Kathleen Heady's Blog, page 2
December 11, 2017
It's Been a Long Time
I can’t believe it’s been ten months since I have posted. Life gets in the way.
I have been working on finding a publisher for my Young Adult novel, Jewels in Time. This has pretty much sidetracked me from everything else related to writing, although I still have ideas floating around in my head.
I have also discovered that there are things I need to eliminate from my life if I want my creative mind to be available to write.
Here is my list of things that stifle my creativity. They might be helpful to you, whether you write or not.
1. The news. As important as it may be to know what’s going on in the world, I find that too much too often makes me tense, and I obsess about things I cannot change. I listen to NPR sometimes in the car. I figure if something really important happens, someone will tell me. Like my husband, who is a news junkie. I occasionally follow up on links on FaceBook. More about FaceBook later.
2. TV. I broke the TV habit when I moved to the East Coast, where programs come on later than I was used to in the Midwest. I am an early to bed early to rise person. I just can’t watch something at nine or ten in the evening. I occasionally watch Jeopardy with my husband to keep him company, but as he mostly watches sports, I’m not tempted by anything else. I do watch some series on Netflix and Acorn, and an occasional movie, but I honestly never turn the TV on and sit down by myself.
3. FaceBook. This has probably been my biggest time waster. I would tell myself five minutes, and then forty-five minutes later . . . I love FaceBook. I have former students and colleagues from around the world, and I love to see what they are doing in Barcelona, London, Costa Rica. But there is also a lot of junk as we all know — silly quizzes, ads, videos of cats and ducks that are shared over and over. So I have to be strict with myself. Half an hour a day. Maybe five minutes while waiting for my husband to go out, or while I’m waiting for water to boil for tea.
4. No listening to podcasts or music while I walk. This might seem like a good use of the time, but to be creative, I need to let my mind wander. I need to pay attention to sights and sounds around me. I can’t come up with new ideas when I am constantly being bombarded by the ideas of others.
Right now I am looking out my window and I can see three bluebirds — one on the suet on our deck, one on the feeder, one on a tree branch. If I were watching TV I would miss that.
I have been working on finding a publisher for my Young Adult novel, Jewels in Time. This has pretty much sidetracked me from everything else related to writing, although I still have ideas floating around in my head.
I have also discovered that there are things I need to eliminate from my life if I want my creative mind to be available to write.
Here is my list of things that stifle my creativity. They might be helpful to you, whether you write or not.
1. The news. As important as it may be to know what’s going on in the world, I find that too much too often makes me tense, and I obsess about things I cannot change. I listen to NPR sometimes in the car. I figure if something really important happens, someone will tell me. Like my husband, who is a news junkie. I occasionally follow up on links on FaceBook. More about FaceBook later.
2. TV. I broke the TV habit when I moved to the East Coast, where programs come on later than I was used to in the Midwest. I am an early to bed early to rise person. I just can’t watch something at nine or ten in the evening. I occasionally watch Jeopardy with my husband to keep him company, but as he mostly watches sports, I’m not tempted by anything else. I do watch some series on Netflix and Acorn, and an occasional movie, but I honestly never turn the TV on and sit down by myself.
3. FaceBook. This has probably been my biggest time waster. I would tell myself five minutes, and then forty-five minutes later . . . I love FaceBook. I have former students and colleagues from around the world, and I love to see what they are doing in Barcelona, London, Costa Rica. But there is also a lot of junk as we all know — silly quizzes, ads, videos of cats and ducks that are shared over and over. So I have to be strict with myself. Half an hour a day. Maybe five minutes while waiting for my husband to go out, or while I’m waiting for water to boil for tea.
4. No listening to podcasts or music while I walk. This might seem like a good use of the time, but to be creative, I need to let my mind wander. I need to pay attention to sights and sounds around me. I can’t come up with new ideas when I am constantly being bombarded by the ideas of others.
Right now I am looking out my window and I can see three bluebirds — one on the suet on our deck, one on the feeder, one on a tree branch. If I were watching TV I would miss that.
January 2, 2017
Murder and Lemon Pudding Cake
Some of my favorite activities involve either reading or cooking, or reading about food. When the two are combined into one, I am in heaven. I love it when authors include food as integral parts of the story. The food consumed by the characters, including the types of food, the amount, and how it is prepared provide vital clues to the plot, and can be important parts of the setting.
