Oh, and our hoover and kettle and Abstract’s motorbike all broke.  We have a new kettle, a new hoover is being ordered, and the bike is at the bike doctor’s.  And we’re just trying not to think about the money!

This is a view of our new kitchen extension, together with a glimpse of Rubble Mountain in the back garden, and me peeping out of the corner of the frame.

And this is me again, keeping warm in my new Samhain hoodie that Crissy and Lindsey gave me when I went to see them at the London Book Fair earlier this month.

But overall it’s been pretty much okay.  Noisier and dustier than usual, with on occasion a big hole to climb down into before you could reach the front door.  But while we were away at my cousin’s wedding last weekend, the hitherto tame builders went wild.

We came back to a house that’s pretty much uninhabitable, with no electricity, no water, no back door, no kitchen, no floor on half the landing, plastic sheeting instead of tiles over half the roof, a ruined hall carpet, and oh my goodness, SO MUCH dust.  Oh, and something must have hit or fallen on Sakura the cherry tree in the front garden, because two of her branches (she only had three, and they were blossoming for the first time since we planted her as a baby cherry sapling three years ago) have been snapped right off.

Our cats are boarding with friends who used to run a cat rescue foster home, and we’ve sought refuge with other friends in the next-door village.  Who are kind and heroic, and didn’t quail when it turned out that the one or two nights we originally thought it would be have had to turn into nearly two weeks.  And they’re really nice and easygoing people, with a big house, and extra bathrooms, and teenage daughters around Sparkler’s and Gloworm’s ages, so it’s actually an entirely pleasant experience staying with them.  But oh, I miss my own house.

In other news, my cousin’s wedding was a really lovely time, I’m nearing the home stretch of Mirrored, Linked has sold in Germany as well as in North America (yay!), and it now has a North American release date of June 11th 2013 (Simon & Schuster has moved it from spring to early summer).  I’m hoping that it sells in the UK soon (last month was the Bologna Book Fair and this month is the London Book Fair), because I really want to be able to tell people to go into WHSmith to buy it!

1st prize: The Loopy Librarian
2nd prize: Steven Katriel
3rd prize: Angel Graham

Please contact me via email to let me know your addresses, whether you’d like a print or e-copy of Blood of the Volcano, and your chocolate preferences!

And thank you for entering!

I feel the need for a fanfare, but I’ll have to make do with the Continue Reading function.

LINKED (Simon & Schuster, Spring 2013)

Elissa discovers her nightmarish visions and inexplicable bruises are caused by a telepathic link to a twin she didn’t know existed. When she helps the girl evade government capture, a Bourne Identity style chase ensues.

(And I’ll contact the winners to arrange their prizes very soon!)

Because it’s SO MUCH FUN (for me) and because I have a stack of author copies of my current romance book, I’m running a mini contest.

What you need to do is read the following questions and either post your answers in the comments or email them to me (imogenhowson AT gmail DOT com).  First thing tomorrow (Thursday March 1st), whoever has the most correct answers will win first prize.  There will also be second and third prizewinners, and possibly a randomly selected prizewinner too who will get a surprise prize (ha, a surprise prize) – it depends on how good you all are at guessing!

Prize details.

First Prize

Your choice of a print or electronic copy of my fantasy romance, Blood of the Volcano (some sex and violence, but it’s suitable for upper young adults – my fifteen-year-old has read it), plus 200 grams of your choice of high-quality British chocolate, posted to you wherever you live.

Second Prize

Your choice of a print or electronic copy of Blood of the Volcano, plus 100 grams of your choice of high-quality British chocolate, posted to you wherever you live.

Third Prize

Your choice of a print or electronic copy of Blood of the Volcano.

Questions.

1. What is the colour scheme for the cover of Linked?

Blue/Grey.

Grey/Green.

Black/White.

Brown/Orange.

Yellow/Gold.

Dark Blue/Light Blue.

Silver/Grey.

Brown/Cream.

Purple/Silver.

Dark Blue/Silver.

Rainbow.

2. How many people are on the cover?

Zero.

One.

Two.

Three.

Six.

Ten.

3. What colour is the title?

White.

Black.

Green.

Purple.

Red.

Brown.

Orange.

Dark Blue.

Light Blue.

Yellow.

4. What colour is the author’s name?

White.

Black.

Green.

Purple.

Red.

Brown.

Orange.

Dark Blue.

Light Blue.

Yellow.

5. What was the first word I said in my reply email to my editor when she sent me the cover?

Oh

Hi

OMG

Thank

Wow

Dear

Squee

Eek

Remember, you can enter the contest by email or commenting here, and I’ll announce the prizewinners tomorrow!

While you wait for the exciting major cover reveal, I’ll leave you with some clues as to the past YA cover trends it does not follow.

It does not have a girl’s back.

It does not have a headless girl.

It does not have a girl who looks either dead or asleep.

It does not have a girl in a ballgown.

Also, despite being a science fiction book, it does not have:

A spaceship;

A glowy girl’s head silhouetted against stars;

A robot.

However, it DOES have:

The title

and…

MY NAME!

• 1 conservatory
• 1 porch/front hall

Which makes our house, yes, significantly smaller.

In other news, I’m through copy edits for Linked.  The night after I sent them back to my editor, I dreamed that I’d missed lots and lots of important details and it was Too Late to change them.

The next night I dreamed that my editor had sent me the manuscript for the sequel, which Simon & Schuster had had written for me by a ghost writer.  All I had to do was go through it and tweak it to make it “my voice”.  I started doing it, thinking determined, positive thoughts like “this is fine, I can totally do this” and then gradually came to the realisation that actually it wasn’t at all what I’d expected to be doing, and that no matter how much time and effort it saved me I really really wanted to write my own sequel.  And, again, it was Too Late.

