Monday 1 November 2010

COPY EDITS...FINISHED!

Hi Everyone! First to reassure you that despite my wild eyes, bad hair and strange babbling in Friday's vlog, I am, in fact, fine. You don't actually have to send me coffee! The first chunk of any kind of editing nearly always sends me into a tailspin. Then when I hit the halfway mark I get my game-face on and open a can of whup-*ss, and everything's sorted.

I finished the Shadows copy edits on Sunday and posted them off today. So my new task is to re-read, mark-up and re-write FF. I'm really hoping that won't take more than a week or two at the very most. Fingers crossed.

Now onto prettier things. Autumn (fall, to American or Canadian readers) is my favourite season. I love it. LOVE it. I always forget just how much I love Autumn until it comes around again, and then I want to hang onto it for as long as I can. I love the chill in the air, the frosts, the clear skies, and most of all the colours. Suddenly every time you go outside you're greeted with a new array of living treasures.

On Sunday after the copy-edits were safely finished I decided to clear my head by going for a long walk in Weelsby Woods with my mum and my dog. And because I love you nearly as much (all right, all right, just as much) as I love my favourite time of year, I took my camera with me. Behold!


Finn, otherwise known as Finbar Finley Finbarsson the Third, The Devil Hound or Wonder Pooch. You may think this is a look expressing sheer doggy love and devotion. In fact, he is thinking: Give me a cheese treat. 


This was the start of our walk. Just to give you an idea of scale, that is the back of my mum, who is a lady of average height. These pictures, by the way, really don't do justice to the glowing gold, amber and red of the leaves. Something to do with the quality of the digital camera and it's photons.


But probably if I posted pictures that did capture the real colours you'd think I'd doctored them, because the Autumn display is so incredibly bright this year. It took our breath away.

Don't you just want to lie down and roll in those leaves? Maybe I even would have, except my dog went and pee'ed on them. Damn it, Finn!

He doesn't care. He's saying: Well, you should've given me a cheese treat.
Doesn't that look exactly like the path you see in The Fellowship of the Ring, right before the Ringwraithes come for Frodo? I had a shiver walking down this avenue, let me tell you. And I'd forgotten it was Hallowe'en! I'm lucky to have escaped alive.

Here's a tree I always stop to look at when I walk in these woods. Quite often you'll find little garlands of flowers or leaves draped over it, or sometimes empty snail shells. Sometimes you even find seashells. This wood is nowhere near the sea! So I'm pretty sure it's a fairy throne or something. I always make sure to nod respectfully at it, and put back the garlands or shells before I walk on.



We spotted a red squirrel - a rare sighting in England these days - just about here, but I wasn't quick enough to catch it. It darted up a tree and probably laughed at us.


This was as we were coming out of the woodland into the park, which still has a lot of trees but isn't really wild. But I can almost see an elf or a shapeshifter flitting between the trees here. I told my mum that, and she rolled her eyes at me and said: You and your imagination.

After twenty-eight years, you would think she'd be used to it by now.


The last picture I took before we left. You can't see them here, but as I took the photo there was a gust of wind and a shower of golden leaves came fluttering down. It was like something from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Gorgeous.

In other news, I saw the film Whalerider for the first time in full this weekend, and I think it might be one of my all-time favourite films. I also made my first Asian noodle soup from scratch (I'll use less chilli next time. My throat is still sore).

What did you guys do with your weekend?

16 comments:

Nattasha said...

Zoe that look like a lovely place to walk, I love that tree so class. Your dog is lovely and that mischievous look on his face in the first picture says to me that given half a chance he would have stolen a cheese tart lol at least that's what my dog would have done.

As for the weekend on Saturday night I managed to get out for a change and on Sunday I helped my mum clear out the kitchen and her room as we are getting a new kitchen put in so for most of the day we've had to live without water, electric or heating, so not fun. But things look brighter for tomorrow because i'm going to see Swan Lake in theatre. I'm so excited to act posh for one night and I have a new outfit special which shows my tattoo which has just healed :).

Zoë Marriott said...

Blech - being without water and utilities sucks. I had to go without for weeks after my house was flooded in 2007, so I feel your pain. But wow I'm jealous! Not only do you get to go to see Swan Lake (waaaa!) but you got a tattoo (waaaaaa!). What did you get? Post a pic on Facebook? I wanna see!

Nattasha said...

ok :) here's the link I warn you this is when it was just done so it look red and bigger than it actually is :)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=743596593#!/photo.php?fbid=430588676593&set=t.743596593

Nattasha said...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=743596593#!/photo.php?fbid=437575781593&set=t.743596593

That is a better view of the size but it's the wrong way up

Isabel said...

OMG!!! ZOE, I HAVE THE EMERALD FLAME RIGHT HERE IN MY HANDS!!! SEE, SEE!! (brandishes book in front of computer screen)
YAYYYY!!!!! HAPPINESS!!! JUBILATION!!! JOY!! ELATION!! RAPTURE!!!! BLISS!!!!
Okay, okay, I won't talk too long 'cause now I'm actually gonna READ THIS THING, but those photos were sooo pretty, I wish I could have been there. Finbar is the cutest thing EVERRR!!!!!
That is a very high compliment coming from me; I usually don't really like dogs.
I could also see the elves and shapeshifters flitting through those trees. :)
Congrats on finishing the copyedits!!!!!

Zoë Marriott said...

Isabel, I can feel your excitement, even though we're on different continents. I'm very flattered you took time out from doing the happy dance over getting the book to comment on Finn's cuteness. He's the perfect dog for a person who's nervous around dogs because he thinks he's human so he has very good manners. Anyway. Go and read EMERALD FLAME. I really hope you enjoy it.

Alex Mullarky said...

Speaking of awesome films, I just watched Mulan. Possibly the best Disney film/cartoon ever.

Zoë Marriott said...

I agree! Mulan = love. Though I have to admit to loving Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid unreasonably much too.

Isabel said...

Haha, I adore Mulan too!!
And I love The Little Mermaid as well, though I must confess, after watching it countless times with my little three-year-old sister, and memorizing every line to the point of reciting in my sleep, it begins to get a bit tiresome. The version of The Little Mermaid that I own is in Portuguese; I'm bilingual.
The Disney movie that somehow always made me feel depressed is Dumbo. My sister is watching that right now, also in Portuguese. Aaah, the poor elephants are being assaulted by angry zoo keepers!!!

Zoë Marriott said...

Old Disney films are hardcore. I used to cry over Dumbo all the time. And I will never get over Bambi's mum. NEVAH.

Isabel said...

Oh yes, and THE EMERALD FLAME is even better than I anticipated!!!! Awesome new characters are being introduced, too, which is really exciting!!!! And the main character is setting out on a whole new mission!!!!!
There is literally no break in the action whatsoever. Last night, as I was enthralled in my reading, I suddenly had the sense to look at the clock, and had quite a start! I had thought I had been reading for about two hours, but it turns out it had been more like four, and I should have been asleep long ago! :)

Isabel said...

Oh, I still can't bear to watch Bambi, after all these years!!
Sometimes I'm surprised at how sophisticated Disney movies really can be!!

Zoë Marriott said...

That's the sign of a really good book (I've had to stop reading good books in the bath because I keep coming back to myself with a shock to find that I'm sitting in freezing cold water, all shrivelled up like a prune). So satisfying. I'm glad it's living up to expectations.

Isabel said...

Hahahaha, reading in the bath!?!?! How do you keep the book dry? That made me crack up. What a good book it must be to distract you from sitting in freezing cold water!!

Zoë Marriott said...

Years and years of practise :)

Isabel said...

I can only imagine! :D

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