Reading old novels

 I haven't written here for ages but wanted to put my thoughts down on a novel I am currently re-reading. I keep certain novels and read them again at about 12-monthly intervals. I make no apologies for reading all my Jane Austen ones every Christmas. Well, to be honest, this past Christmas I didn't read Mansfield Park. It is my least favourite of her works. Reading her novels is like visiting friends but it is better to dip lightly into them when in the mood.

I am currently reading Away from Home by Rona Jaffe. It is set in Rio in 1960 and was published around then, too. I first read it when I was away from home myself - nowhere exotic, only in London, very young, very naive and trying to fit in, more or less like the characters in the novel. Rona Jaffe understood her characters and even to this day and these very different times, readers can relate to the insecurities and the need to trust partners and friends, to be true to one's self. I think that is what makes this novel so memorable. We do learn a bit about Brazil, about carnival, about the cloistered life rich Brazilian women led in those days, although that was slowly changing. Jaffe was a gifted writer (she died in 2005, I think, although I could be wrong) and her novels build into fascinating stories with very logical endings. She did not criticize the mores of her generation, she simply recorded them and let her readers do the thinking. 

I know Away from Home by heart and I always feel inadequate as a writer when I read it. She brings to life the sounds and smells of Rio, the craziness of carnival in that city, the life of American expats trying to fit in, trying to make the best of their exile while their husbands worked. 

I'll be sorry when I reach the final page of this novel even though I have a stack of "must-reads" which I know I'll enjoy even if they don't quite do for me what this novel does.

The most wonderful time of the year, yes, Christmas will soon be here!

 Christmas is coming! I haven't posted here for twelve months, so I should have a lot to write about. I'll do my best.

I can tell you that I am writing a Christmas novel but I won't have it finished in time for Christmas. I decided last year that I would not write another Christmas romance and as you will have guessed, I have not stuck to my decision. The trouble with writing is that these characters keep walking about in my head, demanding that I write about them. The only cure is to sit down and start. I've been busy with a lot of stuff so I have not had time to really concentrate. However, I am up to Chapter 8 and writing all the odd moments I can.

I visited my daughter in Germany last month. It was wonderful to see her and my grandchildren after a two-year absence. I was really worried about travelling this time. Usually, I take it all in my stride but I got myself into a panic about having to put everything on my mobile - I could just see my phone collapsing and me not allowed on board the airplane because I couldn't show my boarding card, or my vaccination cert or something! In fact, all went very smoothly. Which is a huge relief, because I am going back for Christmas. Hopefully, the current surge in Covid infections will have abated somewhat by then.

When I got home at the end of October I discovered a small rash on the side of my neck and I also had some pain in my neck and shoulder. I decided that a) I had got a mosquito bite while in Germany - the little blighters were coming in out of the cold and buzzing around everywhere and b) my neck and shoulder pain were due to sitting in a draft at some stage of my travels. Imagine my surprise, when I visited the pharmacy to get a cream for the rash which was refusing to go away and I was told I had shingles. I learned that shingles is caused by the chicken pox virus which stays in the body and can flare up, very often due to stress. Well, I have never had chicken pox, so it is still a mystery to me how I got shingles, although I did stress myself out on the travelling bit. Everything cleared up in just over two weeks. I know I was very lucky because anyone I have spoken to who has had shingles tells me how painful it is. Apparently, there is a vaccine against shingles but I did not know that. I learn something new every day.

I am getting into the spirit of Christmas at the moment and I hope that all my readers are too. Although I don't have a new novel out, I have written a few Christmas romances. Have a look and see if one of them appeals to you.

 Winter Walk

I love walking on the river bank at this time of year. The tide is pushing the water upriver creating slivers of silver and sable patterns. A black cormorant flies up river, intent on some errand of his own, flying close to the water. Further along, a group of seagulls float about together, mewing occasionally. Jackdaws chatter on the river bank.

On the side of the hill, the sun is setting behind the houses. The street lights come on, gold globes in the dusk.  And there is the tangy smell of smoke as people light their fires in preparation for a cozy night at home. 

I turn for home, feeling at one with it all. A peaceful evening walk at the end of a frosty day.

