So for the last two weeks we’ve been in the sunny Loire Valley in France, visiting Chateaux (only slightly for research purposes), a zoo, a Templar Commanderie (only slightly for research purposes). And stairs. So many stairs!!!
So here is the by now photo heavy “what I did on my summer holidays” post. I’m splitting them up into sections with short slideshows so its easier to skip if you want to. Please forgive my typos. I’m tired, it’s been a long post. Skip what you need to.
Back home again after my library conference in Prague which went very well. Although I do appear to be the one person to visit Prague and come away without seeing the Charles Bridge or the Astronomical clock. But hey, there are at least two reasons to go back. Actually I have LOTS of reasons to go back. And being that we were there as a group of specialist librarians on tour (as it were – herding cats), we got to see some rather special stuff at a lot closer range than many people would. Things like this:
Hi all. I’m fresh back from the Romantic Novelists Association Conference in Penrith. Where, among many many other things we met our very own Greenman. No really! Continue reading 1 month until Treachery: the Last ARC giveaway!
So this is a brief update*. Just had a very busy week and about to head into a very busy month.
This has involved getting costumes ready for a fancy dress party where the theme was Pride and PreJEDIs (Regency, Star Wars and a few zombies for good measure). I rediscovered dressmaking. My mum trained as a dressmaker, and my childhood was full of treading very carefully around an assortment of material, tissue patterns and pins. Oh yes, the pins. I don’t actually remember mum teaching me to sew but it happened at some point. And I own a sewing machine. It’s 12 years old now and, as my followers on Twitter can attest, has taken on a vindictive life of its own and is determined to give me a nervous breakdown at this stage. But more about that later.
I called up to Mum, chatted about the party and asked if she had a pattern for an empire line dress. The clue should have been when my Dad started laughing. Yes, she has patterns. Lots and lots of patterns. Also material. And before I knew it I was off to make myself a dress. Only to find that the newly-vengeful sewing machine will apparently only sew things when it feels like it, and not AT ALL when my husband was in the house. (I have NO idea why). And then I got talked into making two Jedi outfits (rather easy thanks to this post from DeGraeve.com – many thanks for that!) and a dress for dd as well. Dd, who knew very little about dressmaking, discovered the wonder of apparently Tardis-like fabric shops and pretty pretty fabrics. We had a bit of a bonding session on that adventure. So a lot of the stuff was sewn, resewn, handstitched, and even Wunda-webbed but we got it all done in the end. When I have a photo sorted I will post it.
In the week I got a serendipitous invitation to an exhibition at Sotheby’s in Dublin where they were exhibiting Jane Austen’s ring (Article from Irish Times here) and a first edition of Pride and Prejudice in 3 volumes (DROOL!). There were also a collection of letters from Jonathan Swift (including the awesome one where he angles to be given a rather prestigious job on the grounds that the previous encumbent has already been dead for 36 hours!) and a silver cigarette case given by Agatha Christie to one of the men who found her following her disappearance. I love going to see things like this, particularly when they are up for auction. If bought by private collectors, it might not be possible to see them again. Even if bought by a museum, it might be one I’m unlikely to get to. So it’s good to go and have that memory, to say “yes I saw it, and it was fabulous”. It certainly was. I’m really grateful for the invitation.
We also went to the Chester Beatty Library on Saturday with the kids for one of their excellent Silk Worms club workshops. This one was on manga, with the lovely and talented Inko. The kids had a wonderful time, got a tour to see the Bamboo Cutter scroll and draw their own manga. We got to have a lovely coffee and then also view the Bamboo Cutter scroll, which is newly restored and absolutely stunning, and also a quick look around my old favourite exhibition The Art of the Book (seriously, could spend HOURS there).
Then it was home again to get ready for the party which deserves a post all of its own. It was a super evening. The kids bonded with some others and ran around playing, possibly turning slightly feral in the grounds of beautiful Killashee house, while we swanned around in full costume. A great night was had by all. Our “we’ll stay for a couple of hours if we can” turned into “it’s after 11pm, we really ought to take them home now, if we can catch them”. And I think we were the early leavers. Thanks so much, Jane and Stephen. It was super.
So now I need to get back to some writing. I will reply to some emails (sorry!) and then… then… we prepare for the Romantic Novelists Association Conference in Penrith and the ROADTRIP to get there. (Yes, it has be in capital letters, trust me).
