Music, Setting and A Gorgeous Cornish Sunset

I've posted at the Heroine Addicts Blog here about music and books and setting....

Unfortunately I only had my blackberry with me and the camera isn't too good in low light but the sunset the other night was stunning....

A Cover For THE CORNISH HOUSE

I am so excited I can't sit or stand still...my wonderful editor has just sent through the cover design for THE CORNISH HOUSE. It makes it all feel so real in way that doing edits or even signing contracts doesn't. There in front of me was this picture of a lovely house and garden with the title and my name on it!

I feel a bit like a tease thought because I can't show it to you...it will probably change but it's real!

Since I can't share the cover I'll post a picture of the house in my current work -ENEMY

Save a stranger from the sea....and he'll turn your enemy

Point of View - Cornish Style

This past week we have had visitors which has pushed us out of 'normal' routine and off to do some other things as the weather hasn't been great. One day we booked lunch over at the fabulous Porthminster Cafe in St Ives. After a wonderful lunch, we walked into town and at one point stopped to look at the view. Here is the picture of what i saw...

And this is what 6ft 2in son saw...

This reminded me how important it is to pick the right point of view for each scene...what do you want to the reader to see, feel, hear and who is the best person to do it??? Also of course who has the most at stake...

In this case, if you wanted to reader to know what was over the wall the character had better be tall or be in heals....

My Favourite Cornish Walk - Frenchman's Creek

I must begin this post with a confession...there are more beautiful walks in Cornwall but DH proposed to me while we were taking this walk so it will always be my favourite.

Yesterday we began the walk from the beginnings of the walk where you find a little cottage tucked away....

The tide was out but even in the short time we were walking the speed of it's return was astounding and always catches me off guard.

The setting for the book I am writing at the moment is a cottage at the mouth of the creek and as I walked I could almost physically feel the story spinning and weaving in my head. I wanted to pull it out and look at it but it might disappear. I know from the past that little things with begin to emerge as I pound the keys...

I don't write notes on walks like yesterday's - maybe I should, but some times it's just good to feel. However I do think my pictures act as notes...I find myself snapping pictures of the strangest details....close up of ferns growing on trees, the thick rope like vines twisting up the oaks that sweep to the water, the sculptural feel of the fallen trees... It all feeds the creative well.

A Cornish Moon and Thinking Too Much

It was the the most amazing moon last night.....

But this morning as i sat down to my 'puter at six inspiration and exhilaration were gone - no words would come out...now is not right. My first drafts are dirty, dangerous and joyous....I looked at it and realized I'm trying to 'think' this one and it's stopped me dead. By trying not to write crap I ain't writing anything. Silly woman. Must write crap, must write crap, must write crap because only by writing crap will there be words on the page with which to carve out the story.

A Recipe for a Perfect Day on a Cornish Beach - Otherwise know as a Dollar Day

In the extended family I am known as the 'picnic queen'...because the others look on our little feasts with envy. Over the years of providing beach food for fine and foul weather I have perfected a few basic menus that work well and system to keep the fallout afterwards (clean up to a minimum).

Yesterday was a perfect day for one of favourite beaches...Dollar Cove. Saturdays are change over days which means that most beaches especially if the day isn't perfect are if not deserted then less populated. Dollar Cove is the perfect beach at low tide. Most day it provides enough surf to keep the teens happy and enough rock pools, rocks and sand for the smaller ones. The scenery is breath taking....

(TIP: So yesterday morning I made brownies...but rather than bake them in classic brownie tin I make them in cupcake tin with paper. There is no mess and no fighting over who gets the biggest one and I have always been hopeless at cutting mine as I deliberately under cook them.)

I won't bore you with the full menu but here a picture of my plate...

Rocket salad with tomatoes, toasted pinenuts and avocados - sausages - crab salad - parma ham

Chef with her wibena

Edits and Cornish Research

On Friday evening I pressed the send button on the edits! I know I will have more to come, but for now they have gone. YAY!!!!

While I was doing them I did manage to do a bit of research...one piece for THE CORNISH HOUSE and the other for AUGUST ROCK and we did it on the first of August which is appropriate for AUGUST ROCK....

On the first August with the spring tides it was perfect for exploring coves along the Helford River that are rarely accessible and one of these coves is used in a new scene in THC. The first draft of the scene I had written from memory but I need to verify my facts....

As you can see from the photos the tide was way out - a spring tide. It is during tides like this that August Rock becomes visible above the water of Falmouth Bay. Normally the reef is hidden and only the green buoy alerts the mariner of the peril at hand. 

I have several scenes in AR, in the water around the reef. Therefore I had to know what it was like. So I volunteered DS1 who is an experienced scuba diver to jump overboard, snorkel around it for me and take pictures. The day wasn't ideal for photography because it was overcast and the conditions were not those I was writing about, but it was better then no idea at all.

To say that we were all a little bit uncomfortable about anchoring our boat so close and chucking DS1 out of the boat was an understatement. It was a good exercise in 'how would my character feel' - dry mouth, heart racing, sweaty palms and excitement. I experienced them all while I watched him fight the current and paddle about.