Stocking Filler

I haven't made any recommendations for books here before but this one is worth a mention. It looks at the classic fairytales in modern settings and from new perspectives. More for the adults than children this would make a great stocking filler for anyone with Kindle or a Kindle app. It would also make a good retreat from the Christmas chaos if you just want to put your feet up and escape it all for a while.

Sue Moorhouse: Broomsticks, Walking Sticks and Zimmer Frames

Next Big Thing - Blog Hop

A fellow blogger and member of Authonomy, Audrey Bennett, has invited me to join in The Next Big Thing blog tour. The idea is to hop from blog to blog to discover exciting authors and their books we might not have heard about or that are still Works in Progress (WIP).  This is Week  23.

The hop rules require me to answer questions, and then at the bottom of my post, to list links to authors who will answer the same questions on their blogs next week. 

So, the Q&A part:

1) What is the working title of your book?

My latest manuscript is called The Glass House.

2) Where did the idea come from for your book?

I love gardening and inherited a glass house from my grandmother. I write women's fiction and I wanted to write a story about judging people on first impressions and the dangers of doing so. I took inspiration from the old phrase, 'People In Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones.' That gave me the idea to make my main character a gardener and from that the story revolved around a Victorian Glass House that she discovers and restores.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

Women's Fiction with a hint of crime/thriller.

4) Which actors would you choose to play in your movie rendition?

As the story is set in Northern Ireland, preferably natives of Northern Ireland or at least someone who can do a plausible Norn Iron accent. Three women and three man are pivotal to the plot so there are a few roles to fill. I recently watched a film called Cherrybomb, set in Belfast. Rupert Grint plays a lead role and I was pleasantly surprised at his Northern Irish accent. Robert Sheehan is also in it and, although from Co Laois, he can also do a good accent. He would make a great Stuart. Homegrown talent in that movie is in the form of James Nesbitt and I could see him in the role of Tom.

5) What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

A sanctuary. A Workplace. When a blackmailer finds a use for it, what secrets will the glass house cultivate?

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I hope it sits well within the realm of women's fiction. It has a surface plot of romance, deception and blackmail. The underlying issue of judging people on impressions develops throughout the story so I hope it will have commercial appeal. I intend to submit it to agents and see what sort of reaction it gets. So far the feedback, on the sample chapters, on two writing sites has been positive and encouraging.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I started the story and wrote the first few chapters about a year ago. Then I turned my efforts to editing my first MS, Twisted Truth. Feeling that I've done all I can with it, for now, I returned to The Glass House and wrote the rest of the first draft within two months.

8) What other books would you compare this story to?

I read a lot of chick-lit and women's fiction but can't think of another one that combines gardening and blackmail in this manner, or that is set in Northern Ireland. Hopefully that all makes up for a unique selling point.

9) Who or what inspired you to write the book?

This answer mirrors that to question two. My own love of gardening and the phrase, 'People in Glass Houses.' One of the characters in the story is too quick to judge people on first impressions. Combine that with a stubborn mind and it's a recipe for trouble.

10) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I hope the Northern Irish setting will appeal. I've used my blog to try and highlight this corner of the world and I hope the book could do the same. Caitlin gets a role presenting a gardening show which takes her around Ireland. The glass house is near the village of Sion Mills, which has some very unique architecture and parts of the story are set in Belfast, which provided an opportunity to show the changes and development but also reflects our history and ongoing problems.

Next Wednesday, you can visit the blogs of friends listed below to read the answers on their 'Next Big Thing.'

Melanie Jones - Melanie's debut novel will be released next year and you can also follow her on Facebook.
SJ McClanahan - a husband and wife team who write together and can also be found on Facebook.
Gail Cleare - Gail writes women's fiction and runs a critique group on Authonomy for those who write in the genre.

Beginning To Feel A Lot Like...

It's that time of year again.

As a parent, I'm normally very organised when it comes to Christmas and, whilst I usually veer far away from ornaments, I love Christmas decorations.

This year I'm finding it harder to find the spirit and had done very little shopping or thought about the decorations. I got myself geared up this weekend and dragged out the trees (all 5 of them) and the decorations. I left the children to decorate their own small trees in their bedrooms and gave them the baubles to decorate a little fibre optic tree in our family room. I turned my attention to the remaining two - one for our drawing room and the big one in the hallway. We used to have a real tree but since moving to a house with under-floor heating, we discovered it doesn't agree with the real version so that year I ended up buying a bigger artificial tree before Christmas was over.

