Poppi & Emily enjoying their new garden . Yesterday was devoted to writing and little else, and as a result the first draft of Fabian is almost complete.  So it now looks like the novel will be available by December, which is good news for all those who've been emailing me to ask when it's likely to be out. We've settled into our new house and absolutely love it.  The photo of Poppi and Emily, shown here, was taken on Thursday this week, when they were lounging on the patio area of the garden.  We've tidied up the previous owner's collection of patio plant pots, removing spent spoil and weeds, and we've been enjoying the gradual process of discovering what the collection holds - such as the lovely iris which burst into bloom this week, (see photo below).  The patio border has a fuscia, too, which we're glad to see; they're one of Richard's favourites but we could never get them to thrive in our previous garden. It's not so sunny toda

What do you think of the new-look website?  The aim was to simplify the layout, reducing three columns to two so there was less visual clutter.  There's also a new colour scheme to consider; apparently some people using an old monitor found the previous one a little difficult to read. The temporary hiatus which Riverside Writers' meetings have undergone will end soon, as West Kirby Library have nearly finished repairing the interior after bits of the ceiling fell off.  The next meeting of Riverside Writers will take place on the 27th of this month.  Tim phoned to pass on the news about the library being ready to re-open, so my next little job is to zap an email round to everyone on the group's mailing list. Speaking of mailing lists, did you know I have a free emailing list with Yahoo Groups?  To sign up, use the clickable box in the side column.  Membership brings a number of privileges, such as having book release dates or events dates sent straight to your usua

The Faerie Pond, Stapledon Woods I've been busy writing Fabian , and was wondering how many further books this series might run to.   The answer suddenly popped into my head, which is something that tends to happen if I don't block the process somehow by trying too hard to make this work.  If I set out thinking something like, "Ok, I now want the answer to X" regards my writing, nothing happens.  If I just open my mind to possibilities, ask the question and then immediately let it go off into the ether - to use a term which is vague but sufficiently useful - and forget about it, then more often than not the answer flashes back.  Is my brain a cosmic postbox?  (That might explain the amount of 'junk mail'...!) So, the Artisan-Sorcerer Series will run to seven books in all.  I have the titles of the last three.  Each is named after the main character in that particular novel, eg. Tamsin , Rowan , Bethany Rose and the fourth, which has around 30,000 words

City Stories, FREE ebook anthology   Contributors : Tim Hulme William R Jones Caroline Hubbard Andy Siddle Jason Barney Jack Horne Adele Cosgrove-Bray   Here's a preview of the front cover for the forthcoming City Stories ebook anthology, which is currently being proofread with help from Andy Siddle and Tim Hulme.  The photo on the cover depicts part of the Albert Dock in Liverpool, and was taken by my husband Richard, (who's currently trying to mend a broken stand for one of my Tangkou dolls).   Frog pond with pennywort, water soldiers, fairy moss and shy goldfish.   Who'd have guessed that fish have personalities?  To prevent the frog pond from becoming home to a legion of blood-sucking mosquitoes, my brother Eric suggested adding a few goldfish.  Three have been making themselves at home beneath the gradually-spreading canopy of pennywort and fairy moss.  They seem to like snoozing under the water soldiers, and they're particul

Emily and Poppi by the pond. I received a lovely email from someone who had noticed I'd deleted my old LiveJournal blog.  He had enjoyed the philosophical debates which had unfolded there, and was disappointed that the blog was no more.  I hadn't updated my old LJ blog since opening this Blogger site so I was a little surprised at this, but we all like to be missed, hmm? I'd like to reply properly to this person, but I accidentally deleted the email.  I've not blogged much on philosophical topics for some time, even though philosophy is a dominant part of my life.  Maybe I should?  Meanwhile, back at Maison Cosgrove-Bray, I've been busy creating a garden pond.  Earlier this year we were invaded by a huge number of baby frogs.  Apparently frogs don't reach maturity until they're five years old, and until their first mature spring season they don't spend much time in ponds.  However, we also have a small population of older frogs and t

Emily and Poppi inspecting this morning's snow.     It was not my intention to photograph my dog's derriere, however this is the best of this morning's three quick snapshots.  Two seconds later, both dogs had sprinted back inside having already had quite enough of cold paws thank you very much.   I've been busy finishing off several projects, including an NVQ Level 3 in Customer Care which is now 98% complete.  It would have been finished entirely if my tutor hadn't resigned last week, which means I now have to wait for another to be employed by the college.  I'm not best pleased, as I'd like to have the course over and done with, but these things happen.  I've also been doing another job-related course, which is now two-thirds complete.   On the writing front, I'm currently working on a piece destined for Riverside Writers' forthcoming anthology of short stories and poetry set in a fictional apartment block in Liverpool city cen

