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EmmaMaree.com

Scottish Writer of Fantasy & Sci-Fi

tea

What’s Up Wednesday, Windswept Britain Edition

WUW Winter Holly 1

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what’s up. It was created by created by Jaime and Erin. Want to join the party? Go right ahead, and remember to leave a link to your What’s Up Wednesday post in the widget on Jaime´s blog.

What I’m Reading

I’m going to the Aberdeen launch party for  Laura Lam’s SHADOWPLAY at the weekend, and my reading time’s been slim-to-none lately, so I’ve just been reading SHADOWPLAY whenever I can. It’s a great evening read with short, snappy chapters.

In some ways the sequel reminds me of Rachel Hartman’s SERAPHINA, and that’s never a bad thing.

What I’m Writing

Okay, confession time: I’ve been thinking too much about the commercial side of things lately. I mean, I know none of us are in this for the money (if we were, we’d have actually picked a lucrative career) but my business brain has been working on overdrive the last few weeks.

Last week I disappeared into the commercial worry wormhole, but this week I’ve been out and working hard to just write good books. Because that’s the best thing we can do, right?

After Monday’s progress update on the BROKEN THINGS rewrite, things are ticking along slowly but steadily. I’m on page 38/178 of the scene outline now (21%!), and I’m getting more ruthless and focussed as I go on. I’m having fun editing out the unnecessary bits and streamlining the first draft of this story in line with the planned rewrite, though the actual rewrite is daunting.

I’ve also started up a mailing list, which I’ll use in times of SUPER IMPORTANT NEWS but otherwise won’t touch, because I hate pointless spammy e-mails. If you want to join, that’d be cool. You’ll be the first to find out whenever exciting things are happening in the Emmaverse. :)

What Inspires Me

I STARTED DRIVING AGAIN, WOOHOO.

After a (too long) break, I’m back behind the wheel again. I’ve changed instructors which means I’ve got a lot of un-learning of habits to do as I adapt to the different styles.

I also became a qualified first aider a week or two ago, which was hugely exciting. I CAN HELP INJURED PEOPLE. It’s such a cool feeling!

As always, Twitter’s been capturing some of my sillier moments. Like when I tried to set my tea on fire:

  And when Mac curled up with a pillow in my study: macpillow And, well, when I was just me:

 

What Else I’ve Been Up To

Guys, have you been keeping up to date with the crazy weather currently hitting the UK? Scotland has escaped relatively unscathed so far, but England’s got it a bit crazy. This photo of the floods, from Twitter, really drove it home for me.

floods

Brit friends, I hope you’re looking out for yourselves! Stay safe, stay warm, and, erm…. try not to be flooded, I guess?

Emma’s Tea Addiction, September 2013

It’s a well known fact about me that I love tea to the point of fantastic obsession. It’s a lesser known fact, though reasonably considering Fact No.1, that I collect tea with frenzied passion and expense. I pay about as much on tea as some people do on booze.

I mentioned on Facebook that Adaigo Tea UK had finally made their famous ‘Fandom Teas’ by Cara McGee available in the UK, and I was looking forward to trying the Sherlock and Doctor Who samplers next payday. But I will be doing so guiltily, knowing that my existing tea shelf is a little out of hand…

teashelf

This is the tea shelf, a bookshelf in my study neatly arranged by partner Dave and regularly unarranged by me.

Some highlights from the shelf…

Yorkshire Tea: My current go-to black tea. I drink a ton of British black tea, at least five cups a day, so I buy whatever is good and available in bulk for a decent price.

Scottish Blend: (Hiding behind the Teapigs) My other go-to black tea. Pyramid bags and a black tea blend designed for Scottish softwater.

DrinkMe Chai: I have a few jars of this hiding under the Yorkshire tea. It makes a really nice, frothy Chai latte to rival any coffee or tea shop. It’s not very healthy though, so it’s one to enjoy in moderation.

Twinings: I usually have the Chai teabags as my go-to Chai, and the English Breakfast bags if I can afford them as a classier alternative to my usual black teas. I’ve also got a lot of loose leaf English Breakfast, but it’s very fine and doesn’t line to stay in the infuser.

Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Tea: This isn’t actually my go-to sleepy tea, Clipper Sleep Easy is, but I missed that one out of the shot. Sleepytime smells and tastes nicer, but Clipper has Valerian root and is more effective.

Kent & Sussex Tea Co: The Tetley box is absolutely full of their loose leaf teas, too many to name, so I’ll just give a nod to my favourites: Smiling Monkey banana & caramel black tea and Gingerbread Rooibos.

Teapigs Teas: Creme Caramel Rooibos is my favourite, as is Winter Spiced. Both are currently missing from the shot because I really really like them. This is a nice speciality tea company, though I’ll note that despite their ‘tiny tea company’ style they’re owned by the Tata group, which also owns Tetley. They’re also very pricey, around £4-8 for 15 teabags.

Various Others: Asian Market teas, mysterious brown-bag teas from eBay that seem to just be dried flowers, there’s loads more hiding on that shelf…

 

And there you have it. My Tea Addiction, in pictorial form, with accompanying ramblings.

I’m in the middle of revamping this shelf with clear jars for my loose-leaf teas, so I’m sure you’ll see more of the tea shelf over the coming months.

Ferret Pictures!

Took some black and white photos of the ferrets that I thought were worth sharing. Ferrets are a pain to catch in photographs because they move super-fast, but I managed to get snaps of: Tea staring excitedly down a hosepipe, Tea jumping around, war dancing and looking insane and Coffee glaring sinisterly from on top of her digging box. The photo’s show their differences well–Tea’s the Pinky of their relationship and Coffee’s The Brain.

The normally look a lot cuter and fluffier than this, though, and you can see that side of them over here.

excitedteawardanceteasinistercoffee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Internetless

The house move is complete – hooray! The new house is all kinds of wonderful. If you haven’t already been round for a cup of tea and a look round, then you should. Even if you’re outside of Nairn. Even if you’re outside of the UK.

It will be a really good cup of tea, I promise.

The one problem with moving is that internet connections and phone lines aren’t very good at it. (Neither are washing machines, coincidentally.) This means that I am without an internet connection, and my blogging and tweeting and Facebooking and obsessive blog reading are all heavily restricted. My phone is doing its best to use its ‘Wifi Hotspot’ feature to convert 3G into Wifi, and it’s doing a fine but slow job.

So until I’m back online, the blog will be a bit quiet. Never fear – I’ll be back soon.