Presents: Tense?

Birthday season has kicked off, with the first of five anniversaries that'll be packed in between now and September 5. Yesterday was a joint celebration for my father in law and my daughter (who's not actually six until tomorrow) and today has been divided between wrapping presents and making dairy and egg-free cakes for her to take into school. Unbelievably they're quite tasty, plus they won't kill any of her allergy-prone classmates. Bonus.

The next big task is to track down something special for my son. With four weeks to go until he turns four, he's suddenly developed a love of Thunderbirds. Oh, how his face lights up at the thought of getting a 'rocket' as one of his presents. Oh, how mine darkened as one toy shop owner after another has informed me the series is 'past it' and no one's interested in it any more.

I'm staking out ebay as I type ...

In other news, my various scribblings are ticking along, causing me to smile ever-so-slightly at the post on Vicious Imagery last week about Shitty First Drafts. Oh, I'm there. I'm so there.

Protracted silence concerning one possible job ought to be making me antsy, meanwhile - instead I'm feeling eerily calm about it. And a cover is now available for In Bad Dreams. I'd put it up now, but I'd better find out if I'm allowed to show it to you first ...