Fibro Book Club: Burial Rites

As head prefect of the Fibro Club, I now declare this meeting open. Everyone have their glass of wine and their thoughts in order? Excellent.

I've had several actual, real life conversations about our book, Burial Rites, over the past week. We all agreed that we knew from page one that it wasn't going to end well. When the book is about the last person executed in Iceland, you know you're not looking at a happily ever after. But somehow that didn't seem to matter.

The reason I chose this book as our first selection was that it is one of those books. Debut author. International two-book deal worth $1 million. This book had something going on. Everyone said so.

There is no denying that there is a lot of grim in Hannah Kent's book. A lot of cold. One of the people I spoke to this week didn't feel that there were enough words to really convey the sense of place, but I really enjoyed the sparse nature of Kent's prose. To me, the sense of place built, word by word, page by page, along with the intimacy as the inevitability of the story inched forward, revealing itself under all that snow.

"Slow" was another word that came up a lot. It is a slow tale and, yes, a bleak one in many ways, but I found it intensely interesting. Strong female characters. An otherness in the setting. Historic detail. And, always, that slowly unravelling story.

Ultimately satisfying - for me, if not for Agnes.

What did you think? Share your thoughts here or pop over to the Fibro Club Facebook page to join the discussion.

Community Service Announcement: Fibro Book Club Facebook Group

Just a short post tonight to let y'all know that the Pink Fibro Club (Books & Reading) has a new and exciting home on the web. It's here.

Would love to see you over there. It's a friendly place to talk about whatever you're reading, get some recommendations and generally hang out when you're looking to procrastinate. I'll announce the book club selection each month over there, as well as in my newsletter.

And now I must go. Need to finish, Burial Rites, so I can write my June 1 post.

Any minute now.

Win a print copy of Alice's Wonderland by Allison Dobell

My shy friend Allison Dobell is very excited this week. Print copies of her steamy romance Alice's Wonderland went on sale exclusively in Target in the US on Tuesday and she was last seen doing a little happy dance in a corner.

To celebrate, she's giving away a copy of the book on her website. All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment about your favourite character - either one you've written or one you've read.

Easy.

To get you started, she shares the back story of the creation of Tanja Thompson, one of her favourite characters in Alice's Wonderland. That's one of her quotes right there in the image

Given that the book is a Target Exclusive and print copies of the book are not available in Australia, nor at Amazon (though you can buy the ebook here), this is a rare and exclusive offering. And, so far, you have a very good chance of winning!

Entries close Sunday March 31, and winners will be announced at allisondobell.com the same day.

What are you waiting for? Enter here.

If you wrote a hot, steamy romance, what would you call it?

Fibro Q&A: How to write a book proposal

I've received a few emails lately from people who are writing non-fiction books and wondering what on earth to do with them once they're finished. Enter, the book proposal. The proposal is what you send an agent or a publisher to give them an overview of your book, a taste of your writing style and, hopefully, the impetus to get in touch to see more.

It's true that non-fiction books can be sold on proposal, but usually the writer has a proven track record, so if you're writing your first book, it's generally a good idea to finish it before sending out a prop. If the publisher or agent wants to see the rest, they'll want to see it NOW. 

But the book proposal is an art in itself, and to explain how and why, I thought I'd invite an honest-to-goodness commissioning editor into the Fibro and, er, politely grill her. Kristen Hammond is a Senior Commissioning Editor with Wiley Australia (we worked together on my little pink book, Credit Card Stressbusters). She's also, as most editors and publishers are, a lovely person, who's passionate about books and authors. It's worth remembering, when you send off a book proposal, that it will be someone like Kristen who's reading it. It makes the whole thing much less scary.

Allison Tait: Can you explain what a senior commissioning editor does? 
Kristen Hammond: "My role primarily involves market research, developing ideas for books or reviewing unsolicited manuscripts, finding authors, contracting authors, developing manuscripts, briefing covers and working with designers and authors to finalise them, working with editors and authors throughout the editorial, interior design and typesetting phases, liaising with marketing and sales about the campaigns for books, general author and list management, forecasting and strategic planning.

