2014: An Amazing Year of Accomplishment!

 

Signing the contract for the Athens Guide e-book

 



Here we are at the end of the year and on the brink of new opportunities.  2014 has opened new doors for me and I know, as I enter the New Year that the way is cleared for me to follow. It’s going to be even more exciting than this year has been.

It all started last February when I received an unusual phone call from Montreal offering me a trip to Egypt (which at first I thought was a scam). It was true, though. I was offered a trip to Egypt by Egyptian tourism to write favorable travel stories.  None of it seemed ‘real’ right through until mid March when the dream trip came true and I found myself sailing down the Nile, crossing the Sahara, lounging by the Red Sea,  visiting the amazing pyramids of Giza and finally, a specially arranged trip to Alexandria.

Visiting the Temple of Hatshepsut



Me and Alexander at Alexandria

You can read my Egypt blogs here: http://travelthroughhistory.blogspot.com

I was barely catching my breath from that amazing adventure when, in August, my novel SHADOW OF THE LION: BLOOD ON THE MOON was published. Wow! It had been a long, 15 year journey to finally see it in print. (Second volume comes out in 2016). And the incredible thing was, it came out at the same time the archaeologists in Greece announced the discovery of the huge tomb in Amphipolis, which happens to be the setting in part of my story. I was so excited to get my book that a friend drove me down to the States to pick up one she had ordered at Pt. Roberts. What an exciting day that was!

 

 

 The book has arrived!



My book, SHADOW OF THE LION: BLOOD ON THE MOON!

 



By the end of August I set off for England and Wales, first to visit my relatives in Caerphilly and then to attend the Historical Novel Writer’s Conference in London. While at the conference, who should I run into but Margaret George, one of the famous historical writers who I had spoken to a couple of years ago at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference. At that time she had told me not to worry about the length of my novel, just to keep writing it. (Her books are at least 1000 pgs long!). So imagine how surprised she was when I spoke to her again and told her I ended up with a two-book contract because my book was too long. She was very pleased and we had a nice chat about our writing. (She said she is now being asked to keep her current work in progress down to 400 pages!)

 

The statue of Alexander in Thessaloniki

 

Relaxing on the beach at Asprovalta

 



After my stay in London I headed for Greece. First I headed up north to Thessaloniki to attend local poet/friend’s book launch (Manolis Aligazakis is a Greek/Can award winning poet and will be reading at my book launch in January). I spent a couple of days exploring Thessaloniki and then headed for a few days by the beach at Asprovalta. My purpose for going there was, it was close to Amphipolis and i wanted to see if I could visit the tomb. So I took a taxi and the driver showed me all around. I’d been there twice before but this time I was shown more archaeological sites including a distant view of the famed tomb. 

Distant view of the tomb, Amphipolis

Back in Athens I was warmly received by my friends as well as some of the Greek people who had heard about my book (thanks to my friends who had done some promo work for me!) So I was invited to do a reading at the Athens Centre which included a nice reception in the courtyard. A good crowd attended including people from the Canadian Archaeological Society.

 

At the Athens Centre.



After that I went up to Larissa where I had been invited to present my book at a World Poetry Peace Conference. That was another special event thanks to Ariadne Sawyer who had introduced me to Chryssa Velissariou who heads World Poetry in Greece.

 

Young musicians perform at Larissa World Poetry Peace Conference'

 



Then it was time for some leisure, although I had work to do for the Athens Guide e-book that I was working on so I spent a lot of time checking out new places around Athens including some nice restaurants and wine bars. Meanwhile also doing more book promo, going with my friend Dina to the New Acropolis Museum library, Finnish Institute and checking out other places that might be interested in my book.  My  hostess at the Villa Olympia (Carole) kindly purchased 10 books so there were some available to friends in Athens who wanted to purchase one.

My Friends in Athens

Dina and her family, the two Andreases and young A's girlfriend.



Zoe and me

Carola, Chris and Kim

 

The whole gang at To Kati Allo

 

 While in Greece I visited a few days on the island of Salamina (where the famous Battle of Salamis took place in the 5^th century BC between the Greek and Persian navy). Christina and I went explore to find some of the archaeological sites and one of the big thrills was coming upon a ‘dig’ and talking in length to the archaeologist who was very interested in hearing about my book.

 

Christina and me

The archaeology site, unearthing a memorial to Ajax.

