Fireplace pictures

This is a picture of the new fireplace. You can see the Alphonse Mucha Nocturne slumber ladies most clearly in the top photo. Mucha was a Czech and created wonderful posters, prints and paintings during the Art Nouveau period. Unfortunately, when the Germans invaded Czechoslovkia, he was one of the first people arrested and questioned by the Gestapo. He died shortly after that on 14 July 1939. I think he created lovely posters and really captured the essence of the French Art nouveau.

The bottom photo shows the whole of the fireplace. It is a cast iron surround. Apparently wd 40 is very good for cleaning cast iron. You can use linseed oil as well. Because it is an integral mantel and surround, it looks better in the space available. If we had gone for the more conventional cast iron with a wood surround, the portions would not have been right for the chimney breast and wall space.

As inquiring minds might want to know the wooden frog hanging from the door was bought for my eldest when we went to Italy, way back when he was 2. The poster above the fireplace is my Character poster from Hans Kornell champagne that I bought the summer before I went to England the first time. And the other poster is from the 1999 Cambridge Folk festival.

I am contning to work on my editing the Viking but suspect that I am too close. It is not exactly wrong, just not quite how I want it yet...

Fireplaces and football

First of all Manchester United won the European Championship on penalties. Hooray. But it was one of those matches where in many ways, it would have better if both teams simply shared the cup. Penalties is such a cruel way to settle things. The ending had lots of drama and swinging emotions. It definitely worked on the old emotional tension levels. They increased as each kick was taken. The billionaire owner of Chelsea's face was picture as he knew that this was something that money would not buy. It was all down to luck and who could take the penalty.
It was a fantastic display of the talent in the English premiership. And hopefully, will go a long way to show why the game is so popular.
Sir Alec Ferguson said later that it was the first penalty shoot out that he had won in a big match. I suppose the odds are there, but I also suspect that he did not dare hope.
For me, the 1999 game is still incomparable. My eldest refused to believe that they had won and had to be physically carried in to see the scoreline...This time, he went upstairs and had to be called down. Although both he and my dh reported that the sound of my dd's squeals meant they knew...

The fireplace in my study is in. But for some reason the Aga went out and I shall have to get the Aga man out this morning. SIGH. I have taken pictures but need to download. And I have definitely decided that blocked fireplaces are better when they are unblocked. This one was blocked up on 3 January 1951 -- or at least that is when the Daily Express paper found in the rubble was from. Ironically it featured an article about Manchester United.
Equally, by going back and cross checking the newspaper with the old deeds, it shows that the fireplace was blocked by the Chases rather than the Middlemasses as the Chases sold the house in May 1951. I had rather thought that the Middlemasses had done the renovations, but perhaps the Chases did a few things and then sold the house. I think the Aga was put in around the same time.

The winners for my May Reader contest have been drawn -- Joy and Eva. I have sent them a private email. And will be posting off their books. I will be doing a similar contest for June -- it is for my newsletter readers, so if you are interested, sign up for my newsletter. It is free. I also always include a recipe.

Today is more editing of my current Viking and trying to get my study back to normal. I always feel upside down.

Viking Warrior,Unwilling in stock at Amazon

Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife is currently in stock at Amazon.co.uk and can be delivered overnight. Sometimes, they just say *in stock* but if it is before the publication date, I am always dubious until the overnight option is available.

Realms on Our Bookshelves have done a lovely review. I am not sure it is up yet but the reviewer said:

If you are in the mood for some Viken arrogance and spirited women then Michelle Styles has it in store for you. VIKING WARRIOR, UNWILLING WIFE is about mistakes made in the past and to give another a chance for redemption. Vikar and Sela are ex husband and wife and you can feel it from the very first moment that it still sizzles between them. The spark of passion still slumbers and doesn’t require much to be set ablaze.

Michelle Styles is historically rich in detail from customs to religion and this adds an atmospheric detail to a capturing tale. The basic plot is a human one and what made me dig deeper in the couch is the fact that VIKING WARRIOR, UNWILLING WIFE evokes the feeling of reading a Viking story with all the classic elements I will forever enjoy.

Vikar is a man of his time, bold, cunning, and powerful and knows how to wield this too. That is a combustible combination with a woman who knows what she wants and will fight for those she loves. There is a subtle but undeniable passion between Vikar and Sela and of course is provoked by their very natures. Along with heated arguments, longing and unresolved issues it becomes a pleasure to see their journey progress and watch their feelings ignite again.

There are three elements that come together in this story: a historically well researched background, a fun and entertaining secondary cast of characters like Bose the Dark,- the maid Una, Kjartan and Ivar which provides an intriguing setting for the main hero and heroine to play upon. It all leads me back to the times of the Viken which I can’t get enough of.