How many proposals do you receive each week? What makes you sit up and take notice?
KH: "This varies so greatly. Sometime we will get no proposals or unsolicited submissions for a whole month, other times you can get 2-3 per week. Proposals and unsoliciteds vary in quality and in appropriateness for Wiley. We don't publish fiction but we still get novels sent in. It pays to do your homework about which publishers are the right ones for your manuscript. In Australia, in my team, we publish business and finance books, so if you have a book on either of these subject matters, your proposal will certainly be read.

"Gimmicks don't work or make me sit up and take notice, not in any enduring sense anyway. I once got a manuscript wrapped up like a Kit Kat and including chocolate. It was much appreciated by everyone in the office. But if the proposal itself doesn't have substance and validity, then it's wasted energy. Good proposals don't need chocolate, a good proposal is its own reward!"

Is there an ideal format/presentation for a non-fic proposal? What sort of information do you need to decide whether to take things forward? 
KH: "At the most basic level, any proposal should include a bio of the author, synopsis, table of contents, sample chapter/s or full manuscript and a cover letter explaining the market for the book, positioning of the book, competition for the book and why the book is needed. My preference though is to ask authors to fill in our proposal template, which we have refined to ensure we get all the information we need from an author to consider the book and whether it will be a good fit for Wiley.

"Following receipt of a proposal form, if we are interested or want to know more, you can't replace a face-to-face meeting with an author to get to know them, get a sense for how they work, what they know about publishing and what their aims are for publishing with a professional publishing house."

How important is an author 'platform' when you're making a decision about a book? What do you look for?
KH: "Platform is key, but definitely not something that can be identified in a checklist. And it obviously needs to be complemented by a good manuscript of interest to an audience. With the platform it boils down to how large and how engaged and active is the author's audience in response to the author's message. How influential are the authors? Will their audience be motivated to purchase the author's book?

"A platform could consist of any combination of email database, client list, workshop business, speaking events and conferences, Facebook, Twitter, blog or other social media, access to influencers. Some authors are strong in one area, some have good representation across all. So you just have to look at the total package. Authors and publishers also cannot rely on a book to build a platform. The platform needs to be developed already or a substantial work in progress."

Do you read blogs? What might make you reach out to a blogger to discuss turning their blog into a book?
KH: "We definitely read blogs and are out there scouring social media for potential new authors or ideas. We have published bloggers following an approach from an editor at Wiley. We have got leads from Facebook and Twitter.

"One of the key things about blogs in terms of publishing a book, is that there must be enough depth in the blog or subject matter to create a whole, cohesive book. It is not enough to just reprint a collection of blog posts, or at least not in the business and finance space. Often we work with authors on helping them develop a book structure which they can add their posts to and develop and rewrite and polish. With bloggers, certainly their readership is a big factor in why you would approach them. But it is certainly not the only reason. It might be the reason to start an initial discussion, but then all the other attributes and qualities that you are looking for in an author and manuscript come in to play."

You'll find more information about Wiley and the kinds of books they publish here. Follow Wiley on Twitter here. If you'd like to discuss the Wiley proposal template, telephone (03) 9274 3100 and ask to speak to the editorial assistant.

Are you working on a non-fiction book?

Suffer the dragons... they're worth it.

If there's one thing that has suffered in the last few years of combining family, work, writing, blogging and, now, weeding, it's quality reading time. I'm fortunate in that I'm a quick reader, so I'm still getting through books, but I no longer get those long blocks of time in which to get lost in a story.

In the last six months, I've worked my way through the first five books of George RR Martin's A Song Of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series. And when I say work, I do mean work. It's war, adventure, mayhem and politics on an EPIC scale and the plotting has me in absolute awe. How the man kept track of all those characters and managed to create so many memorable ones in the mix is beyond me. I'll even suffer the dragons to find out what happens next.

