Last week, I released the third book in my historic fiction series. It was exciting, especially the part where I got to hold the proof copy in my hand for the first time. Even so, the life of an author is not as full of adventure, intrigue and vast wealth as many people think. Top bestselling authors may have lives like that, but my experience (and I suspect theirs) is very different. If you’re thinking of writing a book, read on to understand the reality.
Continue reading An author’s life
What did people talk about in 1918? This was a question very much on my mind when I began writing Plagued. Dialogue is a key element in any work of fiction, what the characters say, or don’t say, often tells the story. When it comes to historic fiction, the conversations also help set the scene, and the tone and content needs to be right. If it isn’t, readers will notice, or at least they will find it increasingly difficult to suspend their disbelief. Obviously, modern terms and phrases have to be avoided, and I spent a great deal of time Googling the origins of certain words and phrases (like Heath Robinson) to make sure I didn’t let any anachronisms slip in. Reading works written at the time helped with vocabulary too, but the content was another matter.
Continue reading The art of conversation and great escapes
Throughout most of 2020 I’d been very aware that I was living through a time that would go down in history. It had been a year of change and uncertainty. December crawled to a close as did Commando’s job. For the first time in his life, he was unemployed. For us, Christmas had been a low key affair since our boys grew up. My mother was born on Christmas Day. Once she’d gone, some of the joy of the season went with her. Christmas 2020 would have been her 100th birthday, had she lived to see it. This year we made a conscious decision to forgo the decorations, cards and presents completely. It wasn’t about money. It was about simplifying. We’d had a trying few months and it was surprisingly liberating not to have all the dashing around, the shopping, the overeating and the strange emptiness when the decorations come down. It was peaceful, almost blissfully so.
Continue reading Simplicity
In early November 2020 a second lockdown began. At the same time, Commando was told he was under threat of redundancy. The second thing somewhat eclipsed the first, obviously. Escaping into the past was a blessing in many ways. Learning about the General Strike and the terrible depravations the strikers went through during those nine May days in 1926 put things into perspective.
Continue reading Lockdowns, redundancies and strikes
My decision not to think about all the media hype over the pandemic was proving far more difficult than expected. Not thinking is, it would seem, a physical impossibility and the only way to not think about one thing is to think really hard about something else. Well, that and walking. So, on 16 September 2020, I set off on another river walk. This time I decided to tackle the old two bridge challenge route.
Continue reading Not thinking
June 2020 crawled to a close with some good news. The best of this was that, on 24 June, Kim was well enough to go for a short walk with me. It was a slow meander through Lord’s Wood, with far more chat than walk, but the weather was beautiful, the company was good and the scenery not too shabby at all. There was also a little touch of mystery to make me think.
Continue reading Good news, bad news and hide and seek
For months Kim and I had been training hard for the Clarendon Marathon. We’d been out in all weathers, mostly wet, walking miles and miles to prepare ourselves for what lay ahead. Of course, neither of us really knew what lay ahead, except that it would be hilly, or at least the last part would be. What I wasn’t prepared for though, was a horrible cold, striking me in the week leading up to the big day. In an attempt to get rid of it quickly I took tons of Lemsip and had lots of sleep and rest but, when the big day arrived, I felt dreadful and it was clear my cold was going nowhere fast.
Continue reading The Clarendon Marathon debacle
Last summer Commando and a group of friends tried kayaking for the first time. They had a whale of a time and all agreed they should make kayaking trips a regular thing. Various pieces of equipment were purchased, including a wetsuit. There was even some talk about buying a kayak. Somehow though, getting everyone together at the same time when the weather and the tides were right proved impossible. Today Commando decided to grasp the last gasp of this summer and go alone.
Continue reading Another kayak adventure
The route for our ten mile Clarendon Marathon training walk was an obvious one, at least to me. The midpoint between my house and Kim’s is Woodmill so we arranged to meet there at eight o’clock this morning. Eight might seem a little early on a Sunday morning for most people but, given the heatwave we’ve been experiencing, starting early, before it got too hot, seemed the sensible thing to do. Besides, Rob and Commando had gone out at silly o’clock for a run so we were both awake anyway.
Continue reading Ten miles, cygnets and coffee
Now the Million Steps challenge has officially started so every day I’m walking a long loop to the shops rather than going straight up the hill. There are a few variations to choose from, each adding both distance and time to my walks. Some days though, time is at a premium. This was the case on Wednesday. Commando was taking advantage of the hot, dry weather by painting the decking and I was supposed to be helping. To save time, I did a dash straight up the hill and back again, stopping only to snap a couple of pretty flowers along the way. The steps I lost from not taking a long loop were more than made up by all the steps I got painting decking though.
Continue reading The Million Steps Challenge Squeezing in the steps