Archive for September, 2005
September 30, 2005
success!
Wow, I have never had an ambition realised so quickly.
It took me ten years to move to England; it took me five years to own a Mini; it took me three years to get a book published.
But it took about twenty-four hours for Constantine, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, to say hi.
I really hope this is the sign of future things to come! I could be a bestseller within a day of hitting the shelves! I could sell the film rights to Wes Anderson in an afternoon! I could live in that groovy beach house that the Monkees used to live in RIGHT NOW!
Constantine, thanks for popping by. You’re a god. I hope to see you and the band in England one day. Dunno if you read romance but I’ll send a copy of my books to your manager if s/he won’t blow them up as a suspected bomb threat.
Meanwhile, I’m off to write like the wind.
September 29, 2005
constantine are you out there?
Okay. Right now, I have one ambition in the world. Only one.
And that ambition is to talk with Constantine Maroulis, of American Idol fame.
You may think I am crazy. You may think I am obsessive. I will not argue with you.
But this is a plea. Constantine, if you’re out there, if you somehow find your way to this seriously weird blog, don’t be scared. Say hi. I’m a romance writer, I write really hot stories. I was inspired by your trousers with the fly zipper that went halfway down your leg.
Look at that zipper, man. That’s what a romance hero’s all about.
The internet is an incredible thing. It allows people who don’t know each other to connect, however briefly, and for whatever random reason.
Go on. Make me happy. Say hi, Constantine.
September 28, 2005
the great globe itself
…Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Sorry for the pretentiousness, but I saw a brilliant production of The Tempest at the Globe today and I am verily spouting Shakespeare. It was magical. And even better because I took my students to it, and got to experience the story and the Globe anew with them.
The play is a celebration of illusion and wonder, and this version, where only three actors played every part, reinforced one of the messages of the play, which is the supremacy of imagination, the ability the human mind has to make one little naked stage (or island) the whole world.
Loved it loved it loved it. What a great day to be an English teacher.
September 26, 2005
this is SO fine
Oh good golly. Matthew MacFadyen as Mr Darcy.
September 25, 2005
romancing the blog
I’ve got a relentlessly optimistic and cheerful post up on Romancing the Blog today.
September 24, 2005
bottoms up!
This is me and Michelle Styles at the Mills & Boon author party last night in London. I was relieved to see Michelle looking so well after her recent car accident. It was also great to congratulate her officially on the sale of her book GLADIATOR’S HONOUR to Mills & Boon Historicals. The editors dropped some tantalising hints about her cover, which I can’t wait to see!
The party was great fun; M&B authors are some of the nicest people around and the editorial staff are without exception friendly, professional, and interesting. I was a little surprised to find that several editors had read my book BEING A BAD GIRL…seems like my hero Oz has been making the rounds a bit. Which is fine with me.
And of course I had far, far too much champagne. As is probably apparent from the above photo, I find it impossible to say no to the stuff. Anyway, it was a good painkiller for my toe, which I’d forced into a suede boot.
Medicals and Modern Extra author Kate Hardy took the above photo (thanks lovely Kate!), and also this nice one of the two of us together.
You can see more photos on her blog today.
Afterwards Michelle and I met up with Biddy and we had dinner at a great Italian place. Linguini and clams…mmmmmm…I think I still stink of garlic.
(And yes, the clams were Zen-like.)
So it’s with a big garlicky sloppy kiss that I thank my friends and readers for getting me past 20,000 hits since December! Yay!
September 22, 2005
go! go! go!
Okay I totally need 129 more hits to get to 20,000.
Go get your friends and make them visit this blog! Force them at gunpoint if necessary!
I’m not sure why anybody would visit, actually. I haven’t had anything interesting to say since the horny insects disappeared. I blogged about filing yesterday, for God’s sake. (Even if my loyal friends did wilfully misinterpret that as the more interesting fling.)
My toe is still very bruised. I can walk, so I don’t really mind. Except that tomorrow I’m going to a Mills & Boon author reception, and I really wanted to wear shoes. That is, I wanted to wear a pair of shoes–I can wear left shoes, no problem. It’s the right shoes that are off limits.
The kids at school are very sweet and have been giving me sympathy. A couple of them have been too polite to ask me why I’ve been walking around the corridors of the school barefoot, and have more discreetly asked my colleagues instead. “What’s wrong with Miss Cohen? Why isn’t she wearing shoes? Is she going to be okay?”
I think they are asking as much out of concern for my state of mind as concern for my feet. For all they know, not wearing shoes in school might be the first symptoms of a nervous breakdown.
Come to think of it…
September 21, 2005
get out the napalm!
I am about to attempt my FILING, which I have not touched since about February.
Wish me luck.
September 19, 2005
shiver me timbers
Today it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Arr!
The scurvy wenches that I teach did call me Cap’n Blacktoe, as I be walkin’ like a peg-legged buccaneer.
Avast!
quiet day
Tried to write yesterday, but I didn’t make it much past two pages. Instead I read Pride and Prejudice, which I’m teaching at school. One of the best things about being a teacher is that you can force children to read books that you love. Today we’re talking about Mr Collins.
Haven’t seen the new film yet, though my students are bugging me to take them.
I’m gazing at my toe wondering what shoes will fit over it. I may be wearing an interesting outfit to school!
September 17, 2005
put in my place
Showed my husband the posts about the crane flies mating, and the theory that my friends–not I–have proposed, that the heated nature of my fiction has transferred to the very air around my place of residence, thereby creating the hordes of horny insects.
“All about you, isn’t it?” he said. “I think you are a little bit self-important, girl.”
toe
My friends seem to be suffering misfortunes or having accidents lately and though this is nothing in comparison, I decimated my poor fourth toe on my right foot tonight, on a piece of wood left around the house by my husband who is in the middle of several DIY projects and who deems it wasteful to get rid of anything when it might still be useful.
Not broken, just black and blue and a little bit scabby. I will probably live.
But my husband has just asked me which piece of wood it was, and when I pointed it out, seized the offending lumber and tossed it out the back door, shouting, “Don’t come back here!”
Do go to Anna’s and Michelle’s blogs and offer them sympathy, because they need it.
