Who remembers prefabs? They worked wonderfully well in the 50s and lasted many, many more years than was planned. Some are still going now I believe. With the materials and technology we now have they could solve some of the housing problems prevalent now. Just a thought.
This photograph was taken in the lavender fields at Lordington a few years ago on a day when it was open to the public. Just looking at it now I can smell the lavender, hear the buzz of bees and see in my mind’s eye the butterflies fluttering gently over the field. We went with friends and took pictures of each other in this wonderful place. Lavender has so many pluses. Apart from the scent, colour and gracefulness it has healing qualities. It evokes calmness and peace. There are many varieties suitable for large estates, tiny gardens and anything inbetween. It is also easy to grow and gentle to the eyes. Enjoy.
I see it is three weeks since my last ‘weekly’ blogpost. Sorry about that. Partly my fault and partly this laptop, which is behaving rather like an unruly child that I am not handling well. If I need to find a reason I will blame it on my foot – yes, I know we don’t write with our feet and I have always told any group I have been in charge of that you can write anywhere and I hold to that. The foot first, Mostly a bad flareup of osteoarthritus but each time I tried to settle with the laptop the…. thing let me do a couple of pages and when I tried to save it the words had disappeared. Which makes me wonder if we are all relying too much on our machinery. Anyway I resolved some while ago that I was going to use pen, pencil and notebook again but of course you do need eventually to put it onto a machine to send it out. Never mind, I have finally got some power into it and must make the most of this spurt while I decide on the best computer to suit me. Suggestions welcomed – would be interesting to hear views about your machines. Joan
During my growing up years I was taught never blow your own trumpet. If something is good enough it will succeed. That was a long time ago but old habits die hard and I still find it difficult to say to anyone this is a brilliant book about one of my creations. I am much better at doing it for other folks books. Actually I don’t think I have ever said that about any of mine. This is not false modesty – I do think some of mine are good and sometimes when I have read something I haven’t seen for a long time I think, Gosh did I really write that? It gives me a real boost. Then I remember that old showbiz saying, you’re only as good as your last show, song, story, book, whatever it is you do that appears in public.
Time seems to go faster as you grow older, doesn’t it? Or maybe it is simply that we become slower. In my case that is certainly true. Used to be able to do several other jobs while dinner was cooking for example. Not any more. I need more than twice as long as I used to for almost everything, and while my fingers are much slower with pen, pencil or keyboard, I’m grateful they do still work. Writers are fortunate in that they can go on producing for longer than a lot of crafts and trades. Which brings me to an exciting piece of news, for me anyway, and that is the paperback and kindle of The Straw Halter is now out. I left some of the first chapter on this blog last time to give you a flavour of the book and if you either buy or are given a copy as a gift I hope you will enjoy it. I grew fond of Betsy while I was writing it – would be interesting to know which of your characters you found empathy with.
After running Meet the Authors in Selsey for 11 years on behalf of Selsey Writers’ I retired from it this year. Thank you to all the authors who supported this event – we had some fun, didn’t we? Some of you sold lots of books, some not so many, but it did what the idea was from the start, writer and reader met and talked to each other, enjoyed tea/coffee and biscuits or cake and, after the first few years, a twenty minute ‘entertainment spot’ which we tried out and which proved popular so we kept it on each year. There was always a raffle and once or twice we had a quiz too. In my next blog I will try to put in a few pictures of various MTAs. The Straw Halter is available , as are my other books, from Amazon, most bookshops and from me . Until next week, happy days. Joan
I’ve been lucky enough to feature a few authors (with more to come) published by Williams and Whiting on Linda’s Book Bag and today I’m delighted to welcome one of their number, Joan Moules, to stay in with me to tell me about one of her books.
If you’re an author who’d also like to stay in with me to tell me about one of your books, please click here for more details.
Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag, Joan. Thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.
Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?
I’ve brought Script for Murder along because it has recently been published by Williams and Whiting in paperback and on kindle.
What can we expect from an evening in with Script for Murder?
It involves a…
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