Michelle Styles:

The fox had two more ducks when I was away. This has meant a frenzy of activity in the garden. We are trying to make the fox wary.
The ducks have stopped their Late Night Party activities and are being sensible ducks. They are now going to bed before the hens. Amazing.
2 ducks are now sitting on nests. Unfortunately not in the duck houses...they have chosen spots close to the house where their scent should be confused with dog and people. I am hopeful. It all depends if they are good sitters or not. The one who has been sitting the longest has a good track record. But will she outwit the fox?
It would be good to get yellow ducklings as all of our white ducks have now been fox food.

The other plus side is the garden is looking much tidier.

Unfortunately it means I have not been doing as much work on my current ms as I would like. It will get there. It is hard to totally redo a manuscript and kill your darlings (ie phrases you really like but are no longer working)
I have also been thinking about my next Viking. I think I know what I want to write. I am beginning to get a handle on the motiviations and theme. Always good.

The Harlequin Historical Summer Beachbag giveaway continues. It is Terri Brisbin's day today.

The trouble with late night party ducks is that unlike sensible chickens, they like to stay out late. They also quack, alerting any fox in the neighbourhood who then decides to drop into the party...unvited. We unfortunately had a visit from arather large dog fox the other day. The upshot was the very pretty white duck who had unwisely decided to make a nest in the bee garden was eaten, along with her eggs.
We are now down to 11 ducks. The little brown duck who has successfully reared ducklings in the past and is a Good Mother has started a nest close to the greenhouse. Given how often the dogs and people walk along that path, I would be surprised if the fox bothered her.

The bees have been a problem this Spring. At first they seemed to be doing well but were a small colony. Then in the cold April, they appeared to have subcumbed to a bee virus. Small colonies can have this problem. Because of the cold and damp we had not given the usual Spring tonic of apiguard. They were varroa free last autumn when inspected by the Bee Inspector. My son had treated for vrroa just in case in the autumn.
My youngest swore there were no bees left or maybe a small cluster which wasn't viable as he could not find the queen and there was no brood.
I duly ordered a Buckfast queen and her courtiers from Fragile Plant (to arrive early July). My youngest wanted it for his birthday and for a long time both my husband and I have hankered after a Buckfast strain of bees. Buckfast bees were originally bread by Brother Adam, one of the huge star of late 20th century British beekeeping. Besides the garden feels better with bees.
Because of the fox incident, I decided to clean up the bee garden as we no longer had bees. When bees are in reisdence, it is always a very quick in and out as I dislike getting stung.  The first day, I noticed one or two but my son swore they were the last remenants. Indeed a day or so later I was able to weed stright up to the hive and was a bit sad as the garden doesn't seem right.
On Friday, I decided to do a bit more weeding. Two bees flew warningly over my head, coming straight from what I presumed was an empty hive. Scouts Guard bees? I beat a hasty retreat. You can by the sound of the buzz what is happening with the bees.
My son swore that there could not be bees there and perhaps it had been some other colony robbing the hive. Because of his exams, he had not gotten around to cleaning up the hive and taking it away.
I went out on Saturday morning. Many more bees and much activity. I stood and watched for awhile, the bees appeared to be taking pollen in. My son swore I was seeing things and even when robbing bees will sometimes have pollen on their legs. Late that evening a few bees remained, guarding the entrance way.
On Sunday, more bees behaving precisely like bees behave around their hive. The bees are a bit lighter in colour than our old bees and the weather has been perfect for swarming. I suspect we have had a swarm take up residence in the empty hive. Because it is May, it will be a large swarm.
Fingers crossed that the bees don't catch the same virus and that they stay.
I also have the Buckfast queen and her courtiers to look forward to in early July.
It is just good to have bees in the garden but the bee garden will remain half weeded!

