Merry Christmas...

The next few days will be even busier than they have been so far- Muffins, and Fairy Cakes are done, but the fruit cake is still to do.

On the present side I'm trailing behind; at least I have the wrapping paper and labels ready...

Whatever you may have planned, I hope you enjoy the Christmas break. And for anyone suffering from the winter bugs that emerge at this time of the year, I hope you feel better soon.

Merry Christmas...

Christmas message postcard via Canva.com

Now the Book Festival is Over...

The display of members'
published works...

I spent Saturday (24th) at the last day of the Lowdham Book Festival, with other members of Nottingham Writers' Club.

Sadly my cork board display was too large for the three-legged stand (height-wise), and if I'd had time to try it out the night before I would have realised- not that I could have done anything about it!

In the end the board rested against the stand by the table...

At least this year we were able to display flyers for books by a number of members- and not just mine.

There were a lot of small publishers in the hall this year, and out in the marquee there were plenty of second-hand books, but only a few were really old, so I didn't come home with any useful books this time.

But I did add to my postcard collection with a few old postcards. Two stable scenes; both postcards were images of painting by John Morland (1763-1804) and immediately appealed to the historical romance writer in me.

You can see the images used on the postcards here and here. Though the image had been coloured for printing, so the contents of the wheelbarrow becomes green and yellow, and the stable lad's face becomes very distinct, as does the jar on the window ledge.

The strange thing was that these two postcards had been sent to the same person by two connected individuals (sisters?) and sent from Plaistow in 1905 both on the 4.15 post on the 17 JU (June or July?).

The one from Beatie is affectionate but short with the lines well spaced- she's thanking the sender for the book she's sent, whereas the second, while neatly written, each line is close together. It mentions that 'Beatie is putting a new braid on the bottom of her dress'.

Postcard messages can be as inspiring as the image on the front. Over a century later their moment in time messages remain, leaving the reader to wonder, and the writer to create...

Label Your Photos Whilst You Remember...

Having two blogs to run, this one and Serena's, I thought I'd have a look through some of my old (back-up) CD/DVDs to choose a few of my archived pictures to accompany the next few posts.

Oh dear...

In (the past) my inexperience of digital photography I never individually labelled the images. So whatever was on the memory card at the start was what it was labelled.

It's not that I don't know the year they were taken, or where, I do, although I'll need to search the exact names of buildings shown in them.

But it's the odd ones that are the issue. Specifically this one.

Postcard image, source unknown...

It's a picture of a postcard of Weymouth Harbour, unknown date.

I've no idea where the postcard was on display, I just know the photo of it was taken on holiday in the summer of 2008.

It may be the detail is written down somewhere, but it wasn't on the photo information, nor on the back-up disc. Then about a year after that my old computer had to be wiped after a damaging virus got onto my machine- despite a security package. So a couple of documents and photos not backed up were lost forever... :(

Since then I've learnt a lot about correct labelling and adding tags to my images, so I don't have this issue now. And I always make a back-up copy too.

So I've now got a lot of pictures that need sorting out and relabelling-including numerous images of my (now grown-up) sons, buried in sand on Weymouth and Lyme Regis beaches, and in pebbles on Chesil Beach. :D

If anyone can enlighten me on the postcard, do get in touch; I want to credit the original source location of the postcard too.

I'm Back from Bath...

I had a great weekend, and did a lot of walking- lots of it uphill and down again.

Now I have to get back to reality; unpack, sort out my various purchases- postcards and books. Then download and label my photos- I'll have to get my little pocket map out for that.

My hotel was a Georgian house, so every time I went out, or returned back in the evening, I had the delight of walking past a parade of houses that have been there for hundreds of years...

I've probably got enough for a few blog posts plus the photos. :)

My arrival on the Friday afternoon coincided with the Evening at the Museums event, so I managed to fit in a couple of extra events beyond my original plans- Friday evening had a literary event; history and writing together...

And I will have to take a picture of my new mouse mat, from The Jane Austin Centre, as it's not shown in their shop- you'll like it. :D

More to come soon...

I Should be on Holiday...

But I'm not.

After getting most of my office organised- apart from a few bits and pieces that are elsewhere and currently inaccessible- OH and I are on a big sort and reorganise session.

Now I know lots of this should have been done years ago, but young children take up time and it's only now that they are old enough to help (after all a lot of the items downstairs are actually theirs in the first place) and tolerate the disruption that the reorganisation is underway.

Among my discoveries are postcards from various museums I've visited, interesting rooms set out for specific occasions or time periods- and I now have a box for all my postcards, with room for more.

Old pictures and articles with interesting images or information- just the sort of stuff to inspire any writer. (And yes I have boxes for them too.)

There's a lot of old paperwork from the late 90's that is now shredded paper and gone to be recycled at the tip- known nowadays as the recycling centre.

As I've been sorting items they've brought back memories, incidents and people long gone, but not really forgotten. And I'm sure they will pop up in my future writing somewhere...

The six weeks between the end of July and early September has usually been the time when I could recharge my creative batteries that are on low by July, and I usually do research while I'm getting back to full charge.

This year is different, I'm getting organised.

It's the start of a new future...

Postcards Are For More Than Writing On...

They can inspire stories...

Earlier this week the writers club held a workshop on this month's speaker evening, it was about short stories.

I have to admit that whenever we have to write something without any idea of what is going to be presented I slightly panic. My brain freezes and I have to remind myself I'm not going to be in trouble if I can't do it. So panic over...

We were given a postcard each, mine was a black and white semi-nude male with a large jar held on one arm- very classical. (If it didn't inspire us we could change it for another.) But it immediately triggered a character for my potential story, called Adam.

We had about ten minutes to write details about our character and some of us couldn't avoid starting to tell the story as we wrote. A few of us read out our descriptions. So far so good...

Next we were given another postcard and this was for our second character. I had a young girl sat in a restaurant with a waiter to one side with his back turned, so you couldn't see his face. This girl was Maria- very West Side Story connotations. Again another ten minutes to write about her.

Finally we were given a postcard with a scene, a building or a place like a river. I had a tall rounded building across a street, the painting's aspect gave the impression that you were in a high place somewhere across the road. Above one window was a striped red and white awning.

Adam, I decided, is a would-be artist earning money by posing as a life model. Maria works in an Italian restaurant across the road...

The final part of the exercise was one or both has a secret- what is it?

So it's on my list to do.

You might remember (or not) some time ago I mentioned that I had a box of postcards somewhere. Well I found them and they brought so many memories back as I looked through them.

There were postcards from exhibitions I attended in London when I was about twenty. Reminders of holidays I took in York, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Scarborough. Then there were the costume postcards from various museums, and cards of the beautiful Sutton Hoo exhibits, the real things held me mesmerised whenever I went to see them in the British Museum.

All the postcards triggered mental images of the past.

So I've decided to start gathering interesting postcard images to add to my box, like those used in the workshop, so when I need some different ideas I can look through and see what stories and characters they inspire.

But first I need another box...