Home Sweet Home?
How are you all? At the start of the *two and a half month long* school holiday, it's either panic at the thought of filling all those weeks with activities for the children, or post-edit wipe-out but I succumbed to the flu. The new book is off to the copy editor, the pilot's been in Shanghai, so for the last few days the children have been making the most of non-stop Disney XD and the finest junk food the compound shop can offer while I've been poleaxed in bed. What is it about finishing a book that wipes you out? Maybe it's the same reason you can guarantee getting a cold at the weekend, or when you have some vacation from work? Anyway, bouncing back now and it's been a busy month writing. I've been here:
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It was amazing seeing the streets and countryside I've been writing about for the last year - almost expected to see my characters dancing in the village square, or relaxing over a glass of wine in one of the plazas. It helped, I think, to draw a line under the end of the story - and maybe it drew a line under part of our story too.
Back 'home' now, and feeling revived by everything we've seen and done this month. Just really simple things were such a pleasure - lighting the woodburner at night, walking through dew-laden grass, rain, getting off the plane in Madrid and seeing serrano ham bocadillos and cava for sale in the airport cafe ... I've had a wonderful dose of 'normal' - which is in short supply here. Back home, and back to work, so here's a writing prompt for you today - enjoy x
TODAY'S PROMPT: How many homes have you lived in? Which of these homes really stand out in your memory? Why? Have you ever gone back to a place, a house, you lived in and found it changed beyond recognition? Or have you gone 'home' and found it exactly the same? Today, why not dig out a photo of somewhere that means a lot to you, and free-write for a few pages about how it shaped you, or tell us about it in the comments?
If you ever get the chance to write at the Arvon centre in Moniack Mhor, near Loch Ness, jump at it. It was a blissful week of perfect peace - think workshops, visiting authors, log fires, and so much laughter. So good, in fact, that we're all meeting up again next year. Then, after flying back to the desert to pick up the family, the pilot and I took the children 'home' to Valencia. It was wonderful, and emotional, seeing a place we'd lived in and loved after ten years. So much had changed - our lovely, isolated little house in the orange groves is now surrounded by new builds. So another 'home' no longer felt like home at all.
Back 'home' now, and feeling revived by everything we've seen and done this month. Just really simple things were such a pleasure - lighting the woodburner at night, walking through dew-laden grass, rain, getting off the plane in Madrid and seeing serrano ham bocadillos and cava for sale in the airport cafe ... I've had a wonderful dose of 'normal' - which is in short supply here. Back home, and back to work, so here's a writing prompt for you today - enjoy x
TODAY'S PROMPT: How many homes have you lived in? Which of these homes really stand out in your memory? Why? Have you ever gone back to a place, a house, you lived in and found it changed beyond recognition? Or have you gone 'home' and found it exactly the same? Today, why not dig out a photo of somewhere that means a lot to you, and free-write for a few pages about how it shaped you, or tell us about it in the comments?