Stapledon Woods, West Kirby, Wirral  Gilroy Nature Park, West Kirby, Wirral.      It's snowing.  It's winter, so that's not so unusual.  From the media fuss, however, a person might imagine that the wintry weather had come unexpectedly despite this being January, and despite January often being the coldest month of any year here in England.  It's not that cold really - the pond in Gilroy Nature Park isn't even frozen at the edges.   I've made a start on a new cross-stitch, using 24-count black Aida.  It's ages since I've done any cross-stitch!  I got thoroughly fed up with counted cross-stitch as it's tedious constantly having to count the coded squares on the chart then count the holes on the Aida to know where to stitch.  Fiddle to that!  Never again.  This time I wanted to create a cross-stitch peacock, so I bought some Aida off eBay, took a few photos of peacocks from Google Images, then used a loose running stitch in a con

I opened the pantry door and selected two dog-chew hats, one each for Emily and Poppi.  Emily pounced on hers immediately, but Poppi hadn't seen one before - so far as I know - and so she was more cautious.  She soon got the idea, though, as can be seen in this very short video.  For some reason, all the shadows have an unfortunate yellow-ochre cast which makes both Poppi and duvet look grubby.  Maybe this was caused by me filming under an electric light?  Both the dog and duvet are very clean, in actuality.  Anyway, apart from that technical glitch, I hope the video makes you smile. The year has got off to a promising start for Spooky Cute Designs , as my online store has just been awarded Pro-Seller status.  Yay for me!  So, thank you to all those people who've treated themselves to a little something from Spooky Cute Designs!  And I've recently added a new product range, so if you're fond of jigsaw puzzles then feel free to discover what is available so far. R

Emily and Poppi    Here're our two Jack Russell Terriers, once again snuggling on their favourite doggy cushion.  It used to be Richard's cushion but they had other ideas.  It's a shame about the red-eye, though I managed to tweak it and reduce it to ochre-eye.  Is it an improvement?  I'll let you decide.   Last weekend saw us in the garden, raking together autumn leaves and making a bonfire from a heap of pruned branches.  The dogs were safely indoors, of course.  The leaves were quite damp from all this rain we've had, so consequently the fire was very smoky.  But it's one of those gardening jobs which simply needs doing.    Smoky autumn bonfire   Just behind the fire you can see our two conical compost bins, which were made from recycled rubber.  They have no base, so to extract good compost  you simply slide a garden fork under them and lift them off.   They're suprisingly light to move around, yet the compost inside stops them from

Never underestimate a Jack Russell Terrier     It's a pity this photo didn't turn out better.  I've tried tweaking it but the image suffers from poor exposure.  I had been busy in the kitchen and decided to check up on our two Jack Russells.  They'd dragged a cushion off the couch and taken it onto the patio.  And there they were, contentedly sunbathing in comfort.  I didn't want them to stand up before I had chance to take the photo, so I quickly put the batteries back into my digi camera - it devours batteries if they're not removed - and snapped this on Auto.  Is that cute or what, hmm?   It is as well that they enjoyed the sunshine as it's poured with rain almost non-stop since.  The car park behind The Concourse was largely underwater last night as Tim and I arrived for the Riverside Writers meeting.  We discussed several versions of the proposed front cover for Seaside Stories, as this project is nearing completion now.   I've be

Poppi   Poppi and Emily, blanket buddies   Sunny snoozes     These photos answer the queries about how our two dogs are getting along with each other.   They're both doing fine together, as can be seen.   A fresh coat of white emulsion is now on the kitchen walls.  A second coat will be needed, and I'll need to do the ceiling too.  The external doors and a few internal doors are sporting fresh paint as well.  All of them need doing though,  the problem of new white paint being that it makes every other surface look like it needs painting.  We're just doing everything white, doing the Blank Canvas thing.   I've begun compiling the contributions for Seaside Stories , which will be a free ebook showcasing original stories and poetry from Riverside Writers members, including me.  As a group, we published a paperback anthology in 2010 and while we had fun doing that we also found that distribution was an issue.  We had people wanting copies that, short of hand-mailing, we co

Emily and Poppi enjoying the sunshine.     I've begun a major clear-out of household junk.  So far I've filled two bin-bags with shredded MS and gone-curly ring-clip files, ancient plant pots and "useful" kitchen equipment which  hasn't been used since the last Ice Age.  And this is only the start of the de-junking process.  The wheelie bin is already piled high, so there's no point in me doing more until that's been emptied.   The dogs supervised, of course, until they got thoroughly bored with listening to me singing along with Suede, and  wandered off to snooze on cushions.  Actually, this afternoon I thought Poppi had somehow got out of the garden as I couldn't see her anywhere.  The garden's escape-proof but you should never underestimate the resourcefulness of a Jack Russell.  Anyway, I found her curled up fast asleep on Richard's pillow, which she'd dragged half-way across the bed to a sunny spot.   Poppi is settling into the househo

