… that’s what Frodo’s got, apparently. His fever broke last night… sort of. He’s got that red, slapped cheek look again this morning after he’d been to the doctors. He had a fun time there making lightsabers out of megablocks and not looking like an ill child at all.

So he’s off for the rest of the week.

On the writing front, I’ve been promised seconds edits on Mackenzie at the end of the week and also some amendments to my excerpt. Copy edits could be coming soon for Billionaire. And I still have to run through the final polish for The Bone Magician’s Daughter…

I just knew March would be manic, LOL

I got my contract in the post this morning for Nimue’s Price. Yay. And 5 Samhain pens. Almost as precious as the contract itself 😉

I’ve also just sent off the info for the Enchanted Ramblings Teaser Booklet. That should have been done yesterday, but see the previous post about the Monday monster headache from hell.

Frodo is also still off school today. He’s eating and drinking, put still feeling a bit sorry for himself. His face looks red and puffy, so a trip to the doctor’s could be in order.

Samwise is his normal hyperactive screeching self, however.

I’ve had a pounding, thumping headache since 1 o’clock this afternoon. Nothing is shifting it. And this is happening every Monday now. It’s becoming annoying.

I had to pick Frodo up from school early today. I had a phonecall at 11 saying he was looking tired and wasn’t himself. I said he’d had a big weekend and so he stayed at school. 2.30 another call and he’d fallen asleep on his desk. So Samwise and I headed out to pick him up. It’s 9 o’oclock and he’s been asleep since we got in almost 6 hours ago.

We’ll see how he is tomorrow.

Off to watch Mysterious Island and not think about my headache.

Needless to say, no writing done today *sigh*

Yesterday’s post was so short because I was literally running out the door.

We had to get to Blackburn for 11am and meet up with The Ent’s brother. Pippin has just turned 5 and to celebrate we’d all been invited to a birthday party. Well, except Samwise. Apparently the under 2s aren’t insured by Darwen council to eat chicken nuggets… Don’t ask.

Anyway, Samwise was more than happy to stay in The Ent’s brother’s house and shout at the guinea pig. A fun day, apparently, was had by all Hobbits. This is just a report, as I was in the house with Samwise trying to stop him shouting at the guinea pig.

And today was supposed to be the farm trip.

Huge snowdrifts stopped that idea.

Instead, the Hobbits built a snowman and blasted each other, and everyone else, with snowballs. It was Samwise’s first time playing in snow. Photos of him look mainly shocked, LOL

So we’re home, the Hobbits are asleep, and The Ent is Texas Chainsaw Massacring another poor tune on the piano. I’ve asked him to shout out the title before he starts, so it won’t bug me trying to work out what the hell it is. But he forgets. *sigh*

I’m off to the front room. The heating was off most of the day because we weren’t in, so this pile of a house has only had heat for 3 hours. My fingers are blue!

On a writing note. My Author Bio on Samhain is
here which is cool *grin*

The Hobbits are off to a birthday party… Eek!

‘The Pact’ is finished. Yay. All 1374 words of it.

And thank you to Teebee, who probably hates this story now, LOL. We struggled for about 3 hours to get one line. I think it was worth it *grin*. And the title was another problem. But I went with a simple one.

This story had the last line as its working title. That didn’t really work. Some titles are there from the start.Others I have to grub around for. This one was definitely a grubber!

So… back to The Bone Magician’s Daughter…

Yesterday was sort of a blur.

I spent most of the daylight hours struggling with the joys of html and Yahoo Groups. But I got it sorted and I can finally do what I want to do to. YAY. In between that, I had to wrestle and generally tickle Samwise and convince him that Nick Jr wasn’t on, that only Cbeebies worked now. I hate Nick Jr. Adverts galore… and I won’t even start on The Backyardigans… *shudder*

And last night I went out for a meal with the Uruk-hai. Otherwise known as the mothers of Frodo’s schoolmates. You don’t mess with the Uruk-hai *grin*

Far too much food was consumed and I came home feeling stuffed and sick. I actually feel hungover today, even though I only had one beer and one glass of wine. And no it wasn’t a pint of each.

So today is catch up day. I know where I’m going on shadows. I actually got a bit written while Samwise shovelled soup for his lunch yesterday. I need to finish that and get back to Bone Magician while I have the chance. Grandma Gandalf is making an appearance this afternoon, so that’ll help.

Samwise wants ‘smilk’… and so it starts again.

They attacked the monastery under the cover of early morning mists. But Holy Island held more than a few cowering monks and a hoarde of gold plate.

It was also home to the Shadows…

Hehe.

I got the outline for this short story sorted while I waited for my course on Ancient Egyptian Weapons and Warfare to start. *grin* Now I just have to write the rest of it. And I’m going to have to start a story about the city of Qadesh, mainly because of this course. How many times can a bunch of Pharoahs and Hittite kings fight over one town? Answer: A lot!

It will also justify my course fee to the tax man *grin*. The course has probably already done that, though. I’ve discovered weapons galore and also the meaning of being poleaxed, LOL

Time to dig out my notes.

Okay, here’s the blurb that I drew blood over:

Nimue enters the shining city of Camelot with her order plain.

Seduce Merlin. Or lose her family.

She knows his magic, how he can slip under a woman’s skin and work his charm.
It’s there in the shine of his dark eyes; eyes that see through to her soul.

And Merlin knows what she is.

In the searing light beneath the Round Room, he discovers that the Lady Nimue is the same as him: a Seer. Now he must resist their attraction to save his own sanity. However, a new enemy threatens Camelot with a weapon so destructive that it forces him to join with her and reach into the far future to save Camelot.

Merlin has always known that knowledge has a high price. But will Nimue we willing to pay hers…?

Would you buy this book? 😉

I sent the edits back this afternoon. Big relief that the first part is done *grin*

Now I’m torn between a short story for Enchanted Ramblings, due in 15 March and working on Bone Magician.

I’m in post-story tiredness – even though Mackenzie was only editing, LOL.
So I think that decision is going to be made tomorrow.

I do only have this week to finish the short story, really. The Hobbits cousins have a party next week and a day spent at a petting zoo-cum-farm. That’ll take up all of next weekend.

I have an idea. Whether it’ll fly is another matter *sigh*