There's a Hurricane coming, let's go out for the day...

The weather forecast has been quite definite that today we would be hit by Hurricane Bertha bringing a months' worth of rain in a day. 

Let's plan a day out!

The 3 of us are all members of the National Trust and enjoy a day out at a large house with lots to look at and beautiful grounds for a walk. We decided to find somewhere that would have lots to look at indoors, due to the forecast. An hours drive would take us to Belton House, on the outskirts of Grantham. the house looked large and to have lots of rooms to walk around, along with a cafe. If we got chance to have a walk, it would be a bonus.

It rained constantly all morning, and the drive there was limited to 50mph with wipers on double speed. We expected to be the only ones daft enough to be out on the roads, but they were reasonably busy and more surprising there were plenty of cars parked at Belton House when we arrived.

First stop, the cafe...

The rain was beginning to slow down so we were hopeful that it would stop by the time we'd had a coffee. And when we came out, it had, so we deciced to take advantage and walk down to the boat house by the lake. It looked so pretty, even with the stormy sky and the sound of thunder.

We headed back towards the house and the rain continued to stay away, so we decided to visit the church and Orangery before heading inside.

The gardens were holding up surprising well in view of the deluge earlier and the dahlias looked very impressive.

The sun continued to stay with us as we wandered around the gardens

Although the sky looked better in one direction than the other.

We even took a risk on trying our hand at the maze. It didn't look high enough to get stuck, but we did make a wrong turn or two before finding our way to the centre where we found this little chap, Bertie Brownlow.

The greyhound was a favourite of the Brownlow family and can be spotted throughout Belton, represented in guilded plasterwork, sculpture, floor painting, wrought ironwork and now in willow. Bertie Brownlow was created for Belton by local weaver Alison Walling.

Finally, we decided to head to the house and had a wonderful walk around a very impressive house, fabulous rooms and well worth a visit.

They have a special exhibition of silverware, and while I am not a fan of silver I have to admit that some of the pieces were truly fabulous.

The rain even stayed away for our drive home, so I am really pleased we took the risk to go rather than stay indoors. 

For further information on Belton House see

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/belton-house/

The Plan is Working...

Two more nights and the read through of 22 chapters is complete. Before going to bed last night the folder was closed, the work area set and the laptop opened ready for work. 

The plan is for my alarm to wake me at 6am, allowing time to shower, have breakfast and get everything ready for work, I was sat at my laptop ready to type by 7am. That gives me a good hour to work.

I had already started working on chapter 23, and a quick scan through the first page and I was back on track with the story so far. I haven't written a sentence in over 4 months, it seemed strange to be sitting back at the keyboard waiting for words to emerge. 

Over the last few months my laptop has been used daily, for all kinds of things, checking emails, searching Google, playing games... so it's not as if I didn't know where the keys were, but sitting down to write creatively is very different. There has to be structure, there has to be continuing plot, there has to be a consistent writing style. It is a task you learn and I certainly have learned that the more you do the easier it becomes, the brain does seem to learn the process. 

I soon got back into the flow and in the hour have managed to write 1,800 words. The story has progressed and as I break to go and do my day job, I feel the plan to get back to writing has worked.

The break from writing has given me some distance from my book and re-reading it was a good way to re-connect. As I read the story it felt fresh again and as I read it, I realised I was actually enjoying the story, and that gives me hope that others will too.

For now, the hardest part is yet to come. The ending. So important to finish a story with a good ending, a believable ending, an ending that leaves the reader wanting to read more, a second, third book.

I am fortunate, I have the ending all planned out in my head, I have the skeleton of the ending mapped out on my timeline, my big, black notebook - a large A3 artists pad where every idea, thought, new discovery is jotted down. A notebook that is frequently referred to, all my characters are in there, all the plans to the city... 

It is all there, waiting to be converted into the final few chapters.

For now, that's where it needs to remain until I have done another day at the office. The work of a first time author has to be fitted in around a normal daily life schedule. I do not have the luxury of saying writing is my job, I just have the dream that I will be able to say that one day, in the future.

Getting back to writing...

Writing is a discipline, it's a task to apply yourself to, it doesn't happen without effort or planning.

