Forests and streams

I think best when I’m on the move. Every time my husband and I go on a trip, we both get loads of ideas. Our outdoor musical about the fossegrim was born on a river boat. The idea for Cutting Edge came into being on a long-distance bus. Release was brainstormed during a walk in the woods, and almost all my actual writing takes place on forest paths like this one, with my phone in my hand and the Dragon Dictation app running.

Right now in semi-northern Sweden, trees are budding, but at a distance, they still look grey and drab. The mountains shift in shades of dark blue and smoky green. At a glance, nature can seem dead, but deep inside twigs and roots, new life is growing, and in the sunshine, the fir trees gleam warmly, hinting at the summer foliage to come.

This is one of my favourite walks. I love a bit of hilly horizon, and the absence of human artifacts allows me to pretend I’ve travelled back in time.

No bathing yet, but this is only a stone’s throw from the tiny little beach at the centre of our village, where you can take an evening swim when all the hurly-burly’s done and the sun filters through the leaves. The water that glides over the rocks and breaks into froth looks a bit like a dark blue silk sleeve with tattered old lace at the cuff.

I really do love the place where I live.