Keris Stainton's Blog, page 51

Serendipity and floating balls

Harry has recently discovered The Sarah Jane Adventures and he loves it. This makes me happy for a few reasons. 1. I really wanted to watch The Sarah Jane Adventures after reading Russell T Davies's fabulous book The Writer's Tale, but didn't think I'd ever get round to it (there's just so much TV!). 2. Sarah Jane is a fab character and, you know, female. 3. It's not Zeke & Luther or Pair of Kings or The Suite Life or any of the other Disney XD shows Harry has been watching for a while now.

So yesterday we rushed home from school and sat down to watch an episode together before Joe got home from the grandparents'. Joe would quite like to watch Sarah Jane, but it's "too 'tary, Middy!" [scary] The episode was The Lost Boy, in which - spoiler alert! - Luke is kidnapped because the Slitheen want to use his telekinetic energy to bring down the moon and destroy the earth. At the lab (along with Floella Benjamin!), we see a man wearing a band around his head and being electrified while the power of his mind raises a basketball off the floor. Or something.

This morning, I was reading Martha Beck's new book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World. The chapter was about how we can actually use our own energy to communicate with animals or even inanimate objects, which is, apparently, completely true and proven by scientists. One of the ways you can test this, Martha said, was to try the Mind Flex. The Mind Flex has a strap with a sensor that you put on your head and a separate box with a fan and a little ball. The fan is controlled by electrical impulses from your brain to lift the ball in the air. There's a demonstration on YouTube (which I'd actually seen and forgot about), so I yelled to Harry to come and look and we watched it:

In the sidebar, we saw a link to Jude Plays Mindflex, which we watched immediately after and both my boys thought was hilarious. (It's a baby who was able to get the Mind Flex to work when all the adults had failed.)

And that one led to Zachary MindFlexing, which we all got very into, yelling, "Go on, Zachary!"

Which inevitably led to Harry getting me to find Mind Flex on Amazon and adding it to his wishlist.

Has anybody tried it?

Can you describe yourself in six words?

I just saw the cover of the new issue of O Magazine, and I LOVE it. (Scroll down to see it.) I went to the Oprah website to have a closer look and spotted this:

Can you describe yourself in six words? I've been asked to describe myself in a few words a couple of times in interviews and once on a school visit and I find it really hard, but I was choosing single words, like 'short', 'enthusiastic', 'hungry'. This refers to six-word memoirs, read more about them here. This one's my favourite:

What would yours be?

 

C is for Cookie

David had to work most of the weekend so on Sunday I decided to come up with a programme of entertainments for the boys. We went off to buy picnic items and, on the way, Joe started yelling about making crackers. He'd seen Katy do it on I Can Cook and so all the way to the supermarket, Joe yelled, "MAKE CRACKERS! YIKE KATY! CRACKERS!" I told him I had no freakin' idea how to make crackers, but I could probably manage cookies. If there was a box of mixture in the shop.

There wasn't. I had a little think. Butter, sugar, flour? That should just about do it, yes? Then we bought a pack of sparkly little icing ball thingies and off we toddled.

When we got home I googled 'easy cookie recipe' and it led me to this. I had proper sugar, not caster sugar, but… *shrugs*

I measured everything out, gasped a little at the concept of AN ENTIRE PACKET OF BUTTER and then put the butter in my pocket to bring it up to room temperature. What? Once I'd done all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen and the butter still wasn't room temperature, I decided to chop it up cos then it would, um, warm up quicker, yes? Not so much, no. I'd advise not trying this recipe unless you've got a mixer. I had a wooden spoon. And an impatient toddler.

I did not manage to get the butter to be soft and creamy, but whatevs, I didn't let it get me down. Joe added the sugar and then wandered off as I endeavoured to "beat" the mixture until it was "pale and fluffly". This didn't happen either. Joe returned to add the flour. I mixed it halfheartedly for a while, before giving up on the wooden spoon altogether and just using my hands.

The boys wandered in for a taste. Harry loved it. Joe put it in his mouth, then took it out and tried to put it in mine. I let him, obv. Once I'd finished rolling and kneading the dough, I put it on the baking tray and then took it for the boys to decorate with the icing ball thingies. They enjoyed this bit very much. Fifteen minutes later we had cookies. COOKIES!

I know. They don't look like much, but they were actually delicious. And I only used half the mixture, so I've been grazing on cookie dough for about 48 hours now. I feel a bit bilious, if I'm honest.

We took a few to the park for our picnic. Harry declared them "the best cookies EVER!" Joe bit one, shuddered and blinked for about 30 seconds and then spat it into my hand. He ate four when he got home though.

Write Dreams auction

Over Christmas, I was upset to read about a fire at a local charity, Donna's Dream House. The charity was set up in memory of Donna Curtis, who died of cancer in 1996, and provides free holidays for children and teenagers with life-threatening illnesses and for recently bereaved families. On 20th December, the office was broken into, burgled and set on fire. The building is so badly damaged that it may have to be completely rebuilt.  The fire also destroyed many personal items and mementoes.

Earlier this month, I got an email about Write Dreams, a joint blog of a group of international kidlit writers/bloggers who are hosting an auction in aid of Donna's Dream House. I've offered signed copies of Della, Jessie and Emma and my auction is live now (and closes on the 19th Jan at 9.30pm). But there are lots more items from many more authors going live all the time.