At my local library this week, I picked up a Swedish murder mystery and a cookbook on Swedish bakery. I’m not exactly sure why the Swedish theme was going on, maybe because it’s winter and Sweden is in a cold climate, but I came home with my two books related to Sweden.
The murder mystery, Killer’s Art by Mari Jungstedt, turned out to be a real page-turner. I read it in two days, often carrying it around the house with me so I could read a page or two, or three or four, in odd moments while I was doing other things. Killer’s Art begins with the murder of the owner of an art gallery on the Swedish island of Gotland, when the man is found hanging from one of the medieval gates to the town. The story follows the police investigation into the lives of the victim, his family and associates in the art world. Other crimes are committed, and the lives of the police officers as well as the journalists who are clamoring for the gruesome story, become entangled. The conclusion is a nail-biting and unexpected twist. This is the first of Mari Jungstedt’s novels that I have read, and I will be looking for more.
However, her descriptions of food were not enough to make me hunger for a good Swedish meal. By page 50, the most exciting food items were protein drinks and meatball sandwiches, and of course coffee. You can’t travel in Sweden, even literary travel, without copious amounts of coffee. Later in the book, two of the detectives are treated to warm apple cake with vanilla sauce in a museum cafe in Stockholm, which sounds delicious, but the boiled cod with egg sauce that is an entree in a later chapter I’m not so sure about. Maybe — I would have to try it.
Turning to my Swedish cookbook, Scandinavian Classic Baking by Pat Sinclair, I chose a recipe for lemon pudding cake. I had all the ingredients on hand, and it looked relatively simple. The most challenging part was beating egg whites and then folding them into the pudding mixture while retaining the volume of the beaten egg whites. The recipe was a success, and a nice treat after a dinner of leftovers. My husband proclaimed that it tasted like lemon meringue pie.
As you read, think about food. It is not often a primary part of the story, but it can be an important setting detail.
At my local library this week, I picked up a Swedish murder mystery and a cookbook on Swedish bakery. I’m not exactly sure why the Swedish theme was going on, maybe because it’s winter and Sweden is in a cold climate, but I came home with my two books related to Sweden.
The murder mystery, Killer’s Art by Mari Jungstedt, turned out to be a real page-turner. I read it in two days, often carrying it around the house with me so I could read a page or two, or three or four, in odd moments while I was doing other things. Killer’s Art begins with the murder of the owner of an art gallery on the Swedish island of Gotland, when the man is found hanging from one of the medieval gates to the town. The story follows the police investigation into the lives of the victim, his family and associates in the art world. Other crimes are committed, and the lives of the police officers as well as the journalists who are clamoring for the gruesome story, become entangled. The conclusion is a nail-biting and unexpected twist. This is the first of Mari Jungstedt’s novels that I have read, and I will be looking for more.
However, her descriptions of food were not enough to make me hunger for a good Swedish meal. By page 50, the most exciting food items were protein drinks and meatball sandwiches, and of course coffee. You can’t travel in Sweden, even literary travel, without copious amounts of coffee. Later in the book, two of the detectives are treated to warm apple cake with vanilla sauce in a museum cafe in Stockholm, which sounds delicious, but the boiled cod with egg sauce that is an entree in a later chapter I’m not so sure about. Maybe — I would have to try it.
Turning to my Swedish cookbook, Scandinavian Classic Baking by Pat Sinclair, I chose a recipe for lemon pudding cake. I had all the ingredients on hand, and it looked relatively simple. The most challenging part was beating egg whites and then folding them into the pudding mixture while retaining the volume of the beaten egg whites. The recipe was a success, and a nice treat after a dinner of leftovers. My husband proclaimed that it tasted like lemon meringue pie.
As you read, think about food. It is not often a primary part of the story, but it can be an important setting detail.
March 14, 2016
Moving House and Pie
When you begin to get ready to move, your house is no longer yours. I have no sentimental attachment to the condominium where we have lived for almost ten years, but I do have my “stuff” arranged there the way I like it. Now things are being rearranged, thrown out, put in piles for the used book store and Goodwill. I am packing decorative items and books in boxes so the house will be better organized for real estate showing.
This is fine. I enjoy organizing. I am the opposite of a pack rat. I love the feeling of freedom I have when unused items leave my house. I enjoy tossing cans and bottles and cardboard boxes in the recycling bins. I find satisfaction in making phone calls to the handyman and the electrician for the minor repairs that are needed.