Some ducks should not have ducklings. The latest mother duck was a case in point. She sat for weeks and successfully hatched a large brood of about 16 ducklings. Despite an early loss of one duckling, we managed to get her into the duck pen and for a few days all was well. The ducklings appeared to thrive as they had plenty of clean water, food and a clean area in which to live. Then one by one the ducklings started to die of broken necks.
My husband first accused the puppies but they could not get in the pen. Then we thought about other ducks. But we ruled that out as well. The ducklings were always fine when the other ducks were around. Finally, we came to the sad conclusion that the mother duck was killing them for some reason.
We opened the pen and let the mother duck and her one remaining duckling out. The next day, my husband and eldest came on the duckling abandoned and cheeping its head off. They brought the duckling food and water but it died.
After its death, the mother duck spent the entire next day mournfully going around the garden looking for her lost ducklings.
Can ducks suffer from psychotic post natal depression?

Last night, my youngest came rushing in, calling for my help. A duck had got his foot stuck between two rocks.
Grumbling , I grabbed a torch. Ducks are late night party animals and will not go to bed until it is nearly dark. Hens are far more sensible. I did think my youngest was over reacting as how can a duck get stuck?
One of the Drones club had manged to get his foot stuck in a gap in the retaining wall near the duck houses. I do not know how he did it. He was standing on the path quacking and looking forlorn, doing yoga. The rocks in the wall refused to budge. The foot would not move either. If left there, the duck would freeze or become fox bait.
I had to gently ease the foot out, while all the while the drake is flapping its wings. Thankfully, it did not lose the foot. There was some bleeding but it appeared superficial. The duck gave a mournful quack as I put him in the least populated duck house.
This morning the duck limps but lives.
Hopefully it will not try yoga again.

I went out and discovered the duck nest under the thorn bush in the sunken garden. 3o eggs. Intellectually I know the duck could not hatch that many and that it is way too early.. but the thought of 30 ducklings made my blood run cold. The eggs have been disposed of. The duck protested loudly but has accepted the loss of its nest. It decided to be a good duck and go to bed with the others.

The mole does not have a nickname. Any creature that I might have to dispatch does not get a nickname. It makes it harder. One more day of curing in the compost heap and the mole will be engaged in battle.

The revisions are coming on. It is now a matter of going through and making sure everything is how I want it. There were some parts that my editor did not mention directly but it was obvious the emotional intensity needed to be upped and the stakes needed to be raised. And there were a few sentences that once God and I knew what they meant, but now only God knows. It will be a better book...

Or why the back lawn is looking like a model of the Somme. I did try to phone the mole catcher. He did not return my phone calls. I have now turned to mole traps after doing research online.
My traps are currently curing in the compost heap so that they can have the proper earthy smell. They need to smell like the earth. Moles are known to dig around traps...
On Saturday, I will find the mole run, put the set trap in, and carefully cover over the trap. Then I wait, having marked the trap with a stick. You apparently can lose traps. Also it takes practice. I am hoping to catch the mole alive and be able to give him a happy home, somewhere a long ways away from the back lawn. If the mole dies, then unfortunately it has happened.

After doing the research, I discovered that vibration does not work, nor does pouring Jeyes fluid down the holes or a host of other methods. The best answer is to trap them. Then you know. You want more than one trap. Persistence.

And I need to discover a duck's nest as the white duck was out again last night. No quacking until about 7, but it was still out of the duck house in the morning.

Revisions are coming on. It is little tweaks to increase emotional intensity.

Yesterday, my Viking came back. The editors still had a few loose ends they want tied up. Although, it would have been fantastic if I had had everything right on the first time I appreciate the chance to put right the problems they see. There is a problem with foreshadowing. And they were worried that some things might not be clear.
Now I could curl up in a ball, but I really want this story to be strong. I sometimes find the third story to be the weakest. Some of the problems are of my own making as I threw out 90% of the story after the first revision letter. This was mainly because I wanted to and thought it would work better. It has in one way but other problems remain. Sometimes, you just get a book like that and hopefully the pain and suffering on my part will make for a better read. Ultimately it is about getting the best read possible for the readers. It is my name on the front cover and if the read is substandard, then can I ask readers to trust me with the next one? Better to make the changes now.
It is minor tweaks but then I do get to use Iolite as well. Kate Hardy told me about Iolite in December and I vowed if I got a chance, I would add it. It was used as the Viking's Compass -- the world's first polarising filter and used to determine the position of the sun. Determining the position of the sun becomes important when you realise that during the summer solstice, the sun never sets and you cannot rely on stars. Lief Erickson used one to find the New World.
So third time lucky.