———–
*I lied about the brief part, didn’t I? 😀
too quiet…
At least, around here. So basically this is a little bit round up and a little bit apology. Continue reading It’s quiet…
Just a quick headsup to let people know that I’ll be doing a twitter live chat with YALitChat tomorrow at 3pm EST (which is handily 8pm GMT over here). I’ll be talking about The Treachery of Beautiful Things and we’ll also be having a give away. There may even be a surprise (fingers crossed). So look out of the #yalitchat hastag on twitter tomorrow afternoon/evening.
And YALitChat will continue on into the evening/middle of the night when at 9pm EST (which… no, I don’t want to think about what time that is over here — I will be snoring, sorry!) many many more 2012 debut authors will be having another chat.
But at 3pm/8pm it’s all me and Treachery (which is occassionally called #TTOBT).
More on the hopedfor surprise as soon as I can!
It’s that time of year when suddenly everything jumps on me at once! Or maybe I need to learn to say “no” once in a while… Nah!!!
So up and coming events are as follows:
YALitChat Live Chat with ME!!!! 3pm EST (which is 8pm GMT) – 29th Feb, I’ll be talking about The Treachery of Beautiful Things, why I wrote it, the path to publication, answering questions, doing a giveaway and hopefully a super secret sneak preview! Now I just have to talk very sweetly to my publishers… *flutters eyelashes*… and that giveaway? You could win a signed ARC! this for a book that doesn’t come out until August!
Pcon – 3-4th March, Irish Writers Centre.
Irish Pen annual debate Thursday 8th March, United Arts Club, Catherine Ryan Howard and Mick Rooney argue for Self-Publishing; Hazel Gaynor and Patricia O Reilly argue for Traditional Publishing in a debate chaired by author Ruth Long from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM – chaired by me. God help them.
Plans are also afoot for other events such as…
Writers long weekend in Wexford. Batton down your hatches Wexford and possibly even lock up your sons. Depends on who is going to be there.
Something in Wicklow? Oooo mysterious….
July ROADTRIP to the RNA Conference in Penrith with Jane Travers, she of TweetTreats. I hope she’s bringing the snacks.
A Libraryland week in Prague. Maybe. Its a bit daunting.
And HOLIDAYS…. right after my book comes out. Maybe could have planned that better. Or could I? Maybe collapsing after the launch is the best idea I’ve had so far.
Not forgetting Octocon in October!
~~oOo~~
And this just in, a 4 Nymph review for The Wolf’s Destiny from Literary Nymphs Reviews
“plenty of twists and turns in this entertaining and complicated story.”
The Wolf’s Destiny is featured at Kindle Romance Authors today. And there’s an interview with me there too.
Happy reading.
So I promised to post about Loughcrew, or the stop off on our journey home from Ashford Castle where we did this.
A rather important scene in my WIP is set in the Hag’s Cairn on Slieve na Cailleach (Loughcrew), and so I kindly suggested, as it was a lovely day and we were travelling along a completely different road, wouldn’t it be nice to take a detour and visit it. For fun. Because I’m like that. All about fun. And not about research at all. OH NO. NO RESEARCH INVOLVED HERE. *ahem*
The May Tree, or Hawthorn, or the Fairy Tree features in my novel THE TREACHERY OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS. The tradition is to tie a rag or ribbon to the tree and make a wish. It’s a gnarled, thorny little tree, with the most beautiful white flowers in springtime and bright red berries in autumn. It is the Thorn in the saying Oak, Ash and Thorn, and grows in the most exposed areas, clinging to the sides of hills and the rocky earth.
We’ve been away for a couple of days, back to Ashford Castle in Mayo. I’ll have more photos and a post about it soon.
On the way back, we stopped off at Loughcrew, or Slieve na Cailleach (your spelling may vary). Slieve na Cailleach means Mountain of the Witch and is topped by a stone cairn called The Hag’s Cairn, which is about 6000 years old. It’s a fantastic place, really atmospheric and not a little creepy. I’ll have more on that too, including some compass related weirdness. But for this morning, here’s a photo I took on the way up there.
It’s a May Tree in November, with it’s rags and ribbons clearly displayed to the world as offerings to the fairies and the wishes of mankind. We added our own. I sort of felt I had to.
🙂