News of a sort

On Thursday, my editor let me know that the book which was accepted in May has now been scheduled -- August 2012 in both the UK and US/NA markets. It will be going as an ebook and print in both markets. No title yet. I think I sent loads of suggestions way back when it was accepted. It is my Regency businesswoman who has to find a husband or risk losing the family business due to her stepfather's will. The book is very close to my heart and I feel so relieved that it is now in the schedule.
Still no word about the three book which are going digital exlcusive in the NA market -- Compromising Miss Milton, Breaking the Governess's Rules and To Marry A Matchmaker. They should in theory be out in the first half of 2012. They have already been out in the UK and Australia as well as several foreign markets. This has to do with the move to simulataneous publication in the UK and US markets due to the growth of ebooks and online buying habits.
I turned in the prequel to Compromising Miss Milton to my editor last week.  For people who had read CMM, it is about the heroine's brother in India and helps to flesh out the CMM backstory. All being well it should go out as promotional short when CMM is released in the NA market. She has passed it on to the Historical team for their thoughts and will get back to me with collated thoughts after her holiday. Because it is to be promotional, I want it to be AWESOME.  Harlequin have been very supportive with this idea so my fingers are crossed about it. 
In family news:
The duckling is thriving. This is the single duckling who I had thought would be harrier fodder as it kept getting separated from its mother. It has now adjusted to life in the pen...
The dogs are fine. Chile the Labrador gets slower as he is nearing 15 but still enjoys life. The collies are busy.
Mr Darcy and Heathcliff know they are in charge of the house. Last night, Mr Darcy decided that Tess's tail was a cat's toy. Rather than confront him, Tess moved away and tucked her tail under her, protectively.
The bees are ready for winter. Fingers crossed here.
My youngest has started working at Langley Castle as a waiter for wedding in the same way that my eldest did when he was in 6th form. It teaches good people and life skills.

Ducklings

The four ducklings have settled into their life in the pen. However, I had forgotten how troublesome ducklings can be.
They are supposed to go into the apex house to sleep as none other ducks are using that house at the moment. The mother duck keeps forgetting so my youngest and I have to catch her with the fishing net, put her in and then catch the ducklings.
This is all accomplished in the evening gloom.
It is made more difficult by the fact that the pen is covered in netting and it has to be done in a crouch.

After capture, we close up that duck house and open the other two duck houses, unblock the route into the pen the grown ducks like to use and release Hardy and Tess to help with the round up. In the morning the process is reversed.

The ducklings have to be checked several times a day for food, water and escape potential. Yesterday my youngest had to play rescue duckling as several had escaped into the stream. The mother duck couldn't get out, but the ducklings could and did. They chirped loudly but kept wriggling away from my youngest. That route has now been blocked.
But ducks are not the brightest creatures...

By the time, my eldest gets home, the ducklings will have fledged and the entire palaver can be forgotten until the next time...

Fun and games with ducks and puppies

We have three duck houses. They are all in the duck pen. The two mother ducks were generally going in the apex house. They had squabbled a bit but no matter. Then they switched to the oldest duck house. Again no real problem.

Last night, the white mother duck and her remaining duckling were undecided and had stayed out. A fact neither my youngest nor I realised until Tess discovered her.

The other grown up ducks were in the pen at this point and we were only trying to get a few of the Drones Club in the middle duck house.

The Mother duck then decided that she was going to go in the middle house which also houses most of the grown up ducks. Cue general mayhem as all the ducks exit that house. All the other houses had to be opened and it became a free for all as the ducks milled about.

Tess and Hardy (who were thankfully on leads) became excited and thought this a wonderful event. Cue more mayhem and cacophony of quacks and barks. And it was a game of once more around the duck house, my friends.

In the end, the white mother duck and her duckling got her way. They passed the night in the middle duck house.

Three fully paid up members of the Drones Club had to be captured individually with the net and placed in the apex house. The puppies could not understand why a netted duck was not there for their amusement.
The entire operation took forty five minutes. NOrmal duck putting away = five minutes!

As Liz F asked, I have included pictures of Tess and this morning's meeting of The Drones Club.

Duckings in a net

One of the ducks had been crafty and had her nest in the greenhouse. This was well and good and possibly a sensible place to have a nest. However, there was some used netting and seven of the ducklings ended up getting stuck in the netting. We saw the mother duck with one duckling and were surprised as she is not a notoriously bad sitter. Luckily my youngest and went discovered the other ducklings. We then moved the ducklings over to the duck pen.
They are currently occupying the apex house. The other mother duck with her one remaining duckling has taken over the oldest duck house and the remaining ducks, deciding not to deal with enraged mothers are all crammed into the middle house.