But for the next few months, until we are settled in our new home in North Carolina, my time and energy will be devoted to the move.
When will I find time to write? Instead of fitting in the chores around my writing, it is the other way around. I fit the writing in between errands, packing, phone calls.
And to make this week more interesting, it is the last week of the Bahá'í Fast, so no food or drink from sunrise to sunset. And I am committed to a week of substituting in a Spanish class for a teacher who is in Spain with her students.
It's a chilly rainy day, Monday after the switch to daylight saving time. We have to replace our bedroom carpeting,so the carpet man is coming to measure and show us samples this afternoon. The plumber hasn't called me back. But I will bake a pie when I get home, to observe Round Pie Day. If you round the number for “pi” to 3.1416 you get today's date. So we will celebrate this momentous occasion with a blueberry crumble pie. After sunset, of course.
This is fine. I enjoy organizing. I am the opposite of a pack rat. I love the feeling of freedom I have when unused items leave my house. I enjoy tossing cans and bottles and cardboard boxes in the recycling bins. I find satisfaction in making phone calls to the handyman and the electrician for the minor repairs that are needed.
But for the next few months, until we are settled in our new home in North Carolina, my time and energy will be devoted to the move.
When will I find time to write? Instead of fitting in the chores around my writing, it is the other way around. I fit the writing in between errands, packing, phone calls.
And to make this week more interesting, it is the last week of the Bahá'í Fast, so no food or drink from sunrise to sunset. And I am committed to a week of substituting in a Spanish class for a teacher who is in Spain with her students.
It's a chilly rainy day, Monday after the switch to daylight saving time. We have to replace our bedroom carpeting,so the carpet man is coming to measure and show us samples this afternoon. The plumber hasn't called me back. But I will bake a pie when I get home, to observe Round Pie Day. If you round the number for “pi” to 3.1416 you get today's date. So we will celebrate this momentous occasion with a blueberry crumble pie. After sunset, of course.
September 15, 2015
Writing in Spain
I did my best writing of 2015 sitting outdoors in the Spanish sun, writing in a lined spiral notebook. “Go write!” Peter Murphy, of Murphy Writing Seminars, told us. “Tell a secret, tell a lie, and never tell anyone which is which.”
I sat at a wooden table outside our cottage at L’Avenç, a beautiful lodge high in the Pyrenees, and I went to a new place inside myself and wrote. I found fictional characters and brought them to life by exploring their five senses. Some were characters I had written about before, from novels I have written. In my novel Lydia’s Story, I wrote about the title character’s journey into the Pyrenees from France with a group of Jewish children to escape the Nazis. The trip to L’Avenç meant a visit to the scenes I created in my novel. I visited the reality of my imagination. Other characters were new, but they slipped right into place with the old friends.
And I wrote about myself, the me I was long before I knew I could travel to far off mountains, long before I knew I could write. Somehow the girl that I was growing up on a farm in southern Illinois, seven miles from nowhere, came alive to me in Spain. I felt the wistfulness and longing for a bigger world that I felt so often as a child and teenager, the longing that pushed me to move on to the world that I knew existed, if only then in my imagination.
When I am at home, I do most of my writing at my laptop, looking out over the parking lot of our condominiums. But I found that there was something liberating about writing in a lined spiral notebook. I took pleasure in the scratched out phrases, words added in the margin, and arrows drawn to indicate sentences and paragraphs that needed to pick up and move to another spot. My experience at the writing retreat brought out the creative side of my writing again. And isn’t that why we became writers? To create. To express ourselves. But what I learned this summer was that I cannot express myself unless I explore who I am.
One morning my husband, who is not a writer but came along to Spain with me because he enjoys being a “writer groupie,” found a hawk feather on one of his mountain walks, and left it on my notebook. I found the feather when I sorted through my writing materials when I returned home, and it seemed to symbolize the feeling of soaring that I felt writing in the Pyrenees.
A change of scene, a new geography, opens my eyes and changes my life, as well as my writing. This happened when I moved to Costa Rica, and ended up staying for seven years, but that’s another story. Traveling two hours up into the mountains from Barcelona was more than a writing vacation. All the changes in daily life that accompany such a trip affected my writing. There were my writing friends — some new and some old friends from previous writing adventures with Murphy Writing Seminars. We made small attempts to speak Catalan, at least to say “Bom dia!” to the staff. We were all affected by the sense of history that goes along with staying at a site where the main building dates to the eleventh century. And we luxuriated in the modern swimming pool where we could wash off the writing dust at the end of the day.
