Postcard from home

I took my holidays early this year so I'm spending the summer in Birmingham working, writing and helping to organise the PowWow LitFest. Given that we've actually had some sunny weather this summer, I'm not feeling sorry for myself. After all, Birmingham does look like a tourist destination sometimes.

Postcard from the retreat

My 'Christmas card list' tour continued with a trip to the south west recently. Friends in Devon and Dorset were 'treated' to my company while I abused their hospitality and called it a holiday. A working holiday though. In between weekend stays with friends, I spent the week at a writing retreat and made good progress on my current novel.

You may think that all I'd need to write a novel is an idea (check), a laptop (check), and some time (check). I find the discipline of devoting time to the job a good incentive to get on with it though. At Retreats for You almost all distractions are removed. Delicious food is served without need for shopping or cooking, drinks and snacks are freely available and convivial company is restricted to certain times. Meaning: all other hours can be devoted solely to writing. So I did. Except. It is important to exercise the body as well as the mind. The picture shows the River Torridge which was down a steep enough hill from my writing desk to class as strenuous and that dog needed to be taken for its swim.

Just to reassure you I was working, here's my Devon desk. I miss it already.

Postcard from the stone

I'm currently revising my latest novel, which means paying attention to details such as settings.The plot is in place, the characters are full of life - so now I need to colour in the scenery to allow readers to build a full picture of events in their mind. I tend to skip over that stage in my first drafts.

It should be easy. After all, I set my books in the city I live in. I regularly walk through it. In theory I know what it looks like and only have to translate that into words on the page. But although I think I'm observant it turns out I haven't been looking quite closely enough.

I went on a walking tour recently themed around the sculpture of William Bloye. His work enhances a lot of Birmingham's public and private buildings and he was Professor of Sculpture at the city's art school, which ties in nicely with some events in my book. Once I started looking at his work, I remembered other things I've seen in a similar vein. Connections were made, ideas generated, stories began to develop. I bet thousands of people walk past the plaque in the photo above every day without looking properly. They've probably got other things on their minds; it is near the entrance to a police station.

The tour was a good reminder to keep my eyes open and a notebook to hand. And it drew my attention to the story of a dog who accompanied his stone mason owner to work every day and is now immortalised in the fabric of the city. Bet not many Brummies have noticed, despite it being in a prime central location. I like how some of the city's stories are marked in its stones. Now I just have to tell a few of them.

Postcard from Bournville

Yesterday I took a spring sunshine stroll down the road to Bournville - home of Cadbury's and a cafe serving brownies made with the famous local product (other cakes were also available: including lemon curd and rhubarb for those of a less chocoholic disposition). Lawnmowers hummed, daffodils swayed in the breeze across the Green, coaches rolled into Cadbury World and I remembered why I couldn't actually live there. It's a lovely place to visit, but all feels staged. I guess I prefer my suburbs chaotically organic rather than pleasantly planned.

Still, I appreciated the afternoon out. Recent, hectic, days have included speaking at two events about Park Life, going to work and attending a wedding. Oh, and a theatre trip, a second visit to Bletchley Park, choir, new carpet, writing the new novel and time with family and friends. All good, interesting, entertaining things but I feel it's always important to pause and make time for tea. And also important to try local specialities. I know Bournville chocolate is readily available throughout the UK, but look: I was practically sitting in the factory. It would have been rude not to!

Postcard from Granada

Apologies for the dearth of recent posts - I became so bored of seeing snow lying everywhere I couldn't bring myself to photograph it. So I flew to southern Spain - Granada in Andalusia - in hope of better weather. Not entirely successfully. It seems the unseasonable temperatures have hit all Europe which is disappointing.

What was not disappointing was the Alhambra itself. My photo doesn't do it justice. Imagine how that peachy stone would glow under sunlight, how a clear blue sky would show it off. Never mind - while the plain stone walls loom over the town, the interior is something else entirely. Walls half tiled in spice shades and half decorated with detailed arabesque plaster work, marble floored courtyards inset with fountains, carved wooden doors and arched windows looking out to distant mountains (the only place I was happy to see snow). Incredibly exotic.

Hiking up steep hills in chilly drizzle isn't top of my holiday wishlist but when there's a sight like that at the top and a warm bath at the hammam followed by cerveza and tapas waiting at the bottom, that'll do for me thanks!

Postcard from Yorkshire

It struck me when I was writing Christmas cards last year that rather than posting cards to people I don't see frequently enough, wouldn't it be nice to actually go and visit those people? From such random musings are great projects born. Well, I posted the cards and thought I'd leave the actual visits until the weather improved. Mistake. I remember the weather being balmy at Christmas, while February has been stuck in the freezer.

My Christmas card list encompasses most of the UK - from Inverness to Devon - and while it would be fantastic to take a few months off and drive round the entire country, it's more practical to break things down. So, to Yorkshire. And very fine it was too.

In addition to visiting friends from school (one last seen in person about twenty years ago!), I got to the Hepworth Museum and Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield, the galleries, museums, shops and pubs in Leeds, the cafes in York and took this picture on an incredibly scenic drive through the Dales.

Britain is brilliantly diverse and so crammed with spectacle that the distances you have to drive to see such variety aren't actually that great. Well, not if you've made the sensible decision to base yourself in the Midlands and haven't looked into that visit to Inverness too seriously anyway. As much as the catching up with old friends though, I just loved being out on the road. Am already planning my trip to the south west this summer. Surely me turning up on the doorstep with a bottle of wine is better than any Christmas card?

Postcard from Charlecote Park

January 2013 was notable for snow. I'm sure you saw enough of that without me posting from it. February's treat is snowdrops: brave portents of spring. I found these at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire, along with deer, mice on swings (in sculptural form) and woven willow balls.

I love to find sculpture in a landscape and wonder what "Capability" Brown would have thought of the additions to his landscaped grounds. He tried to perfect nature but I'm all for eye-catching additions and don't mind a little whimsy. The snowdrops were the stars though. No competition.

Yes, I know, you're convinced I can't have had an outing without setting foot in a cafe. Well, turn 180 degrees from the view above and there's an Orangery within which I ate delicious soup and a delightful cream tea. Jealous much?