Ailish Sinclair's Blog, page 50

Love, Dance, Obsession, and Chocolate

2019 continues to be an exciting year for me on the bookish front! My contemporary novel, TENDU, is coming out in 2020 with Black Opal Books.

Some aspects of the story:

It’s a tale of unconventional love, dance and obsession.Much of the book is set in Scotland. There’s a stone circle and a castle.The central relationship is deeply tempestuous.Ballet!Dark and terrible happenings!Hot chocolate and cake. Depending on era, you can’t always include chocolate in historical writing and, given all that I put them through, my characters both need and deserve it. So there’s lots of chocolate in this contemporary title. LOTS.

And there’ll obviously have to be lots at my desk too

Love, Dance, Obsession, and Chocolate.

2019 continues to be an exciting year for me on the bookish front! My contemporary novel, TENDU, is coming out in 2020 with Black Opal Books.

Some aspects of the story:

It’s a tale of unconventional love, dance and obsession.Much of the book is set in Scotland. There’s a stone circle and a castle.The central relationship is deeply tempestuous.Ballet!Dark and terrible happenings!Hot chocolate and cake. Depending on era, you can’t always include chocolate in historical writing and, given all that I put them through, my characters both need and deserve it. So there’s lots of chocolate in this contemporary title. LOTS.

And there’ll obviously have to be lots at my desk too

The Land Girls Gate

The Women’s Land Army Memorial in Clochan

The Women’s Land Army was formed in 1917, and then again in 1939 when WWII broke out. Women as young as 17 signed up for the duration of the war and took on all forms of farming and food production. The Army was eventually disbanded in 1950. There’s lots more information about the Land Girls here.

The memorial at Clochan in Moray is a joyous piece of art, paying tribute to the women who served in the Land Army throughout Scotland. Stones from various farms across the country have been incorporated into the ground around the gate. The fact that the memorial is surrounded by working farmland feels perfectly fitting too.

If you visit on a Sunday morning, as I did, there’s a small car boot sale going on just down the road in Clochan, with pancakes and tea being served in the village hall. It’s rather lovely and feels a bit like stepping back into a simpler time.

Don’t miss a single pancake or post from me: sign up to the mailing list!

The Land Girls, farmland beyond

The post The Land Girls Gate appeared first on Ailish Sinclair.

Walking the Witchy Ways of Aberdeen

Quine Shrine

I ran through St Nicholas Kirkyard, and down and round Correction Wynd, an old medieval lane in Aberdeen, to see this recent street art. I was due to meet people for breakfast, but determined to see the ‘Quine Shrine’ first. The reason being? That first part, on the left, honours those who were persecuted for witchcraft in Aberdeen, and one tile names a few of them, including the three women I chose to write about in The Mermaid and the Bear.

The spellings are different, because spellings weren’t set back then, not like they are today. I chose to go with the way the names are recorded in the Survey Of Scottish Witchcraft from Edinburgh University. It was there that I learned, contrary to popular belief, that only a tiny proportion of those accused were midwives or folk healers; a mere 9 of the 3837 ‘witches’ in Scotland were midwives, and only 141 had some mention of healing in their cases (see the background page of the database).

In my fictional account of these women’s lives, one of them is a midwife and healer, but this is not the reason for the accusations brought against the three quines.

So, with the shrine admired and appreciated, breakfast:

Turmeric Latte

Now fortified, off to gaol we go! It’s difficult to get good pictures in
the 17th century Tolbooth, what with it being so dark due to having windows like this:

Let the sunshine pour in!




A chain hangs from the wall

I think I did a better job with photos the last time I was there, blogged here. That was when I first read these words:

I remember feeling overcome and distressed by the information, but it was then that I decided I was definitely going to write the book. Here’s that steeple, or its replacement, standing tall against the blue sky:

Back in 1597, there were two large bells in the original steeple. Now there’s an impressive carillon, and it started to play while I was eating my lunchtime chocolate ice cream in the kirkyard. This is not as creepy and strange as it sounds; there are benches and lots of people go there for lunch! I took a short video, so you can hear the bells:

Lunchtime bells

I’ve made a Pinterest board for the book, though it does seem to be rather focussed on the cheerier parts of the story.

Pinterest board

And on another cheery, or perhaps laughable, note, I was recently mentioned in the Evening Standard as an example of a ‘weather obsessed’ Briton.

I must go now; I have to check on the weather!

Sign up for my mailing list for more, exclusive, ramblings and photos

Aikey Brae Recumbent Stone Circle

Beautiful Aikey Brae. Of the 150 or so recumbent stone circles in the North East of Scotland, this is my favourite.

I used to live close by and enjoyed many a summer picnic and winter stroll there. One year I watched a solar eclipse, with my children, sat right in the middle of the circle. The setting made it feel timeless and magical.

The snow picks out detail and shape, makes the stones look different.

