Taking the Plunge...

Am I mad? A question a writer might ask themselves on a regular basis.  The answer to which Is quite possibly yes.  To keep writing and submitting in the current tough publishing climate does require a degree of (quoting Oxford concise English) ‘wild foolishness, great energy, intensity, enthusiasm, eagerness’.  My musings often spill forth on to paper as those of a disordered mind.  But… wait!  My feverish determination to do, or die doing, paid off!  My I‘ve got nothing to lose, not even my reputation attitude when approaching wonderful Safkhet Publishing turned my often shattered dream of being published in the UK into a reality.  Yesss!  Recipes for Disaster, a sexilicious Romantic Comedy written around delicious and fun recipes, is published and doing well.  I have a further three book-contract! Three books!!!     

Covers for Naked Fully Clothed and A Little Bit of Madness

coming soon!

Books I’ve slaved over, sweated over, cried and laughed over; taken on every piece of constructive criticism to improve, even employing editorial help via the RNA, are finally seeing the light of day.  I’m a writer, yet cannot find an appropriate word to describe how I feel.  Euphoric would come close.  Life, I’d decided, you see, is too short to pour so much precious time into something that, despite all efforts, might remain a pipedream.  Safkhet saved me.  Could I really envisage giving up something which is fundamentally a part of me, my writing?  I’m glad I didn’t, even if it does make me little bit … intense.

On which note (the life being too short bit.  A fact most people wake up to one day), I am now wondering if I might have slipped over the edge into complete insanity.  I’m giving up this:

For this: 

Yep, we’ve decided to spend six months a year cruising, six months in situ at our mooring in the harbour, water on tap, electricity ditto, and open countryside views outside our portholes.  We’re retaining a small flat in Worcestershire as an investment and insurance against the worst winter can throw at us ~ and going for it.  Life really is too short to mow lawns, decorate and clean a house we don’t enjoy, we reckon.  It might make us mad, but we’ll be happy with it.

And, yes, we have boated in all weathers, bent props, been weed-bound, sunk and fallen overboard, so we know what we’re in for.  Oh, and of course we absolutely will give our children our location once under sail … possibly. 

Do you have a dream?  Have you ever toyed with a life-changing plan and then taken the plunge? 

I’d love you to share.  And please do feel free to check back as I share my own life-changing progress along with my fabulous publishing journey. 

Goodreads Review ~ The Silver Locket

The Silver Locket by Margaret James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The year is 1914. Rose Courtenay is an eighteen year old girl, who in keeping with her upper-class upbringing, is expected to do no more than marry a man of similar social standing, who will be able to ‘form her opinions for her’. With aspirations to go to university, it is clear that Rose has valid opinions of her own. It is also apparent that, though she thinks Michael Easton, the man chosen as suitable by her parents, is handsome, Rose does not feel the same flutter of excitement she experiences in the presence of Alex Denham, a most unsuitable, sullen man: the fruit of his mother’s scandalous affair and who has no social standing. Denying her attraction and stifled by her dull existence, Rose runs away, determined to do more with her life than be a good wife. Thus, we follow Rose’s progress as she volunteers at a hospital – something she is ill-equipped for, finally to end up a dedicated and proficient nurse seconded to the front line. Her flaw, of course, is that she did not consider the devastation she would cause her parents, disappearing without a trace.

Meanwhile, in the muddy, lice-infested pits that serve as trenches, Alex and Michael are fighting side-by-side to defend that front line. Alex is Michael’s superior and though Michael is a gentleman he is not a noble man. Alex, on the other hand, has many heroic qualities; embarking on an affair with Rose while married to another woman perhaps not being one of them, unless, of course, one pauses to consider why he would immediately offer to marry a woman he didn’t love, who claimed to be carrying his child. Because of the stigma he carried as a child born out of wedlock possibly?

What makes The Silver Locket outstanding, for me, is the excellent portrayal of what life might have been like for those poor souls in the trenches and for the medical staff that fought tirelessly to care for them when their bodies and spirits were broken. The author obviously put a tremendous amount of historical research into the writing of this book, and managed to relay it – seamlessly – in a way that was compelling, accurate and thought-provoking. Margaret James tells a beautiful story of love, of tragedy and hope.

I got the silver locket link. I also purchased The Penny Bangle.



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