It was a rather chilly month, with brief glimpses of spring but an awful lot of rain, wind and gloom – and even another late month snow flurry. When the sun came out, it made for a lovely photo over the shingle towards the sea near Walmer – what’s missing from the photo is the biting wind!

I had a very productive spell during the horrid weather and made the patchwork quilt for new baby Ellis within a week, in time for (new) Mothers Day. On my occasional walks, I saw the blackthorn flowering bravely, along with cherry plum, brightening up the grey days.

It was quite something to see my first paperback shelved in The Deal Bookshop, and to pop in to sign a few copies for them.

Then it was time for another trip to London, for a baby visit and to go to a private view where one of the pictures on display had been painted on our trip to Goa earlier this year. (It feels like much longer than that!) London by night had a certain magic that went some way to making up for the horrors of getting around it in rush hour on public transport.

A planned weekend walk to have Sunday lunch at The Zetland Arms ended up taking place with a wind chill of -5 and driving snow! Surprisingly, the walk over the top at Hawksdown, along the edge of the old First World War airfield, was more protected than I’d expected. My slice of meat pie was the perfect reward, as well as good preparation for the walk back.

The following weekend found me in Bluewater, for the first time ever, meeting friends for a four-hour lunch – we hadn’t met in 15 years so there was a lot of catching up to do! The next week began with a glorious day when spring truly was in the air – a good chance to get some serious gardening done.

Sadly the weather didn’t last and it was back to a chill wind and rather grey skies, followed by heavy rain, for a trip to Chatham Dockyard for research purposes. One of the most interesting discoveries (for said research) was in the first stop, the café! A three-panel reproduction of an engraving from the Georgian era, (excuse the wonky photos), was filled with fascinating detail. A sneak peak at the amazing building where the ropes were made was another highlight, as was the submarine tour, if only to confirm that I could never, ever be a submariner! It was an eye-opener in so many ways – not only the amount of nuts, bolts and hardware visible inside, but also how little room there was for the crew, under the waves for ten weeks at a time.

The start of the Easter Bank Holiday brought more rain with it. An orchid from last year bravely decided to flower, despite the cold weather we’ve had and the fact that it has found itself in the home of someone useless with houseplants! With brownies baked ready for another trip up to London, the month drew to a close with a pizza lunch at The Taphouse in Deal, busy with visitors determined to make the most of it as the sun came out for a few hours – before the next band of rain moved in…

Finding the right location and immersing myself in it is really important to me when writing. The Mill Valley Girls novels – Ella’s Journey, Alice’s Secret and Sarah’s Story – are all set in a fictionalised version of Hepstonstall (Northwaite) and Hebden Bridge (Nortonstall) in West Yorkshire. They came into being during an Arvon writing course that I attended at Lumb Bank, once Ted Hughes’ home. Every morning before breakfast I would take a walk down along the wooded paths to the side of Colden Water, to the ruins of the mill there, sometimes walking further along the bank, crossing over then coming back along a higher path on the other side.

After heavy rain overnight, the waterfalls of Colden Water churned fierce and brown and the sound of the rushing waters became a backdrop to our writing days. I was completely captivated by the landscape, photographing the unusual tree and rock formations I saw there, and when we were asked, as a writing exercise, to create a character, decide what they did and set them in the local landscape, then the character of Alice, a mill worker in the late 19^th century, was born. The Prologue of Alice’s Secret is almost word-for-word the piece that I wrote on the course.

When it came to developing the story I had, like Alys, locked everything ‘deep within the phone’s digital heart’: the mill past and present, where Alys sits and waits, trying to connect to the past (below).

The Deer Pool – a mysterious pool (below left and bottom) set back from the path and easy to miss unless you spot the animal tracks leading through to it – where Alice has trysts with Richard. The Bathing Pool, where Colden Water collects in a deep and tranquil pool and Rob comes across Alys swimming. The stone which Alys thinks of as the Fairy Slide (below, right) – a section of the path that seemed polished as though by the passage by hundreds of feet over the years.