In other news:
It was late night fun and games as one duck had not gone to bed. At about 1 am, it began quacking down in the lower pond. So after being nudged by my dh, I rose, pulled my hiking boots and a coat on over my nightdress, grabbed a torch and went out to find the duck. My dh is useless when it comes to putting the ducks away. Luckily the torch helped the white duck to decide that it did eventually want to go to bed with the other ducks and not stay hidden under various bushes or be quacking in the stream. The dogs aided just at the end, but I worried Joss the border collie would start barking and really wake the neighbours. The children slept through. I suspect the duck has a nest and I will have to find it. But climbing down the muddy slopes of the dene in the dark without a very solid reason is not on.

The wild garlic is up. It has been for several days but yesterday was the first day that I really considered using it. Wild garlic and potato soup is a good combo. Wild garlic always reminds me of spring and old woods.
The white anemones (another indication of an old wood) are nearly out in the dene. Therefore, I suspect the wood has been there awhile. The bluebells will be out soon and the scillas are providing a blue haze. The daffodils remain in bloom and the poet's eyes leaves are up. In other words, Spring is advancing.
The other thing I noticed yesterday in the garden was the stinging nettles. The stinging nettles are only making clumps at the moment and I can kid myself that maybe this year, I will be able to get on top of them...or they won't be so bad.
Now is the time to use stinging nettles in cooking. Nettle soup is fine. Nettles are a versatile plant. If you wash the young nettles and then blanch them in boiling water, there is no problem with being stung. But do use gloves to collect as their sting can be quite fierce.
Nettles taste a bit like gritty spinach. And yes, it does beg the question...But they do have lots of vitamin C. I have used nettles in the past -- nettle souffle, nettle pasta and nettle soup. the children are not that fond of nettles. They prefer spinach...
Stinging nettles are found where there has been human habitation. Some times, they are used to determine previously used sites.
In very poor regions including Scotland, there was a tradition of weaving with nettles. Think the fairy tale -- the Wild Swans. It makes a linen type cloth. Rather than the young nettles that you use for cooking, it is the old stalks. Theses are soaked and the fibres extracted. I have never tried spinning and weaving nettles, but was intrigued to learn as I have always loved the fairy tale about the king's daughter whose brothers were turned to swans.
Nettles are also good for making into plant food. Dunk a bag of nettles into a water butt and leave. Then dilute for use on plants. And they are an important source of food for butterflies. Hence, why you should leave a clump or two -- this is not a problem in my garden.
But at the moment, I do fondly think that somehow, I will be able to get on top of the nettles and the brambles. The garden is coming on and the trees are growing, but come a few weeks, the nettles will be knee high once again...
Duck update:
When thinking about the nettles and wild garlic, I realised that there was now a huge gap between the bottom of the water gate and the stream bed. I was all for fixing it this morning when the ducks were safely in bed. BUT my dh insisted we did this yesterday afternoon. He thought he had herded all the ducks back from the neighbour's garden, BEFORE fixing the gate. Uh no. One male duck remained and we attempted to catch it but it eluded us in the ruined gloom that is the neighbour's part of the dene. Hopefully, I and my eldest will be able to catch it this morning. My eldest was at work at the castle last evening.
My Viking first draft is nearly finished.

