Thursday, October 06, 2011

Space, surgeons and streams

Book News:

I've started producing a daily paper on Twitter, composed of articles I find interesting. Today's edition looks at pets, poets and fantasy so if you're interested in any of these subjects, do take a peek!

One of my publishers, DWB Publishing, has just started a children's book site so please do log on and find out what's happening there. It's a very exciting year for them indeed.

Meanwhile it's World Space Week and Untreed Reads is discounting all sci-fi and fantasy books all month. This includes some of my own books, so grab a bargain today ... Some are only 50p so you can't go far wrong!

Not to be outdone in the bargain basement, Amber Allure Press is offering 25% off my books throughout October, so there's plenty here you can snuggle up to as autumn begins.

I'm also writing the final scene of my current gay short story, In the Silence of the Heart, which features desire, obsession, faithlessness and religion. Which is everything you could possibly want in about 10,000 words, hey ho.

Anyway, in honour of National Poetry Day (which is today), here's a poem I wrote about my garden:




Scarlet joy
The rose I find
written in red
beneath the lattice
knows its own glory

and radiates the strength
of this dying sun
into a different life,
another story.


Recent meditation poems are:




Meditation 572
Behind this brief list
of jobs and men

lies the need
of one man

to clothe himself
in wisdom again.




Meditation 573
Peace cannot come
from the spilling
of blood.

Fire breeds fire.

There is no answer
that violence
has ever truly given

and war is always a liar.


Life News:

Key excitements this week have included K nobly clearing the stream (AKA drainage ditch, but really I prefer the word stream ...) at the bottom of our garden of all its weeds and overgrown nastiness. What a hero. As a result we now have more general foliage than can possibly be crammed into our composter, or indeed any of our neighbours' composters. I feel a trip to the council tip coming on.

On Monday, we staffed the last of our new students' information points and were kept surprisingly busy throughout the day. In the past, we've taken the decision to shut up shop at about 1 or 2pm as the semester begins in full, but this time we only closed it at 4pm, well gosh. It's proved very popular throughout and I think we managed to help a fair amount of people, hurrah. If only because we are supremely good at interpreting what the room numbers mean. This week has actually been horrendously busy in the office as well - and at levels we weren't entirely expecting, but I think we've managed to muddle on through. I hope! I have to say it's nice to have the campus full of students again - makes it all worthwhile, you know.

Yesterday, K and I paid our first and introductory visit to our new doctor, who seems very nice indeed. Rather sweetly, she has a new application in which you feed in your health and family background data, and then it gives you your percentage survival chance. What fun! Apparently, K has a 96% chance of surviving the next ten years, and I have a 99% chance of so doing. Might be worth treating ourselves to those longed-for ten year diaries in this case. Keep breathing ...

Today, I continue to be the Queen of Busyness. This morning, Tesco have delivered my shopping (hurrah!) and this afternoon, I am expecting (a) the tree surgeons to arrive to give us a quote for removing 2 big hedges, 2 tall trees, 2 round trees, 1 spindly tree and nine or ten stumps (and possibly a partridge in a pear tree as well, but I thought they might throw that one in for free ...); (b) to go out and get my hair cut for the first time in three months (I might even be able to see out, goodness me) and (c) an evening trip to the ballet in Woking, to see Cleopatra. I do so love the Northern Ballet Theatre - I think they're great. Mind you, this does depend on whether K manages to leave work on time as he's been hugely busy this week as well. Here's hoping, eh.

Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner

No comments: