Tag: Annie Whitehead

Shelving books…

September 15, 2018

House is tiny.

It’s a small dwelling that was put together in fits and starts, bits added as the original owners decided they could afford it. It’s quaint, every room is on a different level and the rooms are small, but it is so perfectly idiosyncratic and the place just spoke to us when it was put up for sale 31 years ago by the original owner.

We renovated six  years ago and opted to remove the old wood-heater because we knew that in our old age, the last thing we wanted to be doing was carting wood and dealing with the ash, dust and mess that is a wood-burner, despite the obvious charm of flame and wood.

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Feeding the muse…

December 26, 2017

Writing can be so demanding that it swallows one whole.

One can spend days sequestered with the doors firmly shut against the world. Even a day’s writing can leave one tired, eye-sore, with fog on the brain. We writers can look up from the computer, see family members and say, ‘Wha…, huh? Who are you?’

It’s a double life. One has mistresses, lovers, enemies and friends that no member of the family has any idea about. A secret life…I tell you, spooks and MI 6 have nothing on a writer.

So how do we anchor ourselves in reality and at the same time, fuel our creative fires? Inspired by Writers’ Unboxed, I decided I’d ask a few writer friends what they do to unwind and yet fuel their creative fires…

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Desert Island Books goes back to the Dark Ages…

March 19, 2017

I ‘met’ Annie online  last year and rapidly became a fan of her work and her informed blogposts on Dark Age history. We share something of a love of light and life and Annie has humour that appeals. It was only natural then that I invite her to be my first guest on Desert Island Books so that we can learn more about the Inner Annie (try saying that fast!). She admits to cheating but I don’t mind. Over to Annie and her Top Ten…

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NEW Desert Island Books!

March 6, 2017

Okay!  It’s not a new idea. In fact it’s been done everywhere. But I find I like reading what people would take to an island to sustain them…

I like listening to Desert Island Discs too – wondering whether, if the island is truly a desert island, they dance to the music, conduct a symphony orchestra, play air guitar truly fortissimo – and all without being embarrassed! And I wonder if the music would be a solace, soothing ebbing spirits as passing days get notched into the trunk of the obligatory palm tree.

But back to the books…

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