To explain, I'm not a major fan of dragons and other mystical weirdness in my book. I don't mind them in a Lord of the Rings, peopled by Hobbits and Goblins. There they have context. In a book based so heavily on human nature, though, I struggle a little. But when the plotting and politics in a story are so good, I can overlook them. Very large elephants in the room, I know, but there you have it. And don't even get me started on the White Walkers...

Which brings me to my lesson of the day: don't start a series until you know it is complete. Having got to the end of book five, I have discovered that Mr Martin is still working on book six. And, given that he has taken up to four years in the past to create each one, I may be waiting some time. That's a long time to be on the edge of your seat...

In fact, I am faced with the prospect of having to read the whole lot again once book six comes out. Just so I can keep track of what's happened.

Good. Grief.

What was that I was saying about having no quality reading time anymore...?

Best I start now.

What are you reading at the moment? Do you love it?

[image from here]

10 things I learnt this week #2

I have decided I like this list thing. It's an easy filler on the nights when I don't start writing a post until 10.22pm. It works well when I have angry thoughts buzzing in my brain, and they're not necessarily ones that I want to share with the world at large (note: there are times when installing an editor somewhere between your brain and your typing fingertips can be a massive advantage).

I promise not to pull it out too often, but hope you'll forgive me an occasional lapse.

Anyhoo, here are the 10 things I learnt this week.

1. I should use 'learnt' instead of 'learned' after '10 things', even if it doesn't look quite right.

2. I really, really dislike it when writers steal the work of other writers. Yes, creativity comes with many shades of grey, but word-for-word repeating of someone else's work is simply copyright infringement.

3. Speaking of shades of grey (and questionable 'inspiration' for that matter), I probably won't be reading 50 Shades of Grey. I asked the question about whether it's worth my while on my Facebook page and the answer turned out to be pretty much black and white. If you want to read really good erotica, try Anais Nin. Really. I can promise that you'll learn a few things...

4. A holiday at home can be very busy. We've hardly left the front door but there's been a positive stream of people coming in so we've had no shortage of entertainment.

5. Pruning roses can be hard work. And prickly. And bring to mind all manner of pruning/editing metaphors, most of which are best left behind in the garden.

6. No-one is more fun to hang with than your own family. Nuclear. Extended. It's all good.

7. Apparently, 67 per cent of couples are less satisfied in their marriages after the birth of their first child.

8.  Bloggers are never going to agree on the correct way to make money from blogging. Which probably means that there is no correct way. There is just the way that might work for you, if that's what you want. As for the writers vs authors vs journalists vs bloggers debate... well, I learnt that it makes my eyes glaze over.

9.  Old school friends, even the ones you don't see for 12 months between drinks, are the best value. There is nothing like talking to people who knew you before you even knew who you were to bring on the belly laughs.

10. I smile as I type. If I'm writing something that makes me happy, or writing to someone I really like, I find myself smiling. It must look completely bizarre to anyone who's watching. Fortunately, not too many people are watching.

What did you learn in the last seven days?

Working on a little project...

I've been working on a little project. I've dragged in some friends, got a fabulous team together, and hatched a scheme. To help.

It's getting close. Dotting the odd I (lower case only, of course). Crossing the occasional T (in all the right places).

Any minute now...

Stay tuned.

I'm bursting to tell you more about it.

The time when Lisa Wilkinson mentioned my name (on the tele)

Today was an exciting day. My name was on the tele. In full. Allison Tait. Oh, my co-author Kate Sykes did a brilliant three minutes on television, sharing all her expertise and the wonder of our book, Career Mums, with the audience of Today. I was very proud.

Then Lisa Wilkinson mentioned my name. On the tele.

It was quite a thrill.

You can watch the whole thing, including the name drop, right here:

http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/mums-back-to-work/xq8yvzz

Kate is very good. A natural on the tele. Much like my name.

PS: I wanted to do that cool embedding thing, but it seems this is not possible if it's not a You Tube video. Or maybe it's just not possible if you are me...

