Happy June!

I love the month of June, largely because it's my birthday month (my birthday's on the 20th), and I have grown up not at all when it comes to birthdays. I still get ridiculously excited about parties and presents.

In other news, I am sick! Again! So silly. Just a cold, but it meant I spent most of the weekend in bed. I had my first outing today, to buy groceries, and now that I'm home again I'm looking forward to a lazy afternoon and evening watching telly on the couch.

Thanks so much for your links on the last post - I'm still looking through all of them, and they're great! If you'd still like to add some, please do, they're very helpful.

Post-signing glee

Thank you all so much for your kind words on the signing of the contract! I was very excited about it. It has been posted off this morning, and I was able to write my own 'rejection letters' to a couple of other agents who were considering my work. They both wished me well, and one said that she had really enjoyed my book and was disappointed that I had signed with someone else, which was very kind of her and nice to hear. Mink would also like to thank those of you who paid him compliments. He is usually quite cavalier about compliments, but then he has never appeared on a video before and I think the excitement rather went to his head.

I thought this might be a good opportunity to ask if you had any questions specifically related to writing, editing, publishing, agent-hunting ... anything of that nature. Not that I'm an expert by any means, and there may well be nothing you're wondering about but, well, if there is, leave it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer!

P.S. Auctions on Trade Me close tonight.

Video post: Signing the contract!

Danger, excitement and romance! Not really, just me signing my contract. Hooray!

Why a book is like a garden hose

Oops, sorry for the unexplained absence! I don't know where the time went. I've been sprinting about in busy-mode, doing all sorts of things that I can't remember but which seemed very important at the time. Today was another one of those days, full of Things to Do and People to See, so I am a little weather-beaten from running about in the freezing cold wind. Just as well the winter weather is closing in tomorrow (if the weather gods are listening, could we please have a dusting of snow?), as it will force me to stay still and get some work done. I'm also hoping for a re-injection of fashion mojo. As the weather gets more wintry, I'm feeling uninspired and a bit schlumpy (Urban Dictionary definition: "Unkempt and rumpled, less than put together. Road worn and sloppy. Tired").

To explain the title: you know how you fold up the garden hose into a careful spiral when you're finished with it, and put it away in the garden shed? You would assume that it would stay that way, neatly packed up, until you use it again. But no. The next time you take it out, it has magically doubled in length and gleefully tied itself into impossible knots, just to annoy you. That's what New Book has done during the past five months, while I was re-writing Book Which Is On Its Travels (I will eventually reveal the title, and then everything will sound less complicated). I left it on the computer, all saved and backed up and waiting for me, and it appears to have had a party in my absence. I started reading through it yesterday, and I don't even remember writing half of it. I think the characters started running about and doing things on their own while I was gone. Which makes the prospect of continuing it this week very exciting, but also a little daunting.

I want to have a workable draft finished by the time we go away at the end of July. I already have 48,000 words of the story, and I think it's going to be about 80,000 words when finished. I think a realistic deadline would be Friday 12 June, giving me 18 working days to finish the first draft, then a week or so's break over my birthday (20 June! So excited already).

Can't wait for the official agency papers to arrive for me to sign - they're in the post. I may have to do a video post when signing them, as it's such a momentous occasion! (Not sure how interesting it would be to watch, however).

Thank you all so much for the awards and tags you have sent my way over the last few days - I'm going to have fun passing them on!

Thank you!

Thank you so much for all your congratulations on my previous post! I really appreciate them. I'm behind with comments after the 48 Hours Film Festival, but I will catch up soon.

I don't know if you realise how helpful you have all been throughout this entire process. When I started writing this particular novel at the beginning of 2008, it took me a while to adjust to the writerly life of being a hermit and staring at a screen all day. This blog provided a way to connect to people with similar interests; interest in writing, and also interest in vintage clothing and thrifting. It was wonderful to be able to both record my progress and escape from my work through the fashion side of things. Your support through all the work and all the rejections has meant a lot - really. So thank you! I'm so thrilled that someone wants to represent me, and as soon as everything's all official-like, I'll tell you the whole story (as much as I can).

All right, sappy part over. The 48 Hours weekend was fantastic - exhausting and full of adrenaline, but fantastic. We had a really amazing team of people with great skills in lots of areas - we're very lucky to have such great friends. Our genre was 'Family Film'. I'm not going to say too much because the films have to stay hush-hush until after the official screening at the cinema this Saturday. Once it has screened, I'll post it here.

My brain isn't working very well today due to lack of sleep and far too much junk food. Thanks again, and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

I have an agent!!!

See above.

Hello and goodbye

This will be my last post for a couple of days - the film festival starts tonight! Looks like the weather is going to be wet and freezing all weekend, so I look forward to much trudging through mud at 3am. I'm going to try and keep updating Twitter throughout the weekend as we progress - I guess we'll see how well that idea will work out.

I really loved wearing this outfit today - isn't it great when you're completely happy with what you're wearing? It makes even the rainiest day brighter. I'm also on a high because of some more exciting book developments. When and if things are confirmed, I'll tell you all about it.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

New haircut!

I love it! And can't stop fiddling with it.

Guest post!

I've submitted a post for the Glamorous Grad Student's City Chic series, and it's up! I'm always happy to show off the beautiful city in which I live - I really love it here.

P.S. This is a photo I took of the Christchurch Art Gallery.
P.P.S. Off to get my hair cut this morning - wish me luck! Hope it isn't a huge disaster, or I might be appearing with a bag over my head from now on.

Skirtzilla

I found this gorgeous green crinoline in an op-shop on Friday for $15 ... one of my favourite finds yet! It was actually one of those magical thrifting days that unearthed many treasures ... they'll all make appearances soon. LOML calls it Skirtzilla and pretends to be attacked by it.

Now that the book is finished and sent off, the usual post-book blues have set in. I'm looking forward to continuing work on New Book while I wait, but I've also become painfully aware of things that went to the back of my mind during the final weeks of rewrites. Things like my healthy eating and exercise regimen, which suffered somewhat in the final stages of the book. Housework. Money. They all took a back seat to the book, and now they're jumping up and down in the front seat saying "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" I suppose now is a good time to concentrate on all those neglected things. I feel a bit yukky at the moment, because I haven't been eating well and my hair is driving me completely mental, so those will be the first things to tackle.