at 60, life with book

Bravely, I am 60 today.

When I wrote Amgalant, roughly between ages 40-50, I thought of it as my life’s work. It still is. Not that I don’t dig what I’m doing now, but those books were an effort I can’t put in again.

And that’s fine, loves. I had writer’s sadness before Amgalant, but not after.

They were wildly ambitious books to write, and I met them at the right age. Not that conditions were ideal: when I look back I think, hang on, this stuff was going on in those years, how did I?

The before I remember: a ghastly state of frustration and enforced writer’s idleness, in my thirties, waiting for the right project, with no guarantee I’d ever write anything significant. The after was rough too, for a few years: angst about reaching (not reaching) an audience.

Perhaps it’s by dint of doing other things I’ve come to a peace about that. Still, if you think I’m ever going to cease plugging Amgalant, you’re mistaken.

Here’s a little gallery of me + book.

circa 2013

new editions 2018

selfie on Christmas Day 2023

I’m going to celebrate with four links to explore Amgalant and the writing thereof, from over the years.

My post ‘A Bastard Art’: how I figured out writing historical fiction based on what was already an artistic text. ‘To think about originality and inherited story, I turned to medieval romance.’

Perhaps the most thorough review of Amgalant, by John Caviglia, author of Arauco.

A craft-based interview in Marian L Thorpe’s Writing for Effect series. ‘Bryn has chosen to discuss how she used poetic speech, homely metaphor, and lively conversation in her work.’

A Five Books list at Shepherd, in which I try to convey my idea of ‘seriously epic historical fiction’ by examples. It isn’t just about size …

Cheers for visiting the site.
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