My writing was interrupted for several months, and all the timescales for completion and publishing have passed and the the final few chapters have still to be written.

Sometimes circumstances change and the ability to think creatively isn't there, but I feel I'm ready to move my life forward rather than dwell on the past. I cannot change the past. I can, however, change my future. I can allow week after week to drift or I can knuckle down and start to work again.

I have decided it is time to knuckle down. Time to set new timescales for completion and publication. 

I probably last wrote anything significant in February. I have written over 200 pages, I am halfway through Chapter 22. I have only 3 or 4 more chapters to write to complete the first draft.

Come on, girl, there is too much work done to leave it all behind.

This week I planned my weekend. Saturday would be a day to do all my jobs around the house leaving Sunday free. It would begin again Sunday... TODAY!

I have actually missed writing, missed seeing my story come together, missed my characters interacting but my brain was too fuzzy to see the story. Once I had planned to start again today, I found plot lines beginning to form days ahead of my target start date.

So, my plan for today was to have a day out, away from the house, away from the temptation to just do a few more jobs before sitting down and starting work. It seems such a long time since I worked on my book that the first thing I needed to do was to re-read what has already been committed to paper. And yes, although it is all done on my laptop, I really have it all printed out. It gives me a sense of how much work I have done, I find a sense of achievement seeing the folder grow thicker and I find it easier to work through to edit, proofread and generally add ideas. 

I have moved house recently and need a new local National Trust place to visit, somewhere without the memories of my previous life. I chose Hardwick Hall, the home of Bess of Hardwick. It's only a couple of junctions down the motorway, takes about 15 minutes (when you don't go the wrong way... but that's another story). 

I knew it would be busy today, we are still in the midst of a very hot, sunny English summer. I chose not to take my big camera, that was not the purpose of today. Today was about re-connecting with my book. The plan was to find a nice corner and settle myself down with a cappuccino and my manuscript and to spend some me time reading my creation. Due to the 45 minute journey I had, I was ready for a coffee as soon as I arrived and headed straight for the restaurant. Even though it was almost noon, there were plenty of tables outside, with or without shade and I settled myself down and began to read. I lost track of time, and when I finally glanced up I realised all the tables around me had filled up. My backside felt a little numb and I decided it would be good to take a break, have a walk and see some of the house.

There are 2 houses at Hardwick, one ruin and one complete. I walked over to the ruin first and took the audio tour. It was remarkably interesting and the views from the top of the old hall were stunning, due to the clear weather. 

From the old hall, you can look across to the new hall, an impressive building designed to portray Bess's wealth and standing in society. When Mary, Queen of Scots took refuge in England, Queen Elizabeth the first saw her as a threat to the throne of England and so she detained under the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess (of Hardwick).

History lesson over, I promise. Any of you wanting to know more can Google Hardwick Hall and Bess of Hardwick.

Walking around the new hall was fascinating, it was opened in 1597 and it occurred to me as I walked around that it was probably very similar to the stately homes and palaces of Charles II, the time of the plague and the setting for my book, (1665). I felt a real connection with my novel as I wandered from room to room, visualising my characters there. I could not have chosen a better place for my visit.

Having completed my walk around the house I spent the next hour wandering around the gardens, seeing the splendour of the hall along the lawned avenue

And, as I wandered through the wooded paths came across this little folly in the base of a tree ... no explanation, just very cute.

Just goes to show you need to explore everywhere.

Walk over, houses explored I headed back to the restaurant for a further coffee and a chance to read a few more chapters.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day, I began to enjoy my book again and started to feel ready to write more. I am about halfway through reading it, and have already found a couple of inconsistencies, so more has been achieved than just re-familiarising myself with the story so far...

Now, my mind is buzzing and my fingers are itching... more coffee and several more chapters to read before I can start work, time to get the frothy coffee on.

Watch this space, my target now is to have this published in time for the Christmas market.

So THAT'S how it works!

While dividing up the furniture and bits and bobs as we went our separate ways, there was some logic in me having the Spanish washing machine, on the basis I learnt a bit of spanish when we lived over there some years ago, so would be able to work out what all the programs did.

Or, that was the logic.