Sleepi Poppy   Our chickens are now happily re-housed with a family in Bebington, who have kept hens before.  I'll miss their antics - and their lovely fresh eggs - but we've a planned big change on the home-front and so we needed to find a new home for them.   While we said goodbye to Penny and Felicity, we said hello to Poppi.  She's a fifteen month-old Jack Russell who Emily had befriended.  Her owner couldn't look after her properly anymore, and asked Richard if he'd be  interested in adopting her.  That's a bit like asking a kid if it wants ice-cream...and so we have a new family member - who will easily fit in with our planned domestic changes.  We've had a cat named Poppy, so it feel a little odd calling her this but it's been her name for so long already it seems silly to change it.  If she'd been given some pea-brained blood-and-guts name then I'd change it immediately, but Poppi is a lovely name so it's staying - we'll just lat

Kate Wilhelm has been a writer since 1956, and after having had more than 30 novels published, (see her Amazon Author Page ) she has now embraced self-publishing and digital self-publishing in response to a long series of unsatisfactory publishing contracts.  With the help of relatives, she has now set up Infinity Box Press to re-release her back catalogue. It surely says a lot about the current situation in traditional publishing when a writer of this lady's experience and stature rejects a familiar route in preference for indie self-publishing.  Good for her!  I wish her well. Well, the July ebook bargains promo on Smashwords is over now.  Throughout the month of July I offered two ebooks free, and it was interesting to see that Spanish Jones was chosen by far more people than The Karens .  Maybe people don't expect me to have penned a sci-fi story?  The whole genre pigeon-holing issue leaves me a bit puzzled.  Ok, so I mostly write urban fantasy or dark urban fantasy -

Joyce Grenfell AKA Chuckzilla 4th August 2012 approx. 6 years old Joyce Grenfell and Hattie Jacques in younger days   

A yellow swallow-tailed moth rests on a leaf in our bathroom. The same plant - a variety of Rhipsalidopsis - in flower. One of the things I love about living here on the Wirral is the variety of wildlife.  As I type this, there's a gorgeous yellow swallow-tailed moth sitting on one of the plants upstairs, as seen in the photo above.  The photo doesn't quite catch the moth's colour which is a distinct pale lemon-yellow, whereas the photo has bleached out much of the colour, making it look more of a chalky white.  Its wing span measures 2".  The garden outside attracts a large variety of moths - which is as well, as the bats have to eat something!  It might look romantic to us, as we enjoy an evening cuppa while sitting on the patio (when it's not raining!!), but there are life-and-death battles unfolding overhead.  The moths are trying to eat pollen to live, and the bats are trying to eat moths so they can live.  Such is nature, red in fang and proboscis. Tomorr

Emily and her current favourite toy.  Note its missing nose. Emily really hates being the only dog in the house.  We had hoped she would have become used to it by now, following Ygraine's death, but that hasn't happened despite extra cuddles and heaps of new toys.  She was starting to worry us.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with her physical health but she is depressed.  All her life, she's been around other dogs.    So Richard suggested we look around for a rescue dog.  A brief internet search produced a whole army of Staffordshire Terriers, Bulldogs, Mastiffs and similar dogs needing homes, but neither of us like them.  We wanted a small, lively, good-natured dog who would get along well with Emily, plus our cat Jazzy and the chickens.     So Richard and I, and Emily, travelled to the animals sanctuary.  I had spoken to a young woman there via telephone earlier, and she met us in person as soon as we arrived.  She asked if we had young children (no) or planned any (

The Faerie Pond on Caldy Hill In a recent blog post, Jennifer Rainey  included some photos of the Hocking Hills region in southeast Ohio, where she sets some of her fiction.  As most readers of my blog will already know, my fiction tends to be set locally to me, and one of the locations I use is Caldy Hill.  Why?  Well, it's a beautiful place, it's only a short walk from my home, it's peaceful and ancient, and the air is full of birdsong and the fragrances of heather and broom carried on salty breezes coming off the Dee estuary.  Jays, crows, wood pigeons, turtle doves, goldfinches, bullfinches and owls nest there.  There are rabbits, bats, foxes, lizards, adders and badgers.  There are benches perfect for meditating while gazing along the River Dee, over to Flintshire or out to sea. In my fiction, Caldy Hill is home to the notorious Caldy fae.  If you're expecting sugary-cute, tutu-wearing, small faeries probably clutching a sparkly wand, and who might offer you thr

Mad dog & English hen stay out of the mid-day sun. Standing around like a headless chicken. Summer has arrived.  How long it lasts, this being Britain, is another matter but for now the sun is blazing and the sky is pretending to be Mediterranean.  A mere two weeks ago I was glad of my winter coat as hail stones and biting winds howled down the mouth of the River Dee.  Today all the house windows and the French doors are thrown open and, as can be seen from the two photos above, the menagerie has been hiding from the heat of the day.  And these are just the pets I could find.  The other hens had vanished beneath shady shrubs, and our cat Jasper is nowhere to be seen.  Fear not, she'll return at 5.55pm sharp in time for food at 6pm.  She always does. Jasper is once again without a collar.  We no sooner buy her a new one and she contrives to lose it.  I told Richard that we might as well just tie a £5 note to a tree and save ourselves the bother of buying a new collar, placin