I'm not particularly into collecting things or cluttering up the house with trinkets, but two things I look for on my travels abroad are shot glasses and tree baubles. I was quite sad to discover my Elvis-styled Santa from Las Vegas is now missing one ceramic hand but he's still gracing the tree with his cream and red jumpsuit.

I've even succumbed to the statistics and added another shopper to the Mega-Monday numbers. Now I need to turn some attention the rest of the long-list. Sorting out the house for the visitors we'll have staying with us this year, finish off the present-shopping, wrapping, card-writing and the dreaded food shopping. Not much left then!

As December is now upon us I hope wherever you are in the world, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, that your holiday is a fun one and not too stressful.

A taste of our festive decorating:

Christmas Tree

Decorated Fireplace

Elvis Santa

After publishing this post I discovered that BritMums are doing a blog hop for Christmas: BritMums Christmas Blog Hop

Published

It made me smile, although the champagne corks aren't popping yet. The school my children attend have decided to produce a cookbook in time for Christmas to raise money. They asked each family to submit an original recipe (to avoid copyright issues) that is a favourite in their home. I opted for a slow-cooked chicken and chorizo casserole. Filling, handy for busy households, tasty and, as it's slow-cooked, fabulous smell to come home to.

The kids came home from school, very excited, with the news that their recipe was one of those called out in assembly and chosen for the book. Of course I'm now under strict orders to purchase a copy of the cookbook once it's ready for sale. When I get it, I'll try to add a photo of our page up on the blog or at least post the recipe.

Confusing Tourism Stats

I read a report today on the BBC NI website and I'm still trying to work out what it says. Are we seeing an increase or decrease in tourists to Northern Ireland?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-20525743

According to these new statistics the number of oversees tourists has fallen in 2012 by 12% but then the report goes on to say that North American visitors are up 18% and hotel room occupancy up by 11%. The figures from places like Titanic Belfast and the Giant's Causeway appear very healthy and certainly in my own travels this summer, I saw more tourists than I ever recall before and a greater number of them were from overseas. I remarked on that in a few of my blog posts. The stats coming in from Titanic and the Causeway reflect what I encountered and I find it hard to believe visitors are down, overall, by 12%. I know I didn't feel that when I was queuing for a much desired cup of tea in the visitor's centre cottage at Carrick-A-Rede.

Our Place

We've had reminders recently that there are still people in Northern Ireland determined to bring the peace process to an end. I grew up in a time when reports of punishment shootings, tit-for-tat revenge, and talk of legitimate targets were daily news articles. A time when a loud bang had you wondering where your nearest and dearest where because your first thought was bomb and when a fire alarm meant bomb scare. I never want to go back to that or see another generation feel the need to get out and away.

For all this country has been through, I've always been proud to be from Northern Ireland and am glad I moved back here. It's a beautiful place and it, and the people, deserve peace. I talked about that in the post Why Northern Ireland? when I discussed why I set my stories here and talk about it on the blog. We have to acknowledge what's happened, it's part of us but there is so much more to Northern Ireland and I hope some small piece of what I do here shows that.

Today, after speculation, it's been officially announced that the G8 Summit is coming back to the UK and this time it will be in Northern Ireland. They've chosen the Lough Erne Resort outside Enniskillen in Co, Fermanagh. I visited the Resort this summer, enjoying a relaxing evening there with my husband and children, after a day spent cycling around Crom Estate and Castle Coole. It is based around golf courses and a lake, with a turreted hotel, lodges and holiday homes. It's a quiet spot around the edges of Fermanagh's lakes and we found the welcome, service and food excellent. There's already been some talk of those who will protest against or at the Summit, as usually accompanies it, but there's a strong focus on the positive aspects of this group coming to Northern Ireland. The logo for Discover NI (the official tourism site for Northern Ireland) is currently 'ni2012 our time our place.' With recent tourism highs like the MTV EMA's, the opening of Titanic Belfast, the Olympics torch relay and the investment we've seen in places like the new visitors centre at The Giant's Causeway we're seeing much greater number of visitors and maybe this is the time for the people of NI to hold our heads high (or at least higher) and be proud of our place.  Northern Ireland has climbed up the rankings of places to visit, according to Guides such as Lonely Planet (incidentally one of it's founders - Maureen Wheeler - is originally from Belfast) so perhaps this Summit will continue to put NI on the map for good reasons, rather than just our troubled past.