I remember we did our research well when we bought the washing machine in Spain, and that it was a) a good one and b) hardly used as we bought it only a few months before moving back to the UK. Since then it has been in storage, just over 4 years.

I made sure I did a full wash before I packed everything to move, so having been in my new home for a little more than a week I had accumulated enough clothes to be ready to do a wash.

Clothes in washer, detergents in drawer it came time to turn it on, and that's where the fun began.

There is a function to delay the wash on a timer by either 3, 6 or 9 hours and no matter what buttons I pressed it seemed that it was always on delay. It would not start to fill with water. No matter what logic I applied, I couldn't get it started. I tried every combination of buttons and then suddenly the water started to flow... it was working... and I had no idea what I had pressed to make it happen.

Since then I have done a couple more loads, each time getting it to work after pressing a host of buttons and never knowing which button combination made it work.

So tonight I decided it was time to work it out. Logging on to the internet to find a manual, I found a full manual in pdf format and downloaded it... it came in either Spanish, Basque and 2 other languages I couldn't identify, but definitely not in English. I could, apparently, order an English copy from some website for 14 euros if I wanted to wait for 24 hours. No, I need my clothes washing now, please.

Scrolling through the spanish manual on line I noticed a series of diagrams... and they looked just like the controls on my washing machine. Working through them I identified which button should make it start. I pressed it...

Nothing.

I turned the dial and pressed it again...

Nothing.

I turned it off and turned it back on, selected my program and pressed it...

Nothing.

Back at the diagrams I checked - there was no other button to press, it had to be that one.

Back at the washing machine I repeated all previous steps, how difficult can it be?

Then, the penny dropped, or rather the water flowed. I was pressing the right button, just not for the right number of seconds. There is a child safety feature on it, you have to press and hold for 3 seconds and hey presto...

I have the lovely sounds of clothes tumbling in soapy water.

Now, what's my next challenge?

Race for Life, Sheffield June 2014

When I first thought about joining the crowd at this year's Race for Life several months ago, it seemed a long way on the future. I have never joined in anything like this and felt it was high time I did. The day arrived all too quickly and today the sun shone, the crowds gathered and 5,000 women donned pink T-shirts and race numbers and ran, jogged and walked the 5km around Meadowhall.

We were walking, as were over half of the field, so we were towards the back of the crowd and took over 10 minutes to reach the start line. The four of us all had our bunny ears, so we could find each other, (Sue is taking the photo) and we managed to walk the 5km in just under and hour.

It was quite warm and we were happy to see this.

Well done everyone who took part, everyone that helped organise it and everyone who stood and applauded our efforts. 

A fun event to join in.

I have a plan but shhhh... don't tell anyone!

After discovering that my book title had been used, I have spent the last couple of weeks cogitating.

And it's worked... I have a new title. My illustrator will re-design my cover and work can proceed...

But, it'll stay under wraps for now, don't want to risk this happening again.

In the meantime, I have a new timescale - end of September publication.

That should give me time to promote it ready to become a Christmas present for all those people who don't know what to get someone...

Watch this space!

The Wrong Colour...

I like blue, my bathroom is duck egg blue, I have a number of blue items in my wardrobe.

I like blue.

I have blue liquid soap, it gives an aura of cleanliness, antiseptic... maybe I believe what is on the label.

I have blue disinfectant, it makes me believe those germs have been obliterated.

So why do I have trouble with blue shampoo?

I use a lot of the Herbal Essences range, I like their shampoo. I am currently using this one and I struggle. It has coconut, which is white, and vanilla, which is cream... so why is it blue?

It feels like I am washing my hair in antiseptic hand-wash. I thought it was the bottle that was blue, but it's not, it's the shampoo.

My hair feels good after use, it is just the perception. The bottle fits my colour scheme, but the shampoo pushes my boundaries of putting a blue lotion on my hair.

So it will remain on the shelf as part of the accessories and I will return to my trusted cream coloured shampoo, and then all will be well in my little world again.

Now, I wonder what else is the wrong colour...

The Case of the Missing Birthday Card.

So, OK, this is just a way of publicising that today is my birthday in order to remind anyone who has forgotten, and for those who did remember, thank you for your cards and birthday greetings.

