A brief reappearance...

...to say I am so, so very sorry if it seems like I've abandoned le blog of late! First I whinge, then I vanish. It is inexcusable, but I have to offer my excuses anyway.

We've moved and all that is out of the way.

Unfortunately,

1. I'm devoting almost every waking moment to writing,

2. We STILL don't have our broadband set up (yes, Plusnet, I'm calling it. You are a bit s***),

3. So I have to do pretty much everything on my phone, including blogging, which is not easy. So I haven't done it. And probably won't until our home is a blissful wireless-ridden haven once more, and

(I love my phone. I tweet, post short updates, email and God knows what else on my phone. But writing long, (supposedly) intelligent pieces of text? No. Sorry, iPhone, I can't do it.)

4. I may or may not have a broadband connection in 2013. At the rate things are going, it's tough to say.

But AS SOON as time and the internet permits, I'll be back.

Hello, 2013!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope you've all had a fantastic Christmas, New Year and general holiday season. My parents and brother came to visit so, for the first time in about five years, we were all together on Christmas Day. I have the baby to thank for that (yeah, they weren't going to make the effort for me) so... thanks, Jem!

I have a lot to look forward to in 2013. The UK edition of The Lost Girl is out on Thursday, I'm working on exciting new projects, the baby is healthy and (when he gets his way) happy and is growing more fun to watch every day, and I HAVE A MACBOOK AIR. I'm a kid, an instant-gratification kind of girl, so as excited as I am about everything I've just mentioned, I kind of have to admit the thing I am really and truly looking forward to doing first in 2013 is playing with my Mac. 

I think I may be addicted to expensive electronics...

As for you guys, I have a lot of cool stuff planned for you too! I'm going to have a contest soon, because it's been yonks since my last one; I'm hoping to finish some new Lost Girl extras and snippets and share them in the near future; I've putting together some writing-related sketches and drawings for those of you who might like to see more of the book, its world and my other writing; I... well, actually, that's all I can think of right now, but I promise this will be a fun year!

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Just a Quick Hello

I think the title says it all, really. Would you believe that this is the first time I've even scrounged together a few spare sane moments to write up a blog post? 

Since Steve and I arrived in Bangalore about nine days ago, it's been crazy! We've been whisked just about everywhere - the pitfalls of having a large extended family - and we've been eating, seeing people and looking for elephants almost constantly. Luckily, the elephant quest has now ended - Steve finally managed to touch one, so he's happy. Photos and details soon!

There have been loads of other exciting things happening, most of them writing-related, and I hope to be able to tell you all about it soon. Once things settle down. Once I don't feel so much like a whirlwind-with-a-headache. 

I miss reading everyone's blogs, and I hope you're all having a great weekend!
 

Guest Post from Steve: Let me lower the standard of writing

Hello, everyone! My name is Stephen, and I am the Steve that Sangu refers to now and again. Sangu, in a weaker moment, gave me access to guest posting on the site. Big mistake. I'll occasionally contribute inane, badly spelled and grammatically incorrect posts that make little or no sense. Hopefully you'll like them! My first thought is on one of my favourite phenomena: 

One-Eyed Drunken Text.

This may be a mystery to some, but to everyone else it's probably a dark memory buried as far away as possible. To paint a picture, one has drank a few drinks of an alcoholic variety. Then you leave your fortress of solitude, and venture out into the big bad world. Have a few more drinks. Enter some sort of 'discotheque' establishment. Few more drinks, whip out your phone to send a text message to a friend and

BAM!!

You can't see a thing. This is bad. You bring the phone closer to you, until you hit yourself in the eye. Slight panic - where has my sight gone? And then salvation, your addled brain tells you to shut one eye and focus on your phone again... 

HALLELUJAH!

My sight has returned! Now, my best scientific explanation for this is that your brain has too much alcohol in it to be able to cope with assimilating two slightly different images from each eye, and create one clear image as it does all day, every day. So you get a blurred concoction, until you shut an eye and allow your brain an easy ride. 

But this isn't really an attempt to explain it, simply to nod my head, and say "Thank You" to the human brain for this wonderful, if odd, ability we have. 

Be back soon, 

Steve.

Ooo, Stage Fright

Anyone who ever said this would be easy (and while I can't really think of anyone who did, but there must have been somebody) ought to be shot, nailed to a pole, and smacked upside on the head. Maybe I'm just deficient in one of those fundamental social ways, or intellectually, or dramatically. I shouldn't be any of them; I'm a writer, and want to be a published author, which involves a fair bit of society, intellect and drama. So grow up, Sangu. Write.


I've tried blogs before. I always either failed miserably or lost interest. I'm steadfastly, pigheadedly determined to avoid both this time around. I've managed to stick to Twitter for weeks, so why can't I stick to this? Why come back to it, you might wonder? What prompted me to decide, once again, to take a stab at this?


This did. I like Eric of Pimp My Novel. I like reading the things he says. In fact, I'm so deeply lost in the mire of the unpublished-writer-who-is-determined-to-get-her-book-published, I'm willing to listen to an awful lot Eric-of-Pimp-My-Novel says. And the first thing Erik-of-Pimp-My-Novel says in that post is that if I'm an author and not yet published, I should have a blog and start it now. Maybe he meant 'start once you have an agent', which is a step I have not yet attained. Oh, well. Start, I have. To be honest, I considered it weeks ago, when I first started editing The Novel.


So here we are. The blog. The blog of a writer-who-wants-to-be-an-author, and yes, there is the difference between the two words. More soon. Must do washing up before Lindsey (a.k.a Dopey, Linds, BaggyWaggy and Yer Mum) shoots me in the head.


Book recommendation: Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey, and the subsequent books in the trilogy.