TGIF…
After a busy week in the Big Smoke, I’m so glad it is Friday…
Mizzle and drizzle. Rain and showers. Fog and mist. Easterly waves and wind.
This has been going on for nearly nine days.
I know I should be glad, being a good farmer’s wife and all, but the truth is I hate it…
I’ve been invited by Tinney S Heath, author the wonderfully crafted A Thing Done, (winner of the 2013 Sharp Writ Award) to take part in a Main Character Blog Tour.
My main character was launched onto the world two books ago but is currently make her presence felt as I finish the last novel in a trilogy. Read on…
To everyone who has enjoyed The Gisborne Saga to date:
Have a wonderful Easter Holiday!
(original image of Guy of Gisborne,BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions)
I was asked by historical fiction writer Ann Swinfen to be part of a Writing Process Blog Tour this week. Ann is a superbly elegant writer of literary and historical fiction. Formally a mainstream writer, she has now taken her backlist to the writing public independently and added to it with Flood, a stunning book on the politics of humanity in the 17th century Fens and with The Testament of Mariam which is a sensitively handled novel, poignant and crafted, about Jesus’s sister. You can read about Ann’s writing process here. http://www.annswinfen.com/column
So often people ask why I’ve written a saga about Guy of Gisborne and not Robin Hood, Arthur, Abelard, Tristan or any of the many others from legend and history. So perhaps I need to place it more fully in black and white.
It’s ready, it’s on the shelves!!!!
‘Once Lady Ysabel Ce Courcey had thought that if she had been a trobairitz, she might have written a song about herself – her courage in the face of adversity that would have had the men and women in any noble hall sighing as they listened.
The hardest thing for me to do as a writer is to say goodbye to the story. Once its written, once it has made its way from the brain, through the fingers, to the computer, and even though there is more work to come with edits, I find leaving the characters behind exceptionally hard.
The cover for the second book in The Gisborne Saga was launched this week.
I was always a fan of the BBC’s Robin Hood and after they had brought Gisborne to his ugly demise, I wondered what would have happened to him had his cards fallen another way. The idea took shape and I decided to write about a different Guy of Gisborne entirely, far from the original canon of the Robin Hood legend. Despite the fact that the saga is still situated within the twelfth century, there is no Robin Hood in the story, no Maid Marian and no Sheriff of Nottingham. It was a risk, but with the support of readers, it is gaining traction. The interest of members of the Armitage Army – a phenomenal group of Richard Armitage fans – has been a huge motivation because they firmly hold the view that Gisborne is ‘So Not Dead’!
Yes, I have used the image previously, but seriously, how can I not use it again? ‘Specially as Easter will be spent writing the last 20,000 words of Gisborne: Book of Knights.
Happy egg hunting all, may your hunting partners be as … ‘nice’ as this one: