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.