How to turn your blog into a book

A few weeks before Christmas, as I was floundering about in my usual search for the perfect Christmas gift for The Builder, I had a moment of, well, to put it politely, genius. I'd make the Fibro blog into a book for him. A nice little precis of our lives over the past couple of years.

Right. Now how was I going to do that? Initially I had visions of reformatting every post into Word and... well, let's just go no further down that long, winding and difficult path. Instead, I turned to my best mate Google and typed in 'blog to book'.

Voila! Several enticing options for me to simply press a few buttons and have a neatly printed book appear. But which to choose?

I had one false start with a company that seemed to offer exactly what I needed but... well, let's just say the program turned out to be way too difficult unwieldy to think about in the middle of the night (my natural working time). Then I stumbled across Blurb.com.

Despite the fact that I couldn't quite work out how much it was all going to cost, I followed the instructions, exported my blog, imported my blog, edited my blog (Blurb has an advantage over The False Start in this area), removed posts that were not relevant, added photos that were relevant, dillied, dallied and dithered and, after several nights of hard work, discovered that I had created a 320 (!) page hardcover book. Eek allores!

Taking a deep breath, I uploaded the whole thing and then awaited the final costing (you don't pay until you get that figure, so no stress - just lots of work wasted if it turned out it was going to cost an arm and a leg). And I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised. Very pleasantly surprised. The whole custom-made thing, including shipping, cost less than some of the gift books that come out around Christmas (email me if you want the exact figure - The Builder reads my blog every day and I don't want him knowing how much Santa and his elves spent).

I pressed publish. I pressed private (you can choose to have your book publicly sold). I waited anxiously to see what the quality of the whole exercise would be like.

Again, I was pleasantly surprised. There are some limits to the design process, which may be less pleasing to those with a more discerning eye than I, but for what I wanted - a wholly personal and meaningful one-off gift - it was perfect. It's a tangible record of all this ephemeral writing. A tangible record of those tiny moments of family life that are otherwise lost to memory (despite an extensive archive to wade through).

It reminded me that, while the Internet is forever, holding a book in your hands makes your words so much more... present.

If you're a blogger, give yourself a present and visit Blurb. I really recommend it*.

*Not a sponsored post. Just saying.

Happy P-Day to Career Mums!

Start transmission....

Just popping in from my blogcation (weather is great, wish you were here) for a small happy dance to celebrate the fact that Career Mums hits the bookshops today! Huzzah! Happy P-Day (publication day) to our little blue book. My co-author Kate and I are very excited!

See you on the January 8. I'll have a cocktail with an umbrella in it for you. Assuming I can find one in at my non-tropical holiday spot.

End transmission...

(Read more about Career Mums here...)

Words can haunt you

I got an email from a friend today. She lives on the other side of the world. We chit-chat about books and writing, friends and family. We've never actually met. But I'm always glad to hear from her.

Attached to the bottom of her email was the last email I sent her. Idly, I read through it, wondering what I'd waffled about (it had been a while between emails).

There was a lot of waffle. Then, about halfway down, these words:

"Don't give up. Persistence is the key to this whole mess."

I can't tell you how much I needed to read my own words of advice today.

[image: via weheartit.com]

Were you a Trixie Belden fan?

Mr7 is reading Trixie Belden books. Books written in the 1950s about a teenage girl and her friends who solve mysteries. Their gang is known as The Bob-Whites of the Glen. BWG. They are named after a flock of birds. It is all so innocent and twee as to be faintly ridiculous. Assuming, of course, that you didn't know better...

Mr7 is reading Trixie Belden books because I bought them for him. I was obsessed with Trixie. She was so cool. Always described as 'sturdy' with freckles and sandy curls. She hated sewing and all the other girl stuff that 'Moms' wanted her to do. She wasn't scared of anything. Her best friend Honey Wheeler was tall, slim and really good at all that stuff. My friend S and I used to pretend to be Trixie and Honey. Swapping roles, depending on the day. Trixie followed on from our Famous Five obsession. I think S's mum was glad when we grew out of the Famous Five, because we'd dug a sizeable hole in her backyard in our attempt to create an underground clubhouse.

