Q and A with author Marianne Wheelaghan

[A.F.]

Please welcome Marianne Wheelaghan, author of the Blue Suitcase to our Q & A discussions. She’s from Edinburgh, Scotland, and travelled extensively before returning to live in Edinburgh with her family.
Before becoming a writer she was a croupier, a marketing manager for a company that sold warm air hand dryers, a chambermaid in Germany and a cashier in a pizza restaurant. She is also a teacher, who English and Drama to school students of all ages in Spain, the Republic of Kiribati and Papua New Guinea.

Marianne writes historic and crime fiction and has recently been interested in exploring themes to do with ‘home’ and ‘identity’ in my writing. She runs a successful online writing school: http://www.writingclasses.co.uk/

Her Goodreads Profile:
Marianne Wheelaghan

[Lexi]

Hi Marianne,

I'm impressed by your varied list of jobs (all that experience must be very useful for your fiction).

I think I'd find it painful to be a croupier and watch people throw their money away. Which job did you enjoy most and why?

[Murdo]

I am interested in hearing your comments about how you approached writing the book. For example, how much is based on your family's history, how much was recreated?

Also, one of the things I like about the book is the way you keep the characters in the time period and do not apply a modern retrospective perspective. They experience events and react in their context. This probably presented a bit of a challenge. Was this something you consciously attempted to do?

[Marianne]

Hi Lexi
lovely to hear from you! The variety of work experiences has been a useful source, definitely, as a fiction writer.
Briefly, regards the croupier job, I came to it by mistake. I'd finished my degree and was due to go to Spain to teach English - but not for another 6/9 months and I needed temporary work. I applied for a job to 'count chips'. I thought it was for work in a cafe (not sure why I would have been counting chips, mind you). It turned out the job was to count 'casino' value chips (btw my dad was horrified at the thought of me working in a casino and dead against it! We weren't allowed to talk about it, I think he associated it with crime). At first I thought it would be a glamorous job but it was anything but. I started as a cashier, and then they asked me to work on the roulette and blackjack tables. I ended up working in a few casinos for a few years off and on, finally supporting myself through a second degree when i came back to the UK after living in Spain. And, yes, it was very, very sad to see some people throw their money, especially those who couldn't afford it, and had lost everything and were still gambling, equally sad was the way the casino treated such people. It's not a job I would do again.
The job I liked the most was teaching in the Pacific and in Papua New Guinea in particular. I was there for three years and the students were the nicest young people. Teaching is also an excellent way of getting to know a culture. Papua New Guinea is a country of contrasts and we were lucky to have lived in East New Britain, which was a very safe are. There were always surprises - sometimes not always pleasant ones - but it is a beautiful place. I feel lucky to have worked there and have wonderful memories - and my daughter was born there in a mission hospital, which makes is special too. The crime novel I am writing now is set in Kiribati, the second one in the series will be set in Papua New Guinea!
Sorry to have gone on. Hope that answers the questions?

[Marianne]

A.F. wrote: "Please welcome Marianne Wheelaghan, author of the Blue Suitcase to our Q & A discussions. She’s from Edinburgh, Scotland, and travelled extensively before returning to live in Edinburgh with her f..."

Hi AF, just want to say a quick thanks for introducing me! Absolutely delighted to be here!

[Marianne]

Murdo wrote: "I am interested in hearing your comments about how you approached writing the book. For example, how much is based on your family's history, how much was recreated?

Also, one of the things I like ..."

Hi Murdo, thanks for your question! It's a biggie...where to begin. First question: what is based on my family's history and what is based on research?
Okay, about 50% is my family's history and 50% is based on research. When I was translating Mum's letters and the diaries I came across gaps btw, in actual fact the dairy extracts are from my aunt, sent from Argentina - after the ww2 my aunt when to Argentina to find work. She was very unhappy there and used to write to my mum frequently. In her letters she'd included extracts from a diary she had written while growing up. Anyway, I became desperate to know what had happened in these 'gaps' in the letters and diaries so i looked online and went to the library and researched the place (Silesia) and the period. Surprisingly (or maybe not) there are not that many books written about this time and place, I"m talking 1932 to 1947. I did track some down and very good academic books at that. Finally, after spending some considerable time on the research I felt I could make a good guess at what could have happened in the "gaps". Certainly, if some of the events hadn't happened to my mum, or aunt, or uncle, they certainly happened to someone else's aunty or mum or uncle and very easily could have happened to my family.