This week, the lovely ladies at Romance Vagabonds are hosting Harlequin Historical authors. Each day is devoted to a different time period. Today is the Medieval cum renaissance. Tomorrow is Georgian/Regency/Victorian. Wednesday is Western and Thursday is Hybrid where I am blogging. Hybrid is the term they are using for authors who write in more than one time period. It was going to be exotic but they settled on hybrid. I feel a bit like a plant species. LOL. But I can see the problems. All other time periods is a bit vague and the authors in question do write in a number of time periods.
Joanne Carr is rounding out the week on Friday and she will be blogging about recent happenings and trends at HH.
There will also be giveaways through out the week, including on Thursday a copy of Taken by the Viking.
The winner of my Kate Walker launch party prize has been drawn and it was Jane Cheung. She emailed back to say that she has never read a historical set in ancient Rome...I noticed on Amazon.co.uk that Sold & Seduced is no longer available as a new book. There are 13 copies left as used though. This is one of the Romans that has yet to appear in the North American market. I think it is going to appear at some point...
Kate hardy asked about how the ducks were settling. They are fine, but have developed a habit of going over into the neighbour's garden. One duck is especially fond of tapping on the lower windows and asking for bread and scraps...Unfortunately, between the stream and the water gate, it is probably impossible to keep them confined, particularly as they have found a food source...
I do need to get my Viking finished. Normal service was disrupted by my pulling a tendon in my right arm. Serves me right for trying a new exercise.

This week we had a runaway duck. He was a fully paid up member of the Drones club and so served no useful purpose. We had not really realised he had gone. This is bad but we do lose ducks from time to time to the fox.
Anyway, the first thing we knew about it, various neighbours were stopping to ask us if the duck in the bathtub was ours. Now, the directions were not precise, so we looked in the wrong direction until another neighbour called and gave us specific instructions.
It was down the bank and across the road and I am not entirely sure why or how the duck got there. However I suspect that it did not waddle...
My dh and youngest duly went out, armed with the fishing net and determination. Sure enough the duck was there, and sure enough, the duck eluded capture. My dh came back annoyed ( again predicatable).
I had to clip all the remaining ducks' wings. This was done in the evening after they went to bed and therefore were docile and easy to capture.
The next morning, the ducks were most surprised to discover that their shorts flights over the pen's fence and down the dene were curtailed.
My eldest was eventually dispatched to see if he could catch the duck. At first -- no duck, and then the duck popped its head over the bathtub to see what was going on. Down swooped the net and the runaway duck was caught... (again predictable as my eldest has good hand eye coordiantion and knows about duck habits)
His wings have been clipped.
I remain hopeful that his days of adventuring are over.

I understand from yesterday's Sunday Telegraph that do the high profile campaign by Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley Whittonstall against battery chickens, houses where chickens can be kept are becoming more popular.
I have kept hens and ducks for about ten years now. The difference in egg quality is astonishing. Hens who are able to roam have far darker yolks. Nothing beats a freshly laid egg gently poached. Supermarket eggs are a watery pale yellow yolk and don't really taste of anything.
I noticed that the latest Waitrose magazine was offering duck egg recipes. Hooray say I. Other people are realising that duck eggs are good to eat. They suffered in reputation after the war because ducks were fed on fish meal and surprise, surprise the eggs tasted of fish. Feed ducks on corn and poultry layer pellets, and the eggs taste great.
Duck eggs do not keep as long as hen eggs by the way. You want to use them within 2 weeks, where as hen eggs will keep for about 3. Both are best eaten within a few days of being laid.
Mostly you can substitute duck eggs and hen eggs. But scrambled duck eggs tend to be rubbery. Poached duck eggs are wonderful though and they have several recipes for baked duck eggs including one for duck eggs baked in a tomato with a dash of Tabasco.
So are hens and ducks easy to keep? Yes but you have not mind the cleaning out of the houses once a week. The manure is good for the garden. Because my hens and ducks are free range, I have made sure that the vegetable patch is fenced off, and during the summer, we do put netting up to prevent any rogue attacks on the vegetables.
We also have a large enough garden that they do not seem to do any real and lasting damage. They do add character to the undergrowth and I have not seen a slug in years. they are fed twice a day -- poultry layer pellets in the morning and mixed corn in the afternoon. Eggs are collected once a day. Hens by in large are creatures of habit and do lay in the hen house...although I do have to go searching on occasion. Ducks tend to drop their eggs where ever unless they are broody.
Currently I am hoping we will not have ducklings...it is getting to be that time of year...
But hooray that more people are coming to realise the value of keeping poultry.