The writing retreat in Spain focused on the creative side of writing, and I came home refreshed. Refreshed from writing from a new place inside myself, from contact with fellow writers, and the instruction and encouragement of a master craftsman.
I sat at a wooden table outside our cottage at L’Avenç, a beautiful lodge high in the Pyrenees, and I went to a new place inside myself and wrote. I found fictional characters and brought them to life by exploring their five senses. Some were characters I had written about before, from novels I have written. In my novel Lydia’s Story, I wrote about the title character’s journey into the Pyrenees from France with a group of Jewish children to escape the Nazis. The trip to L’Avenç meant a visit to the scenes I created in my novel. I visited the reality of my imagination. Other characters were new, but they slipped right into place with the old friends.
And I wrote about myself, the me I was long before I knew I could travel to far off mountains, long before I knew I could write. Somehow the girl that I was growing up on a farm in southern Illinois, seven miles from nowhere, came alive to me in Spain. I felt the wistfulness and longing for a bigger world that I felt so often as a child and teenager, the longing that pushed me to move on to the world that I knew existed, if only then in my imagination.
When I am at home, I do most of my writing at my laptop, looking out over the parking lot of our condominiums. But I found that there was something liberating about writing in a lined spiral notebook. I took pleasure in the scratched out phrases, words added in the margin, and arrows drawn to indicate sentences and paragraphs that needed to pick up and move to another spot. My experience at the writing retreat brought out the creative side of my writing again. And isn’t that why we became writers? To create. To express ourselves. But what I learned this summer was that I cannot express myself unless I explore who I am.
One morning my husband, who is not a writer but came along to Spain with me because he enjoys being a “writer groupie,” found a hawk feather on one of his mountain walks, and left it on my notebook. I found the feather when I sorted through my writing materials when I returned home, and it seemed to symbolize the feeling of soaring that I felt writing in the Pyrenees.
A change of scene, a new geography, opens my eyes and changes my life, as well as my writing. This happened when I moved to Costa Rica, and ended up staying for seven years, but that’s another story. Traveling two hours up into the mountains from Barcelona was more than a writing vacation. All the changes in daily life that accompany such a trip affected my writing. There were my writing friends — some new and some old friends from previous writing adventures with Murphy Writing Seminars. We made small attempts to speak Catalan, at least to say “Bom dia!” to the staff. We were all affected by the sense of history that goes along with staying at a site where the main building dates to the eleventh century. And we luxuriated in the modern swimming pool where we could wash off the writing dust at the end of the day.
The writing retreat in Spain focused on the creative side of writing, and I came home refreshed. Refreshed from writing from a new place inside myself, from contact with fellow writers, and the instruction and encouragement of a master craftsman.
June 30, 2015
When an Author Has the Urge for Something Different
“I love your books! When is the next one coming out?” Music to a writer’s ears, to be sure.
But what happens when a writer has the urge to write something different than her previous novels? Maybe a different genre, a stand-alone that is not part of an established series, or a young adult novel when the previous ones have been aimed at adults. Will her audience stick with her and her new adventure? Will she find new readers?
I am about to find out. The novel I am currently working on is a departure from my first three which were all mysteries involving Nara Blake, an adventurous young woman from the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Clare.
I am now on about the third revision of a completely different type of novel. Different audience — young adult. Different genre — historical fantasy. The two consistent characteristics are the connection to authentic facts in British history (as I did in Lydia’s Story), and a strong female protagonist.
Without giving too much away, I will tell you that I have taken some historical events of thirteenth century England and created a parallel magic world that explains some of the mysteries surrounding these events. I just can’t get away from the mysteries! Creating a world for a fantasy novel has been great fun as well as challenging. On the one hand, I have the freedom to let my imagination run wild. What if I could slip through a secret doorway and emerge in a castle and in another century? At the same time, a new world needs rules. If magical people can slip from one century to the next, how much do they know about each time and place?
These are complicated questions, but fun to exercise the freedom of working it out. As I have told my students, writing is exercise for the brain, and brains need workouts just like bodies do.