Losing the light and rain coming in means this wasn't the best picture (snapped as we drove out of the Resort) but this is a photo of one of the views at Lough Erne.

Lough Erne Resort

Discover NI

Writing Tips

I've seen a few blog posts coming out of the recent Mumsnet Blogfest but I chose to link to this one by Simone Antioniazzi because the 10 tips she has complied are useful for writers and bloggers. Some pragmatic advice and useful tips.

Writing Tips From The Bottom Of Their Ironing Basket

Synopsis Hell

Time to have a go at drafting a synopsis for The Glass House. I detest writing these things; distilling an entire story into one page, especially when this one has three female leads.

I've had a few attempts at it but this is what I've got so far:

The Glass House: Synopsis

Set in contemporary Northern Ireland, The Glass House has a surface plot involving...but the underlying theme considers the dangers of judging others.

When Stuart needs a gardener to present a day-time programme, he hires Caitlin Maguire. The eldest of two siblings from the Co. Tyrone village of Sion Mills, she's reluctant to leave the safety of her restored Victorian Glass House, but her dwindling finances force her to accept.

Younger sister, Niamh is married to Tom Whitley, a fifty year-old property developer with a scorned ex-wife and an eighteen year old daughter. Expelled from her boarding school for drugs offences she denies and sent to live with her father and Niamh, Ellie is given work experience on a costume drama. She hopes her mother will stop forcing her into academics she hates, letting her follow the career she wants, but Angie isn't a women who gives up without a fight.

Filming and her developing relationship with Stuart see Caitlin temporarily move to Belfast. When Ellie shows a talent for gardening, Caitlin employs her and Ellie gets closer to local man, Jack.

...Ellie is threatened with the exposure of... Ellie has no memory of it and she's afraid her family will lose all trust in her. She agrees to the blackmailer's demands, taking delivery of...

Sorry for the ellipsis but I can't give the whole story away or give you the rest of the synopsis. I'll fill those blanks in for those I submit the MS to.

Descriptions

As I edit and tweak, one of the things I've been looking at it is the description applied to certain scenes. I have reworked the opening to chapter two (previously posted a version), to include some of the wider setting for Caitlin's home and glass house. So, here's the latest draft:

    A deep, satisfying warmth filled Caitlin, once again safe in her sanctuary. Her glass house. This one, no ordinary, domestic greenhouse of glass and aluminium. At almost five metres long it dwarfed the contemporary structures she'd grown up with. A perfect piece of Victorian architecture and engineering, it sat outside a walled garden, in a property once owned by Caitlin's grandparents, near the village of Sion Mills. Nestled in the County Tyrone countryside it was surrounded by low hills, that were home to farms worked by generations of local families. Patched hedgerows, their holes manipulated by the sheep they attempted to contain, bounded the roads and the network of fields. Hawthorne, ash, beech and sycamore trees dotted their lines and prickly, yellow gorse bushes spread from the nearby Sperrin Mountains. Around Caitlin's home the trees were dense enough, when in full leaf, to obscure her view of the mountains.

    Since the death of her grandmother two years ago and the passing of her grandfather a year later, their home had passed to her. Now in her care, the glass house looked stunning, with its dwarf brick walls, sparkling glass and the white, cast-iron frame, topped with a ridge of fleur-de-lis. It had been a very different picture when she'd inherited it. Caitlin’s heart had swelled with sympathy the first time she'd glimpsed the rusted framework, most of the glass broken and what little remained so black with dirt it was unrecognisable. Crumbling brickwork, overgrown with nettles, and layers of mud, so thick they could have sent a geologist to heaven.

    Her grandparents had spent years caring for and developing the garden apart from one corner, which they'd never tackled. Always leaving it wild, to bring in the welcome, pollinating bees and butterflies. It was whilst clearing that overgrown corner to gain access to a crumbling wall, requiring repair, that Caitlin discovered the doorway in the wall. Its paint flaking and its hinges rusted and seized, Caitlin had needed to unscrew it from its warped frame to get to the other side of the wall but when she did she made her greatest discovery.

