A Ramble

y thoughts seem to be everywhere today and this blog post will probably be a reflection of that. Actually, what better way to sort it all out than to write a list?

1. Congratulations to Talli! Here's her run down of the blog splash for her amazing debut novel The Hating Game.

2. Agatha Christie answers the question, where do you get your ideas from?

3. Over on the forum we're discussing why we like or dislike certain characters in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and holding a wrap up of what we all learned from NaNo - including snips.
Here's a teeny one that I shared:

"I will not be beholden to my father. I'm not sure what [style of living] you are accustomed to –" He glanced at her over his shoulder, mouth quirking in a smile. "You never complain, my love, or ask for anything."
He paced across the room and indicated the trunk with an open palm. "This is nearly empty; it came with the house. As did the bedding, the few candles, the single pot. This sort of bareness... it's all very well on board ship but, Allah willing, I will provide for you better than that."
"But I don’t want –"
"You should!"
She shrank against the wall, and the back of her head smacked the windowsill. She rubbed at it, staring at him.
His eyes blazed, but his voice grew calm again. "You should want the moon, Peri, for I would catch it on a string for you." He sat down beside her once more, pushed her hand aside, and kneaded the spot where a bruise was forming. "In order to do that, I have to work. Would you mind being married to a Celebi?"
"What is that?"

4. Read more of Kait Nolan's Forsaken by Shadow, here.

5. The Victoria and Albert Museum needs your help! They're trying to raise funds to conserve the original manuscripts of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, and his unfinished last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. According to The Guardian, "The V&A now hopes to restore the priceless originals – which are still legible although blotched and underscored – in time for international celebrations of the bicentenary of Dickens's birth in 2012... Just like the self-sacrificing Sydney Carton, who is giving the closing lines of the novel as he steps up to the guillotine in place of another man, donors to the V&A conservation cause may perhaps feel: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done."" Make your donation here.