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Sarah Rees Brennan

New York Times Bestselling Author of the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy

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Happy November!

November 1, 2010 by Admin Leave a Comment

First things first: the winner of the fancy Robin McKinley prize pack is… drum roll please… smartie1685 . Please email me with your address at sarahreesbrennan@gmail.com!

So, Halloween: how did you spend yours?

I spent mine moving house. Yes indeed, while everyone else was parading around wearing Saucy Pippi Longstocking costumes, I was pitching face forward into a box full of hangers. (Little bit like falling into a tank of piranhas who love you. Hangers grab hold. Also a little bit like ducking for apples, if the apples were hooks.)

Ah, the endless glamour of a writer’s life!

So how did this come about? Well, my tale begins on a night in September. I called out ‘Bye, ladies, I am off to see Inception!’ Jennet Wilde, my DJ housemate, said ‘Could you come in for a minute?’

JENNET: I must give notice. I wish to pursue a life of adventure in London.
DURHAM LASS, MY OTHER HOUSEMATE: London, lovely! I hope you’ll have a great time! Sarah and I will just find a two-person house.
SARAH: Er but no, but yes, yay for Jennet and adventure, but I am going to America for a month.
JENNET: Well, I could stay an extra-
SARAH: And then it’s Children’s Book Month in Ireland and I’m going down to Cork and-
DURHAM LASS: We’re going to have to live in a gutter.
SARAH: I can build a house out of books. We’ll be safe there. Until it starts to rain. Which in Ireland, okay, will be about five minutes.

We ended up with literally four evenings in which to find someplace to live. It was a panicky time, especially since I also had Work Things I Will Tell You About Someday Soon. We saw some dark things.

PROSPECTIVE LANDLORD: Let me just check if the lights are working.
SARAH AND DURHAM LASS: Oh…
PROSPECTIVE LANDLORD: Nope, they’re not!
SARAH AND DURHAM LASS: … dear.

SARAH: Well, this house is in a slightly dodgy neighbourhood, but it’s quite big inside, and maybe-
DURHAM LASS: Let’s go.
SARAH: What’s happened? Why are you twitching?
DURHAM LASS: I WILL NOT LIVE HERE.
SARAH: There’s a wild look in your eye…
DURHAM LASS: I will not speak of what I saw outside.
SARAH: What did you see outside?
DURHAM LASS: I SAID I WILL NOT SPEAK OF IT.

Readers, to this day I do not know what she saw.

At one point we had a mutual nervous breakdown in a pizza parlor. We were approached by a gentleman who was concerned about our well-being, and startled when we asked him for the bill.

Then we found a fabulous new house. It is a little red-brick house near two famous cathedrals in Dublin, St Patrick’s Cathedral and Christchurch, and so in the tradition of me giving my homes names for the blog, I am calling it Shadowchurch-on-the-Corner.

Our new house does have a drawback, however. It has no bath. Do not worry. I am not about to embrace uncleanliness as a lifestyle. There is a power shower, but alas no bath. I love a bath. I like to sit swathed in bubbles, like a very foamy mummy, and read.

This meant I took a bath every day for the last week in our previous residence the Cherry Bomb, to the great detriment of my hair. At one point our friend June dropped by to have dinner.

JUNE: Ahhh!
SARAH: I know.
JUNE: Uh. You just look – a little fluffy.
SARAH: I am aware I currently bear a striking resemblance to Aslan, yes.

There was also the problem of moving. Now, the Durham Lass, I have spoken of her before. She looks like Snow White, but with added ruthless efficiency. She keeps me to deadlines, wakes me up with tea in the mornings, and is generally the ideal housemate. I did become a bit scared of her while we were packing, though. I feared I would wake up in a box labelled ‘ROOMMATE.’

I am certain that the package would have been delivered to the correct address, though, and I would have missed the expression on the face of the Durham Lass’s father. (Both our fathers kindly agreed to help us move.)

The poor man arrived, and saw the boxes piled up in the hall.

DURHAM DAD: I have never seen so many books.
SARAH: There are a few more in my room.
DURHAM DAD: Er, books?
SARAH: Um. Boxes.

His day only got worse. Because we were moving on Hallowe’en. At one point, carrying endless rounds of books to the truck, someone let off a firework down the street.

ROCKETS: Whizz by!
LIGHTS: Burning!
SMOKE: Smoking!
SARAH: AHHHHH! It is the end times! Are we all doomed?
DURHAM DAD: Excitable, the young lady with the book army.
SARAH’S DAD: AHHHHHH! It is the end times! Are we all doomed?

I come by being excitable honestly.

Installed in Shadowchurch, then came The Unpacking: The Book-Shelving, Unpacking 2: Appropriating Cabinets For Further Book-Shelving, and the long-awaited follow-up, Unpacking 3: Any Flat Surface Will Do If I Can Find Objects To Use As Book-Ends.

Now I am sitting writing this, about to make enchiladas, with a fire burning in our floating stone-carving and brickwork fireplace, and my framed picture of the moon and the crooked tree leading to the Goblin Market on top of the Secret Book Cabinet.

And it is November, so it is almost time for the first Book Cookie for The Demon’s Surrender. Hence, I have made a POLL.

IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE ONLY VOTE FOR ONE CHARACTER. VOTING FOR MORE THAN ONE MEANS I DON’T COUNT YOU. AND I DO NOT LIKE TO DO MATHS. DO NOT FORCE ME TO DO MATHS!

