I’m glad to report that it took me one week to catch up after the trip, not three like last time. Very exciting. I also learned by one of my dear followers that yes, you do get super hungry after being glutened. This was really good to know because I felt like SUCH A FREAK sitting down to eat tons of cereal at 4 am last weekend, when everyone else just passed out. I’m never that hungry after getting drunk. Sleep usually wins, so it was bemusing.

And also, taught me not to eat fast food restaurant fries. No, not even if it’s just two of them.

I have lots of other exciting news, the first which is book related. That’s the Middle Grade (I think) book from FableCroft Publishing, which I snuck into under Tansy’s skirts. We wrote a short story together even though she was the one invited to submit a piece and I am extremely excited to be one of the “and more” authors featured in this one.

Apart from the story I got published at 15 in one of those we-publish-anyone-no-really-we-do magazines, and the knitting pattern from ages ago this is my first one. It will be fun to see it in print, and it even has a picture! (I think all of the stories do.)

My family has asked me to get them the book, even though they read English very badly or not at all, and I’m really not sure if they’ll “get” a story that is all spec fic.

Second, Tansy got me the best birthday present ever! I will blog it tomorrow, because I want her to blog the process of making said present so I can link to it. But it’s the prettiest quilt ever, with lots of edible stuff on it. Cakes, cupcakes, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries…

Ooh, and when I looked at it just now I found peas. And lots of polkadots and flowers.

It’s awesome. More about it (and the other presents) tomorrow.

Now I have to return to my short story turned novelette. I think. It’s currently 7500 words of alcohol, drugs, dancing and, um, lesbian fairy sex. I estimate it will end around 10k, but we shall see. I have no idea how it will end. None.

PS. Do listen to The Guild League. It’s Tali from The Lucksmiths new project, and they’re gooooood. Thank you Music Fairy, for sending me some of them.

After two days of baking me and my sister has produced two kinds of cookies, a gigantic pavlova (meringue cake!) and ridiculously rich chocolate mousse. It took most of two days, yet I’m worried people won’t think it’s enough. I must be insane. And I would include some pics, but I left my camera at my parents house, so you’ll have to wait until after the party.

I meant to go to Stockholm next week, to attend A’s move-in-party and visit the sci-fi bookshop (yes, I’m equally excited about both, shut up), but I didn’t buy tickets in time and now they cost like… 500 SEK each way. I might put my hopes to a last-minute-ticket, even though I’m technically too old for them. But only just, and two weeks ago I was asked if I was over eighteen (or possibly twenty) when I was buying a bus pass… So maybe it would work, although it would probably mean staying away from Thursday to Monday, two days more than I meant to, because there’s no such thing on a Friday or Sunday.

Speaking of which, A. told one of her friends that I read fantasy, and got the answer “so, she reads TWILIGHT?”. A. defended me beautifully I’m told, and people may have different opinions about those books, and I may not be a fan, but in the end it doesn’t matter what I think, because there is so much more to fantasy than that, and I think that’s the important point.

(And yes, in the past I’ve been a bit harsh towards certain books in this blog. The more I work on my current project the worse I feel about it, because I’m realising just how much work that goes into a book. So, I’ll try to be nicer, even if I don’t like a certain author. I really will.)

I also had a conversation with my mum, with a slight disagreement. I learned that this syrup we have in sweets and icecream, may or may not have gluten in it. The Swedish word for it is “glukos-fruktossirap”, and apparently “glukossirap” and “fruktossirap” are separately okay, but when put together they may contain gluten and the manufacturer doesn’t have to specify whether it does or not (and sometimes have no idea). I suppose it’s the equivalent of high fructose corn syrup, except, you know, wheat based. Sometimes.

(Also? I hate the book Ingredienslexikon, because it tells me stuff is okay when it’s not, like, for example soy sauce. It’s not okay. Not even close.)

But yes, this means that almost all sweets are out, and so I read on a bag of sweets while home and the following conversation happened…

Me: “That damn glukos-fruktossirap, it’s in everything!”
Mum: “Oh, but it can’t be that bad, can it?”
Me: “YES IT CAN. I know somebody whose son got sick all the time until they figured out that it was the sweets he was eating, so I’m not going to risk it.
Mum: “Well, anyone who stops eating sweets will feel better.”

Head, desk, desk, head, have you two met? Oh, you have? Well, here’s a reintroduction!