I was so very proud of Tess and Hardy last night. They have started to help round up the ducks at night. Help is probably debatable as they have a tendency to suddenly dart forward into flock, scattering the ducks. Tess and Hardy think it is a great game. However, last night, they did seem to get the idea. They also started working as a team. Hardy went and sat on the bridge to prevent escape and then Tess went around the back of the pen on the outside. The older ducks (the ducklings and mother ducks having been good little ducks and in bed) decided it was time to playing samba samba aye aye aye we are late night party ducks and go to bed. The puppies then did a celebratory race around the houses.

Today I have to start the first book in my proposed trilogy. I know where I want the books to end up. It is a question of getting them there.

Ack ducklings!

Yesterday, Tess & Hardy were playing in the dene, running about and discovering the stream.. Tess bounded. A duck squawked and then I heard it -- the unmistakable peeping of ducklings.

A flash of yellow followed by brown. Quickly followed by a very bemused puppy.

Tess & Hardy were called back to play on the back lawn and I discovered that Tess was not carrying a new plaything. My husband went to find the ducklings in the undergrowth. This took sometime.

Once discovered, the mother duck and her ducklings had to be separated from the duck flock which they had joined (ducklings were trampled under webbed foot) and herded into the duck pen. (We did miss Joss here as he knew what to do -- the puppies stayed bemused on the back lawn.)

We have 3 ducklings -- one yellow and two brown. They are with their mother in the apex duck house. 3 other ducks wanted to join them last night, so they had to be let in. This morning, it was fun and games trying to get the big ducks out and keeping the ducklings in the pen...

Ducklings are cute and I will try to get photos. They are also dumb. The mother duck is Imelda who has previous convictions for losing ducklings.
I do not want to think about the combo of ducklings and puppies. It happened so I will deal with it.
I was, however, good and resisted the rescue kittens that were at the vets this morning. Gorgeous, but not with my deadline. My question as to why the RSPCA rescue kittens etc are expensive was answered -- each one is vaccinated and microchipped. Older cats/dogs are neutered. My vet does the RSPCA work in the area. And the kittens were awfully cute...SIGH.

Indoor rowing -- week 3 and duckling update

The rowing is continuing and the benefits are clear to see. I can now row for 30 minutes without stopping and my time has been improving. This has caused me to be able to fit into some of my trousers again. I also feel far more energetic and alert.
My creativity appears to have returned or at least I am seeing things more clearly. Why I could not have seen them six months ago is a vexing irritation but now, I am excited about the possibilities.
It remains early days but I am ever so glad that we subcumbed and got one.
The three ducklings are now at the fluffy dinosaur stage. If you want prehistoric beasts, you should see them. The mother duck will occassionally go off with justo ne duckling, leaving the other two on the lawn. The garden echoes to the sound of weep, weep, weep.

I am starting to get a handle on my revisions -- in part thanks to the rowing -- it should be excellent once it is done and dusted. Sometimes, I think I am like Thomas Edison and have to find 9,999 ways it doesn't work first until I finally find the right way. But really, what I was thinking about? Fundamental to good story telling is The Hero Leads and does not simply react. Make the turning points active. Luckily I have nice editors who trust me to turn it around.

3 ducklings

As several people emailed privately, wanting updates.

3 ducklings were in the thier house last night. They are all dark, two have yellow bibs. I will try for pictures...

The stream remains in full spate, but they do not appear to have any trouble crossing the bridge. Or rather I have not seen any more whitewater rafting ducklings. One of the remaining duckings is the onewith the penchant for whitewater.

Mamma Mia! will be back in Hexham next Friday for a week's run. My daughter has already demanded that I call up for tickets. She does not want any more missteps. I shall do so today! Third time lucky.

Whitewater duckling

We have ducklings again. This time,I am hoping the crows or jackdaws do not get them. So far, we have gone from 15 to 3 in a week. No sparrowhawks or foxes have been spotted in the garden, so I will place money on the surplus population of jackdaws.
There are a number of reasons why there are too many jackdaws, but until people put the nets on their chimneys... We have already lost at least two full broods this year. I am not worried as we have too many ducks, but...
Anyway, yesterday, even there was a great deal of high pitched quacking as one duckling became separated by the stream. Due to the high rainfall, the normally placid stream is raging.
My youngest went to rescue it, slipping and sliding on the muddy bank. I directed traffic from the bridge.
The duckling jumped into the stream and was washed over the dam. A white water rafter could not have done better as it twisted and turned. Head up and wings back. Full marks on style.
Of course, it then went and hid in a patch of nettles. My dh fished it out, back the intrepid adventuring duckling to me and I walked across the bridge to be reunite with the mother and its more sensible siblings who were huddle under a thorn bush.

