Party Time!, John Bellairs, ROW80, and Photos from Book and Craft Fairs

ight at the Museum!

Featuring... The Tower of London, a spaceship crashing through the roof, monks, warriors, a veteran of World War I, a veteran of the Viet Nam war, a man cursed into Beast form, King Charles II, a race on a Ducati, a koala, a cave that leads to Australia, a talking garden gnome...

All of that, and more!

Yup, the Writers' Houseparty is in full swing, and if I'm falling behind on blog comments that's the reason. Non-stop writing, creating, exploring, and making friends.

Five of my characters are attending this round, including Kedi the cat.

Here's a very brief snip, featuring two of my characters meeting another:

The hair rose on the back of his neck, and before he could prevent it, all the Beast's senses were rushing to the forefront.
He growled, deep in the back of his throat, and made to fling Len off. He'd pin him down, and then... well, his Mistress was always hungry.
"Fred, what are you doing? Stop!"
As suddenly as the Beast had risen, it was tamped down. His hands - hands, not paws - fell from the man's neck.
Lyne had grabbed his arm, and just like that, the Beast had receded.
He stepped back on wobbly legs. "Sorry, man. Look, we didn't see any girl, right? But if you need help looking for her -"
"I heard voices from over that way," Lyne said. "I'm Lyne, by the way. What's your name?"
And the Beast caught a new scent. Of musk, and sandalwood. She found this bloke attractive? How could she?
How could Beauty even look at another?

Not much time left for ROW80, so I'm hoping this party will kickstart my motivation and get me back on the editing wagon. I've got to submit a snip for WRiTE Club!

In perfect timing, Nathan Bransford has a post on When It Feels Like You're Never Doing Enough, and Kait Nolan's got a post that summarises my own lifelong attitude to trying, not trying, and avoiding failure.

This year is the 40th anniversary of the publication of John Bellairs' The House With a Clock in Its Walls. A perfect excuse to reread all his wonderful, mysterious, thrilling books.

illustrations by Edward Gorey! Read more here

I was at a beerfest a couple of weeks ago!

Wey Beer Cream Porter - yum!

A list of Rogue Ales

I had the Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout - yum!

A display of Molson bottles over the years

A massive German bottle

Local microbrewery Boqubiere

Good old Newcastle

Round about the same time, I organised a charity book fair at work!

Browsers

We raised 925$ for a children's library in Tanzania, which the office 'International Fund' sponsors. I, er, contributed by picking up a few handfuls of books for myself...

And last month I was at a craft fair!

Me on arrival

Setting up

Panorama shot

Ready!

Ready to sell!

Lots of knitting - a baby hat

Other vendors had interesting items, including homemade soap, handmade dolls, jewellery, jams, baked goods. I won't pretend I didn't use up some of my profits buying from fellow sellers!

Homemade lipgloss in the bottom righthand corner - this, oddly enough, turned out to be my bestseller that day

Have you attended or hosted a fair recently?

Which book's anniversary are you celebrating?