Filed Under: General Blog Tagged With: year of surrender

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sarahreesbrennan

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The rarely seen baths and puffy coats picture! ...

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The rarely seen baths and puffy coats picture! Gellért thermal baths and its Art Nouveau decor, only one of the aquatic delights offered by Budapest. We also saw the Parlament from a trip down the Danube river. My brother & sister put up with me mentioning Jonathan and Mina Harker of #Dracula got married in Budapest, and my insisting on eating chicken paprika like Jonathan. That and soup in a bread bowl comforted me when I was made to walk 300 steps at the Basilika and even more around Buda Castle while protesting I am a potato who sits on the sofa and writes the novels. Budapest was beautiful and so was seeing it with my sibs: I will remember this trip a long time. #draculadaily #budacastle #gellertbaths #danuberiver #ststephensbasilica #hungary🇭🇺

Writing to you live from Budapest! My gorgeous ...

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Writing to you live from Budapest! My gorgeous little sister surprised me with the amazing birthday present of a city break - and our baby bro came too. This is us at Szimpla Kert, the original of Budapest’s ruin bars: repurposed dilapidated buildings, filling old places with plants and art and music. More from Budapest soon… #szimplakert #budapest #ruinbar #bettyandbiddy

With changes over on twitter, I see many people ...

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With changes over on twitter, I see many people stressing over where and how they can talk up their writing and art. It reminded me of the difficulty I’ve had talking about a project dear to me. I’d see other writers talking about their word count or their plans, and be lime green jelly that I couldn’t, because it was so dear that talking about it felt weighted, because I didn’t have any confidence after being sick, because hope and fear pin down the tongue and keys. There are always challenges when talking about art, whether they come from within or without. But I do believe one of the hardest and most necessary things is to make art with faith it will speak to people when the time comes. So I wanted to put this up here as a way to say: be hopeful, fearful and courageous with your voice. When you can. The time will come. #authorsofinstagram #writing #sarahreesbrennan #srbrennan

Well beloved fairy folk and fans, I know you got ...

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Well beloved fairy folk and fans, I know you got sad news last week and I am so sorry! I also know @straffiiginio and Rainbow do have glorious plans for much in the Winx franchise. For now, I offer signed books as a little comfort! @Soraseilyn, @dutchwinxer and @blindchannxl on Insta, and ladygeeke & subtle-skipping on tumblr, please email me sarahreesbrennan at gmail to collect your winnings. My other cat (about whom more soon!) has been guarding them for you. For myself, I feel lucky to have been part of the journey to Alfea, to write fun books with great characters and to get to know you all: you’ve been so welcoming and kind to me. Thank you and I hope we stay friends. Who knows what is to come? 💕🧚#winxclubforever #fatethewinxsaga #abigailcowen #bloompeters #winxstella

For the end of spooky season! Cancer is about ...

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For the end of spooky season! Cancer is about loss: of hair, teeth, friends… and words. For a couple years before I was diagnosed with late stage lymphoma, I watched my writing go off a cliff in terms of quality and speed - sentences turned to nonsense, and I couldn’t finish anything. It was terrifying. So was trying to come back to writing and publishing after having a traumatic time with chemo. ‘Where was she last year?’ ‘Who’s that again?’ ‘Oh, I thought you were…’ My confidence was shattered, and being approached for Sabrina was a life raft to cling to: being remembered, having fun with writing again, falling for a wild strange fantasy world. It opened the door to other worlds I was honored to be invited into, their lovely fandoms, and to courage that I could perhaps write my own books again. Here’s #chillingadventuresofsabrina and #fatethewinxsaga in Feltrinelli in Rome, and me, because fantasy opens all the escape doors. Happy All Hallows’ Day, and hope you had a great #Hallowinx and you find the doors you’re hoping for 👻🖤. #feltrinelli #romeitaly #cancersurvivor #writersofinstagram #writing #fencecomic

I see many photos where the ‘after’ shows ...

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I see many photos where the ‘after’ shows someone thinner than the ‘before.’ Here’s a different version. When I’m feeling vulnerable, I cover it with jokes. ‘Hey, at least I was skinny!’ ‘Dr: Any unexplained weight loss? Me: I wish!’ It’s safer than saying: When people were telling me I looked great, I felt lousy, scared, and sad they thought I looked better when I felt worse. Once I was in recovery people kept telling me how bad I’d looked. That doesn’t help either. We all have uncomfortable relationships with our bodies, because of society, ideas about what health is, and the fact our outside self is all most people can perceive of us! I was diagnosed late: I kept being told it was bronchitis, pneumonia, a kiwi allergy (that one was weird…), I’d be fine, I was clearly healthy. I often think about what my life, relationships and health would be like if I was diagnosed earlier, if people hadn’t assumed I was lying and secretly dieting or exercising a lot. But I get why they did: I get why I didn’t want it to be a warning sign. Weight is a weighted topic. I wish it wasn’t, for all of us. I love and find beautiful (not that my opinion matters) people of a hundred shapes and sizes, but we always have the most tangled relationship to our own bodies. The body is a vessel that carries us through our lives. If we’re happy with however that vessel looks, I think that’s awesome—but sometimes positivity is difficult. Here are 2 full-length pictures of me, during chemo and a couple years after. Honestly, I’m not happy with how I look in either. But in one, I’m trapped at home with medicines around me. In the other, I’m outside with my sister, on her wedding day. In the end, it’s about where the vessel takes you. #twweightloss #cancersurvivor #wedding #twweighttalk #milestonecountdown
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