(back in September this year)
I have spent the past week hidden away in my house, resting from a testing four months and preparing to re-emerge on the other side ready to face a new year - a year of writing, hopefully. 
I am absolutely determined to make progress on my third novel, The Right Place (one of the reasons is that I am very excited about my FOURTH novel and want to start working on it as soon as possible!) and there's nothing better than actually spend some time walking around the location of your book to fire up your imagination... 

Yesterday was a glorious day in Dorset and made me reflect on the quasi-magical quality of the landscape around Abbotsbury. This is the location of my third novel and these are the paths and roads taken by my characters. 
One can lose him/herself in this landscape, take in the layers of history and forget about the world - even though some of the issues developing in front of our eyes will have an impact on our personal lives and prey on our minds daily. I need to get back to my book more than ever these days. 

​I have been looking for inspiration everywhere this first week of holiday, and I have indeed found plenty of it around... 

I had been looking for a house for Joe's family (Joe is best friend to Kat, one of my main characters). As Kat lives at the very start of Grove Lane in Abbotsbury, I have decided to give the Hardings the very last cottage in the road before you get to the Swannery. Isn't it fabulous? I will add a big outbuilding/barn in which Joe's disreputable brother Henry has made his "den". 

On the left: The Coast Path beyond the Abbotsbury Sub-tropical Gardens (which will also feature in The Right Place) is beautiful - you walk along Chesil Beach until you reach West Bexington... 
On the right, the view whilst walking up towards St Catherine's Chapel - looking down towards the swannery (and the Isle of Portland, where our HQ is located, in the background). 
For more stunning pictures of this walk, see Matt ArtPix's BLOG. 

As I have been writing so many times in this blog, St Catherine's Chapel plays a key role in The Right Place. 
Of course, I paid a visit to the little sturdy building on the hill yesterday, just as I did back in September. 
The niches were not as full as three months ago (see my blog about my September visit to the chapel HERE) but someone had left a big picture, a letter and a glass of white wine in one of the recesses...
The inside of the chapel, which is a location for many of the key scenes in The Right Place, was as atmospheric as ever... 

From Arcane Publishing's next publication to PJ Harvey's music... 
Yesterday evening, I was browsing Ms Harvey's website and watched a few of the films and videos featured on her website... I was delighted to find out that the Isle of Portland, where our HQ is located, features in a few of the videos - especially for the All and Everyone track out of the Let England Shake album (2011).
We can even spot the Arcane Publishing HQ in the video! Watch the video below... 

Talking about the Isle of Portland, the beautiful Pennsylvania Castle will feature prominently in the film Happy New Year, Colin Burstead which will be shown on BBC2 this Sunday. It boasts a great cast and stunning location... which is about 10 minutes' drive from our HQ! We cannot wait to watch it... 
And finally... 
Inspiration from Cathi Unsworth and Kate Mosse: my reading so far these holidays. They remind me of why I have become a writer and have really inspired me these past few days... 

And finally... Keep an eye out for announcements on the Arcane Publishing website... 
We will start booking events for 2019 very soon and will post the dates on the events page as usual! 

We are now taking a little break to plan 2019. 
See you in the New Year! 

In the meantime, if you are in Dorset over the holiday period, do pay us a visit at The Customs House in West Bay! ​