Many well known writers have been criticized for writing novels outside of their established mold. J.K. Rowling will forever be known as the creator of Harry Potter and his magical world, no matter what else she attempts as a writer. John Steinbeck endured criticism for not writing a follow-up to The Grapes of Wrath. And while I don’t place myself in either of their categories, I understand the fine line between pleasing an audience and exercising my creativity, which is what led me to write in the first place.
And if you love Nara and her adventures in my first three books, I am planning another one, which will probably take her to Spain to solve another mystery involving art.
But what happens when a writer has the urge to write something different than her previous novels? Maybe a different genre, a stand-alone that is not part of an established series, or a young adult novel when the previous ones have been aimed at adults. Will her audience stick with her and her new adventure? Will she find new readers?
I am about to find out. The novel I am currently working on is a departure from my first three which were all mysteries involving Nara Blake, an adventurous young woman from the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Clare.
I am now on about the third revision of a completely different type of novel. Different audience — young adult. Different genre — historical fantasy. The two consistent characteristics are the connection to authentic facts in British history (as I did in Lydia’s Story), and a strong female protagonist.
Without giving too much away, I will tell you that I have taken some historical events of thirteenth century England and created a parallel magic world that explains some of the mysteries surrounding these events. I just can’t get away from the mysteries! Creating a world for a fantasy novel has been great fun as well as challenging. On the one hand, I have the freedom to let my imagination run wild. What if I could slip through a secret doorway and emerge in a castle and in another century? At the same time, a new world needs rules. If magical people can slip from one century to the next, how much do they know about each time and place?
These are complicated questions, but fun to exercise the freedom of working it out. As I have told my students, writing is exercise for the brain, and brains need workouts just like bodies do.
Many well known writers have been criticized for writing novels outside of their established mold. J.K. Rowling will forever be known as the creator of Harry Potter and his magical world, no matter what else she attempts as a writer. John Steinbeck endured criticism for not writing a follow-up to The Grapes of Wrath. And while I don’t place myself in either of their categories, I understand the fine line between pleasing an audience and exercising my creativity, which is what led me to write in the first place.
And if you love Nara and her adventures in my first three books, I am planning another one, which will probably take her to Spain to solve another mystery involving art.
January 3, 2015
Starting the Whole Dang Process over Again
Beginning a new novel is both exhilarating and scary. I enjoy the new ideas for plot details, setting, and characters that pop willy-nilly into my brain. Old characters poke their heads in to say, “Can I be in this one? You said it was a series.” Another says, “I’ll do one more. So you can kill me off in this one.” Then a new character comes in with “Hi there! I’m a little crazy, but I would fit right in with your story. Some of your characters are way too serious!” And I can’t forget the ones who speak to me in a foreign language, begging me to set the story in their home country. “ịHola! Soy de españa y mi pais es muy bueno. Venga aquí!”
Out of these bits of inspiration, if I can call it that, I begin to see the barest outline of a plot. And I say yes to that little voice from Spain. I will set the story at least partially in Spain, Aragon, to be precise. And just in case you are wondering, Nara Blake, Alex Collier, and Lily Carrington, all of whom appeared in The Gate House and Lydia’s Story, will be back. But I have a lot of writing to do before my readers will be able to see what these three are up to in Spain. And is Nara ever going to marry Alex?
The last few days I have been brainstorming and writing down ideas for plot as they pop into my head. My next step was to do some preliminary research. The Gate House and Lydia’s Story both had to do with art theft. My new novel also makes use of that theme. I am looking for a connection between Britain and Spain through art, and I think I have found a link.
I have made a preliminary outline, even though I am not generally a maker of outlines, but I thought this time I would give it a try and see if it would make the process any easier.
As I create the story, I will spend as much time staring into space as putting words down at the computer. But as a dear friend of mine knows, “staring time” is essential for writers, teachers and anyone who is trying to get through the day with their sanity intact.
Try taking a “staring break” today. You will feel better for it.
Out of these bits of inspiration, if I can call it that, I begin to see the barest outline of a plot. And I say yes to that little voice from Spain. I will set the story at least partially in Spain, Aragon, to be precise. And just in case you are wondering, Nara Blake, Alex Collier, and Lily Carrington, all of whom appeared in The Gate House and Lydia’s Story, will be back. But I have a lot of writing to do before my readers will be able to see what these three are up to in Spain. And is Nara ever going to marry Alex?
