, as Sylvia (gelertandbess) will be here with the intention of visiting Hilbre Island. (See edit)

Tamsin has just been returned from a prospective literary agent, with a standard thanks-but-no-thanks letter. So I've taken another look at the opening chapters of the novel and, with the phrase "Murder your darlings!" ringing in my ears, have decided to edit down two chapters into one. This will tighten the pace. If I can find fault with it, you can bet someone else certainly will. Honestly, I've totally lost count of how many times I've re-written the start of this novel.

Last night we watched Beowulf, the version which Neil Gaiman co-wrote. At first the animated reminded me of Shrek, which is not complimentary, but then the story caught my interest - and certainly I loved the symbolism woven throughout the plot and imagery.

Edit:- We now have torrential rain and hail stones! *chuckles*

February’s newsletter has now been mailed out to everyone, and earlier today I wrote chapter 51 of Rowan.

Oh, if you wish to receive the newsletter, just send an email to:- adelecosgrovebray-subscribe@yahoogroups.com It’s one of those automated thingies.

Have you seen Atonement? We watched it last night. It’s an excellent film with some outstanding acting, and also a very clever storyline. The ending is not at all predictable. The languid beginning of the film reminded me of Brideshead Revisited - which is an old favourite of mine both as a novel and as in TV serial form - but this impression changed as the story moved on.

I’ve just finished reading a fascinating novel by Marcus Zusak called The Book Thief, which is narrated by Death. The story is set in Germany just prior to and during World War II, and follows a young girl’s experiences with her adoptive family, her best friend Rudy, and her minor career as a thief. It’s one of those stories which could be for adults or children equally. At first, as I began reading it, I wondered if the experimental style might get in the way of the story but this was not the case, and the illustrated hand-written story section adds atmosphere to this quirky, almost whimsical tale. A most unusual novel; I recommend it.

Most of my morning was devoted to writing one hundred words.

Yes, you read that correctly; one hundred. How could such a tiny task take so long, you ask? It’s a fair question! And the answer is that I needed to write a small piece of promo blurb for Quiet Lives, a skill I’m not great at.

Emily burying the dried - and very revolting - pig ear in my bed (after she’d dug it up from the small heap of bonfire ash in the garden) helped only to create another distraction and more laundry. White cotton sheets patterned with black ash paw prints might be in vogue one day, but not here, not now.

And I’m sulking about my new solar powered garden lights. Pinpricks would be a more accurate description; pinpricks of light which last about forty minutes before winking out entirely. They don’t even illuminate the grass directly beneath them, never mind the garden path.

Have you watched King Kong Lives with Linda ‘Terminator’ Hamilton? Richard bought a copy for £2 yesterday, and after I’d taken the dogs for a long walk along the beach and over Caldy Hill, we sat down to view it. Basically, after Kong fell from the Empire State Building, he was saved by a heart transplant (ER move over!) and by the love of a Ms Kong, who looks similar to the ape himself ‘cept she’s had a ginger rinse. They fall in love, get chased across America by nasty army people, smashing stuff up along the way. Watch out for the Nativity scene. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be a comedy….

We also watched an unusual and imaginative film called Lady in the Water, which will appeal to those with a taste for folklore and fantasy.

And we watched the “Bourne Ultimatum”, which didn’t interest me much. Blowing stuff up seems to be a popular Hollywood theme. ‘Nuff said.

More stuff gets blown up in Earth Alien, when a game warden sets out to stop a hunter from… well, hunting, actually. Humans are the prey of choice in this Sci-Fi tale, which has enough snazzy hi-tech gadgets to keep the most pedantic of enthusiasts content. Fun!

"I don't like Wuthering Heights," she said. "It's soppy."

Then we coaxed her to watch Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche in the lead roles. She likes it now.

"Isn't he the one who played Voldemort?" she asked.

"Yes," I said.

"He looks different with a nose."