And, yes, I was very conscious of trying to keep the language and the period etc in context and it did prove to be a challenge. For example while some words and vocabulary may have been in used at that time, i was worried the words could seem so unfamiliar that they may have jarred the reader out of the "dream world of the story" to use them ( eg: juggernaut is a very old word, first used in the 1860's but we think of as a relatively new word). At the same time some modern words crept into the narrative despite my best efforts to be vigilant, words that were so familiar they'd become invisible to me - i think "crap" meaning "rubbish" was one of them (I am embarrassed to say!).
Thanks for great questions, I do hope I have answered them?!

[Murdo]

Marianne wrote: "Murdo wrote: "I am interested in hearing your comments about how you approached writing the book. For example, how much is based on your family's history, how much was recreated?

Also, one of the ..."

Yes, thank you. I wrestled with similar issues in a project of mine.
I am most of the way through your book and enjoying it a great deal.

[Lexi]

Counting chips - that made me laugh.

Reminds me of when I was seventeen and living in a large shared flat in Earls Court. My landlord mentioned he'd been a friar at one time. I assumed he meant a fish fryer in a chip shop, as he was a secular sort of chap when I knew him...

[Marianne]

Murdo wrote: "Marianne wrote: "Murdo wrote: "I am interested in hearing your comments about how you approached writing the book. For example, how much is based on your family's history, how much was recreated?

..."

Thanks, Murdo. So glad you are enjoying it. Just because I was fascinated by my mum's story, didn't mean that others necessarily would be, so it's lovely to know that people, like yourself,find it engaging!

[Marianne]

Lexi wrote: "Counting chips - that made me laugh.

Reminds me of when I was seventeen and living in a large shared flat in Earls Court. My landlord mentioned he'd been a friar at one time. I assumed he meant a..."

Ha ha ha! Thanks, Lexi! I've been feeling a tiny tad nervous being in the "hot" seat and you have now put me at ease :o)

[Marianne]

Hi A.F!
This is a question from Bob Crickard, which he sent to the invitation reply thread, so I'm posting my response here as well as there. Hope this is the right thing to do!?
From Bob Crickard,
Among the many excellent aspects of The Blue Suitcase that I admired, and to a degree envied, was the quality of the factual references that acted as supporting stanchions for the realism of the work. I accept that some may have been provided by your mother but the bulk had to come from diligent research. My question is therefore what resources did you use and how did you approach the task?

Hope I haven’t thrown you a googly. Best wishes and I hope all goes well.

Hi Bob, not a googly at all! Murdo asked a similar question, but I am happy to answer it again. Slightly differently :o)

Firstly, when I started translating, I picked up a diary extract at random (dated 1947) and was quickly hooked. However, I also very quickly became confused: not only was my knowledge of history of Lower Silesia at that time woeful, but I couldn't work out who was who in the family – remember I didn't know very much about my Mum's family at all. In fact until after she died we didn't even know for sure if Mum was German or Polish, which seems silly now! It was a bit like trying to put together a giant jigsaw puzzle, but not only were some pieces missing, some of the pieces that were there were blank. At first I researched directly into my mother's family – it took a long time and only got me so far. Then I researched the period. I went to the library and looked online and found all I could on Lower Silesia between 1930 and 1950. I used archive material from the Catholic Church, memoirs and history books; I then widened my search to include the rest of Germany. In fact I got a bit addicted. I went as far back as the middle 1800s and even watched films about the history of the time for background information. I watched this one great BBC series called The Fall of Eagles, it seems a bit old fashioned now, but it was really helpful to get a better understanding of my grandparents' lives. Finally, I'd finished translating and researching and I knew I just had to write Mum's story. In the end I didn't use all the research but it helped me have confidence in what I was writing. I'd say the story is 50% my family's history and 50% the history of other Silesian families based on research (nothing is 'made up' in that sense). I set out to write a biography, or a narrative non-fiction, but trying to be accurate to the family was immobilising me, just using my mother's real name was a struggle – mum was called Gertrude and she HATED her name with a passion! Then I had an epiphany: I would write a fiction – and in it my fictional family would be like my Mum's family but not quite the same. In fact, my character Antonia is based on my aunt Antonia, who wrote most of the diary, my mum and my aunt Dora all rolled into one. I started when my Mum was 12 because it made sense to begin at the beginning, and ended when she left for Scotland (I always knew that would be the end, which was where I had started).