So yes. I need to translate this article for her, because she’s driving me crazy. It’s not like it’s fun to avoid most sweets, almost all chocolate (though I found a kind I can have, expensive dark chocolate with a hint of lemon, OMG SO GOOD), icecream and so on. It’s not. It sucks. But when I get sick I get sick for days, and it’s not just that specific things that causes me to set up camp in the bathroom. It’s that everything I eat for several days afterwards also makes me sick, as if it takes that long for the gluten to clear out of my system. And really, one scoop of icecream isn’t worth three days of bathroom trips, stomach aches, lethargy and other fun stuff. It really isn’t.

And this specific conversation came only two days after she offered me a tub of butter that had visible bread crumbs from a gluten-ed bread in it and thought that I was ridiculous when I refused to use it.

She’s a nurse. Isn’t she supposed to know these things?

Argh.

So, yes. Translating that article, only not today because I desperately need to get back to my project. I haven’t written on it in what feels like forever, although in reality it’s more like two days. I’m almost at the “run downhill really fast” portion of the book, and it’s very exciting. Sadly my male main character turned out to be a total creep, but I’m told that makes for a more interesting book.

I also asked my sister if she wanted to visit a graveyard with me, because I usually take inspiration from a location and build from there and my NEXT project is about a graveyard. Well, not really, it’s not like it’s The Graveyard Book all over again, but that’s where it starts…

She gave me an odd look and said “um… sure?”

Ha. Yes. So. Writing.

Another birthday hoopla today. My dear sister turned 28 which means that it’s only twenty-nine days (um, thirty-one, actually, as her birthday isn’t for another two days) until I turn THIRTY. Thirty people! Who would’ve thought?

It was a rather pleasant affair with lots of food, of which I made this pie (although with regular cheese, will use more spices next time) and marvelled in the idea of shredded potato actually holding together as a crust. I so didn’t believe that beforehand. My mum baked me bread, and it was delicious. Man, I’ve missed bread.

My siblings and cousins went all about on the bibby (BIB = bag in box = three litres of wine in a handy box), mum nervously told them to drink less and we all ignored her. I knitted a lot, watched a game (2-0 with ten men on the pitch, yay us!) and didn’t drink anything stronger than Coke. Suited me just fine.

A few pics, just because I know they’ll hate me for it…

One cousin, one sister.

One brother, who did suit up but forgot to pull his trousers up.

And me, looking disturbingly cheerful about a glass of Coke.

Potato-crust-pie, gluten free bread and baked vegetables.

And meringue cake pavlova.

Man, this week has been rough. Most because of my own vimsighet too.

Monday I ate curry and became really sick, as I’ve written here before. It literally did not cross my mind that coconut milk was anything but, you know, coconut milk, so Tuesday I ate it again, just to check. And yes, I got sick again. For two more days. And thing is, when you don’t regularly eat gluten you get SUCH a reaction when you accidentally ingest it, that it’s like, um, a really bad stomach bug. And that doesn’t leave you feeling too great, let me tell you.

So, yeah, three days of that which brings us to Thursday when I woke up with period cramps from hell, and promptly popped two Ipren (our Ibuprofen). And then, when I started feeling all weak and rambly and crazycakes I remembered taking my pills so I didn’t check that I actually had… Um, yes. You see where this is going, don’t you? I went to weaving, freaked out and made my grandma run me home after half an hour. Had a very strange day; lots of manic editing but at the same time nauseous and weak and crampy as hell.

And today? Friday? I took my pills, oh yes, and realised I didn’t take them yesterday as they were still in their little compartment, yet I had extremely bad anxiety while buying groceries. Probably placebo induced, because there’s no way only 24 hours without them have that effect.

It was extremely bad. “Backing myself up against a shelf and being unable to move” bad. When I got home I ate my vegetables (part of my yuckiness probably came from having no healthy foods at home!), but not before Mum managed to close the front door on the cat’s paw. We both freaked out and chased her across the flat, trying to figure out if she was hurt. It only was a second before I realised, there’s no blood and she walks on it okay, so I think it’s fine. Still, a few frantic moments there!

My plans for this weekend and next week?

Clean my flat. It looks disgusting.
Go to the gym a couple of times.
Do laundry.
Rejoice that the SNOW IS FINALLY MELTING.
Also, possibly bake.

No big things, but all with the hope of feeling better. Backlashes are okay, really. As long as you remember that they’re temporary and that you CAN feel better than that. That it’s not all there is to you.

Any suggestions for good podcasts? The less serious variety is better, I am not so good with concentration and zone out if the conversation going on is too brainy.

Also, my books shipped today! They might be here Monday, hooray!