The Editing Begins

The Glass House has been under the microscope of a book-club-type review group for the last two weeks. I was nervous, especially given I'd put a first draft in front of them. If they hated it there was a chance it would knock my enthusiasm for the story.

I'm pleased that none of the reviews were negative and excited that those who read the whole first draft were particularly positive, saying they saw commercial viability, lots going on in the plot and with the characters. They enjoyed it and picked up on the themes and twists, some offering to read it again when the edits are complete. It needs some work, as you'd expect with a first draft, but the editing process starts in earnest now.

Perhaps this post should be a challenge to myself? Get it tightened up and start submitting to agents in the new year. An early New Year's Resolution?

Glass House/Greenhouse

One of the inspirations behind my new MS, The Glass House, was my own love of gardening. I was given my Grand-Mother's greenhouse after she died. I have lots of memories of her working in her garden and growing her own fruit and veg and I'm happy to think she passed that hobby on to me. Her greenhouse had lain unused for some years, when her health failed, so when I moved it to my house, got it cleaned up and back in use, I'd like to think it would please her to see another generation get the benefit of it.

It's not a grand Victorian Glass House, like Caitlin's but I do enjoy spending time pottering around in it and get great satisfaction from the produce I can grow in it. So, I thought I'd share some photos of it.

The photos are taken in different summers and in different locations as I've moved house once since I gained the greenhouse and, of course, there was no way I was leaving it behind.

The snow covered picture, shows it looking all together different, during one of the worst winters I can recall.

An Odd Time

I always find November an odd month and, as it's just round the corner, I'm in that place again. The summer months are gone, as a busy mum I'm settled back into the routine of the children at school, the homework and all the clubs and sports they attend during term time.

As we've seen through the havoc caused by Sandy on the US East Coast, the weather has slipped into wet, cold, windy months. We're being warned of gale force winds and heavy rain to hit us tonight, though it's put into perspective by the scale of Sandy and the destruction she's causing.

Thoughts have started to turn to Christmas but the excitement isn't there for it yet. For parents it's that stage where the children are starting to think about lists and you're worrying about how to keep them at a manageable level. It will be weeks before the lights and decorations go up and the house starts to feel festive. I enjoy Christmas, especially the excitement the children feel in the build up to it. This year we are having family from England coming to stay with us, bringing two more young children with them so I have a bit more planning to do but we are looking forward to spending the holiday with them and their visit adds to our enthusiasm. Until then we have November. A month when we feel the effect of the clocks turning back, with long nights and colder weather, a month of expenditure and planning for parents and I end up looking back to summer or forward to Christmas.

If we had an American-style Thanksgiving Holiday to look forward to in November would it lift this in-between month or would it just be another burden to plan for?

So, here's a post that looks back to a day at Murlough Beach in Dundrum, before I gather the energy to start the work towards Christmas and my next goal of editing The Glass House in the hope of seeking an agent for it in the new year.

The dogs in these pictures are mine and this post gives me an opportunity to promote the rescue of abandoned and unwanted pets. Both our dogs came from rescue situations. Our lab/staffy cross ended up in a pound after being found as a stray with no microchip or ID and when we first decided to get a dog that's where we found him. Our Irish Red Setter was adopted from Donegal Pet Rescue after she was surrendered by her previous owners. Even this posts links to my writing, as it was during the journey to collect Molly (the red setter) that I drove through Sion Mills and became intrigued with the village and its architecture, in turn choosing it as the setting for The Glass House.

For more on Sion Mills: http://www.sionmills.org/

Murlough Beach in Dundrum is at the foot of the Mourne Mountains and, due to its dunes, this beach is maintained by the National Trust.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/murlough/

The Fridge Door

My children are both at Primary School and enjoy using their ever developing knowledge of phonics, reading and writing to transfer their imagination onto paper. Since I started this blog they've been asking me to add some of their stories and they chose one each. My eldest was asked to write a story entitled The Magic Tree for school and my youngest recently wrote What A Day.

