The first draft of Rowan is now complete, and achieved the 100,000 word count which I had aimed for when I began writing it on August 6th last year.

A recent email from Hadley Rille Books informed me that Ruins Metropolis (which features my 3,000-word tale of the Caldy Fae) is currently being printed and should land on bookshop shelves - physical and cyber alike - very soon.

Anyhooooooooooow, to celebrate, you're all invited to the next gathering of the Circle of Hands, which will take place on Saturday May 31st at 9pm (GMT). If you're unsure how that relates to your own time zone, simply Google an international clock.

Previous gatherings of the Cirle of Hands have attracted international publishers, writers of most genres, and many enthusiastic readers. Chat about writing - or anything, really!

Locate the Circle of Hands chatroom via my official website on:- http://www.adelecosgrove-bray.com via the 'News & Chat' page.

As always, courtesy is mandatory in the Circle of Hands chatroom.

A busy day!

First I updated my weekly blog on the Wirral Globe: http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk.

Then Lisa arrived to groom Ygraine’s coat, which was overdue really. I love the way she looks when she’s all fluffy and bedraggled but it’s just not fair to her in this heat. Right now, she’s happily chasing blackbirds away from the toast crusts which I threw out earlier. How good of her to guard them for me.

I put the front room curtains through the wash, and then sat down to write the last chapter of Rowan. I’d been wondering how on earth I was going to write this, but an idea popped into my head just as I sat down to the computer – which tends to happen a lot, actually. The word count now stands at 99,500 so by the time the epilogue’s been written I’ll have achieved my intended 100,000 words for the first draft.

I managed to fit an hour’s gardening in, too, and made turkey casserole – which is currently bubbling quietly in the kitchen and reminding me I’ve an empty stomach. This is due to it being 5.50pm (we usually eat between 6pm and 7pm) and due to me banning myself from munching another morsel of biscuit or chocolate (or similar) for the foreseeable future. I love chocolate but I want a waist more.

And tomorrow, probably 8am-ish, the house will be invaded by builders who are going to remove a pointless door and block the hole up. Here’s hoping it doesn’t make too much mess, as I’ve hardly had time to clean up the dust from having the new fire and surround installed! As can probably be gathered, we’re in the process of renovating our living area. We’re going for a Victorian Gothic look. This will first necessitate having a major clear-out of various vile objects d’art which we’ve acquired over the years. People should be banned from giving ornaments as gifts, they really should

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Morris

http://www.pendlewriters.com/
There are many, many articles on writing at the above link.

I am supposed to be writing the next chapter of Rowan. It's the quiet bit before the Big Bit at the end of the novel. The huge white screen looks kinda scary, so I'm proscrastinating by pottering (hiding) on LJ.

Eeeeek. What am I going to write in the next chapter?!!!!! I have NO idea! Well, I know what the character in question has to do, I just haven't a clue how he's going to do it. Oh well, I'll start writing and see what lands on the page.

*gulps, and heads-off to Word....*



Edit:- Ta-dah! 1,680 words, three hours and two cups of tea later, the next chapter (the quiet bit) is done. Ok, onto the Big Bit (tommorow!)

hazeldixon, xfangs_upx and xneed_coffeex - in plain language, my sister and her two daughters - met by chance in IM last night. We had fun playing with the emoticons, and I related the tale of the tail – Saffron’s tail, actually, which I managed to grab hold of just in time to prevent the little darling snaked her way off up the newly-opened chimney.

The cat was not pleased. But a grumpy cat is easier to contend with than a huge bill from the Fire Brigade for rescuing the daft moggy.

Yes, we now have a new fire, hearth and surround. We also have an unexpected heatwave, so relishing the former will have to wait until the latter has subsided. Maybe autumn sometime. Ah well, I always was one for forward planning.

Over the weekend we watched Sommersby, which we both enjoyed. So was he her hubby or wasn’t he? Richard says he was; I’m not so sure. The Gere hubby’s feet were two sizes smaller than the original hubby. Women notice such things, despite rumours to the contrary.

