An update from Dorset...

I am still in Dorset working on the planning and plotting The Right Place. I am almost there, and a lot of work has been achieved: character profiles and backstories, timeline, motivations, POV, etc. I've done a few changes from my original idea, and I now feel almost ready to start writing... I even have a few scenes in my head, all ready to be written! 
Having an incredibly inspiring (and quiet) environment has genuinely been invaluable: here, at Norburton Hall in Burton Bradstock, I have physical and mental space to work, something which I haven't got at all at home; this has been a massive obstacle to my work over the past 8 months or so. I just cannot stand my urban setting anymore. I've fallen out of love with it. I didn't see it coming at all... or maybe I did and didn't admit it. It's been slow, creeping over me over the past five years or so, but I always thought I'd overcome it. I haven't... 

So here, I can get out of the park and walk into the gorgeous countryside, taking in a multitude of smells, noises and views. I grab small details to put into my book. Not one day is the same: the weather changes, and it makes the lanscape change on a daily basis. This morning, I ran on the coastpath and had to stop and do a few exercises at the top of the hill: I had a 360 degrees view. In front of me, the sea, much calmer than it had been over the previous days. To the right, the Golden Cap, the iconic Colmer's Hill and Bridport, with Lyme Regis in the distance. To the left, The Knoll and Chesil Beach (which will both feature in my book), and a bit further, the Isle of Portland. Behind me, the gorgeous hills of the Dorset countryside which I have come to love so much.
There are very few humans around and loads of birds... bliss... 

I read a lot: I have finished Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, I have almost reached the end of Robert MacFarlane's The Old Ways and I am going over Louise Hodgson's Secret Places of West Dorset once more (the follow-up, More Secret Places of West Dorset, is out soon, I will purchase a copy of course!).
For smuggling action, I always have Robert Guttridge's Dorset Smugglers at hand. 

Unfortunately, I will not be able to post anything visual until I come back to the South East as my computer is messing around again, and this time it refuses to go back to normal. I have access to the Internet but cannot do anything else as I cannot reach any of my documents, word docs and pictures... thankfully, I have plenty of pens and paper! 

I will post a general picture blog when I come back (the computer has to go to the computer hospital, I'm afraid...) 

In early December, we will also announce at last the line-up for our event in London on 27th February 2016, LONDON: WINTER TALES. It will be a music/poetry/literary event (quite a rock'n'roll one, do not fear!) and I am really looking forward to telling you all about it! 

​There is also change in the air about our unit in West Bay... We are looking for a new location... More news in the New Year!