Showing posts with label visit Scotland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label visit Scotland. Show all posts

Sunday 28 April 2013

A Mysterious Case of Writers Block

I have just returned from a holiday. It was much-needed, and I was hoping to use my time to work on a manuscript that I have been limping through for about the last six months or so. I signed up to Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time this month, and set myself a target of 50,000 words. I already had 20,000 words written, so how difficult could it be? Quite a task, as it turns out. So far this month I have barely written 6000 words on the manuscript. But, I am not despairing yet. There is still time to perform a miracle!

My holiday took me to the west coast of Scotland, and a beautiful town called Ayr. I have never visited before, but looking at a few photos online piqued my interest. I was not expecting the town to be quite so large. In fact, I fell in love with the place! It has a fantastic sandy beach that stretches for at least a couple of miles. There is a harbour that we didn't get round to exploring, and I was curious to follow the rocky coastline and see what treasures could be found in either direction heading out of town. Unfortunately, with two toddlers in tow, it was difficult to explore properly.



My friend and I took our children to a family caravan park for a week, and we had a wonderful time. We went treasure hunting on the beach, the children rode their bike and scooter along the seafront, we found a fun indoor soft play centre for when it rained, and we spent the day at a chocolate factory. I took the opportunity to look around me at the scenery, and tried to picture what kind of supernatural creatures might run wild up there. Usually when I visit a place like that I am flooded with inspiration and my Muse goes into overdrive. Not so this week. I never once had the urge to scribble in my notebook, much to my dismay.

I was telling my friend about my dilemma one evening after I had tried to force myself to do some writing on my manuscript. The words are flowing, but in a stuttering and disjointed manner. Gone are the repeating scenes and sequences that fill my head until I write them down. My Muse seems to have emigrated! My friend then suggested perhaps there was an explanation behind my writer's block. I am currently six months pregnant, and my daughter is two years old. Oh yes, perhaps I am a little distracted! I hope that my Muse returns once the baby is born, but in the meantime I refuse to give up on my project. My vampire hunter story needs to be written, so I will power through until it is done.

Sunday 21 April 2013

I'm Taking a Holiday!

Good day my friends! This is just a quick post to say I will be quiet on the blog this week, since I am off on a holiday (or vacation if you prefer). I will take the laptop, because I am taking the opportunity to do some research for a future Redcliffe novel...


I am visiting the Ayrshire coast in Scotland, and my friend and I will take our children for a daytrip to Glasgow while we are in the vicinity. It is the perfect chance for me to research a little about the location for the Mason brothers' undercover police job that took them away from Redcliffe just before they met Jessica Stone...

An author never sleeps as they say!

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*Image courtesy of Pinterest via Visit Scotland