I'm on a roll here... first it was the publishing dictionary. Now it's the must-have Wookie dictionary, thanks to Matthew Jarpe.

And if you think this is funny, check out his comment about his kid going to catholic school:)

So... here's your first lesson in speaking Wookie:

"I'm most dismayed that you've managed to defeat me at holographic chess. I have half a mind to remove your arms from their sockets."

In Wookie: RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!

"I can't fix a hyperdrive like this without the right tools. And even if I had the tools, I don't know if I can fix a hyperdrive like this."

In Wookie:  RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!

"Damn, those stormtroopers are lame. What the heck is the armor for, anyway? These little teddy bear dudes can take one out with a slingshot."

In Wookie:  RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGH!

"Where's my medal at, biatch?"

In Wookie:  RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGH!

I did the morning radio show again today for 783 ABC Alice Springs. This meant getting at up 4.45 am, and starting work at 5:30 am, which is not a time I'm very familiar with. In fact I was so worried I'd sleep in that I woke up on the hour every hour all night, expecting it to be time to get up.

Oh well...  other than a really bad night's sleep, my four hour shift as co-annoucer, host of the talk-back gardening show (don't laugh) and producer for the sports show (I know... Jenny... sports...stop sniggering like that...) I am content if a little tired.

Now I have to go back to working on the 7 writing projects I have on the go.

My idea of "taking a break" now the The Chaos Crystal is put to bed. :)

Are you an aspriing writer trying to break into the publishing world?

Trying to crack the odd language that is publisherspeak?

Don't know an ARC from a Full? Or a Sell-through from an Imprint?

The BookEnds Literary Agency has just posted a very useful dictionary of publishing which should help clear up some of your confusion.

After 10 years in the game, I knew 99% of the terms but the one that I didn't know (and the one that intrigued) me was the term preempt, which I haven't come across before.

It's defined by BookEnds as:

Preempt: When a publisher makes an advance and royalty offer high enough to take the book off the auction table. In other words, a publisher offers enough money that the author and agent agree that they will sell the book without asking for bids from other publishers.

I like this word. I like this idea. I would very much like one of my publishers to preempt my next series with an offer roughly equivalent to the GDP of New Zealand...

*wanders off muttering... how do I get them to do that?...*

A rom-com for a change this week. What is it with all these pregnancy movies? When did it become cool?

It's all Brangelina's fault, I think.

Successful single businesswoman Kate Holbrook (Tina Fey) is 37. After years of putting her career ahead of a personal life, her biological clock is ticking. Loudly. Undeterred by not having a partner in her life, she sets out to get pregnant, only to find she has a T-shaped uterus with a million to one chance of falling pregnant.

 Undaunted, the driven Kate hires Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler) to become her surrogate. Supported by Angie’s boyfriend, Carl (Dax Shepherd) the eggs are implanted and a pregnancy ensues. But there is trouble in Angie’s life and after she discovers Carl has been unfaithful to her, she moves out and lands on Kate’s doorstep.

Baby Mama then becomes a sort of Odd Couple for the new millennium, with the added twist of a surrogacy thrown in. Fey and Poehler are great together as the uptight Kate and the laid-back, working class Angie, struggling to get along for the sake of the unborn child they share. 

The supporting cast includes Greg Kinnear as the affable small businessman who wins Kate’s corporate heart, and Sigourney Weaver as the owner of the surrogacy agency who inexplicably keeps having more and more children of her own, despite her advanced age. The best role, however, is saved for Steve Martin, who stars as Kate’s millionaire hippy boss, whose rewards for a stitching up a great deal include five minutes of uninterrupted eye contact. 

The film is amusing, although predictable. The Odd Couple scenario is hardly groundbreaking stuff, but the cast is competent and believable and there are enough laughs to keep the audience entertained, including an ending so obvious you knew in the first five minutes of this film, how it was going to end. Written and directed by Michael McCullers (who also wrote Thunderbirds and Austin Powers: Goldmember) it lacks the satirical edge of the Austin Powers movies, erring on the side of safe and comfortable, rather than threatening any mainstream family values. 

In fact, what I found most interesting — and ultimately irritating — about this film, was not that it was about surrogacy, but that it shied away from anything remotely smacking of controversy, which was a bit of a let down in the end, even though, as I said, you could see the ending coming before the opening credits had faded.

Well, the wait is finally over.

The Orbit edition of Warlord is now available in the UK. It's taken a while but it's here now so woo hoo!

Thanks to Gabby and Bella at Orbit for being so great and supportive.