High winds and lashing rain are supposed to hit England tomorrow. Half of me wonders if it will be a damp squib. Will it actually be the lowest pressure that England has ever experienced? Will the entire country be ravaged by winds likeit was in 1987? Or will people shrug and say -- that is this it?
Basically, if you foreshadow something too much, when it actually happens, the reader is a bit disappointed. Was that the BIG secret? Or was that ALL?
In writing as in weather forecasting, there is a fine balance to be struck. You want people to be alert and cautious but not overly panicked. There of course, there is always the possibilty that they made a mistake and it is going to be far worse...
Curently I am hoping the weather forecasters have over predicted. I have no wish to experience winds greater than the ones we have been having lately.

Spiring has sprung up here a bit and it means that the ducks are starting to build nests. I am SO hoping that the measures we put in place will eliminate the duckling problem, but I see one lovely white duck did not go to bed last night... Unfortunately the very beautiful fox I saw the other night up near the New Alston crossroads may get attracted...Then there is the sparrow hawk that has been hanging around. Sometimes, I wonder why we keep ducks...but then I'd miss them if they were gone...Ducks seem not mind bad weather...

There are sometimes that writing is an act of blind faith. You have to believe that at some point, you are going to be able to make something out of it. Normally the first draft feels like a pile of poo to the author until you reach a certain point and you think -- ah yes, there is something here after all. Maybe I can write.
That point appears to be have been reached for my latest one over the weekend. I KNOW that when all is said and done, and I have executed my editors' thoughts that this is going to be good. It shows faint glimmerings. It is getting fun to write, always a good sign.
In duck news, one of the younger ducks managed to wrap some of the netting around its neck. Luckily my eldest and I were returning from a walk and had come in at the top gate. How the silly duck had done it, I don't know. The netting was wrapped about 20 times around its throat. My son ran to get the scissors and we cut it loose. We also took the opportunity to cut its primary feathers. It went quacking off to join the others, seemingly unruffled by its dice with death.
Unfortunately the netting has to remain as the Maran like jumping into the vegetable patch for a quick bite to eat. It has, however, been rendered less interesting to ducks...

Yesterday, the bees swarmed again. They went back to the same spot and this time I was able to capture them and put them in a new hive. Later after I take off the honey, I will unite the swarm with the weakest colony.
It is far too late in the season to expect any honey from this swarm.
But I am currently wondering if the werid weather has mixed up animals' instincts. Several of the ducks are trying to nest again. Normally by this stage, they are well into the moult and have given up. I do NOT want more ducklings.

The winners for the various contests have been drawn and notified.
Marty won the critque contest.
Maureen Edmonds won the first prize in the Taken by the Viking contest
and Judy Cox won the second prize -- a signed paperback from my backlist.
I also had run a myspace contest and Jenny won that.

My next contest should be in October...full details will be in my next newsletter.

Last night saw the panic of the Motley Crew -- this year's first group of ducklings. They had gone exploring, become separated from their mother and panicked. They could not figure out how to get out of the upper lawn enclosure. Mainly the upper lawn is closed, but as several members of the Drones Club decided to do walking along the wall and falling into the upper lawn area, we opened the gate. The MC wandered in. Their mother who is a good mother duck and perhaps over anxious began quacking, but the MC could not figure out how to get out and the mother did not think to go in.
My dh is not well versed in duck herding and so came back into report that the MC were huddled under a bush refusing to move and he had a headache from the noise.
To get ducks to move, you need to approach them from behind and drive them towards the goal. Otherwise they scatter.
I duly went out and tramped through the borders. It was not until the MC thought I would step on them that they broke cover and went out of the gate. Then I had to tramp through the long border and flush them out of there. Finally, they got the message and went and joined the mother duck.
After that it was round and round the duck house as the little ducklings decided it was their turn. Their mother shrugged and went to bed. The duckling eventually tired and went in their house to receive a quacking.
The thing that always surprises me is how well developed the social groupings are, and how they have such formalised rituals with head bobbings etc.

