Christy English's Blog, page 60

The Gate of the Year

My Facebook friend, Glenne, sent me this poem. I loved it so much that I wanted to include it here, along with her introduction. This poem is written on the George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial in Windsor Castle, because the King read it as part of his speech in 1939, at the beginning of [...]

New Year's Eve: A Point of Stillness

I am walking the labyrinth tonight at the Church of the Servant. The motion of the spiral path leads to the center, a point of stillness where the old is released before I walk out of the labyrinth again to take up the new. I love the ritual of the New Year, a time of [...]

Labyrinth Walk for New Year's Eve

This year I plan to walk the labyrinth at the Church of the Servant in Wilmington, NC to release the old year with all its gifts and challenges, while welcoming the new one. I find that clearing the slate so that I can start clean is a huge step in my work as a writer. [...]

Christmas and Eleanor

I took a few days off from my cyber life to spend Christmas with my family. A lovely time, but as usual, as I return to my work, I think of Eleanor. Her youngest son, John, was born December 27, 1166, the same week she found out that Henry, the husband she loved, was keeping a young [...]

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris was one of my favorite places on earth long before I discovered that Louis VII, Eleanor's first husband, began to build it, partnering with the Bishop Sully. Inside the nave there is a little plaque to Louis and to Sully, remembering them. Now that I know that "my" Louis built this [...]

Walking the Labyrinth

  http://www.gracecathedral.org/communi... One of my favorite things to do is to walk a labyrinth. These ancient paths, now re-created in churches and gardens across the country, allow me to reflect on my life, and then to let those reflections go. That is usually the hardest part for me, releasing the thoughts I have about my [...]

Letting Creative Fields Lie Fallow

In between drafts, I like to do absolutely nothing. Of course, with deadlines imposed now by outside sources, my editor, my agent, and the publishing house, the time in which to do nothing becomes shorter and shorter, but I still think it is essential to making my work better. Rest is vital of course, but [...]

Quote from William X, Duke of Aquitaine

In one of the early chapters of TO BE QUEEN, William says to Eleanor, "Caution is a necessity, even for the very brave." As both her husbands, King Louis of France and King Henry of England could attest, Eleanor was always brave, if not always cautious.

Final Proofs for To Be Queen

Well, I am still slowing checking through my last Eleanor proofs. I have realized why I am moving so slowly. Aside from life being generally distracting and from the fact that I am working under a separate, second deadline, I also don't want to let Eleanor go. Of course, I have to. In order for [...]

Duke William X of Aquitaine

William X, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Poitou, was Eleanor's father. He plays a key role in raising Eleanor to be a woman of power in my upcoming novel, TO BE QUEEN. I believe he was instrumental to whom Eleanor later became. Of course, I have no written proof of this. William never wrote a letter [...]