Can You Leap Back into your Writing Life?

Can you leap back? I’m not sure. I’m certainly striding forward in my hopes, dreams and aims for 2023. (see last post)

Two weeks ago I searched for the unfinished manuscript for the third in my Mystery Inspired by History Series. (I finished writing it in October 2020, in lockdown, at the time I was told that both of my parents had been taken into hospital.) Since then I have been unable to write creatively until now, and I know my parents would be encouraging me to get on with it, if they were still alive. It’s time.

I was suitable surprised to find that I had already written well over 50, 000 words. Almost certainly over half way! After the joy this discovery gave me, I set to work:

I Converted the Manuscript for Kindle

I converted the unfinished manuscript to epub (you don’t need Mobi anymore) on Calibre e book management Library (click on the picture above), and then sent it to my kindle using my kindle email address. If you don’t know your kindle email address, you can find it under Your Account on your device.

Now, I could read it at my leisure without printing out all of the document. My contribution to saving the planet’s resources,

Located my story notes

If, like me, you have numerous notebooks, and a poor memory especially after Covid, this can take a while. I have tried to write clearly on the front of each notebook what it contains. Anyway, I eventually found the right one and the notes which were conveniently listed it:

• Brief chapter outline
• Side by side how the story within a story links with the main chapters
• List and description of characters in both stories
• Rough plan of chapters still to be written
• Maps, which are the same as those in MISSING Past and Present

What to do and in what order?

Now I had all that I needed:

1. I read through my chapter notes carefully.
2. Next I read the last three chapters I’d written, on my kindle.
3. Then I acclimatized myself with the characters, trying to visualize each in my mind’s eye and even enjoyed pretend conversations with them, bringing each alive once more.
4. I took a deep breath, enjoying the quiet of the house,
5. … and then I started to write.
6. As easy as that.

It was fortunate that on Tuesday, when I knew my husband would be out of the house curling, (Yes, one of the lovely things about our life here in Scotland is the variety of activities we find ourselves participating in) the internet was down at home and so I had no distractions whatsoever.

At the end of the morning I was so surprised that I had written, 2,300 words.

I edited them on Wednesday and then this afternoon, when my husband was out with the Rotary judging the school children in their Burn’s Poetry Recital Competition, I managed to write another 1,000 words.

What has surprised me most is how easy it has been to absorb myself wholeheartedly in this imaginary world, which had laid dormant in the back of my mind for over 26 months. That’s remarkable isn’t it!

Personal Writing Hopes, Dreams and Plans for 2023

Looking Back before Moving Forward

Go Wide! ~ Looking at the goals I set out at this time last year and reflecting on what I have achieved.

~ I have gone wide with Murder Now and Then and it is now available on Kobo, Google and Apple ~ in fact so many more sites. Click on the link for options. It’s soooo clever!

Supporting Other Authors

This year has been my main focus for this year as Eventispress has become an Independent Publisher and three new authors have come into the fold. It is a hands on approach to publishing a book. I love being involved in the enthusiasm of other authors, focusing on their projects rather than my own. As one Christmas card said,

“Thank you for everything!

Your have changed my life!

I will always be grateful for that.

Very, very special lady!”

I was so touched by this message. It made my day; in fact it made my year.

Updating The Healing Paths of Fife

This was completed before Christmas with a new cover. I have received the proof copy so

watch this space!

So far £733 has been raised for local charities for the sale of The Healing Paths of Fife of which £367 has been given to Kirkcaldy Foodbank. I would like to thank readers so much for their generosity!

Prequel to Riduna

My parents wrote a prequel to Riduna; a novella. They struggled with conversation and when Mum and Dad had dementia I tried to stimulate them by working on the little book with them. In the end, the pandemic put a halt to this, but I would like to publish this little book in memory of them. I have been working on it, with a gentle touch, and hope for this to be published in 2023.

Watch this space too!

Other projects

For the third and final book in my Riduna series, I have revisited the lovely island of Alderney, reconnected my links with The Alderney Museum, for which I am truly grateful, and will begin the serious work on research in 2023.

As far as the third in my Mystery Inspired by History series, I have got no further than uploading the half written manuscript on my Kindle to refresh my memory, before putting a serious effort into completing it, beginning next Tuesday. I’m so looking forward to creatively writing again. It’s exciting!

Click on the book covers for a link for an e book or for Waterstones click here.

Yet again I have so much to be thankful for. It has been such a positive year.

What Inspires you to write? ~ Islands of Inspiration

Where do you find your inspiration to write? Does an idea just pop into your head or do you go searching for that ‘nugget of gold’?

This summer we visited several islands and from each one I experienced something different to inspire my writing life:

• Healing
• Value the Skills of the Author
• The Importance of Finishing Unfinished but Treasured Projects
• Living in the Here and Now
• Facing the Past
• Thankfulness

Sifnos ~ The Healing Sun, Warmth and Azure Skies

I can’t say that I am now inspired to rush and write a novel set on Sifnos, but it was that overall calmness of the mind, following Covid and bereavement, that will live with me throughout the coming months. I defy anyone not to be inspired, surrounded as we were, by such stunning views and soaking up the sunshine and warmth for the first major holiday in three years.

Tinos ~ To Value the Master Carver and To Value the Skills of an Author

We only had two trips out ~ one to be dropped off at the top of the hill to enjoy the breathtaking views, an ice-cream and to wander down the winding path back to the bay. The path was an amazing feat of engineering from between the world wars. Although I am sometimes scared of heights (why do I live in Scotland you may ask?), the path was wide enough so that I could breath easily. The men who built it were truly inspiring and I’m sure there are stories to tell of those times.