Thanks to my friend Zoe, I was put in touch with the principal of the American Community School in Athens and he was happy to arrange a reading for me with the students. So I did two readings at the school for two double-sized Grade 9 kids who were very receptive and appreciative.

The students gave me a beautiful silk scarf

 



I returned to Canada in October after a few days stop in Germany to see my friend Patrick.  He arranged with his friends for us to go on a tour of the Rhine castles and we also went to the city of Worms so I could gather more travel story material.

Patrick, Juergen and me

Since returning I have done a couple of book readings thanks to my writer friend Eileen Kernaghan (we shared readings) and have made other contacts including that of the Consul of Greece, Ilias Kremmydas, who will sponsor my book launch in January.

After I returned I was also awarded an ‘inspired writer’s’ award from the World Poetry – a mini gold Oscar. That was another cause for celebration! And in December I was invited back on Ariadne Sawyer’s World Poetry radio show for another interview. (That was the second time this year!)

At the awards.

On the Air

My three morning classes “Write from the Heart” went well this past term and will begin again in January as well as (hopefully) a couple of night-school classes thru Langara. I am also doing one-on-one writing coaching and plan to do a travel writing workshop at home. And, I was just offered a job editing a non-fiction manuscript. So I enter the New Year with a lot of interesting things to look forward to.

This year I published 22 travel articles. Got my book published (volume one). Was elected president of the BC Assoc. of Travel Writers. I joined the Canadian Author’s Assoc. and was accepted as a ‘professional’ writer. ( I will soon join the Writers Union of Canada too. ) Finished the Athens Guide e-book for Hunter Publishing US and I look forward to lots more writing in 2015. Mainly I want to finish my current work-in-progress “Dragons in the Sky”.

You can order my book on Amazon.com or ask at your local bookstores

What I’m looking forward to most now is my official book launch on January 14 at the Hellenic Community Centre, sponsored by the Greek Consul. This is such an honour for me and very exciting!

Everyone is invited: 7 pm at the Hellenic Community Centre 4500 Arbutus behind the Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

Here’s to 2015!  The doors are opening wide! Let’s hope it’s another year of great opportunities and success!

THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH

 

Writing historical fiction can mean that a lot of time is spent doing research.  I try to limit this time for myself (because I love researching!) by making sure exactly what I want and need to find out.
There's lots of info available on-line now but it is still a good idea to visit  your library and find some of the books written on the subjects you want to know about.

Not everyone has been as lucky as I have in actually being able to visit some of the places that I am writing about. Even though some are now just archaeological ruins, you can still get the idea of the way things might have been, along with visits to the local museums and all the book research you've done. Certain things can't be 'fictionalized' and you need to be as correct as possible when describing habits, customs and locations of the places in your novels.

For my novel "Dragons in the Sky" I really lucked out when I discovered the Iron Age Celtic village at St. Fagan's Heritage Park near Cardiff Wales. Not only did I see first-hand what the houses were like people lived in back in the days I was writing about, but you could go inside the houses as well. There were people in period costume demonstrating what went on inside the houses as well as some of the materials and possessions Iron Age people would have.

I also visited the site where my story first takes place, Old Sarum on the Salisbury Plain in the south of England, and the remains of the hill fort which gave me some idea of what the terrain was like where my fictional village of Caer Gwyn was located.

But there were still lots of details I needed to know about the life of the Brythonic Celts.  So I went back to the books and spent a couple of weeks jotting down bits of trivia (eating and drinking habits, warriors customs such as the chopping off of enemy's heads and keeping them for trophies. And I had to learn as much as I could about the healing arts, potions and spells so I could add these details to the story. Now I must go back over what I previously had written and add these little tidbits of information which is going to make Olwen's story even more realistic and visual.

Although I am writing a strictly fiction account of this young Celtic priestess's abduction and journey across Europe to Macedonia, I still have to get certain facts straight. I have learned the names of all the tribes and some interesting facts about them. I figured out travel times (by horse) and was able to scope some of the terrain on the google maps. It's been an interesting journey so far. And I want to make it as realistic as possible so that the people come alive and are believable.