I had 4 cards to open this morning, more expected from the postman's visit later. I opened them over breakfast and, as I had an errand to run first thing, I stood them all neatly on top of the boom box speaker next to the TV cabinet.

Errand run, I returned home to find Brandy laid on his blanket with one of my birthday cards next to him, the corner having been nibbled away (both my dogs have always enjoyed eating cardboard, but seemed to have given up the habit over the last year or 2)

I delicately retrieved it from him, so as not to upset him too much and went to replace it, when I realised how carefully he had removed it from the top of the speaker box as the other cards remained in place, undisturbed...

Or so I thought...

It didn't take me long to count the multitude of cards and re-count to identify that there were only 2 left standing, the half-nibbled one in my hand made 3...

One was missing.

I scoured around the speaker box to see if it had fallen down the side or behind the tv cabinet... nothing.

I checked all the bed areas we have for the dogs, behind the settee, in the kitchen, under the dining table...nothing.

The only conclusion I can reach is that card number 1 has been eaten in its entirety, not a morsel, a corner, a scrap of evidence remains to say the card even existed. Had I not opened it myself, I would have questioned it's very existence.

So, thank you Shirley & Keith, I did receive my card, read it and enjoy the picture... but it is no more.

Brandy is now snoozing happily with a full tummy.

On the other hand I did get a bit of a surprise when I turned on my computer this morning and found that Google were wishing me a happy birthday... Is there anything they don't know about us?

Have a Great Day Everyone, I know I'm going to.

Oh Bu**er!

It was always possible, but I thought I'd done enough to deter someone using the same title.

I had an idea for a title for the series of children's books I am working on. I set up the website with a holding page to keep both the .co.uk and .com web addresses away from others. I set up a Facebook page knowing that anyone searching to see if there was anything out there with the same title, they would hopefully be deterred from using it.

Unfortunately, it would seem all that was to no avail. Personal circumstances have delayed the completion of my first novel and in the meantime someone else has published using the same title I had come up with. 

The story is very different although also features a dog, the covers could not be more different and the style of writing is quite different...

BUT...

I cannot help but feel very disappointed. Having searched the internet to ensure I was not duplicating a title, as recommended by various writing sites, to have this happen is really, well, disappointing.

It IS possible someone else came up with the same title, purely through creativity, it is possible someone landed on my website and as my book was not yet published, decided to use it. I'll never know. Maybe they haven't done the same research into the publishing scene and taken on the same thought process. 

What is sure is that I cannot change what has happened, and so time for a brainstorming session. I still have the domain names and websites, but these days more and more people rely on Facebook and so that may not be an issue for this other writer.

I now need to move on and find a new series name, have the book cover re-designed...

... and get the book finished, published and out there.

Personal issues? Move over, they will have to take a back seat... I have a goal and I have a plan.

Now all I need is a title!

Certificate of Completion

In answer to a recent query asking if the writing course is accredited, please see the logo at the bottom left corner,   IAO and check out their website

 http://www.iao.org/lp/academicaccreditation/about-us.asp  for further information.

Being ruthless...

I have decided it really is time to be ruthless with my collection of books, mainly paperbacks but a number of hardbacks too. I love books. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kindle too, but there is something about a room with lots of shelves filled with lots of books. Maybe in a former life I was a Librarian, that would have been seriously fitting to my love of books. 

I would spend hours browsing in a bookstore, moving from section to section trying to work out whether I was in the mood for a Thriller, or a Romance, whether I wanted fact or fiction. Someone's life story or a Fantasy novel to whisk me away for a few hours. I would buy books as I found them, storing them safely on my bookcase for later. I have unread books that will soon be celebrating their 10th anniversary.

I have lost count of the number of times I have packed my books into cardboard boxes to move from one house to another, one country to another, the weight alone telling of the amount of trees I am responsible for no longer growing in the forests.

I am about to move house again and I refuse to carry this volume of books once more, so today I decided I would look at options for reducing the number on my shelves. I have vowed to only take one bookcase with me. 5 shelves is all I will have. I have already promised the other bookcases to other homes, I am committed to being ruthless...

