Anger management and a big welcome to The Gawain Quest

[Anne Brooke]

Woke up feeling really tense and bad-tempered today. Must be the after-effects of having such a nice weekend. Mind you, I’m still cheered by the fact that Lord H rescued me from a bathroom spider last night – he wrapped it in kitchen towel, squashed it and then placed the kitchen towel plus dead spider on the floor. When I asked him why he didn’t just put it in the bin, his answer was that we still needed to have the fun of jumping up and down on the darn thing, whilst yelling. Which we duly did. And, yes, it is very cathartic. Though possibly not very good for the neighbours. Spiders? Bah! Death to the enemy, I say!
This morning, I have fiddled around with emails and a thousand and one minutes (again!), and attempted to look professional and concerned when asked anything to do with work, but frankly, m’dear, right now I just don’t give a damn. Must be Monday – can you tell? Oh Lord, when oh when will retirement arrive?? How I long for the day! It’s also rather dull here at the coalface without Ruth – she’s doing her accountancy exams this week, so I’m unlikely to see her. Or at least not for long. So it’s very quiet. Sigh.

But today’s Good News by a long chalk is that our next Goldenford (http://www.goldenford.co.uk) book, The Gawain Quest by Jay Margrave, is now available from our website to purchase. It’s a medieval thriller about a charismatic hitman who goes on a royal mission to find the author of a very rebellious poem. Can he complete his mission in one piece? And what exactly is the mystery of the castle?? Find out more at http://www.goldenford.co.uk! Go on – you know you want to … After all, it’s this year’s big summer read! And a very classy novel to boot. And I should know – as I had the pleasure of editing it. Besides of which, I know a good book when I see it. Buy early! Buy often!

Thank goodness for reflexology at lunchtime though – it really helped the tension thing, and I feel much more relaxed now. I think I fell asleep several times, so I must have needed it. Took me an age to get back to the office afterwards though – as the builders have blocked off even more paths – but am I bovvered? Um, no … And if the builders go on in similar vein over the next few days, we shall be cut off entirely from the outside world and forced to scale over barbed-wire fences and scaffolding in order to reach our desks at all. Please send food parcels. Groan.

Tonight, Lord H is at theology – doing the 19th century and the Oxford Movement, which is one of his favourite eras of the church history. All those bells & smells – it brings out his inner Drama Queen, you know! And I intend to stare at my computer screen and work out what on earth Craig is going to do next in The Bones of Summer. He’s just had one shock, and now he has to work out what to do about it. Poor guy. And where on earth does that leave Paul?? Ah, the plot thickens … Or it would if I had the faintest idea what I was doing.

Oh, and I also need to draft some questions about gay fiction for the very talented M L Rhodes (http://www.myspace.com/mlrhodeswriting) to answer – as she’s kindly agreed to help me with my article. Many thanks, ML – it’s very much appreciated!

The bad news is that the relaxed feeling has worn off and I now feel as riled as hell. Again. Bloody hormones - bollocks to them is what I say. Could really do with punching someone or taking a boxing class, but that's not possible, so I had to be content with mashing the potatoes really really hard, until even Lord H began to look worried. I suspect he'll be glad to be out of the flat tonight. God, it's like having a very angry little person in my stomach and I can feel the waves of tension radiating outwards from said person even as I type. Damn and bloody damn. No bloody wonder I don't write much feelgood stuff.

And I've just finished Carol Shields' Unless. I suppose it's probably a work of genius, but frankly I found it all rather tiresome, and I have retitled it Unless I'm not Mistaken, This isn't Really a Novel but just a Series of Vignettes Linked Randomly Together. Though even I realise that's not the catchiest of titles. Anyway, it's a shame as, normally, I quite enjoy Shields' novels - though I think her short stories are where she really seriously rocks. But there you go: can't win 'em all. And I do think it's a shame that the MC's husband, Tom, was such a shadowy, meaningless figure. And yes I do know it's a subtly feminist work, blah blah, and all the men in it are therefore prats, blah blah but really all that's a bit old hat, isn't it?

Hmm, time for some more Pimm's, I think?

Today’s nice things:

1. The publication of The Gawain Quest
2. Reflexology
3. Writing.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.pinkchampagneandapplejuice.com