The fallen stone on the right in this next picture must have popped right out of the ground when it fell, because you can see the carved point of the anchoring lower part.

This pointy feature can also be seen on the Lang Stane, hidden away just off Union Street in Aberdeen, leading to the theory that it was once part of a stone circle too.

But back to the sun and snow at Aikey, and the smiling recumbent.

On another subject, I have made a page for my mailing list sign-up form here – thank you to those who have already signed up! I’ve been thinking about what to put in the newsletters: news about my life and writing, some exclusive photos, and I’d also like to feature other people’s work. So if you have a site or blog that you’d be happy to have included, please feel free to link it up in the comments. I can’t guarantee to use them all in the mailings as they will only be occasional, but it would be great to see your sites here

Castles in the Snow

Through the gates we go… to Fyvie Castle where it’s more icy than snowy and we’re getting down and frosty with it!

Great shadows reach towards the castle, but we’re backing away, we’re leaving…

We’re travelling across country like Ice Road Truckers… to Delgatie!

It’s bright and properly snowy here. Let’s walk in the woods.

And circle back round to the castle.

Say hello to the unicorns!

On to a stormier day and a dark ruin: Huntly.

Look at the old chimneys…

And the slopes and trees…

Finally, it’s time to snuggle up at home with hot chocolate in a mermaid mug!

The post Castles in the Snow appeared first on Ailish Sinclair.

The Witch Stone in Winter

The ground is solid, all the ruts and bumps hard and crunchy under my feet as I climb the hill. And there on the top, small from this angle, is the Witch Stone.

It’s said that witches were burned there in the past.

It’s quiet now. Cold. Peaceful.

Ladybirds are hibernating on it! I hope they survive the season.

The post The Witch Stone in Winter appeared first on Ailish Sinclair.

A Bookish Post

2019 got off to an exciting start for me with the news that my historical novel, The Mermaid and the Bear, will be published by GWL Publishing this Autumn.

An editing journey lies ahead, but I can tell you these things about the book:

It’s mainly set in a fictional castle in Aberdeenshire.
It incorporates the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic.
There’s a stone circle.
There’s 16th century Christmas.
And there’s a love story.

I made a wee aesthetic for it, because: oh the fun!

The post A Bookish Post appeared first on Ailish Sinclair.

Walking in the Moonlight

Above: a scene from a moonlit walk, because I so appreciate being able to go on walks now that I can’t wait for it to get light!

It’s been a strange summer. I spent much of it being ill, properly ‘can’t do anything, go anywhere, just have to sit still‘ ill. I feel changed by it. I have such huge appreciation for the good in my world now: the wonderful people I share my life with, the amazing place I live.

Seriously, there was no better place to lie around being ill than in my garden. Bats and giant dragonflies kept coming out of the pond and trees to peer at me. Tall trees rustled protectively around me. And the sun shone and shone this summer, didn’t it?

And books! Films! Netflix! Thank you, thank you, to all those creators: you kept my mind occupied while my body healed.

And the less than good? It highlighted itself with such clarity that I am left so much wiser and, I hope, more able to deflect it in the future.

Things that happened while I was still: the witch stone near Fraserburgh was cleared of gorse so it can now be seen.

I had a wee story published in an anthology.

But summer is over now. Illness is over. So, boots on, off out into the moonlight I go!

The post Walking in the Moonlight appeared first on Ailish Sinclair.

Findlater Castle

For years I passed by the road signs for Findlater Castle on my way to other places, joking that ‘I must find that later’. I’m so glad I finally did! I’ve been a few times now and it’s always stunning.

On this day it was exceptionally warm and still for Northern Scotland which emboldened me to go a bit further down onto the ramparts than I’ve been before.

Off I went, past the gorse which was warmed by the sun and smelled all coconutty:

This is as far as I normally dare, just to this first chunk of wall…

And then up the wee path for a peek at the shore beyond.

But with no gusts of wind to blast me off the edge, on I marched (or tentatively crept, to be more accurate).

Look at those craggy walls!

I sat down here and contemplated being really brave and jumping down that hole under the archway. Ah, what photos I would get, what views, what atmosphere… then I remembered the ghost story. A small boy and his nurse were standing near an open window, maybe even one of those in view, when he jumped from her arms and disappeared down the side of the cliff, presumably to his death. She scrambled after him, also to her doom, and her spirit still haunts the castle searching for her errant charge.

So, sorry to disappoint, but after another look over the edge I retraced my steps back up the hill.

This meant I survived to visit the nearby Doocot (pigeon house). It dates from the 15th century as does the castle.

I love its door:

And all the little nesting boxes within:

If you visit Findlater do be careful not to fall to your doom. If it’s muddy or windy it would be much more dangerous than it was for me on this occasion. Look, the council have even written it in great big red letters underneath the history:

The post Findlater Castle appeared first on Ailish Sinclair.