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!

Islands of Inspiration (6) Guernsey and Jersey

This is my penultimate post on my series of islands of inspiration this year; a quick hop from one to the other to explain what these beautiful islands mean to me and my writing.

In order to travel on from Alderney to France it isn’t impossible to take a ferry direct, which would make sense since it is the nearest Channel Island to the Normandy, but it is certainly not easy. The only alternative is to fly. On the day we were leaving Alderney there were no ferries direct from Guernsey to St Malo, our chosen destination, either, and the ones from Guernsey to Alderney had been cancelled due to rough weather.

Thus, we hopped over to Guernsey (about 15 minutes) and had several hours on the island before hopping over to Jersey. What could we do? We knew there were buses to the Fermaine Bay Hotel where we knew we could get a light lunch on their patio overlooking the sea to Herm and Sark through a canopy of trees. We had lunched there several years ago, but I also stayed there on a family when I was a child. At the time we still had relations alive on the island with whom my parents were still in touch. I was very young, five or six maybe, but the island made a lasting impression on me; the birth place of my Great Grandfather. I made a memorable trip on my own years later whilst carrying out research. Here’s a link the the blog post. What I had not remembered, however, was the very steep hill to the hotel, fine walking down, but one hell of a trek back up with all our luggage!

How the island helped me in Mind, Body and Spirit

As we sat eating lunch memories flooded back of my parents, holidays on Guernsey, family; a sense of shared history. My roots! It is on the Channel Islands, especially on Alderney and Guernsey, that I understand fully the concept of a family tree. Of feeling rooted to your past. I wanted to move a small Erica which had found itself hidden by other dominant plants in my garden yesterday. The roots were deep; seeking water from the blue spoot which flows under our garden I believe, but there was one root I had to sever and it was long and tougher than the rest. My links with Alderney and Guernsey are like that. I have a long root forever searching for my past; unseen but real; deep within me. It may be severed but it’s still there.

How I was inspired by the islands of Guernsey and Jersey

Later that day we travelled on, the 15 minutes flight to Jersey. Yet again it was frustrating that we could not take a ferry at that time. 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! The thoughts flitted by, ‘Was this the end of my life’s journey?’ ‘I still have so much to accomplish.’

Thankfully we landed safely.

Greeted with the Queen’s Jubilee Flags at Jersey Airport

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)

St Helier Indoor Market

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.

Guernsey is almost as important in the story of Harriet, in Riduna, as Alderney is to me. 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 (and my Great Grandmother Harriet) met and married her husband.

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

Islands of Inspiration (5) Alderney ~ for me the Ultimate Island

Looking out over Braye Beach

Alderney was the island which gave me the original inspiration to write my debut novel Riduna, first published by Pegasus in 2009, then Eventispress in 2012 when its sequel Ancasta was published. How time flies!

I have not been back for eight years due to moving to Fife and increased family commitments. It seemed an awful long way from here. How would we get there? How would a small island community have survived Covid? Would it be in decline or could it have ridden the storms?

What I did know was that I had a burning desire to return; a feeling you should never ignore.

Alderney is an island I have always held dear to my heart; the location of many happy memories of holidays as a teenager; the origins of the Jackson branch of my family and the place of my Great Grandmother Harriet’s birth.

How the island helped me in Mind, Body and Spirit

I am always excited to return. The two plane journeys, first from Edinburgh to Southampton and then on to Alderney seemed a bit daunting at first post Covid, but we took it in our stride and I was filled with an overwhelming joy; a sense of Deja vu of journeys gone by. I was smiling as we were called through at Southampton airport.

Each moment was precious; the first sight of Alderney from the plane; coming into land and into the little airport building, which hadn’t changed a bit, then the taxi drive to our hotel. Oh so very familiar and beautiful.

On our first day we ambled about, first visiting the town St Anne, which appeared to be thriving, relative to some English and Scottish small towns. Then it was down to the harbour and the breakwater and on to Braye Beach. The weather was warm and there was a tiny breeze, which was perfect. The following day we walked to the beautiful bays of Saye and Arch and then got a light lunch in The Old Barn at Longy.

Spiritually I felt so in tune with Alderney and know it is my spiritual home. I always feel a closeness with my Great grandmother there, but I was also aware this time of being extra-specially close to my Mum and Dad.

The sunshine, warmth, exercise and fresh air filled us with life, and my mind cleared of some of the fog of the past couple of years. I could feel a healing power and a setting free. Marvelous!

How I was inspired by the island of Alderney

Alderney, as I said at the beginning, was my initial inspiration to write, as was the story of my Great Grandmother. 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 Mid 19th Century

This was added to by a visit to Alderney Museum 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 here 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.

I was not so sad when we took off the next day because I knew I would return soon.

I’ve been inspired to delve into my parent’s family history files, untouched since they passed away.

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!