Yippee! I've been nominated for an award

I've been nominated for the BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) award for best non-fiction with “How to Burn a Chicken – Using Astronomy for Worldbuilding” (which appeared in Escape Velocity, vol 1 issue 2)

The list of nominations is at http://www.bsfa.co.uk/Forum/tabid/61/forumid/109/threadid/17502/scope/posts/Default.aspx

Of course this is just a nomination. I'm not even on the shortlist. But I'm still grinning.
I just wish I knew who to thank.

I've done it again.

I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew. Then I find myself whirling around at warp speed nine, trying to write blogs and e-books, translate, teach, and still be a half-way decent housewife and mother.

Of course this doesn't work, because there are still only 24 hours in a day. I wind up stressed and snappy, and usually unproductive.

Over the years, I've frequently sworn that I'd stop, and do one thing at a time like a normal, sensible person. The catch is that I'm neither normal nor sensible, so that doesn't work either.

Then I tried analysing it. Do I perhaps keep myself terribly busy to avoid facing problems? Nope. Don't think so. I'm stressed, not depressed. Believe me, I've had depression, and I know the difference.

Is it cock-eyed optimism? On some level, am I think that if I really hope and believe, suddenly there'll be 100 hours in a day?

Nope. Or I'd probably believe in The Secret too.

I've finally admitted the obvious. I bite off more than I can chew because I'm greedy. I want the novel and the websites and the e-book and the clean house. I want it all, and I want it now.

And if I don't watch out, I'll give myself indigestion.

Goodbye Bloody Big Hole

We moved into this house seven years ago. The previous house went with the observatory job, so we had to leave there, even though the builders hadn't quite finished this one. So we moved in on new year's day, 2003, with my husband constantly saying, "Don't lean on the banisters, the glue's still wet."

We didn't have any heating either, which wasn't a serious problem here. All the same, it's nice to have the option, and we'd planned to have a fireplace in the corner of the living room. The only catch was that the kits we liked only had models for fitting against a flat wall. So we ordered one, and it took a while, but a year or so later, my clever husband adapted it to fit in the corner where we had the hole going through to the chimney.

This looked better than the hole on it's own, and it was great to have the fire on cold nights, but the hole was still there, clearly visible behind the fireplace. And since we had plenty of other projects to do, it stayed that way until December. Then my husband talked to a friend who's a builder, and worked out how to do it. The top photo is when he'd just put up the guides.


Then he added plank-shaped bricks, to create the shape. This was quite tricky, because they needed cutting to shape, one by one. Since he got flu in the middle, it didn't get finished by Christmas. And what with the flu, recovering from the flu, partying, and projects always taking longer than expected, it was mid January before his friend came and did the rendering. And then we had to wait for it to dry before it got painted. But at last here it is, looking very professional.

I don't think I'm going to miss the hole.

It gets better!

My story, "The Dodo Dragon" will appear in the anthology "War of the Worlds: Frontlines" by Northern Frights publishing some time this year.

I'm going to try for 100 submissions this year. Four down, 96 to go.

Two of my stories are on the web

What a nice start to the year. "Thrice upon a Time" is at Afterburn SF and "Screamcatcher" is at Untied Shoelaces of the Mind.

Now I'd better get busy and submit a ton more.