Welcome to my new blog. I’m going to start with a confession…I’ve been blogging for some years, but this is my first solo effort. I’ve been part of a group blog (The Lady Killers, an amazing collection of mystery writers,) and enjoyed it very much, including the fact that I wasn’t responsible for all the technical stuff, I just had to post now and then. With this one, any cyber-glitches are down to me. Let’s hope there aren’t too many.
I’ll be talking about all sorts of things…about being a writer, being a Yorkshire tyke, my Roman mystery series featuring innkeeper Aurelia Marcella, other people’s mysteries, books in general, history, places, dogs, food, whatever occurs to me. And don’t forget I’m from Yorkshire, and Yorkshire people always speak their minds (whether asked to or not.) I hope you’ll do the same, when you add your comments.
This photo shows me in my office trying to look busy. Not a very convincing effort, is it? I’m lucky to have my own space to work in. I really admire people who can write anywhere, like on the corner of a kitchen table, or while crammed into a crowded bus. I can read almost anywhere, but for writing I need my own bit of peace and quiet. I’m glad the photo doesn’t show too much of my general untidiness. My system for storing and filing is what I call flexible, untrammelled by silly restrictive concepts of method and organisation. Other people may call it something else. But I can always find what I need…that is, nearly always…well, on a good day. And some of my shelves must make a great wildlife habitat for dust mites.
I bet plenty of people have much more entertaining favourite writing places for writing or reading. On elephant-back in the jungle? In a canoe on the Amazon? What’s the most unusual spot where you’ve ever found yourself with a book, or a manuscript, in hand?
Congratulations on your new blog, Jane! It’s good to see you flying solo, as it were. I’ve enjoyed your contributions to the LadyKillers and wish you all the best in your new venture.
I, too, envy those who can write under strained circumstances. I require peace and quiet and lots of tea. I sometimes sit in the car at Tesco’s and plot, but that’s different from actually writing the thing.
Thanks for your good wishes, Dolores. I love the thought of you sitting in Tescos car park thinking of murder and mystery. If you have a bad time at the checkout – and very occasionally those checkout people seem to be on a different planet – do you start thinking of a 21st-century mystery in which a supermarket employee turns up dead in the frozen meat cabinet?
Jane, congratulations on launching your solo blog! It looks great and I’ve already marked it as a favorite.
Oh, lovely Scarborough! My daughter and I tried to ride bikes down the coast from Whitby but only got as far as Robin Hood’s Bay before we were sidetracked into sitting outside an inn and spending the rest of the afternoon drinking tea and gazing at the sea.
One of my favorite stories of reading/writing venues is of John Wesley’s penchant for getting so deep into his literary efforts whilst on horseback that he was forever falling off. Finally his friends clubbed together to buy him a carriage. First thing he did was install a bookshelf behind the seat.
Thanks for your good wishes, Donna. That stretch of coast is one of our favourites too. We especially like Ravenscar, just a little south of Robin Hood’s Bay, which has a brilliant hotel on a cliff-top with the most marvellous sea views. We’ve visited it many times, and they serve traditional Afternoon Tea, several kinds of sandwiches, scones and cream, shortbread, cakes of various sorts…just what you need after a bracing winter walk. But however hungry Richard and I are, we can only ever manage Tea for One (plus extra tea to drink) because the portions are so generous! As for reading in unusual places, I don’t fancy doing a John Wesley and reading on horseback, but ambling along in a horse-drawn carriage sounds rather relaxing.
The comment about John Wesley’s bookshelf reminds me of an old VW camper van I saw at Edinburgh University which had fitted bookshelves visible through the back window – if I had a camper van (or a horse-drawn carriage) bookshelves would be a must. A quick scan of memory for unusual places I’ve been with a book produces little of interest, which (given my reading habit) suggests I haven’t been to enough unusual places and I shall have to remedy that.
A camper van with bookshelves – sounds just the job. A tent is OK for reading, but not much room for shelves in my camping days; as students we carried everything on our backs so the accommodation wasn’t exactly spacious! A van sounds much more civilised.