The last few days I have been brainstorming and writing down ideas for plot as they pop into my head. My next step was to do some preliminary research. The Gate House and Lydia’s Story both had to do with art theft. My new novel also makes use of that theme. I am looking for a connection between Britain and Spain through art, and I think I have found a link.
I have made a preliminary outline, even though I am not generally a maker of outlines, but I thought this time I would give it a try and see if it would make the process any easier.
As I create the story, I will spend as much time staring into space as putting words down at the computer. But as a dear friend of mine knows, “staring time” is essential for writers, teachers and anyone who is trying to get through the day with their sanity intact.
Try taking a “staring break” today. You will feel better for it.
December 26, 2014
'Twas the Day after Christmas
Now that the frenzy of Christmas shopping, cooking, and eating has died down to eating leftovers, making returns and wondering how I could possibly have eaten so much the last few weeks, the end of the year turns into a “pause and reflect” time for me.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. That seems like an artificial endeavor to me. But I do take time to think about the person I am, and what changes I want to make in the coming year. I think it has more to do with the winter solstice than the the holidays that are celebrated this time of year, and the end of the Gregorian calendar. It isn’t noticeable just yet, but little by little, we will see more sunlight every day. We are on our way toward spring.
My coming year is already filled up with plans. I will travel to Costa Rica the end of January, a commitment I made to myself last year to escape some of the Pennsylvania winter. I can’t see that my character is improved at all by scraping ice off the windshield at 7 a.m. to go substitute teach. Our son is getting married in June, so that will mean a trip to Los Angeles and a big family reunion. And I am hoping to go to Spain on a writing retreat in July. Did you guess that I love to travel?
And oh, yes! I have more writing projects than I can handle! But then, I have also been a multi-tasker. I like to have several projects in various stages of development. No linear thinking for me. I have a rough draft of a historical fantasy novel that needs to be taken to the next level, and I am brainstorming plot ideas for a new “Nara” novel.
It’s beginning to sound like a fun year! I’m sure I will be thrown off track more than once, and there will be surprises of all kinds along the way, but that is what makes life interesting.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. That seems like an artificial endeavor to me. But I do take time to think about the person I am, and what changes I want to make in the coming year. I think it has more to do with the winter solstice than the the holidays that are celebrated this time of year, and the end of the Gregorian calendar. It isn’t noticeable just yet, but little by little, we will see more sunlight every day. We are on our way toward spring.
My coming year is already filled up with plans. I will travel to Costa Rica the end of January, a commitment I made to myself last year to escape some of the Pennsylvania winter. I can’t see that my character is improved at all by scraping ice off the windshield at 7 a.m. to go substitute teach. Our son is getting married in June, so that will mean a trip to Los Angeles and a big family reunion. And I am hoping to go to Spain on a writing retreat in July. Did you guess that I love to travel?
And oh, yes! I have more writing projects than I can handle! But then, I have also been a multi-tasker. I like to have several projects in various stages of development. No linear thinking for me. I have a rough draft of a historical fantasy novel that needs to be taken to the next level, and I am brainstorming plot ideas for a new “Nara” novel.
It’s beginning to sound like a fun year! I’m sure I will be thrown off track more than once, and there will be surprises of all kinds along the way, but that is what makes life interesting.
September 22, 2014
What Do You Find in a Quiet Place?
Readers often ask where writers find their ideas. I don’t think I am alone in saying I do not come up with ideas when sitting in front of a computer. Creativity does not come from a busy place. It comes from a quiet place. Finding a quiet place in a busy twenty-first century life can be a challenge, but it is essential for any creative person. In fact, quiet time is essential for anyone.
For me, quiet time does not mean sitting alone staring out the window, although that can be relaxing at times. It means turning off the input from the outside world.
Sometimes a repetitive activity, something that keeps the hands busy, can serve as a mind quieter. I realized this recently when I was attending a knitting class. In a room of about a dozen women, there was silence as we followed the pattern for cable knitting. As I concentrated, my mind shifted to a story I am working on, and the stitches and the motion of my hands helped me with the pattern of the plot in my story.
I found discovered a few other strategies to achieve quiet in a busy day. Some of them are: no radio in the car in the morning, walks around my neighborhood (no earphones!), cooking, playing the piano, and yoga. And a shower or a soak in the tub relaxes the body and the mind.
