Spooky Stuff

I'm sitting here listening to the Planet Rock presenters devote the whole day to scary rock tracks (you gotta love their devotion on this last day of Rocktober (groan). Stuff like Ghost (Slash), Creatures Of The Night (Kiss), The Number Of The Beast (Iron Maiden), Witchy Woman (Eagles), Welcome To My Nightmare (Alice Cooper) and even Break On Through (To The Other Side) - (Doors).

I thought it was a good excuse to montage some of my "face" pictures - can you spot them? They are from photos I took in Avebury, Wales and Barbados  - just rocks, roots and water.

Ok, the last one (bottom right) is a bit of a cheat because I reflected the picture (the edge of a rock on the pony path up to Cadair Idris) - but it really wasn't as obvious when it was only half a face. Can't decide if it's animal or human, what do you think?

Happy Halloween, Blessed Samhain or  Joyous All Souls. Whatever you call it, light a candle, eat something made from apples.
 
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ADDENDUM: Imagine my surprise when I learnt that it's not just me who "sees" faces in nature. There's even a posh name for it "simulacra." If you think I'm making it up, check out this guy:  http://www.palden.co.uk/simulacra.html.
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One wondeful week in wet windy Wales

Okay, so it wasn't all total slog. August saw a welcome return to the caravan with both daughters, hubby and even the dog. It did rain a lot - made the waterfalls even more vociferous than normal, and we finally took the Talyllyn steam train all the way to Tywyn. (pix to folllow). For me, much of it was spent doing the most exciting writing thing I've ever done - but I'm not gonna give it up yet. That deserves a post of its own, sometime soon.

Exhausted, Moi?

Ok, so the last 8 months have been the toughest for a while in terms of the pulls on my time. The trouble with full time working is you don't get time to play. At least I don't, because no matter how I try, the job I get paid for always seems to eat up all of my leisure time. My fault, I know - I always spend too much time creating Rolls Royce solutions when they only asked for a mini - I just can't help being creative.

The very best part was reading over 50 YA and MG books - I have discovered a raft of authors who have taught me so much about the type of books I love to read and write. There are way too many to mention, but the ones that moved me most were Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls), Cornelia Funke (Reckless/Fearless) and Michelle Paver (anything and everything - I will be stalking!).

In a week or so, I'll get some of my life back and hopefully be able to put my energies into writing - there has been one exciting little project which I hope to share soon.
Cheers
   Jacky