It’s all golden and blue and warm and lovely here just now. There are different feelings in the air; sometimes it seems to be autumn with blustering winds and grey skies, but then it’s hot, hot summer again. The fields are cut, and ploughing has begun.
My writing schedule is quite extreme; all will be ready for October 20th. It feels golden, as I love working on all and any aspects of these books, and a little blue as I realise I’m almost at the end.
So, I run up and down the castle stairs with my characters. I dance with them in the deep dungeon studio, the stone circle and the great hall. I eat cake in Covent Garden and enjoy an unexpected kiss on the tube. Then there’s the bad things, the dark places and the relationship woes. I cry my way through those; you know I do. But I have my chocolate buttons and my tissues, and I’ll be okay…
Tendu: Dancing in the Castle
Explore the dark and sensual world of TENDU, where love, dance and obsession intertwine.
Sign up to the mailing list for news about my life and writing, and some exclusive photos. If you would like to hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Autumn in Scotland is brief. One day you’re in the midst of the wild and overgrown end of summer, and then – it always feels sudden and surprising – the trees are full of brilliant and bright colours.
There’s also berries. And misty mornings. And apples.
I’m walking through that hot afternoon sunshine, between the trees and the toadstools. There’s so many of those this year.
The end of autumn in Scotland
It all feels rather magical. But it could be over at any moment. When the first frost comes, which could happen any time in the next month, the leaves will turn brown and fall off. The dragonflies and butterflies will disappear. And it will be winter. Like the onset of autumn, this always feels sudden, but at the same time sneaky. Like, when did this cold, cold change occur?
So, I treasure sweet autumnal moments for as long as I can. Look at the sunshine shining through those red leaves. Glorious, isn’t it?
“Those who are looking for a strong female protagonist, love lyrical and expressive writing styles, and favour stories with a touch of magic and ancient mythology, particularly set in Scotland, should put it on their list. They are bound to discover a new author to follow, and a protagonist they’ll never forget.”
Set in 1st century Scotland, SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD includes the battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans and the Caledonian tribes. The book features a neurodivergent main character and some rather complicated romance!
Taking place mainly in a fictional castle, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR blends an often overlooked period of history, the Scottish witchcraft accusations, in particular the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic, with a love story.
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the kidnapped children and young people of Aberdeen. The story follows the adventures of Elizabeth Manteith from the castle and her determined efforts to get back home. There’s love. There’s derring-dos on the high seas… And there’s chocolate!
Go here to sign up for my occasional emails that always include exclusive photos and news of my writing and life. They’re a more intimate space than the blog. If you would like to hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Looking at Ox-eye daisies in the meadow, squinting against the sun with my strained eyes…
Strained Eyes
I have strained eyes. I’ve been writing, writing, writing. Or actually, editing, editing, editing. A Dancer’s Journey is progressing. It feels slow, but these books are long, long, long. And emotional. And diabolical and barbarous and sexy and witty and fun. Working on them is actually immense fun. I will miss it when they’re done.
And they will be soon. They are coming, I promise 🙂 Edit: Amazon!
Go here to sign up for my (roughly monthly) newsletter. It’s a more intimate space than the blog and always includes some exclusive photos. If you would rather just hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
That’s what my son said of my little video attempt below. “Wow, that’s some depressing time travel.”
Romantic Time Travel
I do like those sad stories, though. Not that they’re sad, beginning to end, these books. There’s romance in them all, happy romance, sometimes a little bit naughty too. And one of them has chocolate… No actual time travel, though. None at all.
You can be depressed by them all here in the UK, or for worldwide depression, go here.
Writing with no time travel
I’ve been writing, writing, writing, living in the intense and sexy atmosphere of A Dancer’s Journey. I love it. I don’t want to leave it. It’s fun and romantic, if a little devastating and dramatic in places. But leave it, I will, later this year, when all three books finally get released.
There’s also this strange little post about what the characters get up to when I’m away from the keyboard.
Pink Things
I’ve been enjoying the pink phase of the garden…
Pink bench and cherry blossom
Newsletter and Updates
Sign up to the mailing list for news about my life and writing, and some exclusive photos. If you would rather just hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Crying while writing. Crying while editing. And even crying while thinking about writing, as the scenes, both happy and sad, play out in my mind. It’s no wonder I’m sometimes dehydrated!
So, am I the only one?
Tell me I’m not.
I can’t be.
Emotive writing is, just that. Springing from emotion. Causing of emotions. If the writer isn’t fully immersed, how can the reader ever be?
Rhododendron flowers on the pink bench
Marketing
But then, I read other things, sensible things really. Like, when we market our books, they should be regarded as ‘products’ and we should not be emotionally attached to them. This is meant to work well. It makes better ‘business’ sense. And we should write to a ‘market’ and design covers to a genre stereotype. The first one I can maybe manage, at least while marketing, but certainly not while writing. The rest, no. It all flows fast and organically out of me and I have no choice but to go where my heart takes me.
Ox Eye Daisy
So. I sob on. The latest line, from SISTERS, to set me off was: In the midst of great loss, the newness of a baby helps.
