Wheel of the Year?

 Today I am tired. I had a very productive trip to Oxford yesterday - a marathon for a day trip, but worth it as I got a lot of the information I need for the next bit of the WIP. Enough to be  going on with, anyway. More about the trip in future posts when I have sorted out my photos. Yes - there will be pictures. 

But today is the Equinox - also known as Mabon. The time when day and night are equally balanced. Happens twice a year, now, and in spring. I'm keener on the spring one as it means the journey is into the light, not away from it. But soon it will be Yule and the whole round begins again. 

 I'm interested in the various old festivals that mark the movement through the year. I've probably mentioned that I am hoping to use Beltane in the WIP. Halloween, or Samhain is coming next month, when I will be celebrating with fellow crime writers at an event at Cardiff Library. More of that later. 

It may be one of those situations when a certain topic that attracts your attention comes up in repeated places, you know the ones, coincidence or simply that you are noticing., but it seem as if there may be a little more awareness at the moment of the wheel of the year - the name for the changing seasons. The Equinox was mentioned on Thought of the Day on Radio 4 this morning as a time of balance, which is a good way to think of it. I'm just wondering, hoping maybe, that we are getting closer to nature and back to old rhythms. When the world revolved around agriculture the festivals often marked significant points in the year, like the celebration of the growing season and then the harvest. 

Now with awareness of climate change, the focus on attracting pollinators into our gardens, of the benefits of connecting with nature, maybe we are getting some of those old connections back, or attempting it.  It is a nice thought.  

Creating the creepy house

 Regular readers will know that the WIP is leaning into the gothic. and if you have ever seen any vintage gothic romance covers you will know that it is obligatory for the heroine to be running away from the creepy house, or possible castle. Whatever the building, it looms, or lurks, or broods, or all three. It is night. She is wearing a white dress, or her nightie, maybe with a coak. In a storm, or a high wind. Down steps, cliffs or through woods/gardens. Occasionally there is a single lighted window in the house/castle. Very occasionally there may be a cat. 

So - from all that you will deduce that I have to have A BUILDING. I'm not planning on Nel running away from it in her nightie, but there definitely has to be a structure. 

This is the project for the week. I already know that it will be a Victorian Gothic Revival house, because it is a period of architecture that I love, it suits the story and it can certainly be made to appear creepy. Cardiff Castle and Castle Coch are big influences, mostly for the interiors. Now I am researching houses of the period and creating my own. Turrets, roofs like witches hats, pointed gables, tall arching windows, stone carving, tall chimneys, spiral stones like sugar canes. Maybe even a gargoyle or two.

The inside is going to be even more fun. Echoing halls, long mysterious corridors, wood panels, a library!

It has a name - The Scholars' House - and a location - the South Wales coast. So there can be cliffs. Maybe. At the moment it is taking shape. I'll report progress next week. 

A nice cup of tea?

 There was an item on the wireless (AKA radio) this morning about the danger of drinking tea that is too hot. Potential damage to the oesophagus apparently.

Made me think about tea in general. I drink a lot of tea. Runs in the family. I have family anecdotes about tea. My grandfather tended to stir his until he stirred his way to Australia. My grandmother liked to have a tea spoon to stir hers, which led to her hoarding them in her handbag in the old people's home, until my mother restored them to the kitchen when she noticed the bag was getting heavy. I have six varieties of tea which I drink on a semi regular basis, at different times of the day. When I am out/out at my local writer's meeting at a local tea house, no less, I drink Iron Goddess, which is an oolong. We all have our foibles. 

I'll drink it however it comes, although I don't like it too strong, and it has to have milk in it, unless it is a herbal, when it usually has honey. I do drink those, or green tea on occasion. I was rather horrified to hear that Amol Rajan, ex Radio 4 presenter and current Traitor contestant drinks his with three tea bags!!!  I can't imagine what colour that might be. Strong enough to trot a mouse on, as the old saying goes. An ex coleage specified his had to be the colour of a manila envelope. I recently ran into the expression 'spilling the tea' which apparently means to gossip. Not one I'd hear before, although I understand it has been around a while.

In books the predominant beverage seems to be coffee. I read a lot of American fiction, so this may not be so surprising, tea being more of a UK thing. When it does appear across the pond, it seems as if it is more likely to be a herbal brew of some sort. The taste of tea tends to come from the variety rather than the additions or method of making, unlike coffee.

When I was writing Masquerade on the Riviera I wanted the hero Elliot to have a preference that matched his academic persona, so he became a tea drinker. He drinks Oolong and I had fun with some research with tasting boxes of samples, although I don't drink it at home now. 

Tomorrow I have workmen coming, for some odd jobs. They have me well trained. I know that the first thing I must do, before any work gets done, is make everyone tea. 

September, and the WIP

I know a lot of people welcome this month. Start of Autumn, pumpkin spice, falling leaves, all that stuff. Some consider it a time for new starts, the feeling of the beginning of the new school year, even when not involved in anything educational.  

Me - not at all my favourite month. Summer soon to be gone, nights drawing in, cold wet days coming. Not for me. And what's with the glut of Christmas books already on the shelves, and the festive chocolate I saw in the supermarket today? Buy now and they will be read and eaten well before Christmas - which I suppose is the motive as you will have to buy replacements.  Yep, I've always been cynical. 

So, not a time of the year I enjoy. But I'll get over it. On a plus note the WIP is progressing. Slow, but in a positive direction. I have another of those peer workshops coming up, where a group of friends get together to do a crit on work submitted. The opening of the second section of the new one is going to be my entry, although it will not be anonymous as people know who it belongs to. Which does give me the opportunity to ask questions on the work. One of the issues I'm wrestling with at the moment is showing my heroine's vulnerability, after life has thrown some terrible stuff at her, but not making her sound like a wimp. I'm hoping I've done it, but constructive opinions will be welcome. It's not for a few months yet, but I'll let you know how I get on.  

I took the manuscript to a number of meeting with agents and editors at the recent RNA conference, and got some excellent feedback and food for thought from professionals generous with time and ideas, particularly so as they were not looking at a completed book, but only the very start of one. And I have to say, it is not developing in quite the way I expected. But they never do, so I don't know what I was thinking. It's leaning into thriller and gothic, with a strong streak of conspiracy theory, which is the unexpected bit. The usual complex tangle, but my twisted mind enjoys the challenge. I'll keep you posted.