One thing I was sure of was that the heroine’s pregnancy must surely have been the fastest in all human history. The tobacco crop hadn’t grown an inch taller from when the pregnancy was anounced to when the baby arrived, never mind having ripened and been harvested already.

Actually, Jodie Foster is one of my favourite actresses. I can’t think of a single film she’s acted in which I haven’t enjoyed.

Also fun was Lonely werewolf Girl, a quirky novel by Martin Millar. Think of the Borgias as werewolves, set in contemporary Scotland and London, with despairing fashion designers, dream-sodden amateur musicians, grumpy teenagers, temperamental volcano goddesses and megalomaniacs with dodgy love lives, all thrown together in a scramble to survive a fight for the family’s seat of power. How could that possibly fail to entertain?!!

Meanwhile, my own scribblings proceed. Rowan now stands at 92,000 words. This means in theory I have 8,000 words left to finish off the story. It might overrun this a bit, but I’m sure that will change during the editing process. That’s inevitable, no doubt.

Our new gas fire, hearth and fire surround gets installed tomorrow. Yaaaay!!!

This means I’ve got to dismantle my computer later today, so I can hide it upstairs away from all the dust which the removal of the current aesthetically-challenged monstrosity will generate.

Monday night saw Riverside Writers’ AGM. There’s a written report of events, including our elections, over at http://www.myspace.com/riversidewriters if anyone’s interested in viewing that. We enjoyed a record attendance, with seventeen poets and writers present. I was unanimously voted back in as Chair for the 5th consecutive year.

Last night, Richard and I watched The Golden Compass, which he enjoyed much more than I did. Then again, he enjoyed the audio play much more than me, too. Much more engaging, for me, was Kenneth Branagh’s production of Much Ado About Nothing, which had a strong visual impact and several displays of exceptional acting, particularly from Emma Thompson and Kate Beckinsale.

I took the dogs through the edge of Caldy woods yesterday. Bluebells were everywhere! What a perfect day to wander beneath the ancient trees, no?

“So,” I said to Richard, “what did you cook for yourself on Saturday night while I was away?” We were on our way back from Lime Street Station where he’d kindly come to collect me after my weekend in Manchester.

“I got indigestion,” he said.

“What from? What did you eat?”

“Pilchards and scrambled egg on toast,” he said, “followed by rhubarb pie. And haggis.”

I sat beside a big cannon on Monday. This was not my intention, as I rather like having ear-drums.

However, Richard and I arrived late at the Echo Arena due to a heavy traffic jam through Liverpool, and someone else had whizzed our seats. Rather than struggle to find a staff member in the dark, and consequently miss even more of Raymond Gubbay’s Classical Spectacular, we simply helped ourselves to seats elsewhere. Hence our proximity to the cannon.

We weren’t the only late arrivals. At least 200 people entered the Arena after us. And we didn’t notice the canon until we’d sat down. How do you miss a whopping great canon? Two, even. It’s a fair question. We were too busy muttering about the traffic jam and uncomfortable seats with stupid plastic arm-rests which are either set too high so your elbow starts aching or else they poke you in the back if you push them into their vertical position.

And we were watching the light show. Hmm, Hawkwind could teach their techie team a thing or two, methinks.

That’s when we noticed the cannons set at either side of the stage. The sign propped against “ours” should have been a clue. It did read, “Caution! Keep off! Explosives!” or something similar. And then a little group of soldiers in antique costumes arrived, with bucket-shaped hats, blue tail-coats and muskets.

At least, I think they might have been muskets. What do I know about such things? All I can tell you is that they poured stuff down the pointy end to load them, and that when they were fired they were loud and smelled of sulphur and pencil lead.

Ah, the 1812 overture… It ends with cannon booms. It really did, several times over, even. Plus pyro, plus laser lights, plus (possibly) muskets firing away cheerfully – and what a grand din it was too, until a voice broke through the merriment to order an immediate evacuation of the entire building. The poor orchestra was still sawing away for all they were worth, Mr Gubbay determinedly waving his conductor’s baton and looking round seemingly in bewilderment at the mass exodus taking place behind him.

Such is life!