Hope that makes sense! And thanks again for the question!

[A.F.]

When you were piecing together your mother's story for the book, how did your perceptions of her, and your family, change?

[Wendy]

Marianne, I've found, in researching my second book, also about that wartime, that some really interesting surprises surfaced about my father. Did you have that experience? What was the shocker?

[Marianne]

A.F. wrote: "When you were piecing together your mother's story for the book, how did your perceptions of her, and your family, change?"

Hi A.F. thanks for the thought provoking question.
My perceptions changed in that I understand better why my Mum seemed so reserved and private. Because she was 'private', some people thought my Mum was a snob, she wasn't at all. I loved Mum dearly, although was a tad scared of her when I was wee, she was understandably pretty strict when we were younger - she brought up 9 children, in difficult circumstances: we did not have a lot of money and she was an educated person from a middle class, Catholic German family and married into a working class Scottish protestant family. Once when I was an angst-ridden fourteen year old and couldn't sleep (maybe I was worried about an exam the next day?) she told me to be glad that I had a roof over my head and have food to eat ... she didn't say it in a mean way. It meant nothing to me at the time. Of course, I realise now she knew what it was not to have a roof over head. I always thought Mum had strength of character, I had no idea how much.

[Marianne]

Wendy wrote: "Marianne, I've found, in researching my second book, also about that wartime, that some really interesting surprises surfaced about my father. Did you have that experience? What was the shocker?"

Hi Wendy
phew - the shocker, eh?! Well, there were quite a lot of things that surprised me, but one thing sticks in my mind above all the others (and I don't know why given some of the stuff that I found out!) and that was that I had an aunt who was training to be a nun and an uncle who was training to be a priest! I know it's not shocking at all but it made my protestant dad sit up and take notice, I can tell you! Thanks for question, Wendy! Good luck with the research for the book. Where was your father posted during the War? My father was in Italy - did no fighting but had some funny stories to tell!

[Marianne]

Hello A.F, this is a question from Rick, posted in the invitation response. I've answered it there and copied and pasted it here . Hope this is right thing to do :o)

From Rick
Oct. 14th-16th: Marianne Wheelaghan, author of The Blue Suitcase.

I would like to know how you came up with the plot for The Blue Suitcase and further, were able to turn it into a novel?

Hi Rick
the story for the Blue Suitcase was already written, if you like, as it was based on my Mum's life growing up in Germany under Hitler, based in turn on diary extracts and letters we found after her death. I wanted to tell her story because not only was I shocked by what I discovered when I read the letters etc but I think in some small way I wanted to address a wrong I had committed against mother when I was growing up: when I was small Germans were generally considered to be baddies, and portrayed in films and stories as elite super evil SS officers, or super dumb concentration camp guards and, to be honest, I used to feel somehow awkward about the fact my mother was German. This coupled with the fact she never talked about her early life and we never asked, somehow made it worse. As an adult I felt very differently about her, but it was only when I read her letters etc and that I felt compelled to write her story, especially as it seemed to me there were not very many stories about what life was like under Hitler from the perspective of an ordinary German person.

