chocolate dilemma

It's January, and the time of year when folk tend to think about weight issues. Both himself and I said, many a time before Christmas, that after the festive season, we'd both like to lose a bit... Not a resolution, mind you, just a guideline as Capt. Jack Sparrow would say... I should have started to trim back on fattening stuff now, but it's v. difficult when there are still loads of luscious goodies in the house. Not having had a total blow out over Christmas, and having indulged fairly modestly, there are still boxes of chocolates and biscuits and whatnot lying around the house... and some with 'eat by' dates that mean I'll have to partake of them fairly soon. All of which isn't all that conducive to healthy eating and the reduction of inches around my blubberous tum, hips, bum and thighs. This morning, I freely admit that I've just opened a rather large box of Hotel Chocolat's sublime Christmas Collecion... sigh... and gosh, are they yummy! I've only eaten two so far, and I'm going to try and only eat them in twos, but the fillings sound utterly heavenly! Champagne Sparkle, Plum Truffle, Praline Feast and Warming Rum Truffle to name but a few... mmmm.....

Oh, and on top of all this, we went out for fish and chips last night too. My waistline is doomed, I tell you, doomed!

I'm not very focused writingwise at the moment either... Still haven't edited Watching the Detective and am in 'oh, no, I can't look at it!' mode... Now this is all bollocks, because it might be okay once I open the file [or at least tolerable] but I'm just frozen with it for now... I suppose, mainly, that's because I'm stressed by various writing-related issues... promo, 'waiting', etc etc... all things that the true professional author takes in her/his stride, but which do my head in and provoke endless moaning and bellyaching... If I spent all the time that I spend stressing and complaining in actually doing something about these issues, I'd probably be a much more successful writer... but I yam wot I yam... and things ain't likely to change without a brain transplant.

--
Telly: Blue Planet
Chocolate: Hotel Chocolat Christmas Collection
Mood: irritated with self and stuff
Writing: **** all
Reading: Thunderball - Ian Fleming
RSI: so so

ack, everything in favour's against me...

A wasted day... cleaning up, sorting books, trying to get a memory upgrade for my lappie organised... did a nifty post here... then the broadband went down, and I lost it all! Grrrrrrr!

Still, Criminal Intent has just been on... and that's enough to calm the savage beast... or stir it up more than ever, if you know what I mean... nudge nudge... wink wink...

Isn't he pretty?



--
Telly: LOCI... nuff said
Chocolate: caffe latte chox... yum
Mood: not too bad, considering
Writing: nowt today
Reading: Thunderball - Ian Fleming
RSI: so so

from Russia with love

Imagine my surprise when I opened a parcel this morning and found copies of one of my books in *Russian*! It seems that my 2004 title DESIGNED FOR SIN, published by X Libris under the pen name DOROTHY STARR has been translated into Russian and issued as a hardback... How cool is that? I've often exchanged emails with my writing buddy and web client Elizabeth Chadwick about the idiosyncrasies of her Russian book covers, but this is the first time I've had some of my own to marvel over...



Now those of you who read my books and know where my inspirations come from will know that DESIGNED FOR SIN is my Spike from BtVS book... but the Russian cover artist seems to have completely ignored my physical description of the hero and made him dark haired! Unless of course, he's been given a retouch in the translation... But hey, I'm not worried in the slightest because it's so ineffably splendid and nifty to have a book translated into Russian at all! I think this is my first ever Soviet title... and I'm chuffed to bits!

But that's not all...

Imagine my further surprise, when, while I was flicking through the book and showing it to himself [who was dead impressed!], I discovered that it's *illustrated*!!! Some of the line drawings leave a little to be desired, but there's an enthusiastic quality about them that's a lot of fun, and they do fairly faithfully represent scenes from the book. I've picked out one below that does indeed seem to suggest the correct colour for the hero's blond hair...



Issa hoot, innit! :)

excellent day!!!

Had a brilliant time today, meeting up with Saskia!

I love these regular get-togethers of ours, and I always return from them in a high good humour and feeling all positive and energised about writing. It's just solid gold to be able to have a long, jolly chat face to face with someone who's right on the same wavelength. I simply can't believe my luck in finding such a good friend, so close, to share my experiences of this mad writing life with...

--
Telly: documentary about squids
Chocolate: none today, but yummy caffe latte chox from Saskia for tomorrow, yippee!
Mood: very good
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: Practical Web Designer
RSI: not too bad

quickie

I'll keep it brief tonight... It's 10.50pm and I've only just finished working! I needed to get some words under my belt today, as I'm off on a jaunt into big town tomorrow to have lunch with my bestest writing buddy, Saskia Walker! Can't wait!

Have achieved quite a bit today, although it's taken me until evening to actually do some writing. Still working my way through Detective... but I think I'm into the endgame now. I just have to round off the conclusion now... Still not sure if it's a proper paranormal, or if it's 'edgy' enough and whotnot for the editor... but hey, it's a bit of a laugh, and maybe it'll come in for something eventually if not for the target anthology.

To do list wise.... well, I had 17 items on the list I prepared this morning, and I've done about ten of them... So that's not bad, is it?

