Tag: writing

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2022: Snapshots of my year (Part 3)

July

It got mighty hot! OB and I took a trip to Hereford on the bus to hear a concert in the Three Choirs Festival. It felt like going to another country. Well, of course that was literally true!

Church Street, Hereford

August

By mid-month the weather broke. Phew!

Walking in the rain

September

Went to South-West France to look after a second-hand English bookshop for a week with my friend Katsy. Loved it!

Two Go Mad in Tarn-et-Garonne

Lots of good walking with friends over this period, though not in the blistering heat, when I sat in the shade in the garden and read. Did no writing and didn’t worry about it. And – major excitement – an agent asked to read my novel!

Find out what happened next in Part 4 – coming on New Year’s Eve.

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2022: Snapshots of my year (Part 2)

April

OB and I had a short holiday in Dorset. We stayed in a wooden cabin surrounded by woods. Walked, read, ate and slept. Just what we needed.

On Golden Cap

May

The year blossomed, in our garden and others too. We visited old haunts, met old neighbours.

Open garden in Harry Stoke

June

Had another little holiday, at one of our favourite places, in West Wales. The weather was variable. We watched a lot of Wimbledon which – fortunately – we love.

Visiting the pigs in the rain

I also had some lovely walks closer to home over this period. In writing news, I got onto the Long Longlist of the Cheshire Prize, which was very good news, and meant that my work would – later in the year – be included in an agent showcase. Very exciting!

Parts 3 and 4 follow next week.

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2022: Snapshots of my year (Part 1)

January

The year began for me with some good walking, including regular Monday morning walks up the Deri with my friend Mary. I calculated I’d done more than 30 miles on the hills by the end of January.

Horses breaking the ice on the dew pond on the Deri to get a drink

February

Plenty more walks, in between periods of stormy weather.

Sign of a Welsh trig point

March

By March daffies were out and trees budding. But OB and I both caught Covid. Neither of us was very ill but the tiredness put paid to walking for a while.

Ladybird on medlar

All this time I was editing my circus novel, Thistles in the Cirrus. That was the focus of my writing. Such flashes that I got published – Big Top in Roi Fainéant Press in February and That Yellow Bedspread in the Flash Fiction Festival Anthology, Volume Four in March, were extracts from the draft novel. Over this period I also entered the first chapters into a number of novel competitions.

Read what happened next in Part 2, coming on Christmas Eve!

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The importance of taking a break

We all need to recharge our batteries from time to time. To take a holiday. But you don’t necessarily need to go away from home to do this; you just need to change your routine.

For a writer, taking a break is important. Take your brain elsewhere for a bit.

I’m taking a break from writing fiction during August. My draft novel is out with beta readers, so it’s a perfect time for me to do something else. Okay, I have one flash fiction story to edit and one review to write. But otherwise I shall be reading, walking and attempting to teach myself to play the mandolin.

Happy August, everyone!

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I’m Author of the Month!

Remiss of me not to post this sooner, as July is rushing to its end. But better late than never.

I’m Author of the Month for July with Welsh Libraries.

Read their interview with me here.

It’s lovely to get more coverage for my book In the Sweep of the Bay, and also to do my little bit to encourage more young people to read. Our public library service is a treasure for children and adults alike. Use it or lose it!

Meanwhile, you can still buy In the Sweep of the Bay direct from the publisher, Louise Walters Books, or from any good bookshop.

My first book, The Plankton Collector, is also still available, and Waterstones currently have it on offer in their sale at just £2!

Happy summer reading, everyone!

Disclaimer: Not a book by me!