Michelle Styles wields her talent once more to spin a Viking tale of long ago, filled with strong willed personalities, compelling love and secrets to uncover. VIKING WARRIOR, UNWILLING WIFE will give the reader a few enjoyable reading hours in the times of Viken!

Anyway, it is always lovely to get the first review of a book out of the way. And I am looking forward to reading other ones. Reader feedback is such a gift.

Realms is a European book site. The women who run it are Dutch. There are forums in English as well as Dutch. Because although people may be able to read in English, they are most comfortable discussing things in their own language. I think it is fantastic the way that the Internet has opened the world.

Managing my time

Cheryl St John had a link to a lovely article on ten ways to effectively manage your time. Time management is something every author struggles with, particularly as they are not in an office situation and the buck stops with them. I followed the link and found another article on how not to manage time but to get a life.
It made a certain amount of sense. Everyone has the same number of hours in a day, but what they accomplish is down to themselves. Trying to manage time is a tautolgy as you can stop time slipping through your fingers.
You can however choose what you do and how you do it. The second article pointed out that sometimes jugglingtwo jobs at once is possible -- for example ironing while watching tv, or even three -- ironing, listening to music and thinking about your book. But for non routine tasks, you can not juggle and you end up spending more time on both. Learning where your priorities lie is important.
Goal setting is good.
Busy people often get jobs done quicker as they are more aware of the time. My mother always said that her house was far cleaner when she worked, than when she had all day to do it. And somet imes, it is the antcipation of doing the task that is far harder than the actual doing...
Anyway, I have a long list of tasks to do today including doing my editing of the next Viking, cleaning out my stoudy, going into the bees and seeing what is happening there etc etc. Right now, I just sincerely hoping that I do not drop any balls. And I sincerely hope these things less time than I worry it might take.

Blogging today at:

Today, I am guest blogging at Fresh Fiction.
The subject is the 4 D's and 1P. Hopefully it will inspire someone to finish their manuscript and submit it, or follow a dream. Anyway, all comments welcome.

I also have done a post on Unusual Historicals about Viking Inheritance laws. This is a subject close to my heart as I had to research it -- both for Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife and for my current Viking.

Editing goes slowly but the current Viking is better than I first thought. It does need some opening of veins and bleeding though.

Chaos

Chaos is about to reign this week. The builders will be into demolish the sun room and to put a new improved sun room in its place. In this way, I hope that the various leaks and cascades of water when it rains will stop. It also means that we will have a nice roof as past of the sun room's roof is flat. My basic theory is that originally, it was an open porch and it was enclosed in the 1950s. The men making the frame concurred with my assessment onFriday.They also said that the frame would be completed far quicker than they first said.
Anyway, my dh decided on Friday that even though the work would not begin until next Wednesday, the room had to cleared as he had the time. Cue mass panic as I am trying to finish my revisions. We did get the grapevine moved and it is now planted in the vegetable patch and has been trailed through into the green house.
Also on Wednesday, the man is coming to open the fireplace in my study and put a cast iron surround with Mucha tiles in. The theory is that I will be able to have a fire and thus will no longer have frozen fingers as I type. I have not yet begun to empty my room. I think this is going to be messy. But while it is happening, I will not be around on the internet much.
Eventually I shall also be getting book shelves in my room as the current IKEA bookcase is about to fall down. In fact, I am pretty sure that it will not survive the move. This is NOT GOOD.
And yes, I will post pictures.
But I hate building work even if I love the end results...

Syttende Mai

Today is 17 May or Constitution Day in Norway. It commenrates the day in 1814 that Norway obtained its own constitution, although it still belonged to Sweden for a few more years.
It is a day for children and there are children's parades up and down Norway, as well as those organised elsewhere by the Sons and Daughters of Norway. I suspect that my sister and her family will be involved in one of the parades or will be doing something. She is like that.
So hooray for Norwegian Independance. (Norway achieved full independance in 1905)

I have been reading the Chambers Book of Days and also discovered that 14 May 1796 was the date that Jenner first gave cow pox to a boy. Hence the name -- vaccine. Before that, the type of innoculation used was from live small pox. This procedure was introduced to England in the early 18th by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Her story is absolutely fascinating. She campaigned because she had survived the small pox with much disfigurement but her brother had died. Earlier she had eloped after being dissatisfied with the man her parents wanted her to marry. She was also an early feminist.
Eventually, the live small pox innoculation was outlawed. People reacted in different ways and of course some caught the disease and died.
I always find small pox vaccinations interesting as I caught cow pox from my vaccine when I was a little girl.

Anyway, today I start editing my latest Viking and so my head is being filled with useless knowledge.

Revisions sent

The Revisions have been done and sent. I typed through tears this morning and hopefully, it will pull at my editors' heart strings. Oh at least bring a lump to soemone's throat. I work on the 10% principle. Most people will only get 10% of the emotion I feel when I write the story as the characters and their problems are so real to me.
Tomorrow I begin editting the next Viking.