I wasn't entirely sure that Mr7 would take to Trixie, her being a girl and using such phrases as 'gleeps!' and 'gadzooks'. But I think he responds to exactly the same things I did.. She's a resourceful girl our Trixie. Smart, persistent, charming. She also has a loyal group of friends, willing to follow her to the ends of the earth and always on hand to pull her out of scrapes. And, of course, key for any Sherlock Holmes fan, there's a good mystery at the heart of every book.

I was never really a Nancy Drew girl. But I did read about 37 Trixie Belden books. I wonder if Mr7 will stay the distance.

Were you a Trixie Belden fan?

Fibro Q&A: How to create characters (and give each their own voice)

I first met Kylie Ladd on Twitter about 18 months ago. At that stage, I was unaware she was a novelist - I just had a girl-crush on her ability to be funny, witty and personable in 140 characters. When I heard she had a book - After The Fall - I simply had to buy it, to see how she went over a longer format. 

She went well. In fact, After The Fall was easily one of my favourite books of 2010. With four main characters, multiple viewpoints and a plot about tangled relationships, the possibility was there for it all to go horribly wrong but, instead, it was an absorbing and insightful read. Not surprising, I guess, considering Kylie's background in neuropsychology.

Her new book, Last Summer, takes the multiple viewpoints of After The Fall and raises the bar even further. Told from the points of view of nine people mourning the loss of one man, it explores loss, marriage, family...cricket. Liberally sprinkled with sexual references. 

One of the things I love about Kylie's writing are the tiny composite pieces that make up her characters. The smallest details are often the most telling. It's not surprising then that Kylie Ladd's time in the Fibro  should centre around character. Specifically, how she creates such three-dimensional characters - and how she keeps all those voices straight!

In both After the Fall and Last Summer, you worked with multiple viewpoints. What is the key to keeping all those different voices straight?

Kylie Ladd: "Planning! I'm a bit of a planning addict, as you know, and I certainly love a spreadsheet or two. I use notes to keep track of character attributes, but I also keep a fairly detailed running spreadsheet that summarises what's happened in each chapter (whose point of view (POV) it was, what happened but also any particular themes and emotions I wanted to convey or develop) and I can also use to look ahead and sketch particular developments for particular characters. Sometimes with all those spreadsheets open my laptop makes me look like an accountant rather than a novelist, but whatever works... "

I know that you do a lot of work on your characters before you even begin. How do you build them?

KL: "Actually I'm not sure I do, or that I do enough... I think that while I often have ideas for characters and sketch them down before I start the novel, the character only really evolves and becomes clear to me as I get into the writing. As a result I find that the bulk of my edits are usually in the first third of the book, where I'm still figuring out exactly who I'm writing about. 

Kelly in Last Summer is one example... I had planned her first chapter, where she gives Rory's eulogy, and thought it - and she - were fairly straightforward. But then I got almost to the end, where she returns to her seat in the congregation next to her husband Joe:

"Joe reached for her as she shuffled down the pew, the arm that went around her shoulders as solid as marble. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed in his scent: timber, sweat. Girls were supposed to marry someone who reminded them of their fathers, weren't they? Yet here she was holding on for dear life to someone who smelled just like her brother."

That bit just came to me as I was writing, but once it did it made Kelly, and her relationship with Rory, so much clearer to me. I went back and re-wrote the chapter, but after that Kelly was set in my mind, and her subsequent scenes were far easier. 

Something I also want to mention briefly is character names. I agonise over choosing these, but to me (rightly or wrongly) names are important, and can define a character, can give you a start on getting to grips with them. Sometimes names are attached to an important personal history, as in Trinity's case, but even if the name is as straightforward as Joe's I still think (or hope) that that conveys something - in this case a lack of pretension, of frills; a straight-shooter. That said, I have never, ever liked my own Christian name... maybe I'm trying compensate when I name my characters."

