Charlie-dog is a lot better so today was earmarked for finishing the Christmas story I started last week.
Distraction the First (well, it could have been one but I was good and didn't let it be):
My book from Lucy Diamond arrived. Over You has a fantastic cover and the blurb on the back cover is intriguing. But I didn't dare open the book because I knew if I did I'd never get my story finished.
Distraction the Second:
A sudden and very heavy downpour. A neighbour, his 2 greyhounds and his gorgeous son (almost a year old), dressed for a walk in the sun - well, the neighbour and his son were dressed for a walk in the sun - in need of shelter. The delightful distraction of a house full of dogs, a baby to read to and play noisy games with lasted an hour.
Distraction the Third:
When the rain stopped and we waved our unexpected visitors off, another visitor arrived. This time a half-drowned hen. Yes, a hen! If you've seen the picture of our house up the hill, you'll have noticed we've no near neighbours. So heaven knows where the hen came from.
She was very tame and walked into the house and through to the kitchen as if she owned the place. I made a couple of phone calls but the 2 families way down in the valley who keep hens hadn't got an awol one. We couldn't keep her, the fox and her cubs come into our garden every night. Phoned someone who is known for giving a good home to stray hens, ducks and even a turkey found wandering on the main road.
An hour later he and his wife arrived to collect the hen (not showing much surprise when I said it was in the kitchen eating cornflakes) and, naturally, stayed a while for a brew and a chat.
Distraction the Fourth:
Waved off the hen and her new owners, came into the study to finish the story. A few minutes later, husband knocks on the window and tells me to 'Come outside, quick'.
This time it was a lamb who'd fallen down the narrow gap in front of the barn door. It's such a narrow gap, impossible to work out how the lamb fell down it. She hadn't rolled down or she'd have been on her back (no room to turn herself over and stand) but she was on her feet.
Somehow I lowered myself down and managed to lift the lamb so husband could get a grip on her and pull.
Luckily, that was the last of the distractions.
I've finished the Christmas story! Can't let it sit as long as usual, am sending it off tomorrow.
And also tomorrow... I'm going to start reading Over You.
Don't know how to get the time to show GMT; it's now 22:40
4 years ago
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21 comments:
Great to hear that Charlie-dog is lots better.
It must have been nice to have so many lovely/exciting distractions in one day, even if it did slow down your writing a little. And there's lots of experiences there for future stories. :-)
Good luck with your Christmas story submission and enjoy reading Over You. :-)
Annie
Hi Pat! Thanks for visiting my blog. My distractions are usually the 100 other things I could be doing instead of writing, so at least you had some interesting ones!
About showing the time in GMT, go to Customise - Settings tab - Formatting, and there you can change the time zone. If it's just a glitch, sorry!
Annie
Yes it was good story fodder in my distractions. It's a bit spooky though because in my pubbed novella, which I set here, the MC keeps hens and she had to climb on the roof to rescue one! So not quite the same as a stray hen visiting, but still a bit weird.
Thanks for the good luck, and I'm sure I'll enjoy Over You
Hi, Yvonne
Thanks for the return visit and thank you for the info on setting GMT. It took me a while to find the London time on that list, but, yes, I'm now posting in the right time zone.
What a day! Love the idea of a hen wandering in (and eating cornflakes!)
Hope you like the book - sounds like you need a sit-down after that lot!
x
Crikey - beats my bunny/spider distractions into a cocked hat. I'm not moving to your neck of the woods, I'd never get anything done with fluffy lambs and the like to play with :-)
Good luck with the festive story!
Wow - my kids would love your place with all those animal visitors/distractions. Where you live sounds idyllic, I love lots of green and space.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Kat :-)
Tam
It's often hard to get down to writing - we've lived here about sixteen years now and watching/talking to/rescuing birds and animals never wears off.
Thanks for the good luck, I loved writing the Christmas one - shame it's only once a year.
Kat, great to see you. It isn't always idyllic what with sheep, fox and badger poo to be cleared away and never having clean windows because the sheep and lambs lick them all the time. But I really hope we never move from here.
Talking of foxes and badgers, it's time I put their supper out. So far they are the only animals who haven't come into the house when they're hungry or lonely.
How strange. I have recently received my copy of Lucy Diamond's Over You this week too! I intend to start reading it on holiday next week.
Great blog, lovely read.
Crystal xx
Meant to add, you are more than welcome to leave a comment on Amy's blog. Thank you for your interest.
CJ xx
Crystal
I'm sure you'll enjoy Over You! I carried on reading it in bed last night - for much too long. I'm tired today, but that's a good excuse to take it easy and read some more.
I've left a comment on Amy's blog.
Hope she writes a story or two while you're in Scotland.
I'm surprised you managed to get anything done with all those distractions! Our neighbours have hens and they occasionally wander into our front garden, where Molly-dog stares at them in confusion. She much prefers pigeons.
Good luck with your submission :o)
Glad Charlie dog is better. Can't imagine how a hen managed to find you.
Karen
We get pigeons as well 74 at the last count.
I've a feeling Charlie-dog thought the hen might be a blinkin' big pigeon, he's quite used to one or two wandering or flying in if they feel hungry.
Nell, it's a mystery. I'm sure the grapevine will have been busy but nobody has heard of anyone being short of 1 hen.
Hope you'll manage a visit in Autumn?
I love the idea of a stray hen eating cornflakes in the kitchen. Far better than ironing as a distraction from writing.
Oh, why have I never found this blog before?
My copy of Lucy D's book should arrive today. Oh dear. That's another weekend of non-writing then.
Welcome, Spiral
I'm quite new to blogging so that's why you haven't found me before.
You'll enjoy Over You.
If you want another non-writing weekend you have to read Nell Dixon's Blue Remembered Heels.
Oh 'eck. I can see you're going to be a bad influence on me!
Spiral - internet explorer keeps aborting me when I try to visit you.
Is that because I'm a bad influence?
I've almost finished Over You and it's great!
Love your blog your so clever I just don't make the time to work it all out, but i will. Not been to Minack nature reserve, have been to minack, but only from the top far away from the edge don't do heights very well at all! I was born in Lancaster Royal Imfirmary a long time ago.
Love your sheep piccy.Thanks for coming over.
Frankie
Gosh you do lead an eventful life!
Frankie
It does take a bit of time and patience getting the pictures uploaded - see my new post - once I'd managed to upload the pics, they wouldn't go where I wanted them to.
Helen, thankfully not every day is like that. I didn't have any distractions yesterday. I even managed to watch Casualty and Foyle's War without interruptions; that's probably because I put the food for the badgers and foxes out early.
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