Photo courtesy of Julie Bell.
Front row, left to right: Joanna McIlhatton, Mary Cary, Peter Hurd, Adele Cosgrove-Bray, Peter Caton,(audience member), and Tim Hulme. In the second row, between Mary and Peter Hurd, you can just about see Carol Falaki and Dave Hughes.

All these Riverside Writers members took part in Words from Wordsmiths at West Kirby Library on April 7th, 2008.


Photo courtesy of Julie Bell.
Here's me, reading Seagull Inn from the Ruins Terra anthology.

To view more images from this event, click on the photo and you'll be whisked away to my Flickr site. They are in the "Writing" set of photos.

It looks sunny but it's freezing out there. Emily has dragged her increasingly tattered fleece blanket to the patio windows where she's made herself a nest. Ygraine is reclining on my patchwork cushions in the other room, while pretending to be asleep.

I hate to disturb them but tough.  They are about to help me continue beaking in my new purple walking boots.  My trusty old ones (once blue and grey, now merely grey-ish and grey) are deliciously comfortable but have sprung a leak.  They've lasted for something like seven years, and as they regularly get partially dunked in sea water that is no mean feat.  The new ones are nowhere near as comfy.  At the moment it feels like walking on springy bricks.  Still, they are my favourite colour - and we all know how earth shatteringly important that is.  Ahem.

Speaking of purple, we watched Prince's film, Purple Rain, last night.  Yes, I know, know - you all watched it twenty years or so ago, when it first came out.  So I just caught up, ok?  Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  To be honest, I did not expect to, as most "band" films are horribly cliched - the only exception that I can think of being the hilarious Strange Fruit which was about a group of middle-aged musicians desperately trying to recapture their fading youth. 

We also watched Thirty Days of Night, which frankly left me cold - and, no, not due to all the snow.  The story opened with promise but swiftly devolved into a gore/splatter film, a genre which holds no interest for me.  Once you've gone "YEEEEuch!!" at the FX, what's left?  Nothing about the situation was explained.  The plot consisted simply of seeing who was still alive at the end. 

If you were on any of my mailing lists, please be aware that they've all been deleted!

So, if you wish to receive news from Riverside Writers, please send an email to riversidewriters@aol.com to be re-added to that list.

If you wish to be on my own mailing list, please send an email to ACBwrites@aol.com to be re-added to that list.

This does not effect The Muse's Mouth or my Yahoo! newsgroup.

So, erm, yeah - I now have my ISP back up and running. The problem was caused by the new security suite, which was either faulty or simply not compatible with my ISP. I spent HOURS on-line working with my ISP's "help" (who accidentally deleted all but one of my screennames/email addresses). Three days later I called out a technician, and it took him two hours of head-scratching to isolate the problem.

So now I'm using Microsoft's own firewall, and a VSG anti-virus, which are compatible with my ISP - hence my being here!  I've got my email addresses back, but my address books/mailing lists have been wiped clean.

Isn't it as well that we're not in a spaceship, relying on my techie skills for oxygen and such like stuff....

I'm being driven slowly up-the-wall by my new internet security suite, which try as I might won't let me connect to my ISP's homepage.

The technician who "helped" over the telephone has managed to delete all but one of my email addresses.

So if you emailed anything to me, it's missing presumed zapped.

I've been attempting to fix it for two days now.

I am not amused.

Such a talented group of people wander through this realm...! Watch this You Tube video for Kimberley's (thenaiadmuse's) excellent drumming.

Cross-posted from:- http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/blogs/booksblog/adelecosgrovebray/display.var.2183659.0.wonderful_words_of_wirral.php

Monday saw me putting in a guest appearance on Cath Bore’s morning show on 7 Waves Radio on 92.1 FM.

Based in Leasowe, this community radio station has been granted a five-year broadcasting licence. The base is undergoing major renovation. In fact, the builders were waiting for Cath’s show to finish so they could remove the old ceiling above our heads.

Cath and I talked about the Wirral BookFest, and my own contributions to this literary festival as part of Riverside Writers’ presentation of Words from Wordsmiths. This was to take place at West Kirby Library that same evening.

She asked about Riverside Writers itself, so I talked about our member’s diverse literary interests which range from poetry to non-fiction to a wide range of fiction genres. Some of our members are new to writing, others are published. Some members write purely for fun, while others are developing writing careers.