I come across so many people who said they enjoyed writing as children but who found they didn't have time for it as they got older or kept it a secret hobby. When our children draw pictures or bring their art work home from school, I'm sure many parents will admire it, stick it on the fridge until it gets covered with the rest of the school notes, schedules, appointments and to-do lists that rule our lives. So, this is a fridge-door post to show my children some recognition and praise because some days we all need a pat on the back.

The Magic Tree

"Bye Mum,' I said, as I rushed out the door to the zip wire. 

"Be careful Matt," mum said. I got into the zip wire and shot down into my Buggati. Then I raced of and then I saw a tree made of solid steel!!!. I slammed the brakes and got out.

It had leaves made of gold and it was humongous!!!! It had twigs and branches of bronze and its trunk was made of steel.

I climbed up and to my surprise it had a slide going down. I slid down it. Wow!!! The tree started to shake. I slid into a room. There was a screen and then I saw a dinosaur. I saw a TF button at the side of the screen and a ZI button too. I ran over and pressed the ZI button and it zoomed in. "Aaaaaahhhhh," I said. "It's an Allosaurus." Suddenly it started to come towards me. I ran over and pressed the TF button. Tree Fight. The tree sprung arms and legs. "Wow," I said as controls popped up. Then I started to fight. But I was no match for it.

After a while my tree was dead. Suddenly, I was sucked into a portal. I found myself back in the place were the tree had been. One new tree was starting to grow. I saw a packet of magic tree seeds beside it, so I picked them up. I jumped into my Buggati and drove home. 

What A Day

One morning mum was doing the washing. Mac, the dog, was having a nap. Lily asked mum, "Where are we going?"

Mum thought Victoria was painting and Spike was playing Star Wars with Luke. But then mum came in, 'It's time to go and pick some leaves and come home and paint them.'

So they went out to pick some leaves.

When they got there Victoria shouted, "I see a really big one."

"Let's go get it!" said Spike."I'll pick this one,"said Spike.

I'll pick this one," said Lilly.

But Victoria was polite and didn't say a word.

"Stop!" shouted mum. "Now you can go and pick some other leaves. 

When they got home everyone said, "What a day!"

NaNoWriMo

I first heard of National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, last year and I was impressed by the amount of people who managed to complete it. The idea is you write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. You have to submit it for verification at the end of the month and if they confirm you've reached the target you'll get an 'I'm a NaNoWriMo Winner,' badge.

National Novel Writing Month

There's also a rebels version which you can enter if you can't comply with the full rules. So, for example, if you've already started writing something but need encouragement or a goal to help you finish it, then you use the 50,000 word target to complete it and get your Rebel verification.

NaNoWriMo Rebel

When I turned my mind to deciding whether I would try it this year, I still had a long way to go with The Glass House and thought I might use the Rebel target to spur me on. Instead, I got into the mood and wrote until it was completed. So, now I'm in a dilemma. Do I try to write something for it this year? Do I have the energy or motivation to do so, after completing The Glass House? Or, do I forget about it this year and concentrate on polishing The Glass House? Decisions, decisions.

Whatever I decide to do I want to wish everyone going for it in November the best of luck and hope there's a new bestseller or award winning book lurking out there for you.

A Thank You

I'm overdue adding this post. I was thrilled to discover that National Trust Mount Stewart shared my blog post about Mount Stewart on google+. So, thank you to them.

This is their google page, containing lots of other posts with information on the estate and some beautiful photographs:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/107831660336607839127/posts

New Pitch

Having finished The Glass House, I realised I needed to work on a new pitch for it and I'm hoping this one sums it up better.

A peaceful life, ensconced in her restored Victorian Glass House was all Caitlin wished for. When a television producer comes calling her dreams become nightmares.

Caitlin: is twenty-eight and lives in a crumbling house near the village of Sion Mills in Northern Ireland. Her energy and finances are focused on her restored Victorian Glass House and her burgeoning horticultural business.

Niamh: at twenty-five, she's Caitlin's younger sister and the siblings seem to have little in common, Niamh preferring nail extensions to green fingers. She's married to Tom, a fifty year-old property developer and her relationship with her sister is strained by Caitlin's dislike of him.

Ellie: Tom's nineteen year-old daughter who meets her step-mother when she's expelled from boarding school and has to move in with her father.

