January is done and dusted!
And what have we accomplished?
‘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…
This year is flying and sometimes I just want to grab it and say slow down. Other times, I grab it by the shirt tails and hold on for my life!
Thankfully, writing is not just sitting in draughty garrets with guttering candles and quills worn to stubs and ideas fluttering to the floor like so much rubbish.
Good things come one’s way…
It’s a rainy day today.
My garden needs this, especially the herbs and veg which were considering turning their rooty toes up. Today, they are spritely and beaming at me as I look out the window.
More than any other year, this summer has given me a plethora of veggies in the garden and so I invested in the River Cottage Veg Book. And have we been eating flavoursome food?!
Pickling walnuts. Imagine a slab of sourdough, some fruit chutney (maybe apple and almond or fig and onion) some delicious aged cheddar that bites one’s tongue and pickled walnuts on the top. A thing of joy!
Gosh! What a year it has been!
And how fast it has flown!
I wonder sometimes if it’s an age thing, that time flies because one is on the downhill run…
Thoughts for the new book are coming together.
I feel like a detective placing clues on a board. Some shout louder than others but somewhere in what I am looking at, a storyline is emerging. The legend of the Fox Spirit is whispering particularly loudly. Readers might remember her appearance in The Shifu Cloth. …
I was listening to a well-known Australian writer on the radio this afternoon.
She was talking about her latest release – a story taking place in WWI. Woven into the story is a tin of chocolate.
This writer is adept at marketing and promotion. To entice readers to her Meets and Greets, she had a chocolate made by an Australian chocolatier to give to trusty fans. And to make it even more special, the chocolate is blended with blackberry which is the name of the heroine’s horse.
And in a previous novel about perfume, WWI and France, she had a special French perfume blended and readers were invited to buy the limited edition.
Inspired marketing? Yes, I believe it’s very clever…
My Office was inspired by that consummate commentator on all things indie, Joanna Penn, who wrote a post this last week on ‘Behind the Scenes Tools’...