The second trip out was to visit the lovely village of Pyrgos, where carving in marble, a treasure still mined on Tinos, could be observed in awe.

I spoke to one of the craftsman and asked him how much one of the small seahorses on the wall cost. 45 euros was his reply and then he showed me a block of rock from which he would carve another, the template and one partially carved. ‘Do you know how many hours one of these takes to make?’ he asked.

I had no idea.

‘About 80 hours,’ he said.

Wow, I thought and then I compared it to my craft of writing a novel.

• Loosely planning ideas, beginning, middle and end
• Several months to write the first draft
• A couple of months for edits, beta readers and revisions.
• Working with an editor until the manuscript is ready for publication.

Typically that’s at least six months.

Does the reader appreciate this hard graft?

Would I have appreciated the carver if I hadn’t watched him at work? If I had bought that seahorse in a gift shop?

I gained much inspiration from Tinos; a beautiful island. I relaxed and felt ready to face the world again, but the greatest lesson I learnt was to value the work I do and to feel proud of it, as the master carver I met certainly does.

Iona ~ Inspired to Complete Unfinished but Treasure Projects

Like Tinos and Sifnos, the beauty of Iona could not help but stir my emotions and inspire me to describe the world around me in a deeper way. I was reminded of the social issues which drove me to write ‘MISSING, Past and Present’; homelessness, racial tension and injustice, and yet I have always been driven by the dichotomy of these issues – the positive relationships between refugee and foster carer, discovering mindfulness whilst wandering the lanes without a permanent home and racist attitudes that can just slip in unawares.

Above all, Iona made me think about the direction my writing would go in. So many projects begun but unfinished, mainly due to the events of the last two years. I have a glimmer of a direction now ~ watch this space …

Iona will always be close to my heart – a place where

‘the air between this world and the next is thin.’ ~ St Columba

Isle of May ~ Living in the Here and Now

The Isle of May as a place of pilgrimage has always inspired me; its location at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, en-route between Lindisfarne and St Andrews. One day, I believe, my writing will take on the direction of a pilgrimage in days gone by, just as it did in The Healing Paths of Fife; a personal fantasy memoir and pilgrimage, describing when we first relocated from Bedfordshire to Fife, including ‘meeting and talking with famous folks along the way. The lives of saints, whose unusual names have also intrigued me since moving to Scotland; St Mungo for example, sounds like a perfect subject for fact/fiction. His name crops up in so many places we have visited and his birth is a legend in these parts.

Meanwhile, I am still searching for the direction my writing journey should take in the here and now; but I do believe I’m edging closer to feeling at peace in knowing the way I should take next. One task I must do is to update The Healing Paths of Fife to the current day. Not an easy task, but a cathartic one nevertheless.

Alderney ~ My Original Inspiration and Facing the Past

Alderney was my initial inspiration to write, as was the story of my Great Grandmother Harriet. Walking where she walked and seeing houses and streets much as she would have seen them, with the cobbles and Georgian buildings, as well as the tiny stone cottages down at Newtown, I became aware of her footsteps beside me and a whisper of encouragement in my ear. Alderney became a character in my debut novel, Riduna. (First published by Pegasus in 2009 and relaunched by Eventispress on 2012)

This was added to by a visit to Alderney Museum this summer where Guilia, who is in charge of research, spent a couple of hours with me, talking through my projects. She was interested in what I knew of my family history and attempted to untangle fact from imagination, as my talk of my novels wove in and out of Harriet’s true story. (In a nutshell, she lost her parents and was sent to Guernsey) Armed with several books to bring home, I was tasked with sending her our family tree as we know it, with documental proof wherever possible.

I felt quite light headed as we headed back down to our hotel although I wasn’t so sad when we took off the next day, because I knew we would return soon.

Since arriving home I’ve braced myself to delve into my parent’s family history files, untouched since they passed away; A treasure box of memories, notes, letters and photos.

I’m also inspired to work on Dad’s novella, a prequel to Riduna, in the knowledge that there are experts at hand who will take my work seriously and read the manuscript with a critical eye on its authenticity.

I had reached out and I feel that folks are reaching back over the sea to meet me half way.

It is a wonderful feeling!

Guernsey and Jersey ~Being Thankful for Their Inspiration

From Alderney we travelled on to Guernsey and Jersey. It was frustrating that we could not take ferries but had to fly, although we enjoyed the 15 minute trip to Guernsey.

Guernsey is almost as important in Riduna as Alderney. It was where Harriet was shipped when she became too much for her grandparents to handle at 15 years old, exiled from her island home. It was also where Harriet (my Great Grandmother Harriet) met and married her husband.

We only had a few hours on the island before the 15 minutes flight to Jersey. A storm was brewing. The sky was black. Lightning flashed across the sky. I gripped the arms of my seat as the little plane rose, fell and jerked akin to the Space Mountain ride at Disney! My thoughts flitted by, ‘Was this the end of my life’s journey?’ ‘I still have so much to accomplish.’

Thankfully we landed safely.

We spent a day and a night on Jersey around St Helier. (I apologize to Heidi and also to other writing friends who might be reading this and live on Jersey, that I did not contact you, but it was only one day)

Jersey was my inspiration for MURDER, Now and Then; a Jersey lass in the QMAAC (Queen Mary Army Auxiliary Corps) who was murdered in Haynes Bedfordshire in 1919. I had a wonderful holiday on this beautiful island researching for the book back in 2012, as well as many visits as a child.

Yes, these Channel Islands have played a huge part in my writing life and I am thankful!