Tom, Jack and Stuart are the three men who are drawn into the lives of these women. When they are all pulled into the residue of Northern Ireland's paramilitary gangs, impressions are challenged and the value of family, friendship and honesty is revealed.

A Good Feeling

Over 76,000 words, 240 double-line spaced pages and 40 chapters, the first draft of The Glass House is complete. It's the second manuscript I've finished and I feel very satisfied having written that final word.

It's taken me by surprise. My first pitch for it suggested the main character would be Caitlin and the story would centre around her relationship with her sister, Niamh. I had a third female character planned, Chloe. Her name has changed to Ellie and she's gone from a minor character who created a situation Niamh and Caitlin needed to get out off, into a central character who helps drive the plot. I'm going to need a new pitch.

My First Meme

I've been tagged in a meme through the BritMums blogging network I belong to. My first one, so here's hoping I get it right.


These are the rules I've been given:
- choose 5 other deserving blogs with less than 200 subscribers to nominate and link their blogs in your post.
- post 5 random facts about yourself

- tell your nominees you have chosen them for this award by leaving a comment on their blogs

- answer the 5 questions the tagger has asked you and ask your own 5 questions to the people you nominate

- no tag backs

5 random facts about me:

1. I run a business from home boarding small animals and have a mini zoo of rescue pets.

2. I was born with Coates Disease and as a result lost my left eye when I was two.

3. I got one of the highest grades in the UK for Part 1 of the Trading Standards Diploma and was presented with an award for doing so at the annual Trading Standards Conference.

4. For the first time in about twenty years I own a bike again, after buying myself one in the January sales - and I'm loving getting out on it.

5. I'm from Northern Ireland, and moved back after our first child was born, but I lived in England for eleven years.

The questions I've been asked by The Mums To Do List are:

1. How would you like your blog to develop over the next year?

I didn't set out with a long term plan when I began blogging so this is a good question. Made me think about the future. As the blog is about my writing and musings I suppose, ideally, I'd like to see it follow the process of writing manuscripts, braving criting and submissions and, if life were perfect, finding and agent and publisher who wanted to take a chance on me. Achieving that would help another wandering mum find a new path.

2. What time of day do you blog?

I often prepare the blog posts in advance, especially those with photographs, when I have peace to concentrate on them. So, that's either in the morning when the kids are at school or at night when they've gone to bed.

3. Have you any regrets in terms of what you have done as a parent so far?

Regrets as a parent. That I've still not learnt the art of great patience.

4. What would be your ideal job if you could change job/return to work/start work?

I was a solicitor before I had my children and it was a job I studied and worked hard for. I would like to get back to it in some shape or form. My dream job would to be an author, something I'd secretly dreamt of since gaining praise from a fabulous English teacher many, many years ago.

5. How do your family feel about your blog?

Generally, they are supportive. My mum likes to look through the pictures, my husband's there when I need someone to talk through the techie side and my children are itching to get some of their own stories onto it.

I've chosen to tag:

http://www.mummysonthewine.com
http://www.moors-mummy.blogspot.co.uk/
http://theoliversmadhouse.wordpress.com/
http://3childrenandit.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.mummeblog.com/

and an extra tag: http://www.everyoneelseisnormal.com/

And the questions for them are:

1. If you have a favourite author why does their writing appeal to you?
2. What's your favourite activity to do as a family?
3. Why did you start blogging?
4. When blogging which do you think is more important: quantity or quality?
5. What's your favourite part of the day?

I'm Addicted

52,000 words in and my laptop has become a new limb. Why is it when you get into the flow of writing a story you can't leave it alone? Even when I stop, I'm thinking about where a scene will go next, listening to conversations play out in my head, working out the transition from one stage to another.

It's an addiction. So, what happens when the final words are drawn from you? Do you feel satisfaction at completing your story or do you miss the characters and long to be back with them? Maybe we should have a Writer's Anonymous to help us through it, especially to move from the writing to editing phase and worse still to help us distance from it when we open it up to crit sites or editors.

Lovely Surprise

I opened my post box this morning to find a jiffy bag from Harper Collins in New York. Inside was a copy of Lindsey Kelk's I Heart Paris c/o Chick Lit Central.

So, a thank you to them and I'm looking forward to reading Lindsey's book.

