And the cubs' father's barbecue set has seen its first use. I'm sure the thing was designed by boys for boys though. All the utensils are very long - to keep the wielder away from the heat of the bbq - but consequently they're absolute buggers to wash. They don't fit easily into the sink, or on the draining rack. <rolls eyes> Typical...

For a few years now, lured by the amount of money successful novelists are supposed to receive, the cubs' father has been talking about writing a Mills and Boon type novel. Well, he's finished it, all 48-something-thousand words, and I've agreed to edit. I've just finished the first chapter and it was hard work. Admittedly it was the first thing he'd ever written so it was very clunky and repetitions abounded, but fortunately he's highly literate so spelling and grammar weren't a problem. He's pleased with the changes I suggested, saying they lifted the whole piece and gave it a definite polish. Heh. He assured me the later chapters won't be quite so bad, and when I said I hoped not or I'd have to charge him for my services he said he'd planned on giving me a percentage of any earnings anyway. <blink> Ok, that'll be nice but I won't count on it - this genre is notoriously difficult for new authors to break into.
What makes the whole exercise interesting is that he's working to a formula (sorry, house-standard) that I'm not familiar with - or interested in - but if we can get the manuscript to a point where it won't be rejected out of hand by an editor it'll be a foot in the door.

And meanwhile... the next LotR combination-chapter is almost finished. Joules has done the lion's share of this one and it's great! Things are getting very interesting in Edoras...

D'oh! Forgot to say thank you also, to Joules, for hosting that little video snippet of my cat! She's so cute! (Er, the cat, I mean, it's more than my life is worth to risk calling Joules cute... : )

Found this amongst some old papers - it's a horoscope that was in a Simpson's school-diary thing from about <thinking> 12 years ago? It still makes me giggle...

Aries: Assertive, ambitious, brave. Secretly aspires to world domination.

Taurus: Methodical, practical, tough. Thinks spontaneity is a disease.

Gemini: Intelligent, talkative, shrewd. Can't use one word when three will do.

Cancer: Compassionate, homely, sweet. Will possibly never leave home.

Leo: Confident, forceful, proud. Has deep relationship with mirrors.

Virgo: Meticulous, diligent, keen. Complains about holes in doughnuts.

Libra: Easygoing, amicable, calm. Takes both sides in every argument.

Scorpio: Sexy, magnetic, deep. Destined to form own religious cult.

Sagittarius: Vibrant, adventurous, bold. Thinks bungee jumping is for wimps.

Capricorn: Serious, tenacious, firm. Uncanny resemblance to school principal.

Aquarius: Charming, rebellious, aloof. Chief suspect whenever graffiti appears.

Pisces: Perceptive, romantic, kind. Cries when reading greeting cards.

<g> The greeting card thing is only true when the fluggy-bunny's out of her cage. Bit worried about what it says for Cancer though - I can see that being all too likely...