Author: intheplottingshed

Time and tide wait for no woman.

Time has certainly caught up with me and this new profile picture is right up to date. I look a lot older these days and have often felt it this year as creativity deserted me while domestic dramas took over. Our beautiful daughter gave us our first grandchild in 2020 and this year, any day now, her sister will be born. Not only that, but we have a grandson too, who was born in May to our lovely daughter-in-law. So two big happy events this year but these joys were clouded by my beloved husband’s unexpected health crisis with cancer.

It’s been a tough time with trying delays, cancellations and decisions to be made and sometimes all we ever felt we did was wait for the next deadline. However, I am more pleased than I can ever express that he now has the all-clear after successful but major surgery.

I have had loads of spare time but no spare headspace while the waiting continued, seemingly for aeons. As such, I haven’t done much writing at all. I have tinkered with projects and spent quite a bit of time researching but mostly just fretting and doing lots of physical activities (which half killed me) as a distraction.

We celebrated the good news with another trip to Devon, going back to the posh hotel spa with a gorgeous infinity pool and massive jacuzzi. After a long meditation in a steam room with a fantastic white quartz crystal in its centre, and just before I was completely boiled alive, I had some tinglings of the muse returning. The feeling didn’t last long sadly, but oh, the joy of its return was immensely reassuring. The hotel in question was Boringdon Hall, just outside the maritime city of Plymouth. Both Queen Elizabeth 1st and Sir Francis Drake stayed there and I’m sure their spirits contributed to the ideas that surfaced during my stay.

We went to Plymouth Hoe to look out over the water where so many ships had been launched throughout history. Our dog, Sky, part border collie, part dolphin, was strolling down the grassy embankment that lead down to the sea wall. Between the green sward (of bowling fame where the Spanish Armada was sighted) lay a busy road and roundabout. Sky, when behaving as a dog, is incredibly sweet and obedient. Not so when he imagines he is a dolphin. He caught sight of the stretch of water ahead of us and simply took off towards it at a rate of knots (perhaps nautical ones?) However much we yelled at him, which is never normally necessary, he ignored us and pelted on down the steep slope, heading for the busy main road. We caught up with him with inches to spare at the gap in the railings – no gate! – just managing to stop him before he hurtled across the road, jumped over the sea wall and into the briny far below. Stress levels that had been lowered in the pampered environs of the spa now rose to red alert and took some persuading to go back down again!

So, what with one thing and another, I shan’t be publishing a new book this year. I’ve started three though! Hopefully, life will settle down in 2023 and that elusive muse will sit on my shoulder again, whispering encouragement in my ears. I hope so and will keep you lovely readers posted here.

The answer is – South Devon, England, where research for two new projects took me last week. My grandfather’s family hail from this area and I felt real empathy for its beauty, perhaps because of my heritage. Alas, the family home (once perhaps a smuggling den that might make an appearance in the second project) has long been sold. Nothing daunted, my dear husband and I drove down the tiny lanes exploring the legend that sparked my latest story idea. The hedges towered above us on either side and the roads were so untravelled, grass grew down their centre. Villages snuggled into hidden valleys and dells, their houses often ancient and thatched, revealing secret worlds with tales to tell.

Something shocking happened 1000 years ago in one of these villages and I felt Fay and Percy (of the Spirit Level series) should investigate. With a working title of Devon Cream, this story centres around three hard-pressed women of today who each struggle with their modern lives. The ancient women of this picture-postcard village did something very brave in their lifetimes and it is their whispers that galvanize each of their contemporary sisters into action, with the help of our psychic detectives, of course.

I’m excited that my writing mojo has returned after its absence. A short one perhaps, but the lack of any creative spark felt dismal! And I have some other ideas that may spawn a whole new series. This one is about pirates, linking South Devon (and that smuggler’s haunt) with the Gower Peninsula where I live now. It will be set in Elizabethan times so I was tickled pink when I discovered that the hotel we stayed in last week had been honoured with a visit by not only Elizabeth the 1st but also her ‘sea hawk’ Sir Francis Drake. Now if that’s not a green light to write a story, I don’t know what is.

What I’d like you lovely readers to tell me is, which story would you fancy reading first, and why? A signed paperback copy of ‘The Rose Trail’ will be awarded and posted out (for free) to the best answer!

Hello, dearest Readers,

I hope this finds you well in these strangest of times with wave after wave of changes and negativity for us all to cope with. I know I have really struggled over this winter and my muse has sadly left me. I’m hoping this will be a temporary absence from creativity as nothing makes me happier than writing a new story. Even as I write this, I can feel the spring sunshine prompting me to dig a little deeper into my subconscious and see what might be lurking there.

In the meantime, I’m offering not one but two free gifts! Both the first book and the last in The Katherine Wheel Series are #free for a few days. JUST CLICK ON THE TITLES TO GO TO THE PURCHASE PAGE

It all began with Daffodils at the start of World War One when the three families, the Beagles, Phipps and Smythes, lived near to each other but were socially poles apart. Their story spanned six books altogether, with Ivy bringing all the love they had exchanged through the intervening years to a positive conclusion. Daffodils symbolised the hope that WW1 would bring the end of all wars. Their yellow trumpets form a contrast to the traditional poppies which emerged post-war on the battlefields where so many young men had spilled their red blood. I chose these harbingers of spring because Book One of The Katherine Series focuses instead on the women who were the backbone of the war effort behind the scenes and, like Katy, were emancipated by stepping outside the rigid social circles that had previously confined them. By the time we reach WW11, women played a far bigger role and were often seen as the equal of their male counterparts, and recognised for it too. By then, Katy had a family of her own, as did her old boss and friend, Cassandra, and it is this generation we follow in Ivy as they face different challenges in the conflict of their time. You can catch up with all the dramas in between by reading the other four books in the series, Peace Lily, Speedwell, Willow, and Woodbine.

Now we watch with anxiety as the world is plunged into another black moment of history whose outcome no one can predict.

Books, however, are always reliable! Please spread the word about these two books going free for a little while and if you haven’t read them yet, now’s your chance to get them for absolutely nothing! If you have (and hopefully liked them), it would be so lovely to have a positive review.

All love to each of you, keep well, keep hopeful.

Alexxx

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A recent review of Daffodils thought its title weak:

“5.0 out of 5 stars. Martin Delivers

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2022

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Despite what I consider a poor title, this is an historical fiction story that I had trouble putting down. The characters are realistic. The depictions of war , death and the social system In England at the start of the war make for a great story.”

No-one has remarked on this in a negative way before so I, perhaps complacently, thought readers understood it was a play on the theme of the red poppies usually associated with the slaughter of young men in WW1. Daffodils shows the valiant role that women played during that awful time and how their emancipation shaped the way women live today. I admired them all.

But there is a deeper, more personal reason for my choice of title. Whilst writing Daffodils, which took me years, my mother died. I nursed her through her illness, complicated by dementia, and it wasn’t without serious challenges. My Mum was a complicated woman but I loved her dearly and miss her much more than I expected. I chose the title of Daffodils because we laid fresh ones on her chest after she passed on. Mum was born on the first day of spring and died within a week of her birthday. She loved flowers, as do I, and choosing one our favourite ones, the symbol of spring and the emblem of Wales where she was born and I now live, seemed a fitting testament to her vivid, courageous life.

So now you know!

Having researched this era in some detail I remain in awe of the sacrifice given through two world wars and can never forget those who died for us. Daffodils is #free as a mark of my respect. In fact, The whole Katherine Wheel Series made me realise that WW2 was the unfinished business left over from WW1. Two generations decimated by conflict. We owe them so much.

http://amzn.to/141yEIG