This is how I got my copy: Chick Lit Central Blog

Something Spooky

I think I must have had some inspiration this week for a halloween short story. On Monday night we had one of those very clear, bright full moons, it even had a wisp of cloud across it. On the same night I was travelling along our narrow, winding country roads and rounded a corner to see two eyes picked up in the car headlights. A stag in the road. He ran off and leapt the hedge into a field. On the way home, along the same country roads, tonight the moon is looming, large and low in the sky and is the most vibrant orange. What's going on in Co. Down this week?

I've tried taking photos on the phone but just can't capture the quality of the night sky.

Seems I saw the harvest moon: Earthsky

Caitlin's Glass House

Following on from the post about the walled garden at Crom I thought I'd share some extracts from the new manuscript I'm working on, The Glass House, where the reader is first introduced to Caitlin's glass house.

A deep, satisfying warmth filled Caitlin, once again safe in her sanctuary. Her glass house. No ordinary structure of glass and aluminium, but a perfect piece of Victorian architecture and engineering, sitting at the edge of a walled garden, in a property once owned by Caitlin's grandparents. Now in her ownership and care, it looked stunning, with its dwarf brick walls, sparkling glass and white, cast iron frame, topped with a ridge of fleur-de-lis, but it was a very different picture when she first inherited it. Caitlin’s heart had swelled with sympathy when she first glimpsed the rusted framework, most of the glass broken and what little remained so black with dirt it was unrecognisable, crumbling brickwork, overgrown with nettles and layers of mud so thick they could have sent a geologist to heaven. Her grandparents had spent years caring for and developing the garden apart from one corner which they had left wild to bring in the welcome, pollinating bees and butterflies, and it was whilst pruning and shaping that corner that Caitlin discovered the doorway in the wall leading to the glass house.

A rap on the glass and the scraping of the door being opened, interrupted Caitlin's solitude.

'Thought I might find you in here.' Jack announced as he stepped into the entrance porch of the glass house.

'Where else? I hope you haven't called round for money?' Caitlin asked, without looking up, recognising his voice.

'No, we're all settled up. Just wanted to see how my baby is holding up?'

'She's fabulous, but she's a high maintenance girl.'

'Just the way I like them.'

'My finances would appreciate it if she wasn't.'

'She'll pay you back for all the love you've given her one day.'

Love is the most appropriate phrase Jack could have chosen, nothing but that amount of dedication could have saved the glass house from its almost complete destruction. Restoring it had been a labour of love, and often torture, for Caitlin, but it was also in homage to her much loved and missed grandparents.

'Do you remember the first day you saw her?' Caitlin asked.

'I remember walking round that garden for fifteen minutes trying to find you and then wondering what I'd stumbled into when that mud monster materialised through the wall.'

'I was a bit of a sight wasn't I? That mud was so thick, I still don't know how I landed face down in it. If it wasn't for your help I'd still be digging it out.'

'I've never seen anyone so excited at discovering soil and stones.'

'How dare you,' Caitlin laughed. 'You know fine rightly they were more than soil and stones; flower beds, bordered with that gorgeous brickwork.' She pointed to the beds, now filled with an abundance of plants in various stages of growth, framed by intricately twisted deep red bricks.

Caitlin suspected Jack stayed longer that first day than he had intended to, and perhaps the next, and the next. The problem was, every time they made one discovery it led to another. After the beds, came the pipes running through them. Then he was there for the water tank that had to be scooped and drained clean of algae ridden, foul smelling, stagnant water; he offered his home and internet access to research how the pipes, tank and stove should connect to operate as irrigation and heating systems; he provided an extra pair of eyes and arms for the many hours in salvage yards and the heavy replacement materials; he helped free the winches for the ventilation windows from rust before finally restoring all the glass, which had required meticulous measuring and cutting.

He'd helped restore the glass house to its former glory and now it provided a flexible and perfect growing environment for the plants Caitlin cultivated for both her own enjoyment and her burgeoning gardening business.

Crom Walled Garden

I'm in the midst of a new manuscript, The Glass House. The main character, Caitlin, has inherited her grand-parents property, near the village of Sion Mills, and their love of gardening. On clearing a wild corner of the walled garden, on the property, she discovers a door that leads to a dilipadated Victorian Glass House. With the help of local handy-man, Jack, she restores it so that it becomes the centre of her burgeoning horticultural business. The Glass House contains other themes that run through the story.