Then there are the tracks down through the woodland, past trees with strange root formations and deeply incised bark, where I imagined Alice to have walked to the mill each working day, and her mother Sarah before her. It’s also the path Richard would have taken on the day of the fateful fire at the mill, and Alys would have trodden some of the same route on her walks to Nortonstall.

There’s also the path up over the top, high above the valley, where John walks in Ella’s Journey, trying to drive from his mind the memory of everything he had witnessed in war (below, left). Lumb Bank itself became the model for The Big House in Alice’s Secret. Alice stands alongside one of the stone walls at the edge of the wood, looking out over the field towards the terrace of the Big House (below right, seen from the house) and witnesses Richard’s wedding reception there.

I’ve returned several times to the area and explored further afield, each time finding things that have fed into the series. Looking at the views I captured from my bedroom window at Lumb Bank, down into the garden or along the wooded valley, it’s easy to see how such a beautiful setting can be so inspirational and how over 250,000 words, several generations of one family and a whole cast of other characters grew out of my five-day tenancy of that lovely space.

 

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February – and the blog is a year old! The month started with some re-upholstery – only the second time that I have attempted it and it involved major use of a staple gun… But the two finished chairs looked good, I think. Then there were a couple of attempts to buy patchwork fabrics. I retreated, overwhelmed by choice both times. Lovely fabrics, but not quite right for the recipient of the cot quilt.

Some nice weather after a cold, crisp spell found me in the garden doing some early tidying after winter. It was even warm enough to have lunch in the garden three days running (the table is in a very sheltered, sun-trap spot)! The arrival of the paperback version of ‘Ella’s Journey’, looking very bright and summery, reinforced the idea that spring is on its way.

A trip to Goodnestone gardens to see the snowdrops bore out this promise, although it was a chilly day. Catkins, aconites and more snowdrops than last year suggested spring was almost here.

A walk along Deal sea front in a biting wind suggested otherwise, although the light was beautiful.

Hopes of spring were completely dashed by the arrival of the Beast from the East, which brought snowfalls and the most horrific wind chill. I wanted to get up to London to meet the snow baby, my first grandchild who decided to put in an appearance 4 weeks early, but I was thwarted by trains being cancelled and roads treacherous. Freezing rain, which turned windscreens, windows and roads to sheets of ice, was the final straw. Made it in the end, though!

January got off to a good start with a trip up to London on a very blustery day to visit the Foundling Museum, a fascinating first for me. Another first was a Yo-sushi lunch, luckily at special January prices otherwise the bill for all those small plates could very easily mount up!

By the second week of January I was on a plane to Goa, along with several friends, to repeat last year’s holiday and visit my daughter. Writing this now in temperatures of 4ºC it’s hard to believe that it was 34ºC every day out there. It was equally hard to imagine gales, rain and snow back home whilst lying by the pool or watching the sunset on the beach.

Open-air breakfasts of fresh fruit and masala scrambled eggs and maybe dhal, sometimes after 8am yoga by the pool (well, twice…) or early morning beach walks, were swiftly followed by taking up the prone position by the pool for sunbathing, reading and, sadly, catching up on FB, Twitter and the world in general. Afternoons featured more of the same, sometimes with lunch at the beach and some sea swimming thrown in for a change. The main decisions were where to eat dinner that night, and where to have sunset drinks. Usually Mojitos on the beach or G & Ts on the roof terrace, but we did venture out for cocktails at Chalston Beach resort.

We weren’t entirely sloth-like – we went to a night market on our first weekend and had dinner there, too. We shopped (several times..) at Rangeela Goa and Eternal, as well as at street stalls and Anjuna. We had a day trip to another beach, Ashwem, with the most fabulous sea for swimming and a lovely beach restaurant, La Plage, complete with paintings hung amongst the palms. We went to a kids book festival organized by Calangute’s sole bookshop, Litterati.

