It’s springtime, and my thoughts are starting to turn towards the garden, and flowers, and seeds. Spring is my favourite season. I love the slow turning from brown to green, the warmer temps, the longer days. It’s a time of renewal and hope after the long, dark winter.
April was a crazy month for me. But it is starting to calm down a bit, although I’m still in catch-up mode. My writing life is slowly reawakening, thankfully, and I’m looking forward to getting back to a regular rhythm of writing. But I’m behind, and especially here on the blog I feel my lack of attention. I started with a whole bunch of ideas, and had about four posts written before I launched back in January. Sadly, those pre-written posts are all used up, and I’m feeling the pressure of sitting down on a Thursday and knowing I want to have something up the next day.
However, I do have some “seeds” – ideas for future posts. So, in a bit of a cheat, I’m going to share these with you here. Eventually these seeds will bloom into full-blown posts, or maybe not, if I get feedback that one or another has zero interest.
Anyway, here they are:
- “Religion is what you do with your solitude” – Archbishop William Temple. I love this quote. It resonates with me on many levels, but especially as it relates to the monks at Lindisfarne, back in the 7th century. It’s a great opening to a post on the everyday lives of the monks, how they structured their days, and why.
- Aidan of Lindisfarne. The fun thing about writing historical fiction is that you get to learn about people and places you have never encountered before. Aidan was one of these figures. He has a major part in my books, as he was the Bishop/Abbot of Lindisfarne when my main character, Thomas, arrives there. Bede, although certainly disagreeing with the Celtic flavour of the Christianity Aidan and the rest of the Irish monks practiced, had nothing but admiration for Aidan. His story is worthy of a blog post, I think.
- Elves in story and imagination. Why are they so fascinating? These mysterious beings are a major part of my story world, known in my novels by one of their alternate names, the Fey. There are so many different cultures that have “elves” as part of their mythologies. I thought I might share with you some of the history of the elves that I dug up in my research.
- My publishing journey. I don’t want to make this blog too “writer”-centered, and, really, there are so many more blogs out there with helpful tips on writing and publishing. But perhaps you all would like updates now and then on what I am doing to get my books published.
- Book reviews – I have several books that I am either currently reading, have read, or that are on my “to read” list, which I would like to review. They include:
- The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria, by Max Adams. I’m halfway through this one, hope to finish it soon.
- A Stitch of Honor, by K.M. Carroll. A novella by one of my internet writing buds, combining knitting and sci-fi. Needless to say, I can’t wait to read it.
- The Discovery of Middle Earth: Mapping the Lost World of the Celts, by Graham Robb. My kids got me this one for Mother’s Day. Itching to get into this one too!
- The Hum and the Shiver (Tufa #1), by Alex Bledscoe. Hands down one of the best titles of a book I have ever seen. And it’s about the Fey, as well, with a similar but different take on them to the one I bring in my book. Read this one about a year ago, but I would like to review it here soon.
- The Wool Trilogy, by Hugh Howey. One of the first self-published books to really take off. Again, knitting themes (at least in the titles), so I couldn’t resist.
- The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. Not much left to say about this huge fantasy blockbuster but I would like to throw my feeble offering into the pile of myriad reviews that this series has generated.
- The Serpent’s Sword: The Bernicia Chronicles, Book One, by Matthew Harfly. I connected with Matthew over Twitter as he is writing about the same era, people, and places as myself. His first book in his series has just been released, and I’m looking forward to reading it. It’s a straight historical, though, no fantasy elements. From all accounts lots of clashing swords and action.
That’s about it for now. I am going to continue with my Year of Reading Lewis series, and the occasional Saturday Short, featuring some of my short stories. I would also like to add some author interviews and guest posts, to spice things up a bit. But if you all have any thoughts about any of these or ideas on what YOU would like me to include in this blog, please let me know!
Photo: D Sharon Pruitt, on flickr
