Life is a rollercoaster…it’s been an emotional few weeks with some sad moments for relationships that have ‘come undone’ and that makes my heart heavy. Being a writer of romance I want a happy ending for everyone I know – every single time, even though life is never that simple. It’s hard to stand by and witness break-ups, lives that will never the same again. There have also been highs and points in between – the latter being some extremely hard work and long hours!
One highlight was a fabulous tour around the gardens at Highgrove, Tetbury in Gloucestershire – the home of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. We were delighted to be given tickets for ‘the tour’ and looked forward with eager anticipation. A copy of ‘The Garden at Highgrove’ in hardback (published in 2000) graces our coffee table, and to be able to take the two and a half hour tour was a dream come true!
However, about two hours before we were due to leave the heavens opened and thunder, lightning and a downpour quite like nothing I’ve ever seen before, began. We rang to check the tour was still going ahead and even though it is only about a half an hour drive away, the person on the other end of the phone was clearly puzzled. The storm hadn’t reached Tetbury at that point; but as we drove through flooded lanes, puddles that were more than two feet deep and a slurry of stones and soil washed into our path, we were following the trail of the storm. But we are hardy folk and with umbrellas in hand, after fortifying ourselves with a cup of Earl Grey tea in the Orchard Room, our guide began the tour. After half an hour the sun decided to shine upon us and we were rewarded with a double rainbow that was so intense, you could pick out every single colour. It arched gracefully through the sky, landing squarely in the middle of the roof of Highgrove House. Cameras aren’t allowed inside the grounds, and that was a pity, because that would have been a unique photo opportunity!
All I can say, is H.R.H. has done an amazing job of turning what was (only 30 years ago) rather uninteresting, flat and virtually featureless grazing land surrounding the house, into a series of different ‘garden’ experiences. It has taken a long time for the team to turn the grounds into an organic oasis and it reflects drive and determination, a passionate desire to create a haven for wildlife. Anyone who loves Hostas will know that slugs and snails love eating them – but there was bed after bed of them and they were stunning, the birds obviously doing a great job of protecting them!
It is possible to book tickets for a tour, visit the website http://www.highgrovegardens.com/ and having visited in August, I now want to go back and experience it in every season of the year. It’s a sheer delight, very unexpected in many ways and eclectic – if you do the tour you’ll understand why!
On to the ergonomics…since I began writing (only 4 years ago) I’ve found myself getting involved with so many related projects (mostly website building and running). Whether that’s learning to format a book,how to design a cover, or workink with a publisher. It is true to say that the IT side has been a baptism by fire! The latest hill to climb came to a conclusion at the weekend, when Issue no. 1 of the Loveahappyending Lifestyle emagazine hit the ‘online’ shelves.
Of course the groundwork began in February this year, when Loveahappyending changed from being a website talking only about writing, new authors and their learning curve, into a life and style online magazine. A part of that change involved taking it further – guest writers joined us and I promised to develop online, downloadable emagazines. Having written three novellas (the Ceri’s journey series) over the last few months, it has been hard to keep everything going AND push forward with this project. Plus I have never edited a magazine before and there was new software to master – but I’m a Gemini and I like a challenge.
In order to push the button on Issue 1, it meant five final, long days sitting on my typing ‘stool’ with total focus. Now you’ll probably throw your hands up in horror – ergonomics??? Really??? Well, I had a study and I had an ergonomically designed computer chair, in cream leather. After I began writing (and spending, oh, sometimes 16 hours a day writing…not to be recommended, I add) my sciatic nerve was playing up. It was so bad that at night it was causing me to lose sleep with the pain. Then a guest came to stay (the study doubles up as a guest room ensuite) and I perched myself on a 40+ year old stool (used in a science lab at a school, many years ago, which I rescued and painted) and sat at the butcher’s block island. When our guest left, I dismantled my study and turned it back into a bedroom, because suddenly my sciatic nerve was fine!
What I found was that you can’t slouch when sitting ‘perched’ on a stool. My back feels stronger, my leg is now fine and my posture is a lot better. So my mammoth three days (those who know me understand that’s how I work best – head down and intensive) left me a little tired, but physically fine and with a 72 page emagazine, flip-page style launched on the LLm website and the emagazine website, issuu.
Here’s a sneak preview too, of the draft cover for Issue no. 2 (it can be our little secret) and, yes, it will involve another mammoth, head-down, stool-sitting session, or two. But I’ve learnt some new skills and hope I’ve done justice to the wonderful material the Loveahappyending Lifestyle team deliver.
Right, off to begin planning a campaign for a little personal project I have coming up – it’s all ‘hush, hush’ at the moment…but one thing is for sure, I’m not planning on a rest any time soon!
Thanks for dropping by, this is one Gemini who is off to spent tomorrow playing with a three year old and there won’t be a pc, iPAD or typing stool in sight! Well, maybe five minutes on the iPAD as he’s teaching me how to play Fruit Pops! I can’t wait until he’s five – by then he’ll no doubt be computer programming ha! ha!
Until we meet again…
