Despite the grasses, standing among the hilly dunes feels a little like being in a lunar landscape. It’s so different from the sandy beach below.
Looking through to the sea, and then heading on up to Tiger Hill, the largest sand dune at Fraserburgh.
Fireflies and Chocolate
Torn out of an isolated life in a Scottish castle, Elizabeth embarks on a determined quest to return home. Exhilarating adventures unfold on the high seas, love blossoms, and the chocolate, purchased in Benjamin Franklin’s printing shop, is delicious!
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the 600 children and young people who were kidnapped from Aberdeen during the 1740s and sold into indentured servitude in the American Colonies.
The Performance: sometimes going home for Christmas is just one huge performance…
When Ariel returns home from dance college, her mother expects her to perform the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in a pink, sequined tutu in front of many, many party guests. Ariel adjusts the costume and choreography to expose dark truths about her life, but, as it turns out, this is not the biggest performance of the night…
New Books and Special Offers
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This Peely Wally post was originally published in January 2020.
Peely Wally Levels
Level 17 is actually an improvement. I think I was level 25 last week. But then I’m not the best when it comes to self assessment. In my last post I stated that I was ‘recovering from flu.’ Three days later I was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. And there I stayed for three weeks, receiving the most incredible care.
Wow, NHS.
Wow, nurses.
The picture is an old one, but it is my first post-pneumonia ambition. I will walk onto a beach sometime soon.
So, normal service will be resumed as the Peely Wally levels reduce. I hope you all had a good holiday time, if you celebrate, and that 2020 is a wonderful year!
Ariel: Dancing on TV
Torn from a life where she never fitted in, Ariel quickly becomes the focus of a reality TV show. Can she rise above a lifetime of pain and embrace the possibilities of fame and love that beckon to her?
The Performance: sometimes going home for Christmas is just one huge performance…
When Ariel returns home from dance college, her mother expects her to perform the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in a pink, sequined tutu in front of many, many party guests. Ariel adjusts the costume and choreography to expose dark truths about her life, but, as it turns out, this is not the biggest performance of the night…
New Books and Special Offers
If you would like to hear about new books and special offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Beautiful Loch Morlich, Cairngorms beyond, still with patches of snow in June.
Little Blog Written by Loch Morlich
This blog was originally sent from holiday in June 2019. I was completely depleted by my autoimmune conditions, at that point undiagnosed, and spent most of the holiday lying in bed reading books.
Honesty in Writing
It seems strange, looking back on it now, that I tried to keep my health problems a secret. Only happy pictures got posted on socials, such as ones of Aviemore Stone Circle and Reindeer in the Cairngorms. The gargantuan effort it took to get to these places, or how I hardly left the car, did not get mentioned.
I didn’t want it to be true. I wanted to ‘snap out of it’. Because I didn’t want that to be the way of me.
I still don’t, of course, and it is generally better now, flare ups aside. I guess I’m becoming more open and accepting of the situation, and I like to write honestly everywhere, not just in my books.
Big Blog
From bed I shared the news of my guest post on the official tourism site for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: 10 Mystical and Magical Places in Aberdeenshire. Below is Pitsligo Castle, one of the sites featured in that post.
Ducks by Loch Morlich
On the pictured morning I walked very slowly from the car to the loch, and it was wonderful to be out among such beauty. I was on the banks of Loch Morlich before the ducks were up! And probably back in bed before they were too…
My Latest Historical Novel
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.
Go here to sign up for my occasional emails that always include some exclusive photos and news of my writing and life. If you would rather just hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
It’s a beautiful place. The River Ugie (pronouned yoo-ghee) winds its way through Aden Park and Strichen and ends its journey in Peterhead where it flows into the North Sea.
There’s a foot bridge across the river. This little gull was quite friendly.
Up through the dunes we go…
And down onto the beach.
The skies are bright between rain showers.
We walk back along the riverside as the clouds gather once more.
Cabriole: Dancing in the City
Hold on to your hats. Clutch your pearls.
