Returning adventurer

[Manda Scott]

Hi People...

I'm Manda Scott, an author from the UK - I was here a while ago and kind of fell out of the loop (dogs to train, books to read, agility websites to browse, books to write, more dogs to train, or rather, more training of the same now-very-trained dog) and now that said dog has had her pups and is more obsessed with them than with me, I'm back on line again and also reading far more than before. I'm part way through Joe Abercrombie's magnificent 'Best Served Cold' which isn't truly a historical novel, but has the feel of one - he has created such a complete world, with such a complete history to it. And for a change of pace, next on my list is a Philippa Gregory: to my great shame, I've never read one of hers and so am about to tackle 'The Red Queen'.

and it's good to be back

/waves to all

[Madeleine]

Hi Manda and welcome back. What dogs do you have?

[LoobyG]

Welcome back Manda! :)

[Manda Scott]

Madeleine - thank you - I have a working cocker spaniel bitch and now her litter of pups - which are four days old today (and yes, I am very slightly besotted). I wrote about having pups in the Boudica books, but it's a long, long time since I've actually done it.

[Manda Scott]

PS - if you want to see pictures (and this is of pups, nothing to do with books), go to:

my Eceni Agility Spaniels blog page (http://wordpress.mcscott.co.uk/index.php/eceni-agility-spaniels-2)

:)

m

[sweetpotatoboy]

Hi Manda. Welcome back to the fold.
I loved your Boudicca books, by the way, and hope to get to your new series soon!

[Madeleine]

Unfortunately some of the pictures didn't come out, but Abigail looks very like a cocker that we look after sometimes, who is also a small roan - they have beautiful markings don't they? I would imagine you'd need a lot of patience training them though, if our little one is anything to go by!

[MLE]

Welcome, Manda! I know the feeling of puppy-rapture, my standard poodle bitch, Niffler, just produced 12 Sunday. Right now I am listening to the big ones hollering for mom from the basket in my kitchen, because with that many I separate out the strongest pups twice a day so the smaller ones can get a chance at the teats.

What amuses me is that my goldendoodle pups look pretty much the same as your Cocker pups. At that age, you can't tell breeds apart.

[Misfit]

Hi Manda, welcome. The pups are adorable.

[Vanessa]

Welcome back, Manda. The puppies are gorgeous. We have English Springer Spaniels who are just a little bit older than yours at 8 and 10!:)

[Nickie]

Hello to you Manda, and nice to get to know you. I'm a newbie here, so I don't know everyone yet.
I've just begun to read The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, and the story really takes to you. I did read a couple of her other books (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen's Fool) and liked them. She brings history to life, I find.

[LoveHistory]

Welcome back, Manda. Congrats on the litter.

[parthianbow]

Hi Manda, and welcome back. Bumped into you elsewhere ;)

[EC2]

Welcome back Manda - and congrats on the pups - been following your updates on Twitter etc!

[boswellbaxter]

Hi, Manda! You can see my writing buddy, Boswell, in my avatar.

[Madeleine]

Your dogs' expressions are priceless, Vanessa.

And I love the pic of MLE's pups, I'm always fascinated by the way they just sprawl on top of each other in the strangest positions.

[Vanessa]

I know - they're not over keen on each other! They're half brothers and there's a lot of sibling rivalry going on!! LOL. I would not have two male dogs again - one male and one female or two females would be fine. They are both alpha males and it creates no end of problems.

[Manda Scott]

Ohmigosh- 12! How does she feed them all? Abs is running ragged with 6... she decided it was time for a walk today, to give herself a break from them which did weird things to my writing timetable, but she was raring around like the mad thing she used to be, not the somewhat over-stuffed waddler of recent weeks.

Have you done their astrology charts? Fascinating to compare the different birth times - there's a massive grand cross happening just now so the charts all have monumental squares and oppositions in them: it'll be really interesting to see how they grow...

m

[Manda Scott]

Hi, Manda! You can see my writing buddy, Boswell, in my avatar.

Yay - someone else has a dog as their writing buddy - it feels *truly* odd just now not to have her next to the desk, even tho' the pups are only hallway and a room away... here's to man happy writing hours with Boswell!

m

[Manda Scott]

Hello to you Manda, and nice to get to know you. I'm a newbie here, so I don't know everyone yet.
I've just begun to read The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, and the story really takes to you. I did read a couple of her other books (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen's Fool) and liked them. She brings history to life, I find.

I've got a long train ride tomorrow, so I'll take it with me... will report back as and when

m

[Manda Scott]

I know - they're not over keen on each other! They're half brothers and there's a lot of sibling rivalry going on!! LOL. I would not have two male dogs again - one male and one female or two females would be fine. They are both alpha males and it creates no end of problems.

That's useful to know - I was always told to avoid two bitches because they'd both be alpha women and the fights would be to the death. So I've been tempted by the boys in the current litter and trying to choose between while Faith is desperate that we keep the lemon girl. So maybe I'll relent. I quite like the idea of training a boy, though - never done it before...

Thanks to everyone else for the welcome - it's good to be home.

m

[Veronica]

Manda Scott - how cool. I have the first book in the Boudica trilogy on my bookshelf and I have to say I am very curious about it. :)

[Carla]

Hello and welcome!

[fljustice]

Hi Manda! Will look into your Boudica series. She's always been a favorite of mine (crops up in my WIP, but not the main character.) Love your pups, although I'm a cat person. Currently fostering six feral kittens with lots of health problems...have to keep a big chart to make sure each gets its meds when needed, plus lots of loving. Writing time? What's that? :rolleyes:

[Manda Scott]

Hi Manda! Will look into your Boudica series. She's always been a favorite of mine (crops up in my WIP, but not the main character.) Love your pups, although I'm a cat person. Currently fostering six feral kittens with lots of health problems...have to keep a big chart to make sure each gets its meds when needed, plus lots of loving. Writing time? What's that? :rolleyes:

Heck... it's bad enough when they're all healthy - I've banned anyone with a dog from coming near the house for the next 4 weeks in an effort to minimise the viral load, but then we'll have to start socialising them - they reckon if I can get 100 new people before they go to their new homes, they'll be on the right road. That and the proprioceptive stimulation, the basic training and the raw food weaning is going to take up a lot of time. My beloved his never done this before - the amount of work is sloooowly dawning, particularly given that I have to be away for 3 days for the Festival of Historical Literature and am leaving them at home... :)

/waves to everyone who's read Boudica - if you want to follow the surviving characters, the first book in the Rome series picks up pretty much where the last Boudica left off, it's just a completely different style of book: a spy thriller first and foremost.

[sweetpotatoboy]

/waves to everyone who's read Boudica - if you want to follow the surviving characters, the first book in the Rome series picks up pretty much where the last Boudica left off, it's just a completely different style of book: a spy thriller first and foremost.

Oh how cool. I had no idea there was any link between the two series. I have the first Rome book. Must get to it soon!