How do you get into the right mindset to write your male characters? What are the keys to keeping a man 'real' (so to speak)?

KL: "To be honest, I don't approach or even think about writing male characters any differently than I do my female ones. Maybe I should, but to me gender is secondary- we're all people first, we all have fears and hopes, regrets and ambitions, and that's the stuff that really interests me. I don't believe that deep down men and women are really that different, so I don't approach writing them any differently.  OK, men talk about cricket more - but that wasn't hard to bring to life in Last Summer because I live with one like that!"

Do you find that everyone you know looks for themselves in the characters you create? Do you ever use tics and foibles of people that you know?

KL: "Of course I do. Any writer that says they don't is lying! How can you not, even if only subconsciously? I would never model an entire character on someone I knew - that feels like cheating, somehow, as well as being bound to play havoc with your personal relationships - but I'm not at all averse to picking up the odd tic or foible, as you say. 

As a literary device, they're useful for delineating characters, but more importantly I think they also

say a lot about who a character is - in Last Summer, Kelly's habit of driving through roundabouts in third gear, too impatient to change down, or Anita fretting about letting her only child eat junk food. And yes, I'm sure people I know look for themselves in my characters... but that's the danger of being friendly with a novelist. As Nora Ephron once said "Everything is copy." She's damn right. They've been warned."

Are you working on a new novel? What was the 'spark' for it?

KL: "I am about 1000 words off finishing my (fingers crossed) next novel. After near-drowning in a sea of my own words for the last 18 months or so it's a huge relief to finally see land. Of course, this is only a first draft, so there's heaps of pain to go yet - nonetheless, I'm pleased that (until I see my editor's report, of course) I think I've achieved what I wanted to. 

I am hideously superstitious about talking about work that isn't contracted to be published, so sorry, but I can't say much... I will say though that this novel is about the different ways we make - or find - family, and whether or not blood matters. At this point it's called Into My Arms. I hope Nick Cave doesn't mind."


You can buy Last Summer here at Booktopia. Visit Kylie Ladd at her website, or go say hello on Twitter (she's worth it!).

The joy of edits

I am working on the edits for my working mum book (out January 2012, did I tell you?). If anything could be described as painful, but necessary, edits are it. As are visits to the dentist, but that's another story.

When you send off a manuscript, you send off something that you believe is as good as it can be. And then it is edited by a professional editor, and the results sent back to you. At which point you realise just how far from 'good as can be' your original was. There is nothing fun about it. There's a lot of sighing and groaning and 'why can't they see what I meant there?' going on. But I soldier on with the implicit understanding that all of this hard work is making my book better. As good as it can be.

Having worked as both a sub-editor (line by line, comma by comma) and a features editor (overall flavour, tone, style), I have the deepest respect for editors of all types. For the most part, they are not out to get you (though there are exceptions to every rule). They want to help you make your book sing. Opera. In Italian, if necessary.

When I wrote my first full-length novel, I was advised to send the finished manuscript to a structural editor for feedback before I submitted it to publishers. I sent it off, full of confidence that it would come back with a note saying 'perfect, don't change a word'. It came back. I cried.

After I rewrote the book, I could see where I'd gone wrong. I learned so much, developed so much as a writer. So much so that my new novel, nearly complete, is absolutely perfect. Right up to the part where I send it off for a structural edit...

In the meantime, however, I am secretly pleased that the amount of 'red pen' on the working mum book is nowhere near what I might have expected. It doesn't make the actual process any easier, but at least there won't be blood on the pages this time.

And I know that, when I'm finished, the book will be as good as it can be.

[image: Creative Education]

What did you talk about this week?

It's back again. Your favourite part of the week. A time to look back, consider it all, and take a long hard look at the topics that came up at your house. This is what we were dissecting at the Fibro this week...