Amalphia is back, and her choices are as shocking as ever in this dark and witty sequel.
After a traumatic year at the castle, Amalphia Treadwell travels back to London to start her professional life, putting dark and difficult things firmly behind her. Or so she believes…
There are no cliffhanger endings in this series; each book completes a story, but then there is more. So much more.
Go here to sign up for occasional emails that always include exclusive photos and news of my writing and life. They’re a bit more intimate than the blog. If you would like to hear about new books and special offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Between the dunes. There’s just the sea breeze and me.
I’m looking out across the ocean. Walking down through the coarse grasses, feeling their roughness with my fingertips. As people must have done for as long as people have existed.
18th century.
16th century.
When the Romans were here.
Before.
Then there’s listening. The incoming tide, the waves pulling back from the beach. It feels like a healing sound. I wish it could be prescribed to everyone as needed.
The term ‘blue mind’ describes the mild meditative state that we enter when in or close to natural bodies of water. It was coined by marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. He wrote a book on the subject and did a Ted Talk too:
So ‘blue mind’ in mind, and encouraged by my wee trip to Rosehearty Harbour, I ventured out again. Travelling slightly further this time, I arrived at New Aberdour beach where everything was blue, blue, blue…
Blue Mind to Pink Rocks
Feet bare, I sat on the pink rocks and stared out to sea.
I saw stones and pools and pink, lots of pink everywhere.
I am just looking at the soft shapes of land, and the hard shapes of rock, as they drop away into the sea. No in-between places up on top here. No beach, no marsh. Here the space between life and death is painted clear. You could be walking on grass one moment and dead on the rocks the next. This is a place of instant transition from one state to another.
There’s more ‘blue mind’ photos in the older post Going Coastal.
Set in 1st century Northern Scotland, SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is a story of chosen sisters, fierce warriors, divided loyalties and, ultimately, love. It features a neurodivergent main character, the battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans and the Caledonian tribes, and some rather complicated romance!
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.
The Map of Accused Scottish Witches is a wonderful resource from the University of Edinburgh, utilising the extensive data collected in their Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database. See it here.
It’s a clickable map of over 3000 people accused of witchcraft in Scotland. It’s both fascinating and terrible as this subject always is. My three quines from THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR are included (see Isobell’s entry above) as are a disturbing Witch Pricker’s Journey and various other stories. You can choose to view a modern map or a historical one, the latter suiting it better, I think.
The map and database were extremely useful to me when researching and writing about this subject.
The Beauty of Autumn
After peering into the dark, I need to look at beauty, so here’s some golden autumnal goodness:
And the path up to St Drostan’s well, shining in the golden sunlight:
Newsletter
Keep up to date with all my news, witchy and otherwise, by signing up to the mailing list. It’s a more intimate space than the blog and always contains some exclusive photos. If you would like to hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Contemporary Fiction
Scotland’s all misty lochs and magical forests and perfect boyfriends, right?
When dance student Amalphia Treadwell embarks on a secret relationship with her rich, handsome teacher, she has no idea of the danger that lurks in his school in Scotland…
My dance background and love of history and spicy stories are what inspired this heady mix of contemporary romance and ballet set in a castle. Readers of my historical fiction will recognise the castle and stone circle that feature in these books.
There are no cliffhanger endings in this series; each book completes a story, but then there is more. So much more. Read all the blurbs here
Historical Fiction
These novels combine little-known dark events with love stories and a hint of magic.
Wandering barefoot. Along the sand. At St Combs beach.
Tiptoeing between the sandworm castings.
Feeling the smoothness and solidity of the rocks.
Bending down to look at some wee sea snails.
Leaping over seaweed.
A sand storm blows up on the way back.
But the skies stay dramatic at St Combs.
Reviews for TENDU
“This book has so much representation in its characters with autism, dyslexia, medical issues and LGBTQ+ characters…” Emma-Louise on Goodreads and TikTok
“Knowing there are two more books in the series made it easier to accept that the tale was coming to an end. It can be so hard to finish a book when you are loving the story so much.” Molly on Amazon.com
Scotland’s all misty lochs and magical forests and perfect boyfriends, right?
