Anna Elliott's Blog, page 7

Scenes from the Day

We went to the zoo today. Vivi saw her first elephants and zebras and lions and orangutans moving right over our heads. She clapped her hands and laughed and shrieked with excitement.

We got home, and as I was getting the girls ready for bed, Bella got on her toy phone and started 'a conversation with God.' At one point I heard her say, "Fantastic, God, great idea!"

Then while I brushed Bella's teeth, Vivi carefully crawled over and filled the (thankfully unused!) training potty full of...

Life with this Guy

So, I should have added a #11 to my 10-true-things about my husband post last month. But here we go, Number 11: he likes to 'help' me write my books.

The other day I was called away from the story I'm working on at the moment by one of the kids, so left my poor characters in mid scene. (My characters are EXTREMELY accustomed to this, so don't feel too sorry for them or anything). An elderly, battle scarred warrior had just told my narrator, "We can't go back."

Now, obviously you're...

Notes from the Teething Trenches

Eek, has it really been that long since last I blogged? My time has been a bit taken up lately by my poor little teething baby. Who is teething. And also–let's be honest here–being kind of a baby about it all. Poor love. Although I'm happy to report that she is as sweet and adorable as ever:

But, I have updates! Firstly, my husband has added a–very preliminary–Dark Moon of Avalon page to get ready for the release in September. Isn't the cover gorgeous? It's a very different look...

10 True Things About My Father

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there! Including, of course, my father-in-law and my sweet little girls' daddy! But since I am a horrible daughter and got completely caught by surprise by Father's Day being today, of all times (long story involving our thinking Father's day was last weekend, finding out it was not, and then me kind of going, Oh, okay, scratch that off my list of things to worry about this week) I will devote this blog to telling you 10 true things about my ...

10 True Things About Anna

Mr. Husband here. Yesterday Anna told you ten facts about me to celebrate our tenth anniversary. I happen to know the password to her blog, so today I am hijacking it to share with you ten facts about her.

She works hard to tell stories.

Being an author is a dream come true, but not an easy job.  Anna works hard, almost all the time when she is not doing something with our daughters.  Seven days per week, her goal is to write a thousand words or more in the morning and then to revise and do...

10 True Things About My Husband

Last year on our anniversary, I posted this story. Hard to top that for sheer toe-curling embarrassment. So this year, I will tell you 10 true things about this man I married.

1. When we were in college, I did a summer study in London and Nathan flew in to visit the last week I was there. We visited Greenwich and took a picture at the Prime Meridian, Nathan in one hemisphere and me in the other. And for my birthday that year he had the picture framed opposite the John Donne poem that...

Ch-ch-ch-changes

The summer after my freshman year of college, I worked behind the counter of a bagel shop, part of the franchise of . . . well, in the interests of being nice, I won't say which chain this particular shop was part of. But their motto was "Totally, completely obsessed." As in, every day I worked there I had to wear a name tag pinned to my apron which read, "Hi, I'm Anna: totally, completely obsessed."

And I really wish I knew just who the marketing genius was who thought up this particular...

Writer Unboxed

I'm over at Writer Unboxed today, blogging about finding the time to write with two little kids in the house. And sounding waaaay more together about it than I have felt this week! 2 sick kids + 1 sick husband + sleep deprivation + repairmen working on various construction projects around the house = chaos, pretty much. Although I guess in a way I've proved the point of my WU post, which is that even when life is craziest, the writing still can get done. My word count for this week isn't ...

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Both to my amazing mother and mother-in-law, of course, and to all the other wonderful mums out there, too. This was the first year Bella (now 3) was really old enough to understand the concept and make a gift–so she made me a beaded necklace, and picked out some flowers, too. So sweet. And then we had the following conversation:

Bella: I love you a hundred and fifty.

Me: I love you up to the moon and back again.

Bella: *rolls eyes* That's not a number, Mom.

I've said ...

conversations with my girls

Conversation #1

Bella: I'm always Daddy's best friend.

Me: You sure are, sweetie. Will you be my best friend, too?

Bella: Yes. But you don't have fur on your skin.

Me: Um, no, very true. No fur here.

After some discussion, we clarified that what she meant was that my arms are less hairy than Nathan's. Which, although a good thing in my book, is evidently a strike against me in the plus/minus tally of parental qualities.

Conversation #2

Vivi: Dadadadada
Me: Very good! Now can you say...