By the time we returned to the house, we were soaked to the skin.

Last week, I forgot to pick a courgette and it turned into a marrow. We used it in moussaka last night. Courgettes work well in this dish, instead of aubergine/eggplant.

And the rain continues. I am praying the duckling has learnt its lesson...

More ducklings

It had to happen. One duck has slipped through the next discovery sweeps. This morning four duckings -- three brown, one bright yellow appeared with their proud mother on the back lawn. (Picture will be forthcoming)
This is a far smaller brood than I would have expected, so goodness knows if she has lost a few already or simply is a poor sitter. We are not doing anything special to keep the ducklings safe, but if we happen to notice they are in trouble, Operation Duckling will be put into action. My eldest was not keen on the fact that he has already had to rescue the yellow duckling twice.

The East India Company continues to fascinate. Most will not appear in any book, but I was intrigued to learn more about General Havelock. The local restaurant/pub is the General Havelock. When he died in 1857, General Havelock was one of the most famous men in England. A statue to him stands in Trafalgar Square. He was responsible for putting down the Indian Mutiny. I am not sure his actions merited the public adulation and suspect that it was more of a case of General Havelock dying so soon after being proclaimed a hero by the media. However, I wish that he reached Cawnpore before the massacre rather than in the immediate aftermath. So much blood. So many wasted lives.

Work on my wip continues.

More ducklings and a new writing book

The cry went up yesterday morning -- Ducklings! Seven ducklings!
My heart sank. The same duck who had successfully reared the autumn ducklings managed to sit through the ice and the snow and emerge with seven ducklings. Sigh. They are very cute -- five brown ones and 2 yellow ones. And they were difficult to herd into the oldest duck house. Seven balls of fluff zooming everywhere.
Yesterday, I also had a package from Amazon. My TBR pile runneth over, but I now have the last two books in the Raintree trilogy and Anne McAllister's latest.
On the writing side, a book on character traits arrived -- The Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Linda Edelstien Phd. It is basically a book of lists. For example, she lists all the traits of amnesia. From a brief look, the type you find in a romance novel tends to be physiological amnesia either dissociative, fugue or psychogenic. She also lists ways in which memories can be falsely implanted. There are also lists of traits of certain jobs, including for some reason -- kept woman.
Anyway it looks to be a useful book.
The second writing book -- Creating Character How to Build Story People is by Dwight V Swain. As it was written in 1990, the language is far more palatable than the earlier Techniques of the Selling Writer. It is also a thoroughly useful book. For example, he gives the 7 most common reasons for readers failing to suspend disbelief. Fiction as Swain points out is founded on the reader suspending disbelief. If they stop/are pulled out of the story, the writer has a problem. The seven main reasons are: failure to hold viewpoint, failure to do enough research, telling instead of showing, gaps in the motivation/reaction sequence, failure to plant or foreshadow things, giving your characters things to do that the reader finds distasteful, and making the main characters less than likable.
The book starts with Swain explaining the one key element every major character must have -- the ability to care.
Anyway, I have a lot of time for Swain and this book looks to be excellent. A master class not on the traits that go into making a character but on the hows and why. What works and doesn't. In many ways, it is more thorough than Debra Dixon's Goal, Motivation Conflict. Or perhaps I just like his style better.

Duckling update

The yellow duckling is fine and well. It is going into pin -- i.e. its feathers are starting to come in. It appears no worse for the ordeal.

The tiny reed pool has been filled as ducklings tend to be dumb about such things. I do think mother ducks can be very harassed with the silly things that ducklings get up to.

The bird flu is far to the south of us. Very worrying for those involved and I see once again, they are attempting to blame wild birds. The strain involved was last detected on the German/Czech border in the summer, very probably early August. The incubation period for the disease is 3-6 days. Birds who are infected tend not to migrate. The time scale is awfully long for the disease to be within the wild bird population and to be unnoticed. Also one would need to look at patterns of migration and investigate if birds from the area routinely turn up in Norfolk/Suffolk. The wildlife reserve next to the farm had not noticed any problem prior to this outbreak. Bird wardens do tend to be vigilant.
In short it is far too facile to blame wild birds and they need to investigate all the options. It sounds far more like infected meat/poultry feed. In other words, somewhere, corners were cut. The last outbreak in February was probably caused by imported turkey meat.
Anyway, hopefully the outbreak can be contained relatively quickly. And I would point out that the H5N1 despite the dire predictions of several years ago has yet to mutate and there is no evidence of human to human passing of the virus.