I also read aloud one of my Dark Fantasy stories, called New Year’s Day, which is set on Hilbre Island and features the selkies, who can change between human and seal form. This was published as part of A Wirral Otherkin Trilogy (pbs. Amazon Shorts, 2006), and the concept is taken from ancient folklore.

Learn more about 7 Waves Radio:- http://7waves.co.uk/live-across-the-wirral/

6.30pm found me in West Kirby Library, helping to set up the microphone in readiness for Words from Wordsmiths. The library staff did a fabulous job with arranging seating and providing refreshments.

Contributors for Words from Wordsmiths were (in no particular order) Peter Caton, Joanna McIlhatton, Peter Hurd, David Hughes, Carol Falaki, Mary Cary, Elizabeth Gates, Tim Hulme, and myself.

The material offered something for all tastes, and included poetry, humorous fiction and thoughtful tales. I read aloud Seagull Inn, which was published in the Ruins Terra anthology by Hadley Rille Books.

Despite our event coinciding with the BookFest’s official launch in Bromborough, when the public were invited to meet Jojo Moyes, Mike Gayle and Jenny Colgan – who are successful contemporary novelists – we still managed to attract a large and lively audience. In fact, Riverside Writers have already been asked to hold another, similar live event next year!

Tuesday afternoon found me at West Kirby Library again, this time for Best Words, poetry readings from John Siddique and Wirral’s Young Poet Laureate, Holly Green. They read a combination of their favourite poems plus their own material.

At only fifteen years of age, Holly Green displays a remarkable talent. She’s a PR agent’s dream; petite and pretty, with a lovely mop of curling hair, a likable manner and a clever turn of phrase. Her witty poem about the planned revenge on an offending boy had everyone chuckling.



I particularly enjoyed Cheap Moisturiser, one of John Siddique's poems, as shown here on this You Tube video. He gave an interesting performance of his poetry, with amusing anecdotes about this life. His description of his Irish mother as being formed of bricks and barbed wire made everyone smile.

Learn more about John Siddique:- http://www.johnsiddique.co.uk

Wirral BookFest continues until Saturday April 12th. For information about the many events, phone 0151 639 2334 or check the website:- http://www.wirral.gov.uk/bookfest

Tune your radio to 92.1 FM on Monday, April 7th around 10.30am (GMT), to hear my guest appearance on Cath Bore’s show on 7 Waves Community Radio.

Or hear the show via the station’s website:- http://7waves.co.uk/live-across-the-wirral/

We’ll be talking live about my fiction, Riverside Writers’ forthcoming Words from Wordsmiths event, the Circle of Hands scheduled chats, and I’ll be reading a short story.

Cross-posted from the Wirral Globe at:- http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/blogs/booksblog/adelecosgrovebray/display.var.2164879.0.wirral_bookfest.php

Wirral holds its very first literary festival between 7th and 12th of April, brought to you by Wirral Libraries and partially funded by the Arts Council, but also linked to Wirral Council’s “Culture for All” campaign and supported by the Liverpool Culture Company as part of the European Capital of Culture 2008 festival.

There are over twenty different events taking place, including a “Writing for TV” workshop, screenings by Birkenhead Film Society, a celebration of Greasby in poetry, two graphic novels workshops, an evening with Count Dracula and performances from Wirral members of Liverpool’s acclaimed Dead Good Poets.

There are opportunities to meet writers such as Chris Tutton, Anne Baker, Brian Jacques and Shoo Rayner, Jojo Moyes, Mike Gayle, Jenny Colgan, Ray O’Brien, John Siddique and Wirral’s own Young Poet Laureate, Holly Green.

Riverside Writers will present Words from Wordsmiths at 7pm on Monday, April 7th at West Kirby Library. Nine members of this long-established writing group will perform at tightly-packed programme of diverse readings of original poetry and fiction. Tim Hulme will read his hilarious The Missing Muffin, which has previously been broadcast on Radio Merseyside. Joanna McIlhatton, who has recently had a cookery book published, will read her monologue called Look Out. I will be reading Seagull Inn, a ghost story set on Hilbre Island, which was published in the Ruins Terra anthology (pbs. Hadley Rille Books).

