Freedom From The Mundane

Image: The Busy Brain

Bit of a busy weekend, both in the house and on the socialising-in-restaurants front. It seems Gail and I are currently in high demand for attending people’s functions. A good thing? Not if you’re a hermit like me, it’s not. Well, I say hermit, more like part time loner. Aren’t all writers, [...]

August 3rd, 2009 | Tags: curry, Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, friends, gardening, GDR's, home, in-laws, Indian, restaurant, steak house, T-Bone, talking, Writing | Category: Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Writing Process | Comments (1)

Image: Banalities

While I was on holiday, the north side of Edinburgh was hit by such severe flooding that the gas supplies were knocked out for the Canonmills and Stockbridge areas. While shaking my head at another poor example of Edinburgh diverting money from necessary infrastructure maintenance into needless travel programmes, the problem hit me personally [...]

July 27th, 2009 | Tags: birthday, couch potato, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, films, flooding, gardening, gas, lazy, movies, niece, party, pizza, slob | Category: Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Film & TV, Food, Drink, and Bevvy | Comments (3)

Image: popsci.com

Many thanks to Diane Parkin for having me over at her blog yesterday. If you missed it, head on over for what was an in-depth look at the development of STELLA.
Today I am feeling rather polarised. On one hand I am excited about my impending trip to Blackpool with my best mate, a trip [...]

June 24th, 2009 | Tags: blog tour, Blogging, bookings, Books, death, Diane Parkin, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, gardening, hot, Interview, marketing, promotion, Rabbits, Reading, Weather, Writing | Category: Animals, Books, Day Job, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Interviews, Publishing and Marketing, Writing | Comments (2)

Image: Me

Anyone who lives or was visiting any part of the British Isles over the past two days, will know it is no understatement when I say the weather has been nothing short of Mediterranean. Even today as I sit in my squalid office, I look outside and once again the skies are blue and [...]

June 1st, 2009 | Tags: Baccara Burning, back garden, blog tour, Books, e-books, Edinburgh Marathon, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Fiction, gardening, GDR's, hot weather, Leith, marketing, newsletter, promotion, Rabbits, Reading, relaxing, Stella, sun, sun bathing, Walking, Writing | Category: Animals, Books, Edinburgh: the City & the Festivals, Family, Fiction, Publishing and Marketing, Writing | Comments (3)

Image: Nadya Peek

I had a packed day yesterday; no day of rest for moi, put it that way. After getting up early (6am kind of early) to work on day job stuff, I gave the back garden a complete overhaul: cut the grass, binned garbage, weeded, swept, hosed, and stuck the bunnies out to play [...]

May 18th, 2009 | Tags: cooking, DIY, e-books, Fiction, french fry, gardening, laptop, literary, magazine, Netbook, painting, Publishing and Marketing, Ranfurly Review, Samsung NC10, sanding, Sunday dinner, walls, Writing | Category: Family, Fiction, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Publishing and Marketing, Writing | Comments (1)

My week started off pretty depressingly, but then walking into the day job always has that affect. Of course, the blocked toilets, broken coffee machine, and lack of any form of internal postal service did nothing to improve my mood. I’ve been waiting for the delivery of a small parcel that left Glasgow last Wednesday [...]

September 8th, 2008 | Tags: Blogging, cheese, Coffee, Day Job, Editing, Fiction, Freelance, Garden, gardening, gigs, Non-Fiction, novella, Rabbits, Weather, work, Writing | Category: Animals, Day Job, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Freelance, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (3)

Still waiting. Fiona has been in and out of hospital but nothing has happened; no contractions, no labour, no sign of the baby. My sister’s husband, Nolon, has been relaying all the latest information to my mother, who is acting as the communications hub for the Galbraith leg of the family. It keeps my sister [...]

July 20th, 2008 | Tags: babies, childbirth, Family, Fiction, gardening, Golf, novel, Poetry, Rhodes, Writing | Category: Family, Poetry, Writing, Writing Process | Comments (1)

I was quite stiff this morning from all my exertions in the garden over the weekend, but the good news is there was no pain whatsoever in my leg/hip. The stiffness was just from lazy muscles getting used again and my general low level of fitness, as opposed to me being injured. It still feels [...]

June 16th, 2008 | Tags: business, colleagues, Editing, Fiction, Freelance, friends, gardening, I.T., lunch, marketing, Mexican, muscles, photographer, Slick, stiff, Website, Writing | Category: Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Freelance, Writing | Comments (1)

Well that’s us booked our summer holiday for 2009! Talk about organised? Yesterday morning sharp Gail and I popped into the local agent and came out with a booking. We’ve become the grabbers of good holiday deals over the last couple of years and this one’s a cracker. It’s the last holiday we’ll get with [...]

June 15th, 2008 | Tags: drink, Family, Father's Day, fish tea, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, gardening, grass, haddock, health, holidays, meal, Newhaven, Peacock Inn, plants, Rabbits, restaurant, upset stomach, weeding | Category: Family, Food, Drink, and Bevvy, Poetry, Reading, Scotland, Travel, Writing | Comments (1)