Back to our regularly scheduled programming

So my book is coming along nicely. Not THE book, the one I've been (sort of) working on for the last six years or so, but the other book (or TOB... hmm. Maybe I should call it Toby... The Other Book, um, Yes? the Younger (a la William Pitt)? Yentl?

Anyway, the other book (now to be known as Toby) was concieved and commenced while overseas. Oh yes, it has a distinguished pedegree, our Toby does. I thought of the epilogue first (as you do), and was thinking on it so hard and so often, the sea of grey heads before me was replaced with the wonders of a ballroom and a lovely story between a bubbly woman and a relcaciant (sp? oh, who really cares? I don't even know if it's the right word) man. Those poor grey heads. Who knew staring at the back of American retirees heads while travelling around Scotland would get boring? It should be in the brochure. Anyway, we were in St Andrews and as I can't really be bothered with golf (it doesn't like me - Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden - why should I like it?) I went on the hunt for a scrap book. I found one, Toby was born and the rest is history. Now, I'm *this* close to finishing. Huzzah!

Today, I wrote the big betrayal scene that busts up the hero and heroine, only for them to be brought together for the big HEA. I had been toying for ages with what actually happens. All I was positive about was a) it would happen in a brothel, b) the heroine would be devastated and c) the hero thought he was doing the right thing. As you can see, the possibilities were endless.

I finally came up with a solution, though. As always, it was a bit of "What would Joss do?", or more specifically, "How can I steal from Joss and get away with it?" I thought on that scene in Buffy when Buffy and Angel sleep together for the first time. Unbeknowst to them, this leads to cataclysmic consequences, and Angel is a real bastard to Buffy the next morning. This scene, this beautiful, heartwrenching, tormented, evil scene, was the perfect catalyst for my scene. My pitiful, pale imitation of a scene, but still.

I love it.

And that's the main thing.

Oh, and that you love it too.

You should so buy my book.

When it's published. Cos that would, like, help your cause. In the buying.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

Salve. Come sta?

I received travel brochures in the mail today, which was just awesome. I look at the pictures and it so makes me want to go back to Europe. Ah, Europe. You are so fabulous.

Fiendish plotting to return to the land of scaffolding

Greetings all,

Now that the big reporting of the trip is all over, the blog will return to its regularly scheduled programming of random crap. To that end, would you believe I've watched commercial television once since being back? It's been almost a month and I completely missed the election ads, Mr Bankrupt and whatever ploy fast food chains are using to convince you that their food really isn't filled with grease and sugar. I love the internet, the reason for this utopia of tv. Downloading is awesome (and if any legal types are reading this, I swear I get all my stuff from Malex, I in no way download myself, and if I did, it would be my alternate personality, Massie. Talk to her.)

In other news, I have decided to learn Italian so when I return to the land of excess and pizza, I can actually converse in some sort of fashion with the natives, instead of me trying to piece together a phrase from a, well, phrase book and having the person I'm trying to speak to look at me as if I'm crazy. Yeah, that so didn't happen when I was trying to order gelato... no, not at all. Anyhoo, I found a couple of places and the leader is the SA Italian Didactic Centre, a naff little place that is bound to be you beaut, true blue (or voi bellezza, azzurro allineare, as those wacky Italians say). Another place, eLingual, wouldn't get back to me, so I feel they might be missing out on my hard earned dollars. Sucked in to them.

Anyway, has anyone else ever wanted to learn a language? Which one/s?