Tag: Explore

Boiling phones, Ireland and submitting to agents

May 15, 2019

Best not to leave iPhones on the car seat behind glass on the (private) driveway at a friend’s for two hours.

But do grow climbers along your washing lines as they look pretty against an azure sky..

Final week of the Curtis Brown course … eeeek; had to post first 3,000 words plus synopsis and example letter to an agent of our choice!

Now I shall wait for any feedback from fellow students. I’ve filled a ring binder with course notes from the previous six weeks and simply need to get on with making some scene changes in the middle section of the book. Then I can do that thing we’ve all been waiting for – submitting to agents for real 😳

I keep getting side-tracked and exploring though. I’ve been to Ireland these last four days but sadly was too far to meet up with WordPress writing buddy Sabina over at Ortensia72 .

Pop over and check out her interview following recent publication of her first novel – woo hoo 🎉

It’s got 5 star ratings so far and I’m so please and proud. I’d been hoping to pick the brains of this author who went ahead and became an indie author. She bit the bullet and is already writing Book 2 🥂(I would love to have that faith in myself…)

On arrival at Maryborough Hotel & Spa, we were greeted like old friends and told we’d been upgraded! (I’d mentioned it was my birthday weekend at which Man of the Woods was unable to join me so I was dragging a friend along, kicking and screaming).

We had such an amazing time, and we were really rather sensible and did grown up things like visit the Queenstown museum in Cobh…

Oh my word. What history this place has. This statue is Annie Moore, aged 15 with her brothers. The first emigrant to be registered on Ellis Island.

Over 3 million people left Ireland from this port once called Cove (then named Queenstown after Queen Victoria visited) and then re-named Cobh in 1920s by the then government, who wanted it returned to Cove but the Irish version.

The cathedral! The blue sky!

And my travel buddy choosing menu options with an ocean liner in the background, docked for the day mid-cruise.

This was also the final docking venue for the Titanic on that fateful maiden voyage. My brain started doing somersaults over fiction ideas and on the last day I actively wrote out a whole but basic plan of a brand new story!

I was, at the time, relaxing in the Airbnb for our final night. The Lux Bus can only be described as the cutest conversion ever … if you visit Southern Ireland, I highly recommend staying in it!

Anyway it’s back to business, and I’m sorry I post so infrequently at the moment. I trust my absence will all have been in a good cause 🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌

Indian summers and soda in the sky. Travels extraordinare

October 22, 2018

This Indian summer, as some expert decided to call them at one time, is about to come to an end. I know, sad isn’t it? Dig out your beanie, your gloves and even your snow boots if you’re north of England or higher, from Friday!

At the weekend Man of the Woods, our son and I drove to where are daughter was staying with her BF. We had a delicious lunch in the cutest of cute English pubs which I failed to photograph (you just can’t get the bloggers these days 🙈).

However, opposite the pub was this old mill (check the roof), in which there is a multi-level antiques centre 👌🏼 with all sorts of goodies to explore.

This Tiffany lamp, for one. How I wish I’d bought that for my writing desk (you don’t have a writing desk) or what I hope will become my writing desk when the detris of six months of not-being-tidy is tidied.

How’s about this for a fairly sexist print from Imperial War Museum 😂 although as I stared at it, I decided she was a spy posing as a good time girl, fleecing those interested men out of more than the energy required to entertain her (how on earth is your mind wired?) 🤪.

On the very top of the mill, the apex space has been converted into a cafe and the views are incredible!

We only had space for an ice cream soda following the lunch but we simply had to experience sitting up there!

Our son, working out which way London was from his google maps. Only a few more days before he travels to Queenstown in New Zealand for five months 😱. I know!!!!

I’m preparing myself, worrying about whether we’ve got all the small stuff he’ll need for his hand luggage and what footwear he should pack and which pair to wear, as when you have size 13 feet, packing a pair of farm work boots is simply ridiculous. They’d need a case to themselves.

I stole an hour from my working day today on the beanbag in the living room, reading my kindle and enjoying the sun through the glass like a cat might. I’ve been so tired and the last two mornings, I’ve woken from disturbing dreams about his trip. MoW thinks it’s because I’m anxious about him going, yet I’m really excited for him and proud of him. I admit his absence from the house will result in a gaping hole and five months might stretch away from me appearing to be five years, but we all know how quickly time passes.

Look what happened yesterday.. a huge spike in visitors to my blog. Three posts including that fun Writers Tag one! Just goes to prove we need to be engaging with others to keep up the momentum 👌🏼

Westminster Abbey, the sites of London city, wordcounts and a lovely daughter 🌸

October 1, 2018

As we walked around the base of what’s known as ‘The Gherkin‘, we were treated to some beautiful reflections within the panels. Architecture is pretty impressive these days around the Big Smoke.

I took this photo from the front seat, top deck, of a double decker and was just lucky to capture the striking contrast between old London, resembling something like Gringotts Bank, and new… and still growing 👌🏼 but check out how the mirrored surface of the glass materials make it less obvious against the sky. Sort of.

This was the journey on the number 11 bus between Westminster Abbey and Liverpool Street Stn.

Back in the Abbey, up inside the tower visiting the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee rooms (£5 per person) we climbed four or five flights of brand new stairs and had the most amazing view of the Houses of Parliament!

