A Slow Weekend

Well I had a boring weekend in comparison to usual. As you have gathered we spend a fair bit of our free time shooting around the back blocks and having a squiz at the local scenery.

This past weekend we didn’t. Unfortunately two things kept us relatively close to home:

• First looking for a new house. We are currently renting and our landlord has given us notice to vacate. So we went looking at houses to rent on Saturday. (We have owned before but are still tied up in knots with some property interstate and will not buy until we finally sell there).

• Also Deb has a conference in Canberra this week. She decided to drive (about 8 hours) rather than fly and so she left on Sunday. She could have flown but: you have to allow an hour and a half to get to the airport from here (it is in actual fact nothing like that time but traffic can be unpredictable); then the airlines insist you are there absurdly early to clear the new security hurdles (at least an hour before the flight); the flight takes an a bit over an hour; then you have to muck around getting a hire car at the other end; to clinch it all Deb hates flying; so she drove.
  

I could have poked around doing something, looking for something to photograph. But the weather was terrible so I stayed in and read:


I posted about buying Beevor’s book back in August but haven’t picked it up till now. So far I am enjoying it. Methinks I should post my first ever book review when I ever get round to finishing it.


On the subject of reviews I did finish Troop Leader a while ago, maybe I should review that?

Anyone interested in reviews of military history and military biography?

I know I would be. My current novel Veiled in Shadows, is set in WWII. The sequel (companion?) which I am working on begins in the war and extends into the early years of the cold war. I am quite pedantic about my research. I have to know everything I can about a historical situation in which my characters may find themselves. That includes trivialities down to what kind of footwear they might have had. So reviews of useful books like this would suit me, but what about anyone else?

The strange thing is almost none of this detail directly appears in the books. Yet I find it helps with colour if I can have my characters speak with confidence about things they would have known about, as a matter of course. I want them to step into scenes I know are as accurate as I can make them.

Hmm, I really am rambling today, just a moment more and I’ll let you go.

The final edit of Veiled in Shadows is almost complete. I have all but completed the changes to the manuscript that Cheryl suggested. Perhaps two hours work will see it completed.

Yay!

So, lest I ramble you to death, goodnight.