A Change in Tone

Now everything is on the change, from the season to a new person on the throne of Britain, I’m looking to up my game with my writing. With the last of three of my first novels published, I feel my writing is lacking something, some sort of drive to push my career to the next level.

With Winter kicking at the heels of Autumn, I shall be busy in the garden, getting it ready for the Spring planting. Yesterday, I went to my sister’s in Suffolk to collect bags of llamas’ poo. Yes, you did read that right, llamas’ poo. It’s very good for the garden and as my sister has a herd of llamas it was a great place to get some. This year I was unsuccessful in the vegetable garden. It wasn’t just due to lack of water, though that didn’t help. It has been many years since I’ve dug in any new manure to improve the soil. This year I want to dig out the old soil before adding the new, along with vegetable waste from the kitchen. This I’m hoping will not only improve the soil but help hold the moisture too.

When I was thinking about how I could improve the yield of vegetables it made me wish it was that simple to increase my chances of writing a successful novel. I keep asking myself what’s stopping me from improving the chances for success. Of course, there’s an obvious one. Lack of marketing. Maybe, I don’t put enough effort into the marketing, but that all comes at a price. With the growing increase on household bills, I had to stop using Facebook Business Page.

I’m very disappointed with my sales so far. I have been seriously thinking about writing a different kind of books as horror doesn’t have a strong enough market. Some people are put off by the label on my novels, too. I see myself as more of a crime writer. Though, the lack of sales might be due to readers tightening their belts. I know, my husband and I are thinking hard about where we need to make savings.

Barn Owl

I’m back working on the Granny Wenlock novel. Today, I’ve been busy looking into the local name for Owls. You’ll be surprised just how many different names they have. What I was hunting for was an Essex dialect word for Owl. I’ve found an old English dictionary online. It lists quite a few local names for owls  in Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall, but not Essex.
I have so far:
Cuddy-Hookt
Yewlet – Yorkshire
Howlet
Woolert – barn owl
Witty-woo- the call of the owl
Wink-a-pussy – local name Devon & Cornwall
Wit – barn owl
Will-a-wix

If you have a local/ dialect word for owls in your area, please let me know.

While at my sister’s we went for a walk to her local church and signed a book of condolences for the Queen Elizabeth

Chat with you again soon.