Bits and pieces…
The most curious thing has happened. For days I have been thinking of writing a post on grief, on the positives and negatives, as part of the Pillowbook of Prudence. I began it today and was three quarters of the way through and Word froze… I had to force quit and lost the whole thing. I sat and looked at the computer and decided that Fate was taking a hand, that I am not meant to write such a post. That last week when I wrote about Spot it was enough. That it is better to move on. Not with denial, but acceptance.
Suffice to say that we have bought eucalypts with pale spotted trunks to plant a grove over his grave, that the rosemary I planted is managing to put out new shoots even in frost and that my daughter is putting together a CD-Rom for me of Spot’s life.
So this week is shaping up vastly different to the last. This week I have talked to the cover designer of A Thousand Glass Flowers and I have to source a number of millefiori paperweights for her. I have one but she needs more.
We have talked about the kind of cover it might be. Dark, smacking of a fantasy but not like the standard fantasy novel. We talked about middle-eastern tiles and glass paperweights, of daggers and blood and then I left the creation to her. The image, font, the whole thing. All down to her. I’m being asked to do the odd interview on different blogs for August and to have a cover image would be wonderful. I can’t wait to see what happens.
Also this week we are supposed to be shearing but rain is spreading like a stain over the state, so its hardly likely. My cooking; orange cakes, brownies, sausage rolls, savoury muffins for morning and afternoon smokoes might be put on hold. Which gives me more time to write.
Which is good, because right now Ysabel is tearing down the stairs of a secret passage in a tower and Guy is right behind her. He watched her figure disappear around the curve of the tower, the sound of her soft boots slapping faintly. 
He could almost reach out …(Oops, no, wrong POV. It’s Ysabel’s mind we are in)… Guy’s steps were close behind, close enough to make her feel safe, close enough to throw her emotions into a tangle, close enough to trip her up but she paid no heed, intent on reaching that spyhole, intent o…
Sorry, must away… manuscript awaits.
And PS: for any of those who might be interested, on the day I lost Spot, I also lost my Gisborne images file. Fate again… curious.
I read your piece the other day about Spot, and it brought tears to my eyes. I grew up on horseback, but I never had a horse for 20 years. Eight was about the longest time, and losing that horse, Blackie was tough enough.
I appreciate your sharing and perhaps you’re right that the computer freezing up is a sign to move on.
Of course the techie in me is wondering if the image files are really lost or just look that way, and if I was there how I would try to help you get them back.
Cheers.
Frenz, thank you… it was/is tough.
As for losing my specially chosen Gisborne images. There turned out to be a far bigger picture happening at the time which put it in perspective. And I’m sure you’re right, they are in the Sargasso Sea that lives behind my computer!
Fate called and said to save your important files to disc.
Who’s doing the cover design?!?!! I can hardly wait to see!
Patricia… I forgot. Same as I know I should back up my blog. But I don’t know how. I might be able to write but I know sweet ** about technology.
In answer to your question: Clare at Salt Studio is doing it. I can’t wait either. Gisborne too.
Interesting how fate intervenes in writing, isn’t it? I’ve had similar things happen twice with my posts before. Years ago, when I was writing Moosehunter on diaryland’s site, I became very angry with someone’s foolishness and wrote a fairly harsh post on them. Something happened and I lost the post before it was ever published. Two days later that person was made redundant and all the anger I had felt evaporated. I was so grateful I never published that!
I am such a believer in Fate… which is fortunate as my novels tend to have Fate as a main character!
ahhhh, Gisborne…wherefore art thou?!!! Waiting, waiting, waiting…
Childhood dream was to have a horse…palomino to be specific. Never happened. We do have horses at the farm tho…but they’re feedlot horses, which means they are exactly safe fare for old wimmin or kids. But they do know how to walk pens and open gates. So sorry about Spot. Love the tribute to him with a grove!
Tonight I get out my teensy little book and reread the teensy little chapter of Gisborne as I’m needing a Guy fix! I just love your and Pat’s collaboration!!
