Picture by Nic Mcphee
Just in case you’ve not heard of this, November is National Novel Writing Month. And it’s not just a celebration of the novel and writers and a stimulus to start one or finish one or even read one. No. As if the thought of writing a novel isn’t daunting enough NaNoWriMo is the month when you write THE WHOLE THING! IN 30 DAYS! Madness… or is it? Continue reading
Hurray! It’s Halloween! Today is a day when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest and magic is all around, so keep your eyes open and you may just luck into some. Although its modern celebration is with dressing up and trick-or-treating, traditionally it’s a day to honour ancestors and those we love who have passed on. In Mexico they celebrate the Days of the Dead, when loved ones can come back to spend time with their living relatives. In pagan traditions it’s called Samhain and is widely regarded as the end of the old year and the beginning of the new.
So after you’ve carved a scary face on the pumpkin, and the trick-or-treaters have emptied your cupboard of sweeties and apples, take a quiet moment to light a candle and remember those who have gone before. Wishing you all a lovely Halloween.
Candles have a magic all their own. From the time before electricity and gas when they were the light in the darkness, they have come to symbolize so many things for us now, love, reverence, remembrance, hope. They are used in celebration, relaxation, meditation and probably a few other -ations that elude me now, not to mention their importance in romance and their supreme usefulness during a power cut. Candlelight has that mystical quality that is comforting and a little eerie at the same time, so lovely as the darkness covers us earlier, and the clouds blanket us from brightness. Here is an ode to the candle, a spooky little poem in the run up to Halloween. Continue reading
Magic happened to me last week – ‘When Joe Met Alice’ is officially available for download! That may not seem very magical to a lot of people, but actually the fact that you can press a few buttons and have virtually any book you choose on your device ready to read in a matter of moments is nothing short of miraculous. Magic is seeing the ordinary through different eyes and accepting the wonder of it. So next time we see a beautiful view, or light pouring through the trees, or our loved ones smiling at us, let’s allow ourselves that moment of wonder. Here’s one of mine, in a poem.
![Toad - By Walter Siegmund (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.izzyrobertsonauthor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Bufo_boreas_5629-300x200.jpg)
TOADTucked behind the log pile and
Hidden in the hedge,
He had backed into a fallen flowerpot.
That was how I saw him.
His earthen skin,
Well disguised amongst roots and branches,
Stood out against the terracotta.
Crouched so still
With limbs drawn beneath him,
He might have passed for a rock,
Except for his eyes, obsidian, brilliant,
And the slight shiver of his breath.
He knows more than he’s telling,
That toad, old as stone.
Today ‘When Joe Met Alice’ has officially entered the big wide world, and a long held dream has been realised. I have had something published! Please excuse me if I sound a little excited – in fact no, make that a big excited. As a writer you hope one day you will find yourself in print, be it paper and ink or pixels and screen, but that is tempered by all sorts of things, the vagaries of the market, what’s hot and what’s not, writer’s block, a good dose of self doubt etc., etc. However, at the risk of starting to sound like someone making a bad Oscar’s speech, I have been lucky enough to have family and friends that encouraged, enthused and occasionally nagged me, until the light at the end of the tunnel turned into sunshine and Magic Oxygen. Thank you, all of you, for having faith and telling me I could. I couldn’t have done it without you!
So… if you are champing at the bit to buy it head over to Amazon for the Kindle version or SmashWords for other e-Book versions.
Well, the day is nearly here and I can hardly believe it. Tomorrow ‘When Joe Met Alice’ is officially released as an e-book, and will be available in all the usual places. ‘When Joe Met Alice’ is a romance with a magical twist, set around Halloween, which is why I’m so pleased it’s coming out now, so close to the day itself. Not surprisingly, I love Halloween, the history and the mystery, the chance to dress up and have fun, while remembering all those that have gone before. It’s a night where in the past I’ve scared myself silly swapping ghost stories with friends and watching daft horror films from behind a cushion. However now I prefer something a little gentler and kinder to my sleep pattern. Alice and Joe gave me the perfect story to celebrate with. So if you like something bitter-sweet and a little spooky, let me invite you into their world tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it!
At the risk of sounding quite crackers, my stories usually begin when a character walks into my head; they always have a story attached. They are often associated with a particular place as well. They mooch around for a bit and eventually become insistent that I write them down – often then the story continues to develop from there. The writing process occasionally drives on to the end (deadlines can be handy), but more often than not continues in fits and starts over a variable time frame. Continue reading
Maybe I have a subversive streak, but I actually really like things that can’t be explained. Studying science at school and then physiotherapy, everything had to be proven, results had to be reliable and repeatable, all techniques had to be justified; the best and most efficient means to an end. And while this is absolutely desirable and necessary in many, many fields, it kind of knocks the wonder out of life a bit. I want the best of both worlds; I’m greedy I suppose. There are so many bizarre coincidences and odd happenings that we experience in life, and most of the time we measure them against our known parameters and come up with the most likely, logical explanation. But sometimes I think what if there is something else going on? Some other force at play? And as well as scaring myself silly, ‘what if’ is a very good place for a story to start.
What is it about fairy tales that draws us in, adults and kids alike? After all, as far as story telling goes, they’re pretty basic. No hooks, no questions, no mystery, no frills, little description or scene setting AND we know how they end before we’ve even started. Good overcomes evil, love conquers all, the underdog wins the day and the bad guys get their comeuppance. Karma sorted all round. And who doesn’t want that fairytale ending…? But it is a matter of perspective. The hero and heroine may live happily ever after – but that doesn’t take away the trauma and pain they’ve suffered. And the same can’t be said for the wicked stepmother/sisters/witch. Their fate is tolerable at best and downright grim(m) (pun fully intended!) at worst – some of the original tales are really quite horrific. Continue reading
I am so excited that When Joe Met Alice is coming out at the end of October; how appropriate, since Halloween is a part of it. I wrote it over several months after Alice wandered into my head one day and it became apparent that her story needed to be told. When it was finished, several people liked it and said ‘You should get that published.’ But how? Where? That was when Magic Oxygen came to my rescue. Simon is nothing short of a web wizard and Tracey has such a great eye for detail. They have helped me to put together all the things I hadn’t even thought about, bio, cover and all. I had a vague idea of a cover image, which has been translated into absolute perfection, as you can see; my gorgeous ‘Alice’ is the lovely Lucy West. Thank you Lucy!