Mulberry Tree Monday: Progress on the book

As I look out of the window it seems appropriate to sing:

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
on a cold and frosty morning.

I love the trees covered in fresh snow, their twisty, convoluted branches silhouetted against the white snow-laden clouds. Finally we get to see how God formed these trees from thick trunk to spindly twigs.  I don't now have a mulberry tree to show you, just apples. Still beautiful.

It is into this snowy world that I have to take my book In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree today. I have printed it out and my proofreading friend is ready to go. The only problem in this weather might be getting it to her! However my self-imposed deadline of publishing before Easter only leaves me eight weeks (eight weeks!!!) and so each stage needs moving on as quickly as possible.

I recognise I don't cope with stress very well. When the printer stopped at page 48 yesterday afternoon (of about 270) I think my husband was grateful that I had to go out with the children and he could resolve the problem quietly on his own. (He is fantastic. At all times. But particularly when it comes to printers.)

Having edited to the nth degree (and yes, I recognise that I will have to edit more when I get the manuscript back) I can concentrate on the other aspects of publishing a book. There are acknowledgements, covers, disclaimers, decisions on book size and pictures and... The more I do, the more I realise how much effort is put in by publishing houses. Having said that, I am enjoying going through the process by myself. This way I learn all the steps that need to be taken and at my own pace.

But the most exciting thing is... oh, I can't tell you that just yet. Save that it is beautiful and exciting and I want to tell you now, but can't. Hopefully next week.

For now - out with the ice-scraper and into the snowy world I go.

The snow

I know - we, as a nation, are talking of nothing else.

I was going to save the blog from it, until I heard that last night's coldest temperature in England (-16.4C ... approaching 0 Fahrenheit!) was recorded not more than a mile from my home. It is freezing here ... or, more accurately, worse than freezing!

The coldest room in the house is the kitchen. The one plus point I can say about night storage heaters is that our house is warm in the morning! However, there aren't any in the kitchen, and as we still survive with a single hob and a microwave oven there is little to warm the room up. The thermometer usually hovers around 17C, which is bearable but not enjoyable.

The snow outside is not so deep: maybe 3-4 inches fell on Tuesday. The school was only closed the one day and my husband is managing to commute into work, although he has abandoned taking the bike.

So, here are some snowy pictures from our garden, three days on from when the snow fell.

Some berries trying to peek their way through.

It takes a while now for the bath to empty, although the water is finding its own way by spraying a fountain across the path!

The apple tree is being remarkably resistant: it doesn't want to lose the fruit at all ...

... and my pig isn't very keen on eating them!

The milk on the doorstep is frozen in the morning, bursting out of the bottle, but thankfully it still makes an excellent hot chocolate to keep me toasty warm!