The revisions continue and I feel better about them. The book will be good.

Operation: Rescue Duckling

Yesterday, my dh who stayed at home from church with a throat infection looked out to see only six ducklings. As they had been on a Big Adventure yesterday and had had to be rescued from the neighbours' yard, he was concerned about the missing duckling, the sole surviving yellow duckling of the brood. We suspect that a tawny owl might have eaten the other one.

He went out and discovered that the missing duckling was trapped in the tiny reed pool. He rescued the duckling, wiped the mud off and put it in a box to warm. he had to move the box from by the Aga as one of the cats became very interested...

By the time I returned home, the duckling was well on its way to recovery. Once it was warm, it began cheeping its head off and we knew it was time to return it to its fellow ducklings. The mother can no longer be bothered with them btw and was engaged in head bobbing with a male duck.

It is now fit and well. But I thought the picture might amuse.

My revisions are coming on and I am starting to put them on the computer. Thus far, it has been well that I have deleted several external conflict subplots as I do not think I would have the word count for it...

Too warm for November

It is warm in Northumberland. Too warm. The Oriental poppies are blooming. Normally these bloom in June to coincide with ducklings. (Somehow we lost a duckling this morning and so are now down to 8. I still can't bring myself to put them in a pie!) The gaudy pink summer flowers are now contrasting with the crisp colours of Liquid Amber birch and the beech. And there is a colour clash..
Maybe the flowers etc know some thing I don't. Maybe all the rain we had earlier this summer felt like a winter. I don't know. All I know is my plants are acting strange. And I am still in t shirts in the house. Normally I take Eileen Ramsay's advice and wear two sweaters at this time of the year as I do not like having the central heating on. Not this year.
I want my November to be cold and frosty. Maybe even snowy. 11 years when we moved to our house, snow lay on the ground for weeks. The movers could not get the tea chests to me until a few days before we moved. Somehow, I can't see this happening here this winter.
BUT all the signs are that someone is going to have a hard winter. Geese and siskins arrived early. The holly bushes are full of gleaming red berries. There has been a bumper crop of apples and pears.
The bees are still flying and I need to take out the varroa strips and make the final preparations for winter -- namely putting the mouse guards on. Mice will try to hibernate in beehives and can thoroughly disrupt a colony. I do not worry about extra feeding as we have plenty of ivy and late autumn flowers, plus a number of winter flowers including winter aconites, snowdrops and hazel. The bees as a general rule of thumb have enough to see them through. If they feel a bit light in February time. I will give them a sort of Royal icing type feed -- apifondant.

My revisions are coming on. The basic problem with this book is that I did not make one key conflict personal and so it ended up being far more external than internal. at my wonderful editors' suggestion, I am internalising it. It is working far better. My editors are there to make the hard suggestions and to tell me to take a second look at those areas that are not working. fingers crossed that it is going to work this time. Already I can tell it is getting better.

Duckling Photo

As promised -- a photo of the ducklings today.

My dh is convinced that they were being trampled in the duck house, so he has bought another house. He and my youngest put it together. It will be my task tonight to ensure the ducks go into the correct house. It should be interesting...

Ducklings in autumn

Much to my dismay, we have ducklings. 11 at last count. We lave lost two. My dh assures me that we will lose more.
How could this have happened?
It is not the right time of the year for ducklings. There are reasons why ducklings are born in the spring.
I am not running a duck farm and we have far too many ducks as it is.
The ducklings however are very cute and fluffy. But totally unexpected. I hadn't even bothered searching for nests because you don't get ducklings in autumn, but obviously you do.
Evidence of global warming? Or how awful the summer was? Should I take this as a prediction of a mild autumn?
Watch this space. And yes, I will try to get a photo. Currently we have 2 yellow ones and 9 brown ones with yellow bibs.
SIGH!

Ducklings photo

As Kate hardy requested it, this is a photo of the ducklings from mid June. They are slightly less fluffy now and are about the enter their dinosaur stage.

Imelda the bad mother duck is standing guard. She is pathetic. And of course the ducklings have no sense at all. They are apt to become lost/over waterfalls/fall down ravines or just run off the lawn peeping their little heads off as Imelda finishes that one last preen.

I have also discovered Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. It is where the upper class slang spoken in the Regency comes from. The members of the Varment club first popularised it. Byron and Sir Godfrey Webster founded the Varment club when they were at Cambridge. I don't know quite why anyone thinks Cambridge students were more serious than Oxford students in those days...Men were regularly sent down from both places. Byron obtained his degree from Trinity mainly by staying the course and simply being there. Idleness, debauchery and drunkedness seemed to have been the order of the day.