Tiles, toilets, walls, showers, splashbacks, benchtops, colours (is anyone sensing a theme yet?), Norway, birds, dancing, piano, trivia, music, The Renovators, movies, The Wire, moisturisers, drawings, writing club, descriptions, challenges, centimetres, kilograms, hearty winter meals, comments, clean sheets, bird food, the Wondering Wall, visitors, visits, work, banks, finances, Amy Winehouse, The Hobbit, traffic, donating to Care Australia for the Africa appeal, Boystown Lotteries, mentors, edits, social media, book titles, Lego (specifically how it manages to creep its way all over the house), blogging, Coffee, and how a rainbow is made.

What did you talk about?


And don't forget to join the Weekend Rewind at And Then There Were Four. Link up an old post for new comment love! See you there. 

[image: xcarloseduardox]

Harry Potter, Enid Blyton, Captain Underpants: One night at the book fair

If there's one thing that bonds my family together it's a second hand book fair. There is not a member of my clan who can pass up the chance to rummage around in piles of yellowing pages, searching for... who knows what? Which is how Sister B and I found ourselves speeding off into the night last week during my visit, leaving our combined offspring in the tender care of LOML (visit Maxabella if you haven't met him, he's a peach), en route to meet Sister C at the local charity book fair.

It was 8pm. The book fair was open until 9pm. Plenty of time, given it was but ten minutes up the road. Only it wasn't. By the time we'd missed the turn-off twice, squinting in the dark, and driven up the highway until we could find another right-hand turn (raise your hand if you've never been in that position in Sydney...), shrieking at each other between hysterical laughter because the whole thing was just so, so funny, it was 8.30pm before we screeched into a park near the hall in which the fair was held.

Or, sort of near. By the time we'd puffed up the hill, beside building site, around the corner and down a dark stretch of highway, it was 8.35pm. "I bet Sister C is inside, blithely browsing, not even thinking of us," muttered Sister B. I could almost hear the classical music playing as I pictured Sister C's serene joy. As opposed to the heavy metal thunder that would accompany our frantic run to the starting line.

"Good God, we've only got 25 minutes," shouted Sister B, throwing coins into the Donation bottle as she made a beeline for Children: Classics. I was right behind, emptying the silver from my over-burdened wallet. I was already loaded down by The Secret Garden, The Call of the Wild, a random Famous Five novel, and the Postman Pat Story Treasury (a classic??) by the time Sister C wandered over a few minutes later. "Did you even look to see if I was here?" she asked. Er, no, we had to admit.

Systematically, we made our way up and down the children's book tables. "Captain Underpants?" I asked, holding it aloft. "Mine!" said Sister C, taking it for Nugget. "Anyone seen any Zac Power?" asked a frazzled looking woman. "Not a one," said Sister B, sadly.

The organisers announced the 'last books' warning. Ten minutes to go. "I need a fire engine book," I said, muttering it under my breath, over and over. "I've got Inventors for Mr7," said Sister B. "Find me some Ladybird readers." Sister C pounced on a copy of the first Harry Potter for $1, touting it as the bargain of the day. Then she found me a different copy of The Secret Garden - "less girly cover and $1 cheaper," she said, handing it over. "Win/win."

By the time the organisers generously helped us out the door just after 9pm, we'd managed to collect a box of books each. Piles and piles of reading pleasure. Adding up to a princely donation from each of us to the charity in question. And we had not even made it out of the children's area. Sister B glanced longingly at the gardening books. "I saw a Paul Bangay over there, I'm sure," she said.

Then she looked at me. "Probably a good thing we only had 25 minutes," she said, hefting her foam box of books under her arm for the long walk back to the car.

[image: favim.com]

The night before...

Complacency is a killer. So sure was I that my manuscript was done that I left it to the last minute to tidy up the document, make it look pretty with a title page and a copyright symbol and have a final read-through. Which was when I discovered that one of the case studies I thought I'd written was still sitting, in raw, interview form, in the notes file. And that one of the sections really needed an extra bit of information that simply wasn't there...

So, as usual, the night before my project is due I'm working frantically to get it finished. Odds and sods, true, not the full project. But still...