That said, I knew just because I was fascinated by Mum's early life, didn't mean that others would be. Also, I know as a creative writing teacher and writer, that just because an event happened in real life, doesn't make it believable to a reader – good writing can make us believe in hobbits and wizards that fly, but poor writing can't convince us Janet kissed John even if we saw them do it! So while the story is based on the diaries and letters, I quite consciously tried to shape the events that happened in such a way that would engage the reader eg: from the letters I knew there was rivalry between the siblings, so I developed that. I changed some of the timing of the events to heighten a sense of suspense. I deliberately used the diary/letter format because I wanted the reader to discover the story as I had, but also I knew I was going to be writing about some very shocking things, and the diary format allowed me to deliver small parcels of information, in a simple, almost mundane way, hopefully making the information easier to digest without being repelled.

I'm not sure if this answers your question, or of I've made sense, Rick.
Hope so and thanks for a great question!

[Wendy]

I would certainly be shocked if any of my family had trained for religious orders.

My dad fought through Italy on the front lines, Marianne. But while the framework was violent, his stories were mostly funny too. They're the stuff that second book I mentioned was built on. The research is done...the book was published last week. And my dad is still telling the stories!

[Marianne]

What!? I missed the publication of your second book! Oh no! Where can I get it, and what is it called - is it on the PastTimes site? I'd love to read it, especially given its about Italy and WW2! I'm afraid I've been really distracted these last couple of weeks, we've had lots of visitors and a crises with one sister (which is for another day!). Are you going to have a Q and A session on it? I hope so! Thanks again for your question - and glad your dad is still telling his stories!

[Wendy]

I guess it kind of slid past the gate quietly...thanks for asking. (Don't apologize--I, too, have a sister.) It's called Dodging Shells, and it is posted on the Past Times Books site. In digital format now, but the print version will be coming out next month.

I'll definitely do a Q and A as soon as it's found a few readers. There's so much that didn't make it into the book, and this looks like fun.

[Marianne]

Wendy wrote: "I guess it kind of slid past the gate quietly...thanks for asking. (Don't apologize--I, too, have a sister.) It's called Dodging Shells, and it is posted on the Past Times Books site. In digital fo..."

Wendy, as it happens I am in the process of buying a Kindle and will look forward to reading Doging Shells on it!

[Marianne]

Hi People, it's 23.38 pm in Edinburgh, Scotland and I am off to get some sleep:) Look forward to answering your questions tomorrow!

[Sheila]

Enjoy your sleep. Reading your earlier answers, it looks like you originally planned to write non-fiction then decided to make it fiction. Did you view yourself as a fiction writer trying non-fiction, or a non-fiction writer trying fiction?

[Marianne]

Hi Shelia, had a great sleep, and a great question, thanks! (btw one of the first "awards" I ever got for writing was a prize when i was nine for an essay called "My favourite Place", and my favourite place was my bed, not only could I sleep and dream lots of lovely dreams there, but I could snuggle up under the blankets and imagine I was anywhere and anyone: I traveled the world from my bed! Hem ...I digress!)
I definitely viewed myself as a fiction writer trying non-fiction. I set out to write a narrative or creative non-fiction (I enjoy reading books like Longitude by Dava Sobel) but in the end I felt too restricted by sticking to the facts of my family's life. For example, I discovered my mum had six sisters, but there's was virtually no mention of two of them in the letters (the oldest two) and I struggled to find out any more about them. It seemed to make sense to create a fictional family without these sisters, but which was still based on what I knew about the real family. This shift to fiction also made it easier for me to write about my mum, which I was really struggling with emotionally.
Hope that makes sense. Do you write fiction or non-fiction, Shelia?

[Peter]

Morning, Marianne.

Having German Catholic & Scottish Protestant backgrounds must give you an interesting insight into that ancient conflict and writing about WW2 from a German perspective - what were the challenges in presenting this story?

[Marianne]

Peter wrote: "Morning, Marianne.

Having German Catholic & Scottish Protestant backgrounds must give you an interesting insight into that ancient conflict and writing about WW2 from a German perspective - what ..."

