Friday 15 January 2010

Thaw!

At last it appears we have a thaw. Snow is pretty to look at but the novelty soon wears off doesn't it?

A normal working morning sees me driving to a nearby bakery to collect morning goods (that's bread and lovely fresh-baked om-noms to you) to sell in our shop. Getting stuck in heavy rush hour traffic on the Mansfield/Chesterfield roads is bad at the best of times but add black ice and snow storms to the mix and you're talking F-E-A-R!

'Don't hit the brakes if the car goes into a skid', is the advice. I'm sorry but when the car did that Bambi thing on the by-pass and I was hurtling towards a Wilkinson's juggernaut, I can tell you, I stomped on those brakes for all I was worth! Luckily, I gained control, but that was me done! No more trips until a thaw set in. If I want a white knuckle ride I'll hop over to Alton Towers, thank you very gladly!

This morning was the first time I'd ventured out for over a week. The roads were as busy as ever but at least free-flowing with no ice or drifts.

Compared to what's going on in Haiti, I shouldn't complain.

P.S In case you were wondering 'om-noms' - made famous by Sesame St Cookie Monster are an onomatopoeical adjective based on the sound emitted when something is "oh so tasty" (either through hunger or flavorological value) that one gnaws through it without regard to cleanliness or etiquette. This sort of ravenous eating will often result in an "om nom nom nom" noise being emitted from the eater.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

The Lady

Anyone catch the new editor, Rachel Johnson (author of The Mummy Diaries...and Boris Johnson's sister), being interviewed this morning? She's the 9th in their 124 year history.

They're vamping up the mag but seems fiction has been dropped. She didn't say as much but I managed to get hold of a few recent issues and fiction was absent. I only ever sold them one story and that was a while ago. I admit I didn't especially target them as the pay wasn't that great, but still we can't afford to lose another outlet.

I got a rejection today from Norah at Take A Break. Funnily enough I'd chased a couple of submissions sent before this one (August)last week and hadn't heard anything back. No doubt my letterbox will be flapping again tomorrow with more rejects.