I think I can add coconut milk to the list of Foods I Can’t Have. I’ve been trying to figure out why, and decided that it’s the E-number-thingy, which is what we use to list preservatives, food colouring, etc. I can’t find any information on what’s in this particular one, but it does say that it’s a thickener, which… usually involves wheat, one way or another. It never even crossed my mind to look for gluten in that, but after three days of… erm, interesting side effects of which the most pleasant was an ability to get out of bed and a brain fog like you wouldn’t believe, I’ll have to ban that too from my diet. Damn it.

Changed my layout. This one is cleaner, but I do miss my old header.

For a few days now I’ve meant to translate the post I did for my HAES blog on International Women’s Day. It’s a link spam with various blog posts and articles about and by women. I just haven’t gotten around to it I guess, but soon. Promise. Not in this one, though, because I feel very, very lazy.

Tansy and I are editing the Blueberry book, which is equal parts fun and frustrating. Mostly I battle with my characters while eyeing hers longingly, wishing my were as even and well-thought-out as hers. Generally my first draft is really, really, REALLY rough, though. I’m not too good at banging out good stuff on the first or even second or third attempt. Still, I am happy with this book and hope we’ll be able to fly through it quickly enough to finish before she has to return to the land of already contracted books.

Still working on Eld. Wondering if my characters even have a voice or if they all sound exactly the same. It kind of feels like it. I suppose that should I ever get to the end of this thing I will need somebody to read through it and tell me the truth. Luckily I have enough good friends willing to humour me to not run out of proof readers any time soon…

Cleaned two rooms. Looked at the other two and wondered when they got messy. They weren’t the last time I checked, I’m sure of it!

Oooh, and Arsenal won 5-0 yesterday! So proud of my boys, even if it was just the group stages of the Champion’s league. Think they’re down to semi quarter finals now, if I understood everything correctly. I had to watch half of it in Portuguese (which I thought was kind of like Spanish, but the two are really not alike at all), because the Porto fan that supplied the feed got cranky and took it down with lots left. Which is just mean.

Also, apparently the sports bar that is in the same building as my gym has Premier League evenings! Saw a sign for the next United game. Must try to figure out if they show Arsenal some time. I mean, my boys, on a REAL TV? Gold.

And I believe that is all for today.

So, I bought books. Again. I had some crazy idea of not buying any until the sequel to The Demon’s Lexicon comes out, but then I realised that’s not until late MAY, and I, um, promptly went and bought these books. Plus a sixth that I couldn’t find a pic of that was bigger than 200 pixels tall, and that is just not on.

Four in English, two in Swedish, three fiction, two non-fiction, one biography.

Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore. This is a book I normally wouldn’t have bought, but after the white-washing drama I felt the need to support the author. Even though I ended up buying the UK edition, which wasn’t involved in that particular shit storm at all.

Ash by Malinda Lo. A lesbian retelling of Cinderella. Say no more. And also? This cover is STUNNING. I could stare at it all day. I actually entered a contest to win this book, but I never win contests so I bought it anyway. I guess if I should for some reason win this one I’ll have a book give away or something. Don’t hold your breath, though, my shitty luck is legendary!

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. I am kind of sad I didn’t get the pretty American cover for this one, but it was oh so much cheaper. I also thought the title was spelled “Levithian” until I went to google for pics. And I’m vainly hoping that the illustrations are the same on the inside as in the American edition because they are absolutely gorgeous.

I Don’t Want to Be Crazy by Samantha Schutz. I’m not entirely sure why I bought this book, because it’s written on verse. I just hope it won’t rhyme. It does seem interesting, though, because it’s about a girl who was physically incapicated by anxiety attacks, which I recognise myself in. We shall see what I think of this one.

Fettpaniken by Marie Carlsson. This one is in Swedish. I got it from the library, and am about halfway through it now. I looked back at all the page numbers I’ve written down to take notes from, and um, I realised that I’ve pretty much written down every second or third page. So I bought it. Plus it was only 44 SEK. Only book of this batch that was actually on sale. (We have huge book sales specials all through February and March in Sweden, people buy books like mad.)

And the sixth, not pictured, is kind of boring. It’s a lexicon of ingredients with gluten in them, because I feel reactions from things I shouldn’t, like for example coconut milk. There’s an E-number-whatsitcalled in it, and I’m curious if there’s gluten in that, or if I’m just imagining things. This one is constantly checked out from the library so I just went and bought it instead.

In all, I’m not happy with my library’s selection of gluten allergy books, cookbooks and just random non-fiction in all, because the former is either in English and using flours I can’t find here or in Swedish and exclusively for meat eaters, and the latter is hidden in a sea of dieting books that I can’t stomach digging through. So, boo.

I’m really tired. That’s why I’m rambling. Tomorrow I will translate the International Women’s Day post I wrote for my Swedish blog and post it here, even though it’s no longer the 8th…