Hi Peter!
Thanks for your question. One of the biggest challenges, for sure, was to write about Mum, a Catholic, middle-class, German without being influenced by my own Protestant, working-class, Scottish peace-time experiences, especially as Mum never talked about her past. However, one thing I realised very quickly from the letters/documents was that mum and my aunts and uncles were very normal, ordinary young people, with the same needs and wants etc as all young people. Of course, they were, you may think, but so much literature about German people set during that time presents ordinary Germans as being somehow "different". And there is so much of it! So, the second biggest challenge was to write her story in such a way the reader would see this German girl's story 'afresh', uninfluenced by what we know, or think we know about the past. So,I tried to focus not on how different her life was, which it is was, or the big historic events, but rather on the normal things she had in common with you and me, which was her relationship with her family (if that makes sense?). I thought if readers could identify with her, they would more likely empathise and read on to the end.
So many ordinary German people had their lives turned upside down during WW2 and suffered great hardship but just because of their nationality they were denied the opportunity to tell their story, which was simply wrong. Interestingly, since I finished writing the book, less than two years ago, there have been more and more books being published in Germany about the war from the perspective of the ordinary German. I think with the passage of so much time and all the political changes in Europe everyone can talk more openly about terrible things in the past without feeling the need to apportion blame.
Hope this answers your question, I may have gone off on a tangent, sorry!

[Peter]

Yes indeed, and let's all hope that "everyone can talk more openly about terrible things in the past without feeling the need to apportion blame."

Best of luck with the book.

[Peter]

And,as a follow up: do you have a favourite German Author?

[Wendy]

Marianne wrote: "Peter wrote: "Morning, Marianne.

Having German Catholic & Scottish Protestant backgrounds must give you an interesting insight into that ancient conflict and writing about WW2 from a German perspe..."

It is definitely possible to write from the perspective of the ordinary person, who is not privy to the big picture events occurring around them. And you've done a particularly good job of maintaining that perspective. That's what makes your book unique, Marianne.

[Marianne]

Paul wrote: "Congratulations on your book, Marianne. What an eye-catching title. It seems to drag you in and make you wonder what the book is about. Rather than scrunch you with another wonderous questions abou..."

Hi Paul, thank you for kind words about the title and cover. Marketing tips - heck!? Obviously your story has to be as good as it can be, but so does your marketing. We took a long time over the title and the cover and it paid off because bookshops agreed to stock the book based on the cover and title alone. Regards the title I'd read about how important it was to have a concrete title rather than an abstract one (of course if you're famous, you can do what you want!). I also read that titles should be intriguing but not baffling. I worked in collaboration with my husband (also my publisher) to do that. The story was about a journey, the case is mentioned right at the beginning and features throughout (it almost becomes a symbol). It seemed (eventually) obvious to use the case in the title. Colour was important because I didn't want people to think it was a boring drab book about the past, telling the same old story! Blue is very positive. In fact the case was brown and we made it blue. We then used a prisoner of war postcard as the the side of the case and added the stamps to suggest what the story was about. It seems to have worked. AS for promotion ... that's a full time job. I wrote to book festivals, book shops, libraries, schools, craft fairs (sold loads of books at a local xmas craft fair as I was the only writer there!) ... the list is endless and in the end a few actually invited me to come and speak, which meant more book sales and the word spreading, and more invites. I think I may have pestered some people too much and put them off (there's a fine line between gentle reminders and annoying, which I am trying to learn!). All that said I was very very lucky because right at the beginning of launching the book the local Edinburgh news took an interest in my mum's story and did a hug double page spread on it - and it was the one paper I hadn't written too! That was a huge plus. People talked about that article for weeks. I had no idea what an impact the one article can do. Anyway, to sum up, the writer Thurber once said "You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backwards". I love this quote - for me it means there's nothing lost in trying, you may make mistakes but you could also gain something! Finally, I'm also working out how to develop a "social platform". This has come to me recently and I am not sure about it yet - I'm tentatively blogging and twittering and visiting other blogs and joining sites like Goodreads, but it's all a bit overwhelming - and time consuming! And I still need time to write. If I was rich and famous Id pay someone to do it all, but as I am not, I'll stick it out for another six months. If having a 'social platform' has not made a small difference by then, I'll let it go!
Hope this makes sense and thanks for question!

[Marianne]

Wendy wrote: "Marianne wrote: "Peter wrote: "Morning, Marianne.

Having German Catholic & Scottish Protestant backgrounds must give you an interesting insight into that ancient conflict and writing about WW2 fro..."