Please have a look and see if there's anything you'd like to bid on. (And if you're an author who'd like to offer something for auction, feel free to email me (keris dot stainton at googlemail dot com) or contact Write Dreams via the email on their site.

52 Books: Switch by Chip & Dan Heath

I bought this book after Martha Beck (you know I love her, right?) recommended it here.

I wasn't sure how I'd get on with it, but I actually found it fascinating. It's really aimed at businesses – or, I suppose, managers of businesses: it's about problem solving, getting people to do things they don't want to do or can't be bothered to do. (That makes it sound sinister, but it really isn't – it's getting them to do good things, honest.) I read it primarily as manager of, you know, myself and then, as I was reading, realised lots of it could easily apply to managing my family too.

The thing I loved the most about it was the idea of the elephant and the rider:

Human decision making is like a tiny rider on a massive elephant.  The rider may think he's in charge, but the elephant's will always wins. Both are imperfect – the rider over-thinks and over-analyzes.  The elephant acts on passion and emotion. 

That totally resonates with me as the rider sits here telling me to get on with writing this, while my elephant tries to drag me into the kitchen for another doughnut.

So what can you do about it? Lots of things. You can read a summary of it here but that glosses over 'bright spots' which I think is one of the best ideas in the book. If you're struggling with something, you think about what's worked in the past, work out why and replicate that. So, say, if I was struggling to get on and finish a book (to pick a random example out of thin air *cough*) I could think about how I managed to finish writing Jessie. Maybe I went to Starbucks and made myself stay there until I was finished. And I could try that again and see if it worked. I know, it seems blindingly obvious, but sometimes, when you're flailing (when I'm flailing…) you miss the obvious things.

In fact, all the steps are pretty simple and there's even a one-page summary at the back of the book that I'm going to stick on the wall next to my desk. But I'm so glad I read the whole book – the real world examples are so interesting and inspiring – and I'm keen to read the Heaths' next book, Made to Stick.

Endless Love love

One day last week, I'd offered to pick David up from work and I left the boys at their grandparents' and tootled off in the car. On the way Endless Love* came on the radio. I turned it up as loud as I could stand and sang along. Well… I say "sang". I can't sing at the best of times, I really can't sing Endless Love. As someone pointed out when I mentioned it on Twitter, you find yourself trying to sing both parts, even when they cross over each other. (The 'no one can deny' bit is particularly tricky, but all the more satisfying for that.)

As I drove and sang I realised that I was about as happy as I could ever remember being. There's something about singing in the car, isn't there? And it's even better when you're singing such a cheese-tastic classic, I think.

[image error]

* links to YouTube, but to listen, not to watch.

Name that TV show. Please.

The new book – Emma Hearts LA – features a TV show about Astral Travel. It's a sort of tongue-in-cheek drama. Think Supernatural or Quantum Leap or The X Files. But cheesier.

The thing is, it needs a title. The TV show, I mean. In the first draft of the book, I've called it 'Astral Travel [think of better title]' which obviously won't do.

So I need your help. Can you think of a title?

A proof of Emma Hearts LA to my favourite and/or the one I end up using in the book. (Proofs won't be available until I finish the book, which I can't do until I – or, um, you – think of a title for the TV show.)

Feeble 2012 collage

I like to do a collage for the year ahead, but I struggled a bit with this year's. I may end up adding to it, but at the moment this is what we're got:

The background is a photo of Julianne Hough diving into the ocean. I just love it.

I've got a book – Emma Hearts LA – coming out in June so that's in the centre, and the wish tree and owl top left relate to a couple of other books I'm planning.

We're hoping to go on a couple (or four) holidays, although that may not happen, so they're in there.

If I get a new book deal or, you know, win the lottery I'd like an iPad and a Marc Jacobs Petal to the Metal bag, so they're there.

And then I had a think… and thought some more… and couldn't think of anything else.

I called Harry in, showed him, and asked him what else I should add. "Maybe… more holidays?" he said. Nice try, kid.

52 Books: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I approached this book with a strange mix of excitement and trepidation. Excitement because I absolutely adored Jojo Moyes' last book The Last Letter From Your Lover, and trepidation because of the subject matter.

Me Before You is about two people – Louisa Clark and Will Traynor – but it's also about disability, Dignitas and the right to die. I trusted Jojo Moyes enough to assume it wouldn't be a worthy or depressing read, but still… I was unsure.

I shouldn't have been, of course. Me Before You is a wonderful book. It's sad, of course, but it's also life-affirming and funny and thought-provoking.

Lou and Will are absolutely gorgeous characters and Lou's family – her hilarious dad, anxious mother and selfish sister are all completely convincing. As are Will's parents, who are understandably struggling with their son's new situation, but not necessarily in the way you may think.

I didn't want it to end.

A perfect storm

No, not the one outside. I think that may have stopped… No, January has brought a perfect storm of procrastination.

Emma Hearts LA is due on 31 January. And my tax return is due on 31 January.

I was wondering this morning how come I've managed to get quite organised – the house is (relatively) tidy, I'm keeping on top of the washing and the dishes – I was thinking that maybe I'd finally grown up. And then I realised. No. I haven't. I've just got two really important things to do and I don't want to do them.

So if I'm not around on the blog so much, you'll know why. I'll be re-tiling the front path or cleaning the grouting with a toothbrush.