Some of us ventured further afield for an overnight trip to Agonda in south Goa, where we stayed in beach shacks and enjoyed another sublime sea, and a beach complete with herds of (sacred) cows and a (wild?) white horse that roamed the beach at sunset.

We dined at Pink Chilli, home to the exotic tuk-tuk and spicy thalis, A Reverie (mini avocado cornets, anyone?), Nirvana (interesting clientele, cheap food and oh, the karaoke…), Gusto (Mediterranean and Kashmiri menus), Chalston Beach resort (amazing Rajasthani dancers), Pousada on the Beach (lovely setting) and had a wonderful beach BBQ, courtesy of Aggies. A special shout out to Zest in Agonda, for amazing vegan and vegetarian food – I will remember my beetroot ‘ravioli’ for a long time!

I also attended (along with 1200 others) an evening celebration of a 25^th wedding anniversary in a stunning hotel setting, and had a day trip to Panjim where I was very taken by the beautiful Portuguese architecture as well as the art and sculpture installations all around the streets, including a whole set of steps decorated with a peacock and its trailing tail. We lunched at a gallery that had a definite Farrow & Ball/western vibe and I spent most of my last few rupees on the lovely handmade cards from Paperworks.

Back in the UK, it was a nasty shock to discover that my boiler had packed up while I was away, and a huge relief once it was working again. Thanks to my lovely neighbours topping up my wood supply I did at least have one toasty room in the house, heated by the woodburner.
Now the tan is fast fading along with the memory of all that heat, and its back to muddy walks, wearing lots of layers. Roll on spring – in the meantime, here’s a Calangute beach sunset!

The weather was determined to throw most things at us this month – rain, gales, frost and the odd snow flurry. We still managed the odd welcome sunny day and beautiful sky, though – and Christmas lights and decorations brightened things up.

It is winter, I suppose! So thank heavens for parties and Christmas treats!

Christmas Eve was made rather special by a novel take on Christmas lights, as seen in Ramsgate harbour, before a trip to possibly the largest Wetherspoons known to man.

And, of course, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without any presents. There were certainly plenty of those!

My over-riding impression of November was that it was a gloomy month. Yet I do remember a summary of the month’s weather saying it had been brighter than average! We clearly had some good days, because I pruned the roses and picked the remaining blooms. And there were some brisk, crisp days of autumn colours and leaves to kick through when out walking.

There was also a trip to London, when a walk through a damp and drizzly Kew Gardens was enlivened by the testing of the lights for their winter wonderland show.

I seemed to spend a great deal of time at my desk without achieving very much at all! And I had an enforced absence from my work for 4 days after the neighbour’s cat, who has decided she would like to re-home herself, performed a four-paw keyboard command which locked and crashed my computer. She does a good line in ‘don’t mess with me’ looks, too…!

The linocut for the Christmas cover of the village magazine neared its final version, with striking Beardsley style yew trees. And the month went out with stormy skies again!

Ten-minute story from our Hallowe’en writing class:

Josie pulled up outside the cottage, switched off the headlights and sat for a moment, engine idling, looking around. She’d found herself at the end of long winding lane, lined with trees and with no sign of any other properties close by. The owners hadn’t mentioned how remote it was when she’d signed up to house sit for two weeks while they went off to Caribbean.

She made a mental note to update the house-sitting agency then, with dusk falling, she switched the headlights back on to give herself enough light to find her way into the cottage. She’d have packed her torch in her handbag if she’d known it was going to be like this.

From what she could see the cottage looked picture-postcard perfect; roses still tumbled over the front of it and the honeysuckle climbing up and over the porch had kept its fragrant flowers despite autumn fast approaching. It would be cosy inside with the fire lit to take off the slight chill of the approaching evening, Josie thought, using the key that the agent had sent to open the door.

