The Girdle of Melian

here do the weeks go? How is it Wednesday again already? What have I done? Where am I going? This reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon about Paul Gauguin: I'm reading a lot this week (especially as Joel Dicker's new book, Le livre des Baltimore , just came out!), and have only five notebook pages left of Larksong to type up (yay!). I recently ordered a couple more books for my Kindle app. Here's my current Kindle library (some of these were freebies on Amazon (hello, Clausewitz). I've just noticed I copied the list without realising it was sorted by title not author, so it's not as organised as I would like): Anne of Green Gables Stories (12 Books, 142 Short Stories) Lucy Maud Montgomery Autobiography Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Back in Time Stacey Wallace Benefiel Be Careful, It's My Heart Kait Nolan Blindsight (A Mirus Short Story) Kait Nolan Blood Faerie (Caledonia Fae, Book 1) India Drummond Breakthrough: The Adventures of Chase

up, it's the end of another round of A Round of Words in 80 Days . I had one major accomplishment this round -- typing up and finishing a short story in time to submit it to the Surrey Contest ! I know I keep mentioning ROW80 by its short name, so here's a reminder of the group's format: "We have 4 rounds a year, each running 80 days. Your goal can be anything you like as long as it is measurable (e.g. number of words/pages, specified amount of time to spend on writing per day/week, number of pages edited, etc. ... Once you have settled on a goal, you write it up on your blog (yes, you must have one) and link to it on the Goals Linky for the round, which will be posted on the ROW80 Blog . If your goal changes before the end of the 80 days, simply write up a new goals post and link to it on the latest check-in day. We have check-ins twice a week on Wednesday and Sundays where you will update us the same way (e.g. write up a blog post of your progress and link

eep! The deadline for the Surrey International Writers' Conference contest is this Friday! If I call my story done (accomplishing an ROW80 goal!), it still needs at least two more read-throughs before I'll be ready to submit it. I had a couple of detailed blog posts planned, including one on wacky Canadian stories and authors, but this week is another photo post. One of the projects I've had hanging over my head is a guest post on our trip to Tolkien country in Lancashire. I've had the photos for quite a long time, and haven't managed to write the post. Instead, I'll share them here now, with a few brief headers.   Starting on the Tolkien Trail, in Hurst Green, Ribble Valley, Lancashire...   Not the one in Oxford...   "As well as its links to J.R.R Tolkien, other literary figures associated with [Stonyhurst] college include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a former pupil), the poet Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins (a former member of staff ) a