England, Oct. 13-14: Two more beautiful days in the Dales! Lots of writing, lots of hiking, lots of neat little discoveries: another telephone booth turned into a gallery (this time a listening gallery of recorded poems by local poets that you can “dial up”). I hiked some steep hills–I’m getting stronger–with great views for miles […]
Kristi Holl
ENGLAND RESEARCH TRIP: October 11-12
England, Oct. 11-12 Images from the local church yard research, lots of walks, fields of new streams from all the rain, fall color, cows and sheep who ignore you as you travel public foot paths right beside them, and more. I watched part of a 10-mile foot race, people of all ages RUNNING up and […]
ENGLAND RESEARCH TRIP: October 9-11
England, Oct. 9-11: The last three days have been fun for me, but writing 15,000+ words and researching at a museum isn’t everybody’s idea of a thrilling trip. But it sure is mine! It has rained a lot the last few days, so I wrote, walked when it quit raining, then repeated over and over. […]
ENGLAND RESEARCH TRIP: October 8
England, October 8: Another lovely writing day and walking day… Tuesdays are Market Days. There were about twenty market stalls in the center of town: all kinds of fresh loaves of bread, local cheeses in big wheels… …and a huge variety of locally grown fruits and vegetables all. There were all kinds of […]
ENGLAND RESEARCH TRIP: October 7
England, October 7: Today was a rainy day in the Dales, but lovely! I drank lots of tea today, I worked for hours close to the fireplace (cozy). Then I walked and managed to get lost (and Google maps on my phone wouldn’t work). But I made it to another village and got my […]
ENGLAND RESEARCH TRIP: October 6
England, Oct. 6: I had an easy day today: started with God and my tea in the window seat, cooked some farm fresh eggs, walked a couple of hours (BIG STEEP hills, and later rain and a rainbow), made friends with some sheep, wrote a new chapter, did some research, napped away the jet lag, […]
ENGLAND RESEARCH TRIP: October 5
England, Oct. 5: I’m tired, but happy! I only slept a couple hours on the overnight flight, but I’m “settled in Settle” now. I unpacked, then did some shopping for essentials, and had a cuppa tea in the window seat overlooking my tiny “secret garden.” Then I strolled around the village, and hiked to the […]
A Writer’s Perfect Week
It has been a writer’s perfect week. I wish I had a word for it! A perfect storm (of which I’ve experienced many over the years) is a “particularly bad state of affairs, arising from a number of negative factors,” according to the dictionary. But this week was the opposite: a writer’s perfect week. While […]
Attack of Writer’s Decidophopia
It’s not so easy to put first things first. It’s not even easy to decide what should be first! I want to write first in my day because so many writer bios of famous successful authors say that’s what they do. They stumble to their offices first thing, in their slippers and carrying coffee, to […]
Books for Discouraged or Overwhelmed Writers
During the summer, when trying to stay above the health issues and do things with my grandkids and keep up with a few strict publishing deadlines, I read two books that were especially helpful. I found I was fighting on a regular basis two discouraging ideas. One: what had happened to my “dream” novel, the […]