There are a number of options available to me. I could give them to a charity shop, but a few I have asked don't really want them, they have plenty already and don't have room to store them. I know if I asked further afield I would find someone to take them, but I thought I would see what other options are available to me. I wondered about finding a 2nd hand book shop who may buy them from me in bulk. There are the websites that you can sell books, dvd's etc and among these I found www.greenmetropolis.com an online charity bookstore. I decided to fetch a few from my bookshelf, pop the ISBN numbers into the various websites and see what came back.

As anyone who reads books knows, the ISBN is on the back cover. So is the blurb about the book.

And that's where the problem began. As I looked at the small pile of 6 books I had chosen at random, I realised not one of them had been read, the spines were perfect, the pages were pristine. I turned the first one over and began to read to synopsis... and actually, it sounded pretty good, so I decided I would hang on to it to read at some later date, and moved on to the next one which also sounded good enough to hang on to.

Several minutes later all 6 books were back on the shelf to be kept for a later date and I was pulling the large dictionary from the shelf to check the meaning of the word 'ruthless'.

Hodsock Priory - Snowdrop Time

Last year I visited Hodsock Priory to take photos of the snowdrops in the woods. In order to get a reduced price entry ticket I went online and became a friend of Hodsock. They haven't sent many promotional emails throughout the year so I hadn't thought about it being snowdrop time again until I opened an email from them asking for volunteers. 

'Why not,' I thought. Wages were poor, well none, but I got tea & coffee and lunch for free and 2 free entry tickets. So, I kept a close eye on the weather and I was really pleased to see that the day I had chosen to volunteer for was forecast to be really good.

Last Sunday I reported for duty and waited for the other volunteers to arrive. While I waited I was introduced to George Buchanan, the owner of the house and his father, Sir Andrew Buchanan, a real live Baronet and a real old fashioned gentleman. 

The role of us volunteers was varied and during the day I did everything from fetching more milk cartons, helping direct traffic in the car park (field) and pestering people about their visit. Oh, and whenever passing, checking the loos to make sure there was enough loo paper.

The weather was glorious and after several wet and windy days it seemed everyone had decided to take advantage of the lovely spring sunshine. There were coach loads of people plus so many cars. The tea tent and woodland cafe were soon crowded and the few volunteers were rushed off our feet. 4 hours flew by and before I knew it my day volunteering was over.

So, today I returned as a visitor to use one of my free tickets and to take some photos. The carpet of woodland snowdrops seemed better this year than last, although individual clumps were past their best, but I found a few.

There is a woodland cafe in the woods, with a real live bonfire for you to sit around while you tuck in to bacon butties and hot, steaming coffee and every afternoon the owner of the Priory, George, does a talk on the history of the Priory, which is really interesting. Firstly, the Priory has never been a real life Priory. It was previously just known as Hodsock, but when Ann Chambers took over she added the word Priory to make the property seem more important.

Secondly, Henry VIII visited in 1541 and you can imagine his entourage entering through the gate house, which looks lovely against the spring sky.

Lots of people stopped to talk to me while I was doing my photo, and i met some really nice people.  

After a couple of hours I took a break, settling myself on a wooden bench across the lake watching everyone milling around when I was aware of a group of people helping a man to the bench next to me. He had, unfortunately, fallen into the lake while taking a photograph and had hit his head on something, which had left quite a large mark. He had lost his camera in the lake and seemed very shocked by the accident, but we all rallied round and got help. The paramedics came and took him to be checked over, poor man. Hopefully, he is okay, but it certainly cut his visit short.

So, another enjoyable day out with my camera.

One step closer

Back in December I mentioned in a post that I was due to meet with an illustrator, who would hopefully work on my book cover. I had a basic idea of what I wanted but as someone with no artistic ability it was always going to need some clever adaptation to bring it to life as it was in my mind's eye.

The referral came via a friend of a friend. Having checked out his work on his website, I liked the illustrations so arranged a meeting in the run up to Christmas.

Having outlined my story, my target reader and my main characters he asked if I had any ideas on what I wanted from an illustration and this is where I got a little bashful. Hubby and I had done a Blue Peter style mock up, with dogs that looked more like badly drawn horses stuck onto a background that needed a lot of explanation. I was quite nervous at the thought of putting this in front of a professional but in for a penny...

