Writing time

It's a gorgeous autmn day in Victoria and I'm not inclined to put pen to paper or keys to keyboard but here I am writing about why writers write. It's like an itch. A niggle. It's having stories elbowing their way into your consciousness clamoring to be heard. Me first! One cries aloud. Small events will spring a story to life and won't go away.





For instance. Several years ago my husband and I were visiting Cornwall and stayed in the old smuggling town, Polperro. Rife with smuggling history, the town is carefully preserved and very pretty. White washed small houses on narrow winding streets. Pots of colourful flowers on steps and balconies. We strolled away from town up a long hill and came to a wrought iron gate with the name, Tycara, scrolled on a brass plate. Beyond the gate was a beautiful garden with flagstone steps gracing the far wall.





The garden seemed out of place on the rugged Cornwall coast. I rested my elbows on the gate and gazed at the array of shrubs and flowers. And then ... I imagined a lady in a long white dress coming down the steps. In my dreamy thoughts, I am alone at the Tycara gate and the lady approaches me. "Do come and take tea with me," she says.





And that's how I began writing the story of the Tycara gate. I haven't finished it. So many twists and turns have developed in the plot I'm taking a time out to let the story simmer inside my head. Characters in stories have a way of going their own way while I, the author, try to keep them under control or go where they want to go.

I'd like to know how you, reader of my blog, might use that imaginary beginning and write an opening paragraph. Send it to me at anita.birt@gmail.com I'll publish it on my blog.





One of my friends, an excellent writer, came up with the idea of interviewing the main characters in her latest book on her blog. I'm not averse to stealing her idea and my next blog will be an interview with Catherine Thurston, my heroine, in A Very Difficult Man. And there's the cover.




The crystal ball belongs to a beautiful gypsy fortune teller, a friend of Catherine's.

Come by and visit.

Anita
www.anitabirt.com