Sunday, March 29, 2009

Less snow...

We got about 8 or 9 inches of snow here, I think, but it's melting fast. The ground had already thawed, and the last two sunny days have helped. The tomato seedlings in the cold frame survived, although some got a bit spindly; I have the lid up this morning to give them more direct light.

On the writing front, I've been doing a couple of other projects while I wait for feedback from my proof-readers. One, still part of preparing the Ash Spear, is to work on the maps, which are nearly ready now - ready for the proof-readers, at any rate. I have to remind myself that things which are perfectly obvious to me, such as which part of Britain is Wales, aren't necessarily going to be obvious to my (mainly North American) readers. This is the sort of assumptions they're checking for now - things I can't see.

The second project has been a little different. I'm doing some spoken word recording - poems and stories from the books. I'd like to make some cd's presently - both collections like these and spoken book versions of the books. The new microphone I've recently bought has solved the sound quality problem, but is picking up a background hum from the computer. I'll have to figure out a way to deal with that before I can do commercial quality recording, but in the short term this is good practice, and good for proof of concept. I'm thinking of including copies with some of my review give-aways, too.

-GRG

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Snow!

Denver is under a blizzard warning today, and I'm at home. Not much snow so far, but it only started here about an hour ago. I may add more pictures to this post as the day goes on.

12:15 local time - lots more snow.


Later in the afternoon... ... and 6 pm local time.

p.s. I've added a weather sticker at the bottom of the page.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

More coldframe...

Titus has discovered the catmint in the coldframe. He really likes it... Yes, he's sitting in the pot. Fortunately catmint is tough!

The water bottles are there as a temperature regulator, btw.

Tomatoes in the coldframe - 2009

It's that time of year again. I spent parts of the last week starting tomato plants from seed. Almost all have sprouted now, and are in the coldframe, which I've had open yesterday and today thanks to a bit of warm weather. That will be changing tomorrow, but at least the seedlings are off to a good start!

Book stuff: I'm working on maps for Ash Spear. I think it needs a general map of central Britain and a more detailed map of Gwynedd, where a lot of the action takes place. Photoshop Elements is my friend, though I still find myself swearing at it occasionally. After that I have to create the back cover - description and layout. By the time I finish that I should be getting feedback from my proofreaders, and can start on final text revisions. Still on track for a mid-June Lulu release, which translates into Amazon etc. sometime in July.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Yes, it's been a while...


... and no, nothing's happened. I was busy last weekend with second-draft changes in The Ash Spear before printing some copies for my proofreaders. Also I've mailed out the three copies of my first poetry book as part of my on-going promotional give-aways on LibraryThing, which I suppose I should have mentioned here sooner. I've also entered some pre-release information about Ash Spear here.

More blogging soon, I promise.

-GRG

Monday, March 2, 2009

Arwyddion cyntaf y gwanwyn / First signs of spring

Dim eira am fwy na wythnos nawr, a mae'r tywedd wedi bod yn cynnes ac yn sych. Roedd Chwefror 'ma un o'r pedwar sychaf yn fwy na can mlenydd. Dw i'n meddwl bod yn mynyddoed wedi cael digon o eira, ond mae pethau dim yn edrych yn dda am y ffermwyr. Mae'n rhaid iddyn nhw cael gwlybanieth y gwanwyn er bod yn posib am y gwenith gaeaf cael ei dyfu.

DDoe rhoais i ddwr i'r coed a'r rhosynnau yn yr ardd. Mae ychydig o twlips yn dod i fynny, ond dim crocis eto. Mi fydd amser i ddechrau y tomatos yn fuan.

Dw i'n gweithio o hyd ar yr ail draft Y Pren Onn - mae e'n ddod yn dda.

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No snow for more than a week now, and the weather has been warm and dry. February was one of the four driest in more than one hundred years. I think the mountains have got enough snow, but things are not looking good for the farmers. They need spring moisture for the winter wheat to grow.

Yesterday I watered the trees and roses in the yard. There are a few tulips coming up, but no crocus yet. It'll be time to start the tomatoes soon.

I'm still working on the second draft of The Ash Spear - it's coming well.

-GRG