I’m having a go at writing two novels simultaneously. This is the kind of thing that UK writer Simon Turney does with consummate ease and copious cups of coffee. I am not that mad on coffee and the process does make me feel a tad schizoid.
Still, there we go…
The other day, I was surprised to hear someone refer to me historically as ‘the weather girl’ and as it has always done, it frustrated me. That my small career on TV and radio was reduced to that description with its cliched connotations. You know the sort I mean – blonde bimbo, plastic fantastic and with no concept of how weather really works. I know – silly of me to get wangled about the term, but there you go.
I’m taking a leaf out of one of my favourite blogs, https://thecraftycreek.com
Every week, Margaret from Yorkshire has a meander round her garden and I love watching the seasons dance through the various corners of her landscape.
She does many other things as her week progresses and much of it resonates with my own interests but in this instance, I’m taking a Wednesday Wander through my city garden as I take a break from editing Michael.
‘The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea.’
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Life sometimes makes me anxious.
I’m sure it makes everyone anxious. But the one place I feel content, free and at peace is in, on or by the sea. I wish Mum was still alive so that I could ask her how old I was when I was introduced to the sea.
When did I learn to swim? My memories go back to a time when I could swim and dive, perhaps I was six. After that, the memories come thick and fast…
As a writer of historical fiction, one appreciates all the grand historical times – the Greeks, Romans, Dark Age Britain, Vikings, Byzantines, Renaissance. Sweeping, glorious stories that are the stepping stones of the world as we know it today.
But sometimes, history is miniscule. And personal.
“Spin doctor (noun) (informal):
a spokesperson employed to give a favourable interpretation of events to the media…”
And so we saw Tassal’s corporate engagement chief, Barbara McGregor, doing exactly that as she conducted a media tour over the salmon farm site in Okehampton Bay.
I first met Kelly Gardiner during the organisation of the Historical Novel Society of Australasia Conference happening in Melbourne in the first week of September.
One of the nice things for me about this conference, has been touching base with writers in Australia and New Zealand because, to date, most of my professional relationships have been with European and American hist.fict and hist.fantasy writers.
Kelly is appearing on a panel about why we authors write about far-flung shores, why we bypass our homeland in favour of other places.
Kelly accepted my invitation to appear on Desert Island Books and I leave you with she and her rather wonderful list.
Earlier this year, I was asked to join a panel of authors to discuss exploring stories beyond our national boundaries and why we chose to write about times and places far from Australasia.
I’d never really navel-gazed about my predilection for twelfth century Europe. To me, it just was. When I wrote about Venice, Lyon or Constantinople, bells rang – sounds ranging from soft tintinnabulation to reverberating tocsins, and that was all that was required.
My Mum died two years ago this weekend at the age of 89 and ¾’s. And before the wind and rain arrived, I went to her healing place on the beach and remembered her.