I had already drafted the second chapter, in which Caitlin's glass house is first described but I was thrilled when I discovered the walled garden and derelict glass house at Crom Castle. I'm grateful to the staff member who told me about it. This glass house, like Caitlin's, is in a very sorry state. It doesn't exactly match my vision or description but does show the remains of pipes, brick walls and benches. It's a ghost of the beautiful and functional building it must once have been. The National Trust staff also told me when they cleared some of the wall and area round the glass house last year, they revealed marks along the wall. These show where other houses and structures once stood. In the barn building that the Trust use at Crom, there is an information centre. Within it they have an excellent plan of the walled garden from early in the 1900's, which includes the walled, circular rhododendron pool at the centre of it. Today only one corner of the garden is in use as allotments.

National Trust: Crom
Discover NI: Crom
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/enchanting-walled-garden-of-crom.html

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Why Northern Ireland?

I'm a native of Norn Iron and being born in the 70's I've seen the horrors of The Troubles and the pain they caused so many people and families throughout our country. I left, when I was eighteen, as did so many of my generation, to go to university and it was over a decade before I moved back to Co. Down.   Like Charlotte, in Twisted Truth, I often returned to visit my family and once the peace progress started was amazed by the changes I saw. Things that I couldn't even begin to comprehend would ever be possible. Like my character, although my life was elsewhere, I also always felt a little twinge every time I left.

Despite all of its problems I love Northern Ireland. I've been back in Co. Down for eight years now and whilst it saddens me to see our politics still remain largely entrenched, elements of division and mistrust still evident, we live in a beautiful landscape with so much to offer. I mentioned in a previous post how encouraging I found the amount of tourists we met this summer, who finally felt safe to visit this little patch of the globe.

When I picked up the laptop and started to write Twisted Truth in 2010 I decided to include several chapters set in the 80's developing the teenage relationship between Charlotte and Mark. Whilst I couldn't write about that era without mentioning The Troubles I kept any mention of it to a minimum, wanting to show that it didn't control every element of daily life for all citizens of Northern Ireland and even though horrific things happened, on an almost daily basis, it became a part of every day life. For many it didn't stop them living ordinary lives and as teenagers we had the same issues as those in any other country. So much, fiction and non-fiction, had already been devoted to the topic I wanted to write about a Northern Ireland without every page referencing hatred, bombs and bullets.

When I uploaded the MS to Authonomy the feedback said that people were interested in The Troubles, what was happening, what it was like to grow up through that and they wanted to see more of it. When I edited, cutting out a lot of the teenage chapters and restructuring the story, I added in more glimpses of life in the 80's and how it affected the characters.

Most of my writing is set in Northern Ireland because there is so much inspiration to be found within the landscape, the people and the history. Whilst I'd like to see us move forward and have my children grow up in a more accepting, peaceful society I recognise that we still have a long way to go. Much has changed but more still needs to be done and none of it can happen with the signing of a document or one single compromise. It will take a very long time for decades of pain and suspicion to be healed. So, whilst my stories may mention our striking scenery and tourist attractions there will also be elements that reflect the past and the issues that we're still trying to resolve.

I hope some little part of what I do in this site will encourage more of you to visit NI and see what it, and its people, have to offer.

Crom Estate, Co. Fermanagh

The Crom Estate sits on the edge of Upper Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh and contains not one but two castles (albeit one is in ruins, but no less spectacular). You can hire a boat at the National Trust site or, like my family and I, you can take your bike and enjoy the trails. It's a beautiful estate and well worth a visit.

One highlight of the day, for me, was discovering the walled garden and the dilapidated glass house within it, not only as someone who would love to be a great gardener but also because it conformed so well to my vision of Caitlin's walled garden and glass house in my work in progress, The Glass House. As there are so many photos to post of the estate itself, I'll reserve the ones of the garden and glass house for another day.

Crom Old Castle

Current Crom Castle (privately owned)

The Boathouse

Bridge to the island (where the walled garden is) and the Summer House

View from the Summer House 

National Trust: Crom
Discover NI: Crom
http://cromcastle.com/index.html