Robin McKinley's Blog, page 170

Better photos

 

Plants are better at sitting still.

                 I take GAZILLIONS of photos because I'm going to hang them on the blog and then I forget or get distracted or can't decide which six hundred and forty-two over the other six hundred and forty-two, or fiddle around with cropping till I no longer know what I was trying to do*, or I have a rant I must rant that night, or . . .

                 So let's have some spring garden photos. 

                  Front of cottage.  Remember I said that...

Bad Photos

 

Okay.  Baaaad photos.  But I decided in aggregate they become funny, and you can all use a laugh, right?

I KEEP TELLING YOU THERE ARE NO CATS IN THE SHRUBBERY.

This Woman Is Wondering If Her Husband and Her Camera Are About to Slip into an Alternate Dimension and Never Be Seen Again.  (And Hellhounds Are Not Convinced About the Lack of Cats.)

If you look closely (well, not too closely) you may observe some strange dark smudges on my left thigh.  Those are . . . bruises.  I don't actually look a...

Rabid Wolverines

 

 IT HAS BEEN A RABID WOLVERINE OF A DAY.*  I don't want any more days like this, okay?  Also I need more sleep.  Obviously I was having a Precognitive Night last night about the day to come because I kept shooting awake out of lurid and complex dreams, listening for the heavy wet squishy footfalls on the stairs and the low macabre rumbling noises and the awful smell and . . .  

            So I've had three, not one, not two, but three significant publishing traumas today, for each of which p...

Ask Robin: Blank spots

 

You [have said:] that your stories are, in large part, not strictly "your creations." You maintain that they simply 

Ahem.  'Simply' has nothing to do with it. 

come to you, telling themselves first to you, and prodding you to . . . write them . . . [but:] there may be gaps in the official story.  And while you can accept a blank such as "and then SOMETHING happens, and Katriona is able to have a spinning wheel in the house that complies with royal orders" when it's just a story in your head...

And the winners are…..

 

Another announcement from Black Bear  

I'm pleased to announce we have our winners in the Pegasus ARC contest!  Without further ado, please extend your congratulations to:

Forum Winner: GraceNotes.

My favorite is a brief description in Spindle's End: "…a wriggle of wedge-shaped stairs led down into the main body of the house."

I've met stairs like that, and I love the initial rhyme of wriggle and wedge – so graphically descriptive.

Twitter Winner: exlibris_mhuitt

"And if my choice is to sit...

Final Pegasus ARC Contest Countdown

Public Service Announcement by Black Bear

Ok, folks.  If you've not entered the contest yet, but still want to, it ends at midnight EDT tonight. Not that you shouldn't feel free to keep telling Robin your favorite quotes from her books, but it won't get you a shot at the Pegasus ARCs.  If you want a refresher of the rules, they're *here*.

The winners will be announced here on the blog on Sunday, at the usual posting time.  The winners will then need to contact me (instructions will be...

Final twenty-four hours

 

Okay, everyone!  This is your last chance to post a favourite quotation from one of my books for a chance to win an ARC of PEGASUS!  You have three choices–the forum here, Twitter #rmck, or the Facebook feedback for 8 May.  And yes you can post to all three–the same quote or different ones.   Blackbear is doing the work of keeping track, and it'll be her hat* the three winning numbers get pulled out of, so if you're on friendly terms with your local bear goddess it wouldn't hurt to leave an ...

Puppy Birthday, guest blog by B-Twin-1

It seems a little wrong to call this a Pupdate. Afterall, the puppies are now 1 year old. They are Border Collies however; that tends to mean that they will try to stay "forever young"!!

So a year ago today life was all very exciting as The Puppies were born.

Welcome to the world little ones....

Oddly enough they have grown.  Somewhat.

That little pup in the centre of that picture? She now looks like this:

Bramble

And "Big Girl"? Well, she used to look like this.

"Big Girl"

Now she looks like this:

Snork

Guess what came caroming through my mail slot today.   CLACK THUD WHAM.

THE DEMON'S COVENANT.

From Waterstones.

Hee hee hee hee hee.

LAMENT by Maggie Stiefvater

 

I got off to a bad start with this book.  In fact I got off to a bad start twice.*

            I've started following more links and reading more sample chapters on line, and that's how I found LAMENT**.  So I ordered it.  From Waterstones.  You may remember Waterstones:   it's the source of the fascinating customer service response,  "The item showing as still outstanding from the warehouse from order number **+#!?! has not been updated on your online status."*** 

            I ordered...