If something feels too good to be true, it probably is. And I promise I'll stop talking about this tomorrow.

*Update: it's done! Yay! Now I can really stop talking about it. But what everyone is talking about is the FANTABULOUS giveaway at Maxabella Loves - you can win the perfect party outfit: Leona Edmiston dress, Shoes of Prey shoes, Elk Accessories earrings. What more could you want? Go now, immediately, and enter!

[image: wall decal from swampworx/etsy]

Progress report: words for every page

Last night, I finished the first draft of my non-fiction project. The rewrites are already underway, but for five minutes there, last night, at approximately 11.45pm, I had a moment. The knowledge that there were words for every page. Perhaps not perfect words. Not yet. But words.

I cannot tell you how relieved I was. Me, here. In the middle of the night. In a dark, quiet house. Under the one burning light in the whole place. While my boys snored in their beds and dreamed their dreams in the other rooms.

I let out a small 'yay'. And realised once again that yaying by yourself is not all that satisfying. So I tweeted a small 'yay'.  Two lovely tweeps immediately popped up with cyber back slaps and congratulations and promises to read the final product when it's published.

My little moment became a shared moment.

You've got to love the internet.

[image: a print for the new generation from KeepCalmShop/etsy]

My new writer crush

I am in the early stages of a new writer crush. Her name is Kate Atkinson. I know nothing about her other than the fact that the Telegraph thinks 'Everybody should read her'. I tend to agree.

I was given her book Started Early, Took My Dog, some time ago. A friend of my Mum's gave it to her and Mum gave it to me, thinking that I would do as I normally do and knock it over in a few days. "You read faster than me," she said, handing it over.

But I didn't. Something about the title didn't speak to me. I put it on the To Be Read pile and went my merry way. Last week, Mum asked me if I'd finished with it. Seems she's ready to begin it. So I went home  and got on with the job.

I'm not quite done with it still, but my word it's a sensational book. Several mysteries, some wonderful character studies, a police procedural, funny bits, sad bits, some wise words on the state of society today. Literary, readable. Three or four stories in one, each revealing itself slowly. Defeating someone (we won't mention names) who might want to read the end first because (and don't ask me how I know this), the end and the beginning don't seem to match.

Highly recommended. I'll be looking for more.

This'll cure what ails you

Last week, when I needed it most, my Mum presented me with a container of chicken soup to take home. I had it for lunch the next day, a cold, wet, rainy day, when Mr4 was at home and my work remained undone. It was a revelation in a bowl, that soup. Fragrant lemon, hearty barley, savoury leek... Perfect for one of Those days.

I posted a little status update on Facebook claiming that it would 'cure what ails you', and was immediately asked for the recipe.

So here it is. The recipe is from mum's newly purchased cookbook Winter Food, published by Penguin. I had a quick look through it while I was visiting and can assure you that it looks worth the price of admission. They should have just called it The Comfort Cookbook and been done with it. But I digress...

Barley Soup with chicken, leek and mushrooms

50g pearl barley
juice and zest of one lemon
5 cups chicken stock
1 chicken breast, thinly sliced
1-2 tablespoons of butter
2 leeks, thinly sliced
4 large mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 cup white wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-5 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Place barley, lemon juice and stock in a saucepan and slowly bring it to the boil. Cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or until barley is tender. Add chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes until tender.


Meanwhile, heat butter in a frying pan and gently cook leeks and mushrooms until golden-brown. Add wine to deglaze the pan, then add the vegetables and liquid to soup. Season with salt and pepper. Add parsley, and check seasoning. Ladle soup into bowls, distributing chicken evenly.

I liked it so much, I made it for dinner on Sunday night for the Builder and I as we recovered from our big Saturday night at the hall. It hit the spot perfectly. I had a large lemon and, at Mum's suggestion, used only half the zest. It was enough. Perfect for even those self-inflicted illnesses...

[image: this cute cloud mobile from leptitpapillon/etsy would also cheer up one of Those days.]