Saying goodbye to your characters

 I have finally completed my Christmas novel CHRISTMAS ROMANCE AT WINDFALL LODGE. I have edited it at least ten times, if not more, and each time I have changed something or found a mistake in spelling or grammar or a "he said, she said" too many.

Finally deciding it is fit to publish is always a big step. It is like sending your child to school on that first day. You feel they should do fine but you are just a teeny, weeny bit worried. That is what I felt like when I completed my last edit. I didn't think I could polish it any more but still, there is always this nagging doubt. Could I have, should I have?

 

I get a lot of fun out of writing. It is the only time you can actually change the outcome of certain situations. And I get really attached to all my characters. Some of them are planned from the very beginning while others just show up, as in my previous Christmas novel A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER.

 

I hope that my readers get as much kick out of reading my novels as I do writing them. In particular, I hope they enjoy this latest offering of mine.

It won't be available until October. Here is a preview of the cover:

Christmas is Coming

Well, it is done and dusted. My latest Christmas novella is now available on Amazon as an ebook and in paperback. It has been a lot of fun writing it. I became so attached to the character of Aunt Kitt that when the novel was finished, I backtracked and changed a few things in the story.
I must admit that I do get attached to the characters I write about. Sitting down to write is like opening a door into someone's living room and hearing them talk. Writers occasionally talk about "writers' block" or how much hard work it is to finish a novel. It is never easy, some days everything just flows and other days you're floundering around, wondering where you want to go with this plot line or that character. That is why I love writing Christmas novellas, I think. First of all, they are not as long as novels and secondly, the characters show up and practically write themselves. I often change things about when the story is almost finished and then have to go back and make sure it all matches. But that is part of the fun. I suppose it is the only time that I can control how things work out for everyone.
I get asked sometimes if I base my stories on real people. The answer is no, I do not. But I most likely based them on "bits" of real people. They are a patchwork of people I have known down through all the years and I doubt very much if they would recognize themselves even if I knew myself which bit was vaguely based on which person. As some clever person once wrote "everything is grist to the writer's mill" or words to that effect. By the way, I wonder if anyone knows any more what "grist" means? A lot of words get lost in our automated world. I'll be reading Pride and Prejudice again some time around Christmas and I am always struck by the change in the meaning of "nice" today and in Jane Austen's day - in the late 18th century and the early 19th century, apparently "nice" meant fussy or choosy. 
For now, though, A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER is out there with all the other Christmas novels. I hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Families and Other Creatures

Families are important and my family, including my extended family, is very important to me. I want to make that statement at the outset. But family members are not always the ones you turn to in times of crisis. Very many people have completely different lifestyles to their nearest and dearest.

I spent most of my late teens and and nearly all of my twenties co-sharing flats in Dublin and London with three other girls. Different girls at different times, naturally. None of my siblings has done that. When I start telling stories about that Chinese girl we had as a flatmate who thought that garlic kept away evil spirits, who dragged me to church every Sunday morning when my body was screaming for a lie-in, all because we once had a discussion on religion and I said I was a Christian, I know my family think I'm making it up. I could tell them about the party we held at New Year when the darts team we played with arrived unannounced and uninvited dragging two kegs of beer and my Scottish flatmate dashed in late and let the haggis she'd brought fall on the kitchen floor - we salvaged most of it and I must say it was very tasty.  Or - less fun - the night I was locked out because someone's mum who was staying with us thought it safer when in London to snick the lock on the door. We lived in the basement and the bedrooms were all at the back so no one heard my calls and knocks. I spent the night on the basement steps and I was never so glad to see the milkman and his float appearing in the early hours to make me feel human again even if I had to wait another hour before someone in the flat got up.

Anyone who has not co-shared will not understand how any of this could happen.
I think my experiences made me more tolerant of other people. I never put a notice on a piece of cheese in the fridge at work warning people off. As far as I was concerned, they could help themselves as long as they left some for me as well. I never got into a tizz as I've seen a work colleague do, over how people put paper in the printer. Yeah, some people make a pig's ear of it and the paper gets stuck and you think you've printed that report off just before the meeting and when you come to fish it out all you hear is that awful bleep bleep. We've all been there but hey, most colleagues get it right and we are all bad at something.