--
Telly: Ray Mears' Real Heroes of Telemark
Chocolate: choc bic
Mood: good
Writing: 1k words of Watching The Detective
Reading: Radio Times
RSI: little bit sore, not too bad

booze

Now, I don't normally drink due to medication issues, but I did take a nip last night to see the New Year in... and here's the poison himself and I partook of at midnight! Yummy stuff, quite sweet, but me not being a sophisticated drinker, it really hit the spot... :)

I'm not doing the resolution thing, but I'm glad to say I managed to do 1K words towards Watching the Detective today... which sort of augurs well for the year. I think it would have been a bad omen if I hadn't done anything at all today. It was probably 1000 words of crap, but words of crap are words that can always be edited. And I've got to keep remembering that instead of being afraid to write anything... First drafts are just that... *first* drafts. Even with stories... Sometimes, when the gods smile, it is possible to get a thing that goes right first time. But that's rare... and I mustn't be disappointed when it doesn't happen. When I first started writing, I did gazillions of drafts, so I mustn't be ashamed of the fact that it still sometimes takes a few...

Right, pep talk to self over...

--
Telly: The Great Escape
Chocolate: Cadbury's Chocolate Biscuit [just one...]
Mood: okay
Writing: Watching The Detective 1K words today
Reading: Radio Times
RSI: not too bad

felt like doing a blog thing...

The Movie Of Your Life Is An Indie Flick

You do things your own way - and it's made for colorful times. Your life hasn't turned out how anyone expected, thank goodness! Your best movie matches: Clerks, Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

2007 ahead...

more Giselle

I've watched the whole ballet now, and I'm slightly more warmly disposed towards Albrecht. On the strength of the performance of danseur Johan Kobborg in Act 2, I can believe he really loved Giselle after all, and was basically a mixed up guy who got torn between two worlds. Maybe he should have been honest with her, but hey, men [and women] aren't always honest with the people they're involved with and care for... I also re-read the story in a super book by my friend and web client Adele Geras. In Adele's interpretation, the tale is told from Albrecht's POV and she vividly conveys his confusion, regret and love for Giselle. I also feel more sympathy for Giselle... poor lass just succumbed to a relationship cock up, and I'm sure most women in the world have been there too. She was far more noble about it in the end than a lot of us would have been too...

I still feel v. sorry for poor old Hilarion, who didn't deserve his fate, because basically he was a good guy. But I suppose that plotwise, the ballet has to illustrate the power of the Wilis to dance a man to death, and he was an obvious candidate if they weren't going to kill off Albrecht....

But really, with ballet, it's less about the story and more about the performance. And having read a few synopses of famous ballets, they all seem pretty mental... It's the beautiful dancing that matters, and even if the reasons for the emotions are a bit contrived, the artistic power of gifted dancers can just make you sob, even if you think the story is rather silly...

ps. have decided not to post about New Year's resolutions and stuff, because I'm starting to find that it's all really getting on my tits! What's the point of making wild pronouncements about the year to come? To my mind it's asking for trouble...

not to be outdone

not to be outdone by Tilly, the supreme champion of demented posing - King Kuffer - hits back with killer!

I really must snap a few shots of Alice and Mulder soon, as the lads seem to be dominating this blog at the mo...

better?

Well, I think I'm beginning to get a handle on that paranormal story of mine... but even though I might end up with something I quite like, I still don't feel all that optimistic that the editor will like it. It might end up being one for a future self published shorts collection or something... It's been very weird to get the tone for this thing. It's more a slightly fun story, and not linked to any established mythos... just something inexplicable that may or may not be a trick of the imagination. Don't know whether this can be classed as paranormal or not, hence some of my doubts about it. If I get it right though... it'll be one for the delectation of my Vincent friends... I think the title alone gives sufficient hint of that... ie. the thing's called Watching The Detective!

Have been watching stuff to do with ballet in the last few days, as background research for TechnoGothic, which has an ex dancer as a heroine. Some behind the scenes stuff has been particularly useful, and now I'm watching a performance of the great romantic ballet Giselle. Masses of elements of gothic tragedy in this story... and the juxtaposition of love and death is always powerful, but the plotline really does irritate me in a lot of ways because Prince Albrecht, the supposed hero, is such a jerk! And Giselle herself is a nitwit for falling for such a selfish user. Down to earth Hillarion is the guy who really loves her, and what does he get? Bumped off by the magic dancing fairies when he should actually be *rewarded* for his love and devotion! While soppy, self centered Albrecht gets away with it... He's supposed to be eternally sorrowful, but I bet you anything when the curtain goes down he v. quickly gets over it and is back to chasing innocent peasant babes in a different village to get his end away before very long...

--
Telly: Giselle
Chocolate: Cadbury's Chocolate Biscuits
Mood: okay
Writing: Watching The Detective 1.4K words so far
Reading: Radio Times
RSI: not bad, have deduced that my current twinges are due to cracking walnuts!!!

and now for something....

completely different...

The last post was a bit depressing and downbeat, so in an attempt to redress the balance, here's Tilly again! Although Kuffer is still the supreme champion of the downright bonkers pose, Tilly is definitely a promising stylist too...