Most of the catch-up is what I call “writing administration”: memberships and renewals, sales statements, responding to correspondence about events coming up, updating my website—all that sort of thing. I also had a contract, with Luitingh-Sitjhoff in the Netherlands for the Dutch translation rights, to go through, which is something that always takes\u00a0 bit of time. I remember when I read my first publishing contract—for Thornspell<\/em>—which comprised fourteen foolscape pages of legalese: I think it would be fair to say that my hair stood on end. And as I have quite a lot of hair, I leave it to you to imagine what a scary sight that must have been! Almost as scary as the contract! But I’m getting more used to reading them now, so generally the hair stays in place (as much as it ever does!)<\/p>\n Mind you, another writer friend said that he resolves that dilemma by simply not reading his contracts at all: ‘sign and send back’ is his motto. Sometimes I think he might be very wise, but unfortunately I’m just not that kind of a gal—I feel compelled to read them through ‘cover to cover.’ \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n Interesting things do come in the catch-up pile though (and yes, no matter how necessary contracts may be, I don’t think anyone of sound mind would describe them as “interesting”), like the brochure for this year’s World Fantasy Convention, Sailing the Seas of Imagination, <\/em>October 27-30 in San Diego<\/a>. As one who sails those self-same seas, I would so love to “be there”, especially as\u00a0 the guest list includes authors of the calibre of Neil Gaiman and Connie Willis. But as with Worldcon, I shall at least be taking out a Supporting Membership …<\/p>\n Photo from my garden; taken by J Church<\/p><\/div>\n And then, when the inbox is clearish, there’s the\u00a0 garden. (First time round, ‘garden’ accidentally came out in capitals, which may in fact be appropriate …)\u00a0 I do have a garden, largely of the wild, rambunctious, woodland-y kind—as opposed to sedate herbaceous borders—that has some ability to look after itself (if you don’t mind<\/em> a lot of self-seeding), which is a Very Good Thing when a big writing push is on. Winter in particular is good, because not a lot grows in winter and you can fool yourself that really, it doesn’t\u00a0 matter so<\/em> much <\/em>if you put off those winter maintenance jobs this year—but when this year becomes every <\/em>year, well then things get a little tricky … And no matter what, come spring, all those stealth weeds that have been creeping up beneath the camouflage of more stablished plants suddenly put on a surge and are stealthy no longer, but rampaging everywhere.<\/p>\n Garden close-up; photo by J Church<\/p><\/div>\n Spring is long gone now, so since finishing Gathering <\/em> I have been working my way around the perimeter dealing to the most rampage-y of the weeds and those showing imminent signs of seeding everywhere. It is quite a lot of work and the weather has been so hot that the only practical time to work is in the very early morning; i.e. it’s up at ‘crack of doom’ (not to be confused with the ‘butt-crack of doom’, which is something entirely else again) and into the great outdoors—and over the the past few weeks, even when stepping out at 6 am the air is already warm. (If this keeps up, I might have to try for 5 am …) But all that aside, I do enjoy gardening: I find it relaxing (so long as I don’t let myself think about how much <\/em>there is to do, or how far behind I’ve got with it all) <\/em> and it provides a great contrast to the writing.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSC04086-300x200.jpg\" "\\"SONY")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/DSC04146-300x200.jpg\" "\\"SONY")
<\/a>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Rockingham_Castle_entrance.jpg\" "\\"Rockingham_Castle_entrance\\"")
<\/a>