Category: in the book(s)
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Why I never became a travel agent
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The Cambridge Dictionary describes an adventure as “an exciting, unusual, and potentially risky undertaking. It often involves stepping outside your comfort zone, embracing unpredictability”, and mentions the “psychological thrill of a daring journey”. My hubby and I began our adventures before we even embarked on our honeymoon. We’d just gotten…
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Where do ideas come from?
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It’s a common question for authors. I was reading an interesting article the other day, from a writer who was facing severe idea-blockage during the COVID lockdowns, until his wife convinced him to get a dog. He found inspiration in the new relationship, as so many people have. Maybe blockage…
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Tea, beyond the cup and saucer
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Did you know that every kind of true tea that you drink, from white to green to oolong to black to pu’erh, all comes from the same plant, in fact the top three leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant? The look and taste of the tea in your cup depends…
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How quickly things change
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This is not a political blog post. It’s about how countries evolve, develop problems and work them out. Authors pay attention to these things when we’re crafting the worlds our stories play out in. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention in May, when the protests in Bolivia began –…
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Bringing a dream bookstore to life
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It was the bookstore of my dreams – literally. White shelves zigzagging in and out along the walls, on a raised perimeter just a couple of steps above the central space. A treasure trove of wonderful books of all kinds, from fiction to historical. Tables in the centre with delightful…
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What lurks in the fog?
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Fog: “a weather condition in which very small drops of water come together to form a thick cloud close to the land or sea, making it difficult to see” Cambridge Dictionary Not long after I graduated from university, I worked on a funded project at a horticultural research station that…
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Creating cursed places – inspiration from Dark Shadows
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“If I could speak the language of rabbits, they would be amazed, and I would be their king. I would be kind to my rabbit subjects. At first.” Rajesh Koothrappali, Big Bang Theory Have you ever played a Simulator game? One where you create a community, placing homes, stores, a…
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The Lovecraft Legacy
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“…he had had an unprecedented dream of great Cyclopean cities of Titan blocks and sky-flung monoliths, all dripping with green ooze and sinister with latent horror.” The Call of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft We’re going to begin April/Halfoween with a creeping whisper rather than a bang. There are authors who’ve created…
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Irish travel: inspired by books
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When I turned the final page of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I wanted to crawl back inside. While the books are overly-descriptive for some people, I found the details of Middle Earth so fascinating that I couldn’t get enough of them. I wanted to visit Middle Earth, follow…
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When life mirrors my books!
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My hubby, along with a number of people I know, isn’t a particular fan of vegetables. He’ll eat them under sufferance because he knows they’re good for him, and because I won’t let him eat just meat, potatoes and gravy all the time. So I can only imagine his reaction…