Floods.
Breathlessness.
I’m welling up just looking at the line now, overcome by all that it references.
Editing
This emotional aspect of writing is one of the many reasons good, thorough, even brutal, editing is so important. We, or at least I, need someone less attached, someone who did not write the words and scenes, to look at the work objectively and say: this could be better, this is not clear, were you under the influence of one of your stronger prescription drugs when you wrote this? Because in our, or my, invested blubbering state, we might not see it. We might not know.
The book is on its way back for edit three soon (GWL did spoil me with their three editing process, and I won’t do less now), so all is well there.
It is possible that illness is making me worse, crying-wise. I feel a bit pathetic and vulnerable. But that will pass. I will get stronger again. And you’ll get nice sensible and scenic posts about castles and standing stones 🙂
But for now, I recover – from both medical conditions and writing – in the garden. Among the flowers. With a candle.
On a happier note, one that doesn’t make me cry anyway: I’m doing a signed book giveaway over on Instagram. See it here. It runs all week (June 19th- 26th 2022) with one of each book up for grabs and it’s a worldwide competition.
It’s good to see the spring flowers. And the sunshine. As illness recedes a little along with the winter.
SISTERS
Romans + Celts = some rather complicated romance!
Set in 1st century Scotland, the novel features a neurodivergent main character, chosen sisters, fierce warriors and the battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans and the Caledonian tribes.
Go here to sign up for occasional emails that always include some exclusive photos and news of my writing and life. They’re a more intimate space than the blog. If you would rather just hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
It’s getting brighter. I feel it already. Or maybe I only think I can. For how much lighter can it really be, so few days after the Solstice?
It’s quiet too, in this between time, during this lull of activity in the world.
I notice things that I wouldn’t normally notice. Below is the part of SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD that has been most highlighted by kindle readers.
We are all that big. And we all change the world every day as we go about making choices, taking action, sitting still and most of all: by adding more love into the places around us.
That’s what I want in 2023. More love in the world. More happiness. More peace.
The thaw, and then the frost, made for a scene of silver ice up at the loch yesterday. It’s still very cold, but milder temperatures are supposed to arrive this week. And, personally, the next few days will be more hectic, so the daily blogs may be at their end. I’ve really enjoyed writing them, and may return to this practice again at some point.
Review
I stumbled across a new review for SISTERS this week on the blog My Little Hawk: “If you’re like me and you also want to allow a book to paint the most vivid and beautiful images in your mind and be transported to another place and time, please spare some time to read this book. You’ll notice its powerful magic from page one.” See the whole review here.
Deer Prints by the Loch
All My Books
My historical novels all involve dark events, romance and a little magic…
SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD opens on a snowy winter solstice.
THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR has 6 chapters of medieval Christmas.
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE features Christmas in Colonial Pennsylvania.
They’re all available in paperback, kindle and on kindle unlimited.
Go here to sign up for occasional emails that always include exclusive photos and news of my writing and life. They’re a more intimate space than the blog.
There’s brooding skies over the loch now. You can see the wee island that the landowner is building for wildlife. But the snow has turned to sleet, so things are about to get less pretty. Will these little daily blogs continue? I don’t know. Perhaps. Other scenic things may happen.
It’s Mermaid Time!
Everyone knows about the Salem witch trials that took place in seventeenth century America, but less well known are the instances of witch hunting that occurred across Scotland.
Ailish Sinclair painstakingly researched this fascinating and terrible subject for more than a year, before blending it with a love story in her debut novel, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR. Featuring three real women who were accused as part of the Aberdeen witchcraft panic of 1597, the book is set against the beautiful backdrop of the Aberdeenshire countryside and tells the story of Isobell, and her desperation to escape London and an arranged marriage, to find a better life.
Upon landing in Scotland, Isobell’s dreams of faery castles, ancient woodlands and misty lochs seem to be coming true, as she finds herself kitchen maid to a handsome Laird, who offers not only safety but also the hope for a brighter future, filled with love and kindness. All is not how it seems, however, and enemies, both from the past and the present, conspire to test Isobell to the limits of endurance, and beyond.
We have reached the snowy loch milestone of winter, with snow sitting atop a layer of ice over the water. Today is windy, and there may be more snow, but it’s a balmy 1 degree. Will the loch be even snowier tomorrow? I suspect so.
I still just want to sit and write. And today I shall.
Book of the Day: Fireflies and Chocolate
Ailish Sinclair has turned her attention from the terrible subject of witch hunting in sixteenth century Aberdeen, to the equally disturbing events that surrounded child kidnapping and the slave trade in the mid 1700s.
Using the experiences of real characters, she tells the story of Elizabeth Manteith, captured on the docks of Aberdeen and transported on a slave ship to the Colonies, where a fearful and uncertain future awaits.
Friendships forged on the journey are soon shattered, leaving Elizabeth alone and desolate. However, she retains her passionate desire to find the young man who befriended her on board the ship… and to get back home to her beloved Scotland.
If you want to be kept updated about when new books are available, you can sign up for the mailing list (lots of photos there too), or follow my Amazon author page.
