The Final Count Down

“I think I’ll have to do more painting” I sighed as I stared around the four walls of the dinning room, “great, I can’t wait”.

Admitting there was still more work to complete, when I’m already working to a tight schedule, wasn’t what I needed.

Painting and decorating can be soul destroying, especially because every time I return to the UK I am faced with a million and one D.I.Y chores to complete.

Luckily, I’m quite a dab hand with a paint brush. I’m not sure if that’s because I have inherited my Dad’s genetics or if it’s due to the fact I’m arty and crafty in general. Anyway, this skill has helped me enormously over the last eight years.

As my house is over a hundred years old, there is always something to do, so by now you’d have thought I’d be used to it! Usually, I can get the work completed without a fuss. I take pride in doing a good job and there is something satisfying about seeing the end results, usually. Yet, now I have to admit that I am beginning to run out if steam.

Possibly this is because I’m on a final count down. Soon, my home of eight years will become a rental property.

Turning what has been my home, into a rental property for someone else to live in, seems strange and I have mixed feelings about it. I know why, because I am really quite emotionally attached to my house! Some of you might think that is strange, but that’s how I feel.

I know that the house needs someone to live in it, as I’m living in Madrid. And hopefully the tenants will care for it and look after it, and of course receiving a rental income will be a relief and add extra money to the pot. Yet, knowing there will be strangers living here, makes me uneasy.

So, as I complete my D.I.Y chores, for the benefit of someone else to enjoy, I see the house becoming ever more ready to become a rental property. I can’t help thinking though, that what has been a significant chapter in my life is now coming to a close.

Next time I return to the UK I will be staying with family. Also, I won’t need to complete any D.I.Y chores in what was my home, because it won’t be my home anymore, it’ll be some strangers home and responsibility.

 

 

 

Blog Tour

Blog Tour:

A writing friend, Paula Read AKA Champagnewhiskey, tagged me in a blog tour. Paula is a writer and environmentalist, cloud gazer who is located somewhere in France. Her blog is diverse and interesting, of course it is also a great read! Just like Paula, I don’t usually comment on my writing via my blog, although I obviously do write, but lately it hasn’t been as often as is usually normal for me! Anyway, I will endeavour to write about my writing, so thanks for tagging me Paula!

Upon What Are You Working?

I have a habit of skipping from one project to the next. My writing habits match my reading habits actually. Generally I have to be in the mood for whatever it is I read, therefore I often have five or six books I switch between, so to it is the same for my writing!

I have been writing a ‘trilogy’ novel since I was 24, which could be categorised as horroresque, I suppose. I also write short stories, which again have the hint of horror about them, and of course the political press releases and columns I write currently for my work.

How does your work differ from others in the genre?

Well, that I can’t answer! Every writer likes to think they are unique, yet, in reality we are all influenced by what we read and enjoy. I’m not so bold as to claim I’m new and fresh and funky! I haven’t reinvented the wheel here! In my case I know I have a good stock cupboard in my mind, whereby the words and styles of other authors linger as reference points. Authors such as Stephen King, Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, M R James, Robert Bloch, James Herbert, Shirley Jackson and so on and so forth, have been part and parcel of my reading and imagination process since I was tiny! I wrote because of these authors, which might seem sacrilegious to you folk out there, but horror was my first love. Horror made me enjoy reading, and writing, well before Charles Dickens or Emily Bronte ever did. Therefore, these horror authors laid the foundations of my writing style.

If I say one thing about my work or style though, I do like to think that I don’t write artificially, I.E, it’s not just regurgitation of other classic horror tales, regardless of the influence they have had upon me! I also like to remember that horror can be horror in any context, it doesn’t have to be some surreal and fantastical plot or circumstance to unnerve. My style/genre is true to me and what I know and feel; it is always my story, told my way.

Why do you write what you write?

Well, either I write short stories or have to live with a running commentary going on in my mind! I write because I hear, visualise and feel my characters. I can be out walking, and will pass someone or someplace, see something, and without warning I’m inspired and a story begins weaving its way into my mind. From this point I think about the characters and I flesh out the plot. In doing this the characters world becomes stuck in my world, so, I have to write it down or face hearing voices! Does that make me crazy?! Probably, but it works to inspire me, and it always makes the story/plot/character more real to me. If I can’t hear my characters speak to me, then I can’t write the story.

How does your writing process work?

Sometimes I finish a writing project straight through to the end, depends on the length of the story really. In the case of my trilogy novel, it has been some years of editing and rewriting, but amazingly, after what could be a year break from writing it, I can pick up the plot and carry on! As I have said, my characters talk to me! They are ghosts intruding in my reality, and they never shut up!

Usually I do a rough draft of a story on my laptop first, which I then edit until I am finally happy with it. I sometimes write in notebooks too. I love the written word, pen to paper, so often I will scribble an idea or even edit something whilst I am taking a flight somewhere (I’m never without one of my precious notebooks and favourite writing pens)!

I write anytime and anyplace, literally. I have woken up at 3 a.m and been struck by an idea, merely from looking out of the window at a car passing by! If an idea buzzes around inside my head, well, I have to write it down regardless of the unGodly hour or how inconvenient it might be. I must confess, I even used to write my stories whilst at work! No one ever knew, and it was a great way to escape the dull working day!

Who am I tagging?

Well, I’m tagging all of you out there. If you feel so inclined to participate in this Blog Tour Q&A’s then just do it! Please let me know though, as I would love to read what you answer! This might be the lazy option, but cut me some slack as I am writing this on my iPad, and you know I think it isn’t the best tech for long winded writing malarkey!