The Romance Readers Connection has done a lovely review for The Roman's Virgin Mistress. It says among other things: An intriguing novel, I found the details of Roman life fascinating. I had no idea that such strict values were enforced at that time. The love story between Silvana and Lucius was mildly complex, leaving the reader with a satisfactory sensation at the end of the novel. I truly enjoyed this story. Rating 4
So that made my day and helped to banish the Crows of Doubt.
Crows of Doubt always seem to flock fiercely when I am starting a new work. I think it may be because I can't just go back and edit, but actually have to forge ahead. At least, I know that my writing does touch readers eventually...but it is hard work.

Oh and my copy of India Grey's The Italian's Defiant Mistress has vanished from my TBR pile as my dd is busy avidly reading it. She is really enjoying it and was nearly late for school this morning because of it.

Yesterday morning was fun and games when my youngest looked out of the window and yelled 'There is a fox in the garden."
It has been about two years or more, since we have had to deal seriously with Mr Reynard -- hence our rather large population of ducks.
Luckily this was a young fox whose idea of hunting was to chase the Motely Crew round and around. We let loose the dogs. And while the Border collie is useless, Chile the labrador is quite up for fox hunting and set off at a great pace. Mr Reynard exited stage left.
My bright idea was that we needed a bonfire as foxes do not like the smell of smoke. Unfortunately, due to the rain, it was very hard to get going and my husband decreed that it had to be immediately...even though he had to go to work. An hour later, covered in smoke, I decided that it was enough and retreated.
The ducks who were being Late Night Party ducks and who possibly wanted to rock to Quackennbury or another duck festival all decided to be sober honest hard working ducks who go to bed nice and early.

I have just finished reading The Career Novelist by Donald Maass and it is one of the best books I have read on the actual industry of publishing and I will blog more about it tomorrow. The book is hard to get hold of in Britain, so I am eternally grateful to Anne McAllister who sent me her copy.

My head is down and I am busily working through the last of my edits on my current wip. The fact that I really like it means that there will probably be tons of revisions, simply because I am far too close.

I did the draw for my June contest -- Noemie and Jane have been contacted and next time I go to the Post Office, the books will winging their way to them. Many thanks to all who entered.

My next newsletter goes out on 1 July (or thereabouts). Because I am doing a workshop on E harlequin about Goal,Motivation and Conflict -- Upping the stakes, I will be giving away a critque for the first three chapters as having my usual contest for a book...

The current mother duck is an awful mother. She was one of those animals who enjoyed sitting on her eggs far more than the reality of having ducklings. She has a tendency to preen while the ducklings run wild/get into difficulties or simply get lost. She also wanders off leaving the ducklings asleep or eating .They then notice, and run after her cheeping furiously. It is all rather nerve wracking. She started with about 10, and is now down to five...

I pressedthe send button this morning and my latest Viking has gone off to my editor. I will be much happier once I hear her thoughts on the book. there is always wild exhileration once I send it, quickly followed by the Crows of Doubt attack. But I do think it is agood story and has the potential to be a great one.

My next book is going to be a linked book to A Christmas Wedding Wager. My daughter is desperate for a secondary character to have her own story. The wonderful part for me is that it gets to take place in the North East. My lovely editor says that the character may prove a bit of a challenge for me but I am looking forward to it. Every woman is the heroine of her own story.

My next newsletter will go out on 1 April. It will have tips on using personality characteristics to fashion characters, a recipe, a bit on the background to Sold and Seduced and contests. There is a sign up form for it at the side of the blog.

My house is a tip, and one of the ducks has started nesting. SIGH I do not want more ducklings. I was out last night in my dressing gown, and hiking boots, trying to capture the duck who had decidedto hide under the car. Our best guess is that she was distrubed by a cat as my dh saw one strolling up the garden path as the duck quacked her head off. At least it was not at 3 am...