I think the inspiration for my second Christmas novel (untitled as yet) which I am currently working on came from all the different personalities I have met through flat sharing. Two of my flatmates are still close friends after all these years. If I am at a crisis, I can rely on them to give me some down-to-earth advice. After all flatmates very often know you much much better than your family do.

Christmas in the summer

 I have finally completed my last edit on my novel A MAN CALLED GREGOR - preview of the cover here:

Lauren's search for her uncle makes her question everything she believed in.
Available on Amazon as a Kindle and as a paperback from June 2019.

This means that I need to start on my Christmas novel, the idea or perhaps I should say the ideas for which have been going around in my head for a good few weeks now. It is a bit strange to write about Christmas and frost and snow when outside my window the swifts and swallows are dashing about, proclaiming that summer is here. But once I get started, I become lost in the world I'm writing about.

I usually start out with a character and a problem they are experiencing. I don't plan out the chapters, as some very organised authors do. Instead, I write by the "seat of the pants" method, which means sitting down every morning with no clear idea where the story is going to go. By the time I have done my tenth or twelfth edit, the whole thing will be completely different to what I started off with.  I'll have written and discarded tons of pages, well let's say around a hundred or so. Some of the characters will have been axed while others are added or changed to be completely different to my original idea. Yes, it's hard work but it is also a lot of fun. And viewing the finished product is worth all that sweat and all the hours put in.

What are you reading today?

I returned from a trip to London last month and came down with bronchitis, so I have been keeping warm and reading anything I can get my hands on.
For Christmas, one of my nephews gave me A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles. I  enjoyed this book very much. It is really a set of stories about Moscow with a lot of insider tales. Towles is a gifted writer - reading this book felt like sitting chatting to someone who had been in revolutionary Russia and seen it all. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea but I can certainly recommend it.
Apart from that, now that I am feeling somewhat better, I have continued with the editing of my novel A MAN CALLED GREGOR, the tagline for which reads: Lauren's search for her uncle turns into a nightmare. I wrote this several years ago and had put it to one side, as writers sometimes do. Now, having re-read it and spotted some of the holes in the plot, I am having another stab at it. I don't know if it is easier or more difficult to edit an existing piece of work.  I still have some way to go with it but I now do have the cover. See what you think:

I am using the name Peggie Biessmann as this story is more international than my crime and romance novels, which are set in Ireland. this one moves from London to Frankfurt to Croatia.
The only other novel I have written under this name is SPATE OF VIOLENCE which is set in Germany.
Anyway, now that I have the cover ready, I am motivated to get cracking on the editing. I hope to have it available on Amazon as Kindle ebook and paperback by Easter.  Still lots to be done, though.

Valentines for Singles

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. How could we forget with all the hype in the shops? Red heart balloons drifting about all over the place and beautifully romantic cards displayed on every corner. Judging by the advertisements, you can link Valentine's Day to almost anything, except maybe a dose of 'flu.
I read somewhere recently that whereas in the old days, it was all about being single, Valentine's Day celebrations are now more about couples:  dining out in the most romantic restaurant, bouquets of red roses, champagne, jewellery, short weekends away in the sun.
Do singles feel left out nowadays, I wonder? Of course it's not the same if you do your flirting via an app on your mobile. Have we lost our sense of the romantic, of the mild flirtation? I reckon the best thing to do if you don't have a partner right now, is to collect all your single friends, male and female and cart them down to the pub for a few drinks. And I mean the very best champagne.
The (slightly) older generation will remember the times when you met that nice guy and had been on let's say three dates with him and you were starting to get stars in your eyes when you thought about him. And then on Valentine's Day you got this card in the mail, usually humorous, not a mad declaration of love and passion by any means, just nice, it made you smile, you know? But wow! It still gave the old heart strings a bit of a jangle. Maybe you didn't end up together after all but it was fun while it lasted. Even if you cried when it was over.  That was Valentine's Day.

