On the seventh day of Christmas, blamebrampton gave to me ...

[blamebrampton]

Two good ideas, and some photos of the kitties!

The first good idea is from wemyss , who is generally quite splendid. He has put up two posts on britpickery , one for non-UK writers to ask for descriptions of anything in the UK that they would like to include in their fics. Want to know what a country house has in its kitchen? How many rooms Malfoy Manor is likely to have?  Popular chocolate brands? Pet names we use for our parents? Ask on this thread.

Are you British? (hush you Scottish Nationalists) Do you tear your hair every time you read a fic in which the characters sit in their dens, feasting on snickerdoodles and writing letters to their moms? Write down some of the things that make England English to you on this thread. Frequent visitor? Student who lived there for some time? Married a local? Write down the things that struck you, too! And for the formerly English like me (yes, I know, traitors!), it's quite kosher to include things from previous years that cover the HP opus.

Secondly, catsintheattic  has the most brilliant idea which, if you are on her flist, you can read about here. If you're not, and you are interested in the technicalities of writing and exercises pertaining thereto, send her a message and start a conversation. She's very smart, very funny and very cool, so even if you only have a chat, it will be worthwhile.

Finally, kitties!






Those of you suspecting J scatters T-shirts merrily about the house may be onto something.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! It has been wonderful spending 2008 with all of you, and regardless of the other crap that we all went through in what was a fairly generally horrid year, your wit, kindness, generosity and talent has inspired me all through it!

Comments

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

KITTIES! ♥ Hopefully I'll be curling up like them soon.

How many hours is it until New Year's in Australia? You're living in the future, aren't you? Well, Happy New Year!

[pingrid.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year, my dulcet darling! And thanks for the old one, as we would say here. :) You are high on the list of good things to happen to me in 2008. xxx

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thank you so much for the rec of my project. I'm a little speechless, really. *hugs*

Anyone who is interested and wants to friend me, I will happily friend back.

Happy New Year to you! I'm really glad to have you on my f-list, not just because of this particular post. &hearts And I just love the pics of your curled up kitties - they are so cute.

[pingrid.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear more about your project. Have friended you, not just because of this but also because I always enjoy your thoughtful comments whenever I see you around other people's journals! :)

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your kind words and your interest in the project. :-)

I've just friended you back and am looking forward to getting to know you.

Welcome to my f-list! *sends a sunflower*

[arobynsung]

I have working brain, most of the time, I swear but:

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Kitties are cute. :D *cuddles them* *sneezes* That top photo is begging for a caption of some kind.

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

KITTIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, LOVELY LADY!

*Raises Glass and Toasts you and J and kitties*

[complications-g.livejournal.com]

\O/ britpickery!

Aww, kitties! The second one looks just like my Milly! <3

Happy New Year too! :D

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I'm not a cat person (well, not an animal person would be more accurate) but that cat of yours has the best friggin colours. If I were an Animagus, I'd want to look like that.

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Aw! Sweet kitties!

Happy New Year! :)

[uminohikari.livejournal.com]

Aww, the kitties are all curled up~~

[lisa3353.livejournal.com]

Okay, I am not a writer so am generally not in need of anything like "britpickery", but I like to go where you lead me, so I clicked on it. I was fairly surprised to read what ended up being an entertaining discussion on milk used for tea and/or cereal and whether eggs should be left on the countertop. Seriously, I'm saving the link. It was good.

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Such pretty kitties. The black calico looks like how I envisioned Pixie, the kitten belonging to Harry and Draco's daughter Annalise in some of my fics. Thanks for posting the photos!