We ate a delicious breakfast (£7.95) in presumably what was the dining area for monks a long time ago when the Abbey was just that, long before Christopher Wren was commissioned to add the tower.

I won’t attempt here to go into the history as you can read the professionals’ accounts and perhaps even visit the Abbey yourself – information here. Save to say the first church building was thought to have been built on this site as early as a thousand years ago on an island called Thorney Island surrounded by tributaries of the Thames!

Always a pleasure to spend girlie time with my daughter. I know how lucky I am that she is happy to spend time with me. I certainly wasn’t doing this with my own mother when I was 20. I’d moved 100 miles away and even acquired a horse as I wasn’t that concerned about spending time back ‘home’.

Note to self – STOP BUYING CHOCOLATE

🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌

oooh, I nearly forgot to update you. Remember in Spain I set myself a target to update my wordcount? Well I failed miserably there because we talked about life and jobs and stuff while swimming and eating and relaxing. I did write two thirds of a second erotic novella but I’m not counting those words!

Since I’ve been back though, I’ve been partaking in instagram writing sprints, joining in ‘live’ with other writers and I think I’ve written around 5,000 in a week 👌🏼🥂

I set myself up and once the men have gone back out to work after lunch, I settle down and ignore the phone and I’m actually getting some words down. Long may it continue.

Thank you to those who did share their wordcount goals and I know Joseph Beech was hoping to blog every fortnight… let’s pop across and see what’s he’s been up to 🥂

keep up the good work everyone and enjoy the sun while we still have it 🌤

An ice cream in Regents Park – a poem

July 1, 2018

The taste and the texture can vary as such.

I could have had two – I loved it so much!

Sherlock Holmes museum,

a giggle of a tourist day.

Magnifying glass, Baskerville hound and pipe.

A museum interior which resembles my mother’s home,

Dealer of antiques; Victorian era her favourite!

Arthur Conan Doyle was undoubtedly an incredible author,

To create a character as longlasting as Holmes!

Many titles I’ve not heard of or read,

Now I’m writing, I’d like to visit inside his head.

The only souvenir this time was a pipe,

Fancy dress he’ll use it for the hype.

Everybody has heard of The Hound,

Based upon Dartmoor… great story!

1881, allegedly the date Holmes and Watson met,

Go see the museum, a slice of English etiquette

English villages, where time has stood still 🌸

June 1, 2018

This morning while I was out delivering, I elected to finally stop at a church stall in a village which I drive through at least once a week.

How cute is it, with it’s paperbacks and toys, trinkets and plants cuttings? All to raise a few pennies for the church. What I love best is the ‘honesty box’ … the trust of humans for their fellows to add to it, not break into it and steal the contents.

I happily popped more than my expected £1.50 into the wall after I’d chosen a psychological thriller by Nicci French and a mint plant 👌🏼

I just adore the simplicity of local communities donating items for the recycling pleasure of others and raising money in the process.

📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘

With over 8,000,000 copies sold, I suspect I shall enjoy this read as much as a £7.99 brand new thriller from a book store. The Safe House has evidently had a cover makeover as you see here the new version available on Amazon;

and the blurb:

‘Nicci French’s sophisticated, compassionate and gripping crime novels stand head and shoulders above the competition’ Sophie Hannah

***

You open your home and your heart to a victim. But your house is anything but safe . . .

Samantha Laschen is a doctor specialising in post-traumatic stress disorder. She’s moved to the coast to escape her problems and to be alone with her young daughter.

But now the police want her to take in Fiona Mackenzie, a girl whose parents have been savagely murdered. Yet by allowing Fiona in, Sam is exposing herself – and her daughter – to risks she couldn’t possibly have imagined . . .

🥂 right. Best I go buy a bottle of pimms I think 🥒🌱

Kings Cross Station, London (#wordprompt)

May 27, 2018

Famous

 

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Kings Cross Station is well known as being one of the main Victorian station buildings in central London and for being next to St Pancras Station where you can scoot over to Paris on the Eurostar.

It is also known for the sad events of 7 July 2005, known often simply as 7/7.   I will always think of those who lost their lives and those who survived but suffered, God bless you, but I shall say no more on that infamous matter.

However, I think we can thank J K Rowling for possibly giving it the happiest reason to be famous.  Harry Potter and his friends returned from holidays to school on a train which always left Kings Cross Station.  From platform nine and three quarters.  Such a simple idea yet those words have become a household name in themselves!  You simply cannot say ‘nine and three quarters’ without thinking of the trolley being hurled at the wall.  There is in fact a special piece of brickwork on the concourse, with a permanent feature of what looks like the remains of a trolley as it passes through the wall. Have you seen it?   There is a queue daily where fans can have their photo taken at ‘the trolley’ .. I’m not sure I should post a photo I took of two random teenage girls who were not mine.  I took it to show my nieces who are 10 and 6 and who are racing for the first time through the set of books!

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I did however visit the shop, also opened up inside Kings Cross.  What a success story!  Catch a train to Leeds, buy a coffee in Pret, oh and pop into a Harry Potter merchandise store for those last minute presents!

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Look at these print re-runs where you can buy the first book, ‘The Philosophers Stone’ but in these delectable colours … are they the house colours perhaps?  I didn’t hang around long enough to investigate, as I had a train to meet!