Authors Electric

Ullswater, Wikipedia I have written before about our yearly commemoration of a beloved friend whose gift of a little stuffed toy was the inspiration for Goose Anna, and whose legacy prompted me to take early retirement, set up the Clucket Press with Niall, and publish The Mud Maid for The Lost Gardens of Heligan. It’s just been that time of year again. How the years go by – it’s 20 since we all met at her funeral. She is in the churchyard at Dacre, beneath a Norwegian Maple and overlooking the fells with their stands of golden Larch. We visit her grave in the dark autumn evening, drink Bolly (courtesy of her lovely generous brother), pour a libation over her headstone and set off a rocket – in fact, two rockets now as another beloved friend left us 8 years ago. We stay in a cosy, well-appointed converted barn with the gang involved in the commemoration, a home-from-home for us for all the years. This year was possibly the rainiest yet – even for Cumbria. It also felt like an ending...

We recently spent 10 days on the west coast of Scotland; a week in Oban right by the harbour, and the rest of the time in Fort William so we could go on the steam train to Mallaig over the Glenfinnan viaduct. Here's an Oban sunset: From Oban we had a sea safari and saw a whale, rocked about in the Corryvechan for a while (nothing like as fright/sick inducing as I’d feared!). We also went island-hopping (Mull, Iona, Staffa), some of us on a RIB and the sensible (or feeble)people, of which I was one, on proper CalMac boats.  It was magical! I kept on thinking it ought to remind me of western Ireland, what with the sandy beaches, bays and islands off the coast – but it didn’t. It is as beautiful, but somehow seemed more grounded in the rocks. I don’t know what comparisons there are in terms of height, etc, between the hills of the Ring of Kerry and Glen Coe, but the atmosphere is completely different. Something about Glen Coe is dwarfing and chilling, even wit...

How lovely it is to have sudden and unexpected new experiences! I often work with Cherry Mosteshar's agency, The Oxford Editors. I write reports on  manuscripts from new authors, which often spill over into a mentoring relationship. On two occasions, rather to my surprise, I've actually put a couple of complete books onto Createspace for authors (not in AE!) who seemed afraid of doing it for themselves, thus being paid for what, to me, was still a learning experience. Still, they seemed happy  with the results and duly paid up. But I never expected the latest assignment which Cherry offered to me. Someone wanted a ghost writer for a whole novel. I gulped at the enormity of such a task, but then, intrigued, I thought 'Oh what the hell' and said yes, of course I'd have a go at it. And it has been - is still being - a fascinating  project. I'm helping someone produce a worthwhile result and have a learning experience which I hope and think will serve him well ...