With the car unloaded and locked she set about settling in, unpacking her few belongings, putting food in the fridge and switching on the lamps throughout the ground floor. The owners had thoughtfully left the log burner laid, matches at the side, so she lit it and sat back. The cats must have gone into hiding from the stranger in the house. Three of them, the information sheet said. They’d no doubt appear as the evening progressed.

Two hours later she was settled on the sofa, glass of wine in hand and one cat on her knee, the other two snuggled in beside her. The fire was glowing and Josie smiled to herself. Doing this and getting paid for it was the best job in her life so far.

The lights flickered once, twice and then died. Josie sat on for a minute or two, hoping they might come back to life, the room dimly lit by the glow of the fire. Just as she was wondering whether to go in search of a torch and hunt out the fuse box the cat on her lap sat up and looked around the room, ears pricked. It made a low, growling sound, a sound echoed by the two cats at her side. They were all on their feet now, backs arched and fur on end, staring at the curtained window.

‘Sssh,’ Josie soothed, trying to stroke them back into settling down. But they were having none of it. There must be a dog outside, or maybe a fox, she thought. Were cats frightened of foxes? She stood up and went over to the window, drawing back the curtain. The wind had got up and the rambling rose around the window was tapping at the glass, as if trying to get in. Perhaps it was this that had startled the cats?

Then she saw something. Two eyes, glowing red like the embers of the fire, staring right at her. For a moment she thought she was seeing the reflection of the fire but the eyes moved. They were getting closer, coming towards the window. The cats yowled and fled as one into the dark hallway. Josie heard their paws scrabbling on the stairs as they fought each other to be first to escape.

She flung the curtain back across the window and stepped back. She stood rigid then, as realisation dawned that it was somehow worse not knowing what was out there, she stretched out her trembling fingers to take hold of the fabric. As she did so, she heard the shriek of a terrified animal from upstairs, punctuated by a low growl somewhere out in the dark of the night.

To be continued…

 

The first week of the month brought the much-anticipated launch of ‘Ella’s Journey’. It was a steep learning curve – mainly because I wasn’t sure quite what to expect! After a lovely review – thank you gingerbookgeek – and a couple of online Q & A features, I realized that I needed to set up author pages, work on my author Facebook page and – biggest challenge – try to get to grips with Twitter. (I’m still working on that one…) Then it was over to me to attempt to drum up reviews and publicity. The newspaper in the town where I went to school did a big feature, the Kent Mercury included me in their book pages and the village magazine featured me too. Otherwise, a lot of time has been spent checking the Amazon and Kobo charts at least twice a day, particularly the position in the saga charts. There was elation when it got into the low twenties and mid-thirties, anxiety as it slipped back towards the seventies.

I did have a few people over for drinks on launch night, though, and that was a lot of fun! And I made my first-ever batch of quince jelly, and a second batch of quince cheese – much more successful than the first, which one bemused recipient described as resembling pigs liver…

The garden has been much neglected, although I began to get to grips with it towards the end of the month. It’s hard to put it to bed for the winter just yet, with so much still in flower – or am I just making excuses?

The neighbours’ cat has decided she wants to adopt me and, as soon as I open the back door, has become skilled at shooting straight into the house, up the stairs and onto her favourite duvet in the spare bedroom. She knows I’m a soft touch…

Book publicity and related matters all rather took over the month, but I did manage to send book three in the Mill Valley Girls series, ‘Sarah’s Story’ to my agent for a first read and, at the end of the month, following a research trip to Margate on a glorious day, I got stuck into a new story I have been wanting to get on with. Over 6,000 words after less than a week – not too bad!

The morning of Hallowe’en found a beautifully carved pumpkin sitting on my doormat! Some interesting things find their way to me in the countryside… It was put to good use that night at writing group, where we wrote ghost stories and read them out by pumpkin lantern light (with the aid of a torch).

Woke up this morning to find myself featured, complete with photo, on the homepage of celebrity gossip website Female First! So, if you want to know ten things about me, click the link and have a read!