Still I was intrigued to discover the actual dictionary. The bucks and dandys were speaking an argot that was several years out of date. I wonder if this caused great mirth in the thieving faternity as these men attempted to slum it.

Late Night Party Ducks are go

Last night saw the panic of the Motley Crew -- this year's first group of ducklings. They had gone exploring, become separated from their mother and panicked. They could not figure out how to get out of the upper lawn enclosure. Mainly the upper lawn is closed, but as several members of the Drones Club decided to do walking along the wall and falling into the upper lawn area, we opened the gate. The MC wandered in. Their mother who is a good mother duck and perhaps over anxious began quacking, but the MC could not figure out how to get out and the mother did not think to go in.
My dh is not well versed in duck herding and so came back into report that the MC were huddled under a bush refusing to move and he had a headache from the noise.
To get ducks to move, you need to approach them from behind and drive them towards the goal. Otherwise they scatter.
I duly went out and tramped through the borders. It was not until the MC thought I would step on them that they broke cover and went out of the gate. Then I had to tramp through the long border and flush them out of there. Finally, they got the message and went and joined the mother duck.
After that it was round and round the duck house as the little ducklings decided it was their turn. Their mother shrugged and went to bed. The duckling eventually tired and went in their house to receive a quacking.
The thing that always surprises me is how well developed the social groupings are, and how they have such formalised rituals with head bobbings etc.

The Romance Readers Connection has done a lovely review for The Roman's Virgin Mistress. It says among other things: An intriguing novel, I found the details of Roman life fascinating. I had no idea that such strict values were enforced at that time. The love story between Silvana and Lucius was mildly complex, leaving the reader with a satisfactory sensation at the end of the novel. I truly enjoyed this story. Rating 4
So that made my day and helped to banish the Crows of Doubt.
Crows of Doubt always seem to flock fiercely when I am starting a new work. I think it may be because I can't just go back and edit, but actually have to forge ahead. At least, I know that my writing does touch readers eventually...but it is hard work.

Oh and my copy of India Grey's The Italian's Defiant Mistress has vanished from my TBR pile as my dd is busy avidly reading it. She is really enjoying it and was nearly late for school this morning because of it.

The possibility of more ducklings! Argh!

The duckings are doing well. And one or two people have been approached with the possibilty of providing good homes. My heart sank this morning when I discovered the orginal mother duck sitting on a nest of eggs. If she follows previous form, she will hatch them all. My dh has also reverted to type -- oh let her, he says, she is not hurting any one. Uh, no I don't think so. She can sit there until the end of the bank holiday but the eggs will be removed.

Ducklings are very cute, but I have no wish to have the garden over run by ducks. The noise when one gets lost or takes upset at another...

The ducklings this morning could not find their way out of the enclosure. My youngest was herding them. Their mother came back in, quacked in an annoyed voice and head back out. the ducklings exchanged quick glances and trooped after her. The communication between ducks never ceases to amaze me.

We also have young song thrushes, starlings and a host of other broods in the garden.

ON the writing front, it all goes slowly. I had a RNA Northumberland meeting yesterday. It wastruly lovley to see the number of writers there. Then my paperback author copies for The Roman's Virgin Mistress (Uk version) arrived. I spent time getting reviews organized and books sent out.

Georgina Devon and I agree about the cover for Noble Beauty. It is truly beautiful. I have put a somewhat blurry picture of it up on my wall. It is the sort of picture that I love buying cards of.

On ducklings and being left handed

We have ducklings -- six thus far. They are very cute. Only one is yellow. this year, however, we didn't want ducklings. The mother duck snuck away and had her ducklings. SIGH. We shall have to let nature take her course. The ducklings are having to fend for themselves in the garden. This afternoon they were sitting on the back lawn, and chasing flies.

There have been reports in the newspapers about left handedness and how it can shorten your life. I will admit to being left handed.
There is nothing I can do about it. It was the way I was born.
It can be awkward at times but mostly I cope. I keep telling myself how many creative people were born left-handed and leave it at that. I tend not to use special left handed tools, although sometimes I am given them. I am at a loss to explain a left handed fountain for example. I do have a pair of left handed sewing scissors. They work because they are sharp. When I was little, I used to be made to use the left handed scissors at school -- they were always blunt and would never cut paper. And I have learnt, I hope not elbow people at the table. I tend to try to sit so that I am at an end with my left elbow free, but maybe that is just a hangover from when I was little. I certainly don't consider it a disability, just vaguely awkward at times.

My wip continues and I am waiting for my revisions. I am planning on sending out my newsletter in the next few days -- probably after the Bank Holiday, just because I am being lazy.