Inspiration by Sandra Horn
This is a picture of the Mud Maid, a sculpture in the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. It's here because it's one of the few times I have been directly and immediately inspired to create a story. In fact, the story created itself. It dropped into my head when I saw the sculpture and I sat down under a tree, excavated a pen and an old envelope from the depths of my handbag, and scribbled it down. It very rarely happens like that. I remember watching the waves tumbling about in the Race off Portland Bill, and thinking, 'Cor! They do look exactly like white horses!' That experience, knitted together with the-baby-who-won't-stop-crying theme, courtesy of my firstborn child, begat Rory McRory. A loving and crazy gift of a little soft toy goose engendered Goose Anna while we were tooling back down the M40. On the whole,...