Thankfully, he didn't laugh, well not out loud at least. He talked through a few ideas and then started to sketch and, within a couple of minutes, he had a very recognisable picture of what I had outlined. He got my concept.

Armed with little more than my thoughts and a quick outline sketch we concluded the meeting and he said he would start work in the New Year and would send me an initial draft through soon.

Sure enough, early in January I received the first draft by email. It didn't 'wow' me. It was in black and white, bits worked and bits didn't. I took comments from family and friends who I trust, and then fed back my comments to the illustrator.

A second draft came back and while I found it difficult to visualise in colour, I did like the basic image.

A few more days wait and I saw the first colour print of my book cover. It brought a whole new set of issues, the balance of colours, the proportions... but there were elements that were absolutely spot on.

More feedback. A request for information and images for the back cover and a few more days wait.

Then today I received an email with both the front and back cover, full cover 

and I love it.

No more tweaking, no more changes, I have my book cover. Another stage in the process is complete.

Definitely worth using a professional.

And for now, a thank you to all who have commented on the illustration to get it to completion but for now, the final version shall remain under wraps.

So exciting.

I love these...

I have had some very nice gifts this Christmas, but sometimes you get a gift that really is special and this was mine...

I especially like the 2 Cavi's on the right... it's a Salt & Pepper set

So cute!

Starting the New Year with a Lazy Day

I spotted a stark reminder that Christmas is over this morning as I walked into the kitchen and flicked the switch on the kettle for my first coffee of the day. Sitting on my plate rack at the sink were 3 dinner plates where normally there are only 2, left to drain after washing up from our New Year's Eve dinner and the large jar of Nescafe is staring back at me from its home in the cupboard, having spent the last week on the kitchen worktop. A reminder that yesterday my brother was here, visiting from his home a few hours away and today he is back home. 

The week has flown by so quickly, yet I have some lovely memories to keep. On Christmas Day night we got together with my other brother, sister-in-law and nephew to work off the excesses of Christmas with a few party games. We had a lot of fun  and laughter, especially while playing a protracted game of Jenga... only to find out we had invented our own rules. 

Boxing Day found us at the local cinema watching Hobbit 2. It was obviously a good film as the time passed in a flash and left us a little disappointed at the thought that we now have 12 months to wait for the final film in the trilogy. It was an enjoyable way to spend Boxing Day rather than pushing my way through crowds at the Christmas sales.

I've done a lot of walking this holiday, sometimes with the dogs at Clumber Park & Cresswell Crags, and sometimes with my camera at:

Thoresby Hall 

and Newstead Abbey

And yes, the skies really were that blue.

We normally spend New Year's Eve at home with the dogs and last night was no different. I like to find a good film that we haven't seen before and settle down for a cosy night after the excesses of Christmas. Several weeks ago I had recorded the 2012 film Les Miserables - the musical version. I first watched a version of the film with Liam Neeson, (but no singing) about 6 months ago as I felt I really should know the story and the characters and really enjoyed it so last night we turned on the surround sound, dimmed the lights and sat back to enjoy the musical version that was such a hit.

Before we knew it the end credits were rolling and Brinkley was barking at the sound of some early midnight fireworks. As neither of our dogs are bothered by fireworks I suggested we take them for a late night walk and see the New Year in doing what we spend so much of our time doing, walking our dogs. It was actually really nice to be wrapped up nice and warm, walking around the estate looking at all the houses festooned with Christmas lights and then seeing the fireworks start up as midnight struck. The only thing that would have added to the occasion would have been a layer of white, clean snow on the ground and large flakes drifting down ... that's how it would have been in the movies anyway... 

And so, today is day 9 of my Christmas break. It's the final day of my holiday, tomorrow I return to work along with many more. At this point I could eulogise about how privileged I am to have a job when many do not, (including some of my friends) but I'm not going to, (although I am... pleased to have a job!)

I am simply going to say A Very Happy New Year to all... I hope 2014 is good to you and you each get to achieve at least one of your lifetime ambitions, (what do you mean you don't have a list of lifetime ambitions... Quick, go make one!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR