Freda Lightfoot's Blog, page 8

The Black Market in Wartime Britain

The black market became very much a part of wartime life. With rationing, and rising prices, it held a certain appeal. This was even the case by the end of the war when people were sick of austerity and shortages. ‘Wide boys’, ‘Spivs’, or ‘Wheelers and Dealers’, as they were known, were very clever at flaunting authority and ignored the fact what they were involved in was illegal. They were

Women suffered many Post-War Issues

When World War II ended there was a feeling of anti-climax, as if the bright blue, sun-filled sky had clouded over, leaving a feeling of uncertainty about the future. A grey chill seemed to hang over everything. But then the country was in a mess, near bankrupt. There were bombed areas and rubble everywhere, homes lost or wrecked, many empty shops and huge bomb craters everywhere.

Women had

The Glamour of Being a Writer

It always defeats me how anyone can imagine writing to be a glamorous profession.
I spend six to eight hours a day at the computer, sometimes longer when a
deadline looms, five or even six days a week. I take far too little exercise
and miss out on sunny days, even when in Spain. And generally wear my
scruffiest, most comfortable clothes while working, so don’t look in the least
bit glamoroous.

Girl Bands in World War II

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Girl Bands are not a new phenomena. Long before Girls
Aloud, The Spice Girls, or even The Supremes there were girl
bands of quite a different sort. During World War II Girl Bands took over and
became increasingly popular once the boys joined up. But it was a time when
prejudice against women performing was still strong. Female singers such

Poverty During the War and Depression years

Little remains of the original Ancoats save for a handful of decaying factories and the dark red brick edifice of the old hospital. But this was once an area of row upon row of back to back houses, where Irish and Italian immigrants jostled side by side with fiercely proud Lancastrians; a tight knit community where folk had a loyalty to their particular street and a dread of being accused of ‘

RNA Conference-2015

Just enjoyed the latest RNA Conference held at Queen Mary University, London. Inspiring, as always. I even found time to do a little research of my own for my latest WIP. It began with an industry panel about agents on Friday, then an excellent talk by Matt Bates from W H Smith travel. He’s a really sharp and very helpful guy, full of interesting information on how to choose a good cover for

Inspiration for Luckpenny Land

Inspired by my own efforts at living the ‘good life’ on the Lakeland Fells, Luckpenny Land was the first saga I ever wrote. We were living on a small-holding, out on Shap Fell in Cumbria. And as I trekked up the fellside in the dark of a freezing night to check if our sheep were about to lamb, or to feed a pet lamb, I’d be thinking: ‘There must be a book in this. But who would want to read about

Rome

Just returned from a wonderful holiday in Rome. What a fantastic city it is. Very noisy and busy but filled with amazing Roman relics around every corner. We stayed at the hotel Capo d’Africa near the Colosseum. Very friendly and excellent service. There were also a number of good restaurants close by.




We visited all the important places, including the Colosseum, the
Sistine Chapel and

Big Flo’s Favourite Sayings

Big Flo is loosely inspired by my grandmother, who was very much a strict Methodist and a stoic. She would stand in her pew at chapel every Sunday reciting: The Lord is my
Shepherd, I shall not want, while her belly growled
with hunger and she wondered what they could possibly find to eat for their tea.

They were poor because she was the bread winner as her husband had MS. She
also lost her

London Book Fair-2015

Thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the London Book Fair, held this year at
Olympia instead of Earl’s Court. It seemed to be twice as big and even
more hectic. I love walking around the various exhibits, although you do need a map and directory as it's so huge you can easily get lost.




View of small section of LBF from the Author's HQ



Up in the Author’s HQ, which also allowed a little more