That's very kind of you to say, Wendy. Thanks so much!

[Marianne]

Peter wrote: "And,as a follow up: do you have a favourite German Author?"

Hi Peter, I like Thomas Mann, I also like the great and good Gunter Grass and Brecht. More recently I've come across Katrin Schmidt. Kathrin Schmidt grew up in East Germany. Her most famous work is the autobiographical novel Du Stirbst Nicht ( you are not going to die), which I am looking forward to reading. As it happens we are both reading at a day long event on memory and dreams as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (SMHAFF).

Thanks again!
Oh, and this is for Paul, another thing you need when marketing your book is patience! I was invited to attend the SMHAFF festival over a year ago, just as we launched the book, and it's finally happening now.

[Marianne]

Dear All, I am just popping out to take our dog for a walk - it's a nice day (ie: it's not raining or ridiculously windy!) but I won't be too long.
Look forward to answering more questions soon! And thanks again to all who have joined in so far, you've really made me think, which is no bad thing ;o)

[Peter]

Is there a particular influence on your style of writing and if so, who/what?

[Marianne]

Peter wrote: "Is there a particular influence on your style of writing and if so, who/what?"

Hi Peter, back from walking the dog! I like to read a broad variety of writers, but influences come from RL Stevenson, PG Wodehouse, Henry O, Somerset Maugham, William Falkner, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Beryl Bainbridge, Robert Graves, Kafka, Angela Carter, James Robertson, Janice Galloway, Raymond Carver, Joyce Carol Oates and so on and on, including almost all crime writers (of course!). However, I think my writing is most influenced by a group of American writers, who I think are sometimes referred to as regional writers, like Eudora Welty, Flannery O' Connor, Mary Hood and Shirley Jackson (there are more). I just love the way these writers make (or should I say made because they are not all alive now) the ordinary extraordinary, and the extraordinary ordinary (if you see what I mean!). Their stories are sometimes dark but they are writers whose words are taught with tension and who can create atmosphere when nothing seems to be happening. Pieces of writing which I remember as standing out for me when I first read them are are Joyce Carol Oates' "Where are you going, where have you been?", "The Lottery" and "We have Always lived in the Castle" by Shirley Jackson, and "How Far she went" by Mary Hood.
I will remember lots of other writers whose work I admire, and think may have influenced me as soon as I send this, especially more recent writers, but I think this is quite enough for now ;o)
Thanks again!

[Sheila]

Sheila wrote: "Enjoy your sleep. Reading your earlier answers, it looks like you originally planned to write non-fiction then decided to make it fiction. Did you view yourself as a fiction writer trying non-ficti..."

Hi Marianne, That time difference...! I mostly write fiction. That story about your early award was fun! I remember having to write an essay in school about whether I'd prefer a long boring life or a short exciting one; I answered I'd go for long and boring so I'd have time to enjoy lots of short exciting lives in fiction.
I hated writing essays in school(too much room for error) so I always thought I'd just write fiction. But now I write lots of book reviews too--I'm not sure what they count as.
What sort of dog?

[Marianne]

Hi Shelia,
nice to talk to you again. I was also a reluctant essay writer - think that prize was my first and last prize for such writing ;o) I do find writing reviews difficult though, to be fair and objective and not subjective yet judge is really hard! I say this because I have just started to review creative writing text books on my blog... only done a couple so far and have at least six waiting here beside me on my desk next to the computer to go and goodness knows how many on the shelves behind me! I suppose I'll just do them one book at a time. One of my all time favourites is Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird, do you know it? I'm reviewing it next :)
Our dog is called Daisy, she's 15 and a mongrel(spaniel-cum-lurcher-cum-lab mix, black with white paws) we got from the cat and dog home for my daughter after we moved back to Scotland after being in Kiribati for five years. It really helped her with the move. My daughter is now 23 and has since moved out but Daisy is still here. Daisy had a sort of a stroke last year but has recovered incredibly. If I knew how I would send a pic!
Oh, can I ask you a question: how long do you spend on doing review and do you review non-fiction or fiction? Thanks!