Free tickets for Words from Wordsmiths will be available from West Kirby Library on the night. Refreshments will also be available.

For more information about the entire events programme for Wirral BookFest, venues and disabled access telephone 0151 639 2334 or visit on-line at:- http://www.wirral.gov.uk/bookfest

Sunday was fun. My sister Evelyn was here, then Lee arrived, and then Cat came round after she’d finished work. It’s not often that Evelyn is able to see her niece, so they enjoyed getting to know each other a little better over dinner. Earlier in the morning, Richard had cooked the roast lamb with honey and rosemary, and I did the rest of the meal. Cat’s vegetarian, so she peered at our lamb as if it was infected with Ebola.

Monday night saw Richard and Lee at the Pacific Road Arts Theatre in Birkenhead, for a Chris Rea concert. Meanwhile, I was at Riverside Writers’ latest meeting, when Tim and I planned the performance programme for Words from Wordsmiths next Monday, on April 7th. Nine members of the group will be taking part, and there will be a variety of fiction genres and poetry on the night.

Thanks to West Kirby Library’s staff, we’ll be able to offer tea and coffee. And we’ve been given the use of a microphone, which will help greatly.

If you’ve not already been invited to this event, consider it done! Free tickets are available from the library on the night, which starts at 7pm.

If your email box has been swamped by invitations, please bare with me. I’m in the process of tidying up my mailing lists so that this doesn’t happen again – or not intolerably so, anyway. If you’re on multiple mailing lists (you’ll be able to tell by the different email address) and want to escape from one, just let me know.

This morning, I sent out this month’s newsletter, which is mostly about Words from Wordsmiths – no prizes for guessing that much!

Sylvia and Richard on Caldy Hill

When Richard, Sylvia (gelertandbess) and I sat on the crest of Caldy Hill, the day was sunny if breezy - but what else can you expect being so close to the Irish Sea! Sylvia hadn't been on Caldy Hill before and promptly fell in love with the energy of the place. Emily and Ygraine adore the ancient woods which over this hill, of course.

By the time we'd hiked over to Thurstaston, having said hello to the horses en route, a distinct chill grew in the air. But as we had the dogs with us, we weren't allowed inside The Cottage Loaf - which is fair enough, of course.

As the waitress walked to our table with lunch, look what happened!


Sylvia and Richard outside The Cottage Loaf

my beloved swing!
Originally uploaded by __Adele__.

Here's an old photo of me as a child. I spent hours on end on this swing, loving the feeling of nearly flying! I wanted wings of my own, so I could let go of the ropes and zoom up to the cloudy sky and beyond....

This morning I emailed a copy of Shell Boy as a submission to a competition called Oceans of Stories currently being run by Liverpool John Moore's Uni and Edge Hill College. Winning pieces are to be read at Hemmingway's Cafe in Liverpool on May 9th.

I've just pegged out a huge pile of laundry. Was that wise? I'm already having second thoughts, as the sky has rapidly turned an ominous charcoal shade. It rained non-stop all yesterday. Here's hoping the weather will be better on Monday, as Sylvia (gelertandbess) will be here with the intention of visiting Hilbre Island. (See edit)

Tamsin has just been returned from a prospective literary agent, with a standard thanks-but-no-thanks letter. So I've taken another look at the opening chapters of the novel and, with the phrase "Murder your darlings!" ringing in my ears, have decided to edit down two chapters into one. This will tighten the pace. If I can find fault with it, you can bet someone else certainly will. Honestly, I've totally lost count of how many times I've re-written the start of this novel.

Last night we watched Beowulf, the version which Neil Gaiman co-wrote. At first the animated reminded me of Shrek, which is not complimentary, but then the story caught my interest - and certainly I loved the symbolism woven throughout the plot and imagery.

Edit:- We now have torrential rain and hail stones! *chuckles*

Source:- http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies:-

1) Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].

2) The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.

3) Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.

4) The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.

5) Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.

6) The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.

7) Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.

8) The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.

9) Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10) Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

Have you tossed out your microwave oven yet?