So take some time out and stare at the sky. It really is an amazing shade of blue here today! And you never know what useful and fun ideas will pop into your brain!
Happy daydreaming!
For me, quiet time does not mean sitting alone staring out the window, although that can be relaxing at times. It means turning off the input from the outside world.
Sometimes a repetitive activity, something that keeps the hands busy, can serve as a mind quieter. I realized this recently when I was attending a knitting class. In a room of about a dozen women, there was silence as we followed the pattern for cable knitting. As I concentrated, my mind shifted to a story I am working on, and the stitches and the motion of my hands helped me with the pattern of the plot in my story.
I found discovered a few other strategies to achieve quiet in a busy day. Some of them are: no radio in the car in the morning, walks around my neighborhood (no earphones!), cooking, playing the piano, and yoga. And a shower or a soak in the tub relaxes the body and the mind.
So take some time out and stare at the sky. It really is an amazing shade of blue here today! And you never know what useful and fun ideas will pop into your brain!
Happy daydreaming!
March 18, 2014
How About a Slice of Papaya Bread?
In my first novel, The Gate House, Nara laments the lack of tropical fruit as she prepares a typical English breakfast at her aunt's bed and breakfast. I lived in Costa Rica for seven years, where I, too, learned to appreciate the huge variety of exotic fruits available year round.
Although Nara's home, St. Clare, is a fictional island country in the Caribbean, the foods she enjoys are very typical of the tropics. I have enjoyed many fresh fruits, both whole and in smoothies (known as "refrescos" in Costa Rica) during my time there. One of the most common is papaya, and I don't mean the small Hawaiian variety.
Papayas in Central American and the Caribbean can be as long as twenty inches, and their sweetness is indescribable. They are cheap and available everywhere, from supermarkets to small produce stands on the street. A main ingredient in a fruit salad or on a lunch plate, they also make a great smoothie with milk. Although not a traditional recipe, the following recipe for papaya bread is moist and delicious. It will work with either type of papaya, just make sure it's ripe.
Papaya Bread
Cream together until light: 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter
Add and beat until fluffy: 2 eggs
Add: 1 cup mashed ripe papaya, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup raisins
Sift together: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp. baking powder, tsp. soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. allspice, 1/2 tsp. ground ginger.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Pour batter into greased and floured 9x5 loaf pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour 5 minutes.
In my new novel, Hotel St. Clare, which is due out in the summer, you will see what Nara was doing in the islands before she and her father moved to England. She was a girl of the tropics, walking barefoot on the beach and eating fresh fruits with rice and beans. No wonder she had difficulty adjusting to life in England!
February 13, 2014
A Good Book I've Read Lately
Murder In Thrall by Anne CleelandMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rookie detective Kathleen Doyle is paired up with renowned Chief Inspector Michael Sinclair ( Lord Acton) in a Scotland Yard mystery that quickly becomes personal for both detectives. Doyle possesses an uncanny ability to detect when a person is lying, and Sinclair relies on her abilities even as he is falling in love with the red-haired Irish woman. He is something of an enigma himself, with a reputation for solving the most difficult of crimes while remaining aloof from his fellow officers. When one of their prime witnesses is murdered, Doyle and Acton find themselves increasingly in the eye of the killer, and the Chief Inspector endeavors to protect his partner for his own romantic reasons, while she struggles to do her job, and keep their relationship a secret from other members of the force.
Each chapter begins with Sinclair's thoughts about Doyle, leading the reader to wonder if his interest is genuine, or if is he stalking her for nefarious reasons. As one murder follows another, Doyle struggles to prove her abilities as a rookie detective, but everyone in her department at Scotland Yard defers to Acton, and she can only follow his instructions, both to keep their relationship a secret from their professional associates and to protect Doyle's life.
Author Anne Cleeland unfolds the story in an unexpected manner. The snippets at the beginnings of each chapter give insight into Acton's mind and growing feelings for Doyle, and also increase the tension of the plot. As the author slowly reveals Doyle's impoverished childhood in Dublin, she takes on depth as a human being with all the worries and uncertainties and life. When the killer is finally identified, it is totally unexpected. The test of a good book is always how much one thinks about the characters when the book is done, and I am still wondering what would happen next. I look forward to more Acton and Doyle Scotland Yard mysteries.
(As published in Suspense Magazine)
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