Well, thank you kindly!
Ah NB…I’m so sick and tired of not being able to get a good run at this novel. Waiting, waiting, waiting…
How odd, I always wanted a palomino too… thought it was a ‘blonde’ thing. Ended up with a bay, a chestnut and finally an Appy. Spot was great at muster and brilliant at gates… he was so intelligent. everything to him was game to relieve boredom, including dancing at shadows which meant an exciting ride for me. I only came off once… he shied and i fell over the off shoulder and he stood on ‘the ankle’ (maybe that’s the problem). And once he shied when I was leading him and knocked me over with his near shoulder and then jumped over the top of me. That was more or less when I knew that age and horses can be a hard mix… the mending takes so much longer!
Re Pat and I… I can’t wait to see what we collaborate on next. Its always such a thrill and a cerebral and creative challenge for me.
What is it with Word, these days? Is anyone else experiencing difficulties too? I lost a whole mornings work on Sunday, but at the pace I work it wasn’t too much.. . I put it down to my slightly over-heated computer, but you are in winter down there, mesmered.
I do hope you manage to locate your Gisborne images. I was ‘’plunged into deep distress’’ for you, at the thought, of their loss. Though perhaps as others have said, a computer whiz-kid can dig them out for you.. And I do hope Gisborne himself is behaving for you, waiting patiently, but not hanging about and causing word block when you are able to continue his story.
Meanwhile I have found myself enjoying how all over the globe we are celebrating the life of Spot, honouring his memory and remembering our own animal companions. Small comfort, I am sure, but the thought might help a little in time.
You too, Giselle? I didn’t mind losing the grief post so much… it was a sign. The loss of the images? Ah well… Gisborne’s on my Robin Hood DVD’s so that’ll do. I did drag a few back from previous blog posts but its minute compared to what it was. i’m actually thinking i really must backup my whole blog and must find out how to do it.
Gisborne behaving himself? Well, in a covert, odd way I think he might be but Ysabel is really struggling to see it like that at all. Last night in bed, I had a major epiphany… I could see the story, right through to the end… and on into Vol 2. I haven’t jotted it down because I haven’t had time but its clear now and its fascinating the way it did it all on its own.
Your comment on Spot was so comforting: that all over the globe Mesmered’s friends have celebrated his life and that of their own animal companions. It is a really lovely thought.
Hopefully, a link will post in your comments, if not then, you get to see all that lovely html code. 😀
“Here’s a graphic that shows how to access the function for creating a backup with a wordpress.com blog. Once you access the export function, it will allow you set the parameters to choose which part of your blog you want to back up or you can use the default, which backs up the entire blog. This “backup” is an xml file that downloads to your system. There are several ways to access an xml file. I think I remember that you use a Mac, so you can do it with iWork. You can also access with Word, and I could go on, but I’ll stop there. If you have to restore the file to your blog, there’s an import process, or you can do it manually from the file, but I’ll spare you the explanation of all of that today. LOL!
The good news is that you can get those photos back. Perhaps not in the format you would like, but they’re certainly not gone, and I know for a fact they’re not gone from your system. That is almost impossible. But you accessing them might be another story. Very seldom is anything completely deleted. In fact, it almost never happens. It’s just not easily accessed by most end users.
Oops, I made a typo in my link. Here it is again: Back up graphic for wordpress.com
Grief has many phases and stages … it may come at you again, and when it does, it will be appropriate to discuss it then. I think a lot of times people think there’s a statute of limitations for mourning, but I don’t believe there is. I’m sorry for your loss.
I am sorry for your losses.
I don’t know what else to say. Losing loved ones – people, pets etc is more than hard. It is something no one can really share with you. And no words can mitigate.
But, on the other hand, losing things you write is the curse of our technology, for sure. But perhaps, there is something to be said about the shared experience of losing your written word. I mean, really – can other contemporary writers really sympathize with someone who had never lost something she wrote?