[Erma]

Congratulations on your book. Sounds very intriguing and emotional. Before or during the writing of The Blue Suitcase, did you travel to Silesia, to get a better understanding of the place?

[Marianne]

Hi Emma, lovely to hear from you. Yes, I've visited Silesia in Poland twice with my husband. The first time we flew straight to Wroclaw from Edinburgh and stayed there, the second time we hired a car and drove from Berlin to Poland and went to Wroclaw (which was Breslau) and Wlen (which was Lähn) and Jelenia Göra (which was Hirshberg where Mum went to school) and Görlitz in what was East Germany. It was fascinating. In Wlen I found my mother's old house - Cafe Concordia - and the castle. The house looked almost identical to a postcard Mum had of it, but more run down. The village generally was run down. It was frustrating not being able to speak Polish and I wished I'd learned a few words at least before I set out. We tried to find my granny's grave but were told although she had been buried in the local cemetery her bones had been removed years ago. Wroclaw is a lovely town/city and much of the centre has been restored. There is a fantastic tourist office there which allows you to download for free incredible walking tours of all the historic sites of the town. Both times we did the tours - I had an old map I had bought of Bresalu from 1933 and worked out where everywhere wa/ha dbeen. It was fascinating to see buildings and places I had read about. The Polish people were charming and I'd go back again. But to answer you question, yes, it definitely helped me get a better understanding of the place, and I don't think I could have written about it without having been there at least once. Thanks again for your question!

[Marianne]

Dear People, once again it is midnight here in Scotland and so I am heading for bed. Look forward to answering the last of your questions tomorrow! Good night :)

[Marianne]

Erma wrote: "Congratulations on your book. Sounds very intriguing and emotional. Before or during the writing of The Blue Suitcase, did you travel to Silesia, to get a better understanding of the place?"

Hi Erma, so sorry, I spelled your name wrong. Blame it on the reading glasses (I wasn't wearing! ).

[Marianne]

Hi All,
just a final thanks for all questions. Lovely to meet you and a special thanks to A.F. for hosting the session!

[Sheila]

Marianne wrote: "Hi Shelia,
nice to talk to you again. I was also a reluctant essay writer - think that prize was my first and last prize for such writing ;o) I do find writing reviews difficult though, to be fai..."
I mostly review fiction books, but I do review some non-fiction too. I read very quickly then write and rewrite each review over a period of several days--I tell myself it's so I can catch my first reaction and find out whether the story says with me, but it's just as much so I can catch more typos before I release the review. I'm usually reading two books, reviewing a third, and revising the review of a fourth all at the same time.

Your dog sounds nice. We moved when our youngest was in his teens, lost a dog shortly afterwards, and quickly "found" and were found by a black lab who lived the rest of her life with us, making son and family much happier. I really miss her. (Miss the son too, but I guess they're meant to grow up and leave home aren't they.)

[Marianne]

Hi Shelia,
wow, that's a lot of work! And now i don't feel too bad, because I have just started to review non-fiction creative writing text books on my blog and find myself "juggling": I have finished one, started another, while two are begging to be looked at again. So, I am relieved to know this is normal! But when do you find time to do your own writing? Ah well, onwards! As for dogs, they become family, don't they? We will miss Daisy when she pops her clogs, which I fear will be soon. She is the third Daisy we have had, as named by our children. I think if we get another dog she or he will need a new name! I miss my children too, but it's nice not to worry about them so much - it alos makes me chuckle the way they think they know better than us now. LOL! Oh, wait till they have their own children ;o)

[Sheila]

Marianne wrote: "Hi Shelia,
wow, that's a lot of work! And now i don't feel too bad, because I have just started to review non-fiction creative writing text books on my blog and find myself "juggling": I have finis..."

You ask when I find time to do my own writing. I wish I knew. I treat writing like chocolate--my reward for a job well done is the chance to let my characters play.

[Marianne]

Shelia, what a great idea! And it's exactly how I feel about writing - to be able to do some is a 'treat'! I have been looking for a new approach to my creative writing because it's just not been getting down recently and I am going to copy your approach, I really think it will work - I'll let you know ;o)