New Year Resolve - A Plea for Slackers

We're a month into the New Year. Remember how we greeted it? Champagne, fireworks, New Year resolutions? Are you smiling smugly and saying, yep, I've kept up my plan. I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since January 1st, been to the gym for a workout every second day, haven't eaten a chocolate...
If you answered "yes" to any of that, I take off my hat to you! Well done you! You are one of those strong-minded disciplined people who are destined to go far. I say this with admiration and a teeny bit of envy.
I do not belong to this wonderful group of people.To quote Oscar Wilde (everybody does, it seems): I can resist anything except temptation. Oh, I'm not proud of it. But I'm not ashamed of it, either. I think I am realistic enough to recognize that there are so many different kinds of people in the world and each of them has a contribution they can make to their immediate society.
It's not that I am swayed by every temptation, you understand. It's just that, having cut down on sweet calorie-laden stuff, I will suddenly decide, what the heck? let's eat a Mars bar. I don't feel guilty when I do this and I don't go back to eating chocolate. It's a one-off thing. I find, too, that the less chocolate I eat, the less craving for chocolate I have.
I'm a firm believer on moderation in everything. I once stayed with a friend who was into healthy eating (the term makes me shudder, I must admit). She even ground her own flour. It took hours to chew what she served up. I'm sure I wore out at least one molar in the process. I'm convinced that she served up grass for lunch one day. Was she any healthier than me? I couldn't tell, I must admit. And that is a comforting thought.
You see, I believe it is the quality of your thoughts, what your interests are, how much you enjoy the company of other people, all of this is what makes you healthy. Of course you shouldn't eat too much fatty foods, you should get enough exercise and keep an eye on your weight, but my reckoning is that you are going to do that if you love life enough.
I'm sure all the experts will be tearing their hair out at my remarks. But look around you, I say. Get involved, get interested in something outside yourself, that will make you happy. And you can "reward" yourself now and again with your favourite food without feeling too guilty about it.
Life is fun!

Post Christmas Blues

Have you ever noticed how many articles are written on "improving your health" after the Christmas and New Year holiday season is over? In the past week, I must have read about half a dozen on the subject of "dry January". Mercifully, there are not as many articles on losing weight. This year everything seems to be concentrated on drinking less alcohol and getting more sleep. Two good ways to start the New Year, I have to say.  But then, I don't drink that much. I like the occasional glass of wine with a meal, I like an Irish Coffee now and again after a meal, and I like to drink a shandy with pasta or pizza. But not every day, you understand. Just whenever I feel like it.  So that's one New Year resolution I can skip.

Regarding sleep/not enough of: I have to admit that I am a bad sleeper. In my heyday (we won't go into how long ago that was!) I needed a good ten hours which I never got owing to having two kids and working a busy full time job. Now, as a retiree, I can sleep all day, except I can't!  I sleep a really deep sleep for maybe two hours then wake up to go to the bathroom and then it's a toss of the coin whether I get back to sleep again fairly quickly or whether I like awake listening to the radio (I have heard some really fascinating stuff on BBC's world service at 4 a.m.) or if I feel too unsettled, I'll pop into the sitting room and turn on the TV to some news channel (France24 is a favourite). I usually read before I put out the light at night, so I don't feel much like reading a book or writing for that matter. I have several books of poetry and I might read through one, or - my favourite occupation at any given time - I'll trawl through my Oxford Book of Quotations. I'll crawl back into bed when I feel sleepy enough and then I will sleep until 9 a.m. I don't let my disturbed sleep pattern disturb me despite reading some of that new book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker where he reckons we all don't get enough of the proper kind.

I haven't seen as many diet suggestions this year but I always look through recipes in magazines. The only thing is, I find that some of the suggested ingredients puzzle me. For example, there was this one for a salmon dish - and I love salmon - but where am I going to find Aleppo pepper and if I do find it, how will I recognize it? Then there's an ingredient for another dish: half a Jalapeno it says blithely with an accent over the n. Where would I get that? Certainly not from my local supermarket which is strong on peas and carrots and potatoes but anything remotely exotic is not to be found there. And let's be honest, in a country town, people are more traditional in their cooking. You've guessed it: I end up substituting what I think belongs in the recipe and it usually turns out fine.

Now that schools are back and the month of January is advancing at the brisk pace of a born-again jogger, we'll all have forgotten whatever it was we decided we had to do for the New Year. Let's start looking at summer holidays. Not long to go now.