Post-Christmas Update

Didja miss me?

I haven’t turned on my computer since Christmas Eve. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I’ve been suffering from withdrawal since then… Almost ashamed, but not quite. 😉

So Christmas is done and dusted. It was just dandy — full of food (I’m still full… but maybe that’s because I still haven’t stopped eating — d’oh!) and chocolate and family and friends. We spent the day with Chad’s family (eating, drinking, being merry) and the evening watching DVDs at home (whilst eating, drinking, and enjoying more merriness).
I got books (surprised?) — the absolute gem was an illustrated book called "Australian Gnomes" written and illustrated by Robert Ingpen, first edition, 1979. It’s fabulous.

Our tradition for the past couple of years has been to follow the madness of Christmas with the soothing remedy of a ‘Reading Holiday’ — 4 days of nothing but reading, reading, and more reading (punctuated by much eating of chocolate, of course.) So, from Dec 26 until today (the reading holiday is still on, I was just suffering from LJ withdrawal — pathetic, I know — so I’m getting back to it soon…) I have read:

1. Out of Ireland by Christopher Koch
2. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (brilliant! I SO can’t wait to meet her at Clarion!!!!!!!!!!! Even though her brilliance makes me a bit scared.)
3. The Host by Stephenie Meyer (underwhelming. Good ideas wrapped in a soap opera package. 600 pages I’ll never get back.)
4. 3 (short, 100 page) volumes of the ‘Enchanted World’ series I got at a book sale: Night Creatures, Spells and Bindings and Ghosts (v. cool, and there are still 7 other volumes to consume — yippee!)
5. Nearly finished The Chaos Crystal by Jennifer Fallon.

And I’m going to cap the holiday off by revisiting Angela Carter’s fairy tales before bed.
Bliss.
But I must admit, the writing has suffered over the past 4 days because I have been gorging on books. And now I am going through serious writing withdrawal, so the next few days *should* see me sitting in front of my computer a bit more…
Because then, of course, there’s Clarion… on SUNDAY! Eeeek!! So excited, and so petrified!
Where did the year go???