The next night I dreamed that I’d left my husband for someone else and was very very sad because it had made me realise that actually I much preferred my husband.

I think you could say that my dreams have a bit of a theme at the moment.

A little later that morning, my cleaner arrived, which meant I had to chase Gloworm and friend out of the sitting room.  Then our builders arrived to start taking apart our conservatory preparatory to building our extension (I know, exciting, huh?).  Just as they were getting out of their van, the postman brought me a special delivery of my copyedits for Linked.

Then Abstract phoned to say he was coming home because he wasn’t feeling well, so I had to go pick him up from the station.  Then I made lunch for the girls.  Shortly after that, they had to get into their uniforms and we all had to go out for parent/teacher appointments.

In between times, I did try to a) work and b) write, but it didn’t exactly go too well.  Fortunately, Abstract, bless him, was up to taking the girls to their ballet lesson at 5.45pm.  I waited in to deliver Gloworm’s friend to her dad when he came to pick her up, the builders disappeared, and I actually got half an hour of the house to myself.

Later, after dinner and TV-watching with the girls (we’re working through the first season of Ally McBeal – and I have to say Ally’s total emotional dysfunction is irritating me a lot more than it did twelve years ago!), I took the laptop to bed and caught up on my writing.

And that was Monday.  I’m hoping the rest of the week is a little more Immi-working oriented.

I also made granola cereal, homemade “washing gloop” for the laundry, regular supplies of choc-chip and oatmeal and raisin cookies, mince pies, hot cross buns, soup…

I never did a great deal of ironing, to be honest (because who wants to iron when you can read?), but I had a pretty good handle on the cleaning, cooking  and fun child activities side of being the stay-at-home parent.

Since Gloworm went to full-time school and I became a part-time parent (and yes, I know I’m a parent all the time, but I’m no longer doing parenting all the time), since I started work, and even more since I started seriously writing, all that is a bit of a distant memory.

Nowadays I buy pretty much all the stuff I used to make, we have a lot more ready meals, and a weekly cleaner, and Abstract has taken over most of laundry duty.  And every day I put writing and my admin job over most of the houseworky chores.  And it’s good.  I loved being just a parent/housewife when the girls were little, but having them more grown up and independent, and being able to earn a living from basically my own imagination is a wonderful and welcome change.  And it’s nice to be able to buy cereal and laundry detergent rather than needing to make it because the homemade versions are so much cheaper!

However, after a week of entirely cerebral spreadsheets and character arcs and determining whether, if you’re signifying “I did a lot of baking” it’s more correct to say “I baked no end” or “I baked to no end”  (totally debatable and location-dependent, it turns out, much to my surprise, because I would have bet money on it being the former), on occasion it’s really nice to have a day of being that housewifey person again.

This Saturday, after a lie-in and a peaceful coffee-and-croissant breakfast, I sorted out a bit of laundry, then I peeled and par-boiled some potatoes for later, roasting the clean peelings in olive oil to make crisps.  Then I prepared ingredients for gravy and roast vegetables (garlic, beetroot, broccoli), and seasoned a joint of beef, and washed up and tidied the kitchen.  I did escape to my bedroom then, with a cup of tea and two Graze punnets and my laptop, to get a couple of hours’ writing done.  But then, while snow fell outside, I roasted the beef, and poured the dripping into the potatoes to make them all crispy and brown edged, and cooked the vegetables and made the gravy and set the table, and we had a lovely traditional British dinner with the world gone soft and white with snow outside our windows.

And then the girls and I watched Take Me Out and Take Me Out: The Gossip, and it was peaceful and domestic and totally non-cerebral.  And kind of felt like every Saturday should.

In April, I’m going to the London Book Fair.  I’ll hopefully be meeting up with Samhain colleagues, and maybe with the literary agent who’s handling the foreign rights for Linked.

In July, I’m going to both the RNA conference in Penrith, and the RWA conference in California.  (California!)  Then in September, I may be going to America again for a work-related event.  For me, this pretty much qualifies me as a frequent flyer!  Yeah, I know it doesn’t really.

As well as the Year of Travel, 2012 is also going to be the Year of Weddings.  My Model Cousin is marrying his fiancee in April.  My girls are being maids of honour, which is super exciting for them.  And in September, The Model Auntie is marrying Dr T-shirt!  They’re having a tiny tiny wedding, followed by an afternoon tea reception at a hotel, which I think sounds so much fun.  Dr T-shirt proposed on Christmas Day, which is totally romantic and makes up for the fact that he will probably attend the wedding in, yes, a T-shirt.

I’m sorry to say that so far 2012 has also been the Year of Illness and the Year of Too Much Work.  Which is why this is my first blog post since November.  Abstract and I were ill over Christmas and New Year, both the girls have had various bits of time off school before and since, and I’m still regularly waking up with middle-of-the-night coughing fits.

Abstract is busy at work, Sparkler is moving towards GCSEs and looking at sixth-form colleges, and I’m marching towards the finish line of Linked the Sequel.

After about three and a half years, Erica the Red Laptop can no longer hold onto a battery charge for more than an hour, making her pretty hopeless for helping me get more word count when I’m out.  I love Erica the Red Laptop, but I’m sorry to say a Dell laptop was not the best choice, because she really hasn’t lived as long as she should have done (as well as the battery issues, she has various other ailments, mostly to do with build quality).  So, she’s been reincarnated into the silver streamlined body of Princess Erica the Macbook Air.  Very expensive, very beautiful, very much a learning curve for Immi the PC girl.  (Why are the keys that way round, why is the word count this when on the PC it was that, and where is the End key?)

The sheer beauty does encourage me to keep going, though, she’s super speedy, and with her wafer-thin body, extra-long battery life and FaceTime programme, she’s going to be a fabulous companion for the Year of Travel.