When dance student Amalphia Treadwell embarks on a secret relationship with her charismatic new teacher, she has no idea of the danger that lurks in his school in Scotland…
There’s a great review of The Mermaid and the Bear over on The Inquisitive Inkpot: “This is where I connected with Isobell: I connected with her when the fragility of her world suddenly mirrored the fragility of mine. So to speak, I met her in the details.”
And another here on Instagram: “The author has written such a triumphant tale of love, bravery, and true magic for these women and all women.”
If you like castles, Scotland, history, witches, stone circles and Christmas done medieval-style, you might like THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR. There’s also a love story.
Keep up to date with all my news by signing up to the mailing list. It’s a more intimate space than the blog and always contains some exclusive photos. If you would like to hear about new books and special offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Originally posted August 2022. I went out for the day. I ended up visiting so many places that it felt like having a whole holiday in a day. It’s been a really long time since I did this. There’s been wee local trips here and there since this latest bout of illness. But it’s been years, literally, since I’ve been out in this way. Other ill times and lockdowns all stopped play for me in this regard.
I didn’t know how far I’d get, so just took one small step of the journey at a time, sharing on Twitter and Instagram as I went.
Holiday in a Day: the Red Well
First was the Red Well by Whitehills. I won’t write about it now as it features in SISTERS and deserves its own post (see that post here). It was beautiful, though, and provided a gentle start to the outing.
Portsoy Harbour
A little further up the coast, I came to the wonderfully scenic Portsoy Harbour, its window and dolphin sculpture also pictured above.
Speymouth Forest
The trip was going well, so on I went, and soon reached deep and dark Speymouth Forest.
I didn’t walk far, but there was so much beauty to be seen everywhere in the old woodland.
Lots of little pathways.
Biblical Garden
On and on I travelled, still feeling good. I took a walk in the Biblical Garden at Elgin. This garden contains 110 plants that are mentioned in the bible. It’s an interesting and peaceful place to visit, maintained by the horticultural students of Moray College.
Samson:
A rainbow:
Then the fear kicked in. Two competing fears actually. One that I might exhaust myself back into being ill, and the other that I might become ill again so should do as much as possible in one day.
I compromised by sitting quietly by the sea at Sandend for a while before heading home.
Note the jumping and boating people in the background!
TikTok
I made a short TikTok video of the day. I am new on there and really don’t know what I’m doing yet. Any advice welcome!
Sisters at the Edge of the World
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…
Set in an Aberdeenshire castle, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR features the Scottish witchcraft accusations, a handsome Laird, an ancient stone circle and a love story.
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the 18th century kidnapped children of Aberdeen and is set in both Scotland and Colonial Pennsylvania.
Go here to sign up for my occasional emails that always include some exclusive photos and news of my writing and life. If you would rather just hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
Roseisle is a beautiful place. The beach is golden and stretches for miles between Findhorn and Burghead, and every time I’ve been there, the sky has been bright blue.
It was the perfect place for me to visit recently. I had to come off my latest medication due to side effects, and I was frightened that I was experiencing the first signs of becoming unwell. This stage of chronic illness is always a balancing act between resting and getting things done while I can. So, I gallivanted gently, and so far, I am still well 🙂
Roseisle Beach
There are pillboxes and concrete blocks all along the beach, defences left in place from the Second World War. People use them as shelters and picnic tables today.
Roseisle Forest
The forest, planted in the 1930s, is rather magnificent too.
In the open area, there are picnic tables, and toilets, and even a food truck; the skin-on fries were very good.
Scotland’s all misty lochs and magical forests and perfect boyfriends, right?
When dance student Amalphia Treadwell embarks on a secret relationship with her rich, handsome teacher, she has no idea of the danger that lurks in his new school in Scotland…
Go here to sign up for my occasional emails that always include some exclusive photos and news of my writing and life. If you would like to hear about new books and offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