It bothers me sometimes when historical fiction writers just second-guess at details and don't take time to make sure that what they have written is logical or truthful. Yes, it is 'fiction', but if you are including historical facts, those details must be correct. As for your interpretation of the characters you have a lot of leeway and, as the saying goes "The historical fiction writer can take as many liberties as they wish in making it a better story".  When I wrote "Shadow of the Lion", I was writing from a historically recorded plot-line so much of the novel had to be correct. Luckily I had some Classical Scholar friends in Greece who helped me with some small details like the way sacrifices and offerings were made etc, what they wore, what they ate. And I was able to interpret my characters according to what research I had done about them. I was also fortunate to be able to visit many of the locations in my story, to study flora and fauna and the lay of the land. It helped me describe things in a very realistic way so that the reader can imagine being there.

"Dragons in the Sky" is not written from a historical plot-line but at some point in the story when Olwen meets Alexander, there are certain events that must be recorded accurately. I can fictionalize her view-point of these events, but historians would have objections if I had things happening with Alexander that were not possible. So I have returned to my big box of research notes that I have kept from "Shadow", and this has really been helpful to me in plotting out the next part of "Dragons."

Remember, when you write historical fiction, you must do the work. Otherwise you are bound to have readers who throw the book down saying 'this is all nonsense'. Make your fiction as realistic as you can get it, make the characters live and breath, laugh and cry. That's what makes a great story!

CREATING A SEMBLANCE OF ORDER

Athena



In spite of the euphoria of having finished my novel, and once the Christmas/New Years celebrations were over, planning my next moves,  the past few weeks have been somewhat chaotic.  Instead of getting terribly distracted, I've tried to create a semblance of order so that I could stay focused on my next plans.

Things were going along fairly serenely after the holiday season and I was relaxing, taking time to sort out what to do next, in order of important.  For one thing, I'm giving the novel a rest (at least, giving my brain a rest and refused to let the characters keep bugging me after that first few days.  Now I am not thinking about it so constantly other than what next?)  What next will be the editing and I have plans to begin it the weekend I go up the mountain to Sun Peaks Resort.  Yes! What a grand surprised to be invited up to the resort by my daughter and her partner to celebrate their birthdays and the visit of my grandson and his girlfriend from California.  There'll be other people there as well, as it seems they have rented a condo or something, but as many of the guests will be skiing or 'boarding I figure it will be a good time to start the editing (on the page first, before I edit the on-line manuscript which I'll do once I get home.)

Then I made plans about what to do with my writing next. Once I had preps made for my Winter classes, I knew it was time to start catching up on the list of travel stories I have yet to produce.  And I also promised myself to blog and write in my journal more frequently.  This is the writing part of the program.  I also had promised myself to get more consiencious about exercising and getting myself to the waterfit classes.  And as two of my morning groups are cancelled that frees up this important time for me.

Then, with plans all made, there was a glitch that turned things into a bit of disorder over the past couple of weeks.  First, I agreed to doggie sit with my friends dear little Pom and at that time my friend from Washington was coming up for a reunion weekend of fun.  The same day I got Nikki here, Corinne was coming here to visit, got lost on the Drive, let her dog Napoleon out for a pee, and he got struck by a car and killed.  It was a trauma like I've not seen in some time.  My friend was totally devastated to the point where she was incoherent, and once safely here (dead dog stored on my balcony) she started self-medicating herself til I thought she herself would O.D.  Meanwhile little doggie Nikki who is very elderly, wouldn't eat or drink water and was hardly able to walk or stand.  By the end of that week I sent her off to the vets who said there was nothing wrong with her.  Meanwhile, my friend's daughter flew up to take charge of her mother and we convinced Cor that she couldn't cart the dead dog back over the border but must get it cremated.  That problem solved, they finally went back home, but by then I was totally stressed out.  The care of the little doggie proved stressful as well because I was worried about her and afraid she might pass away while in my hands.  My friend (Nikki's mom) arrived back from holidays last night and from today I am trying to get back a semblance of order in my life.  You might say I have coined a new meaning to the expression "Dog Tired."

Socrates

But it doesn't end there:  Besides my dear Welsh cousin Shiela having a stroke the end of November and not responding to treatment, another close friend is near dying in hospital from pneumonia and congestive heart failure, and another very good friend who was one of our role models because of her vibrant, healthy life, had a burst appendix which damaged her bowels and is now incapacitated and probably will be forever confined to care.  It's all a huge shock and hard not to think about it and feel very depressed and upset.

I'm glad I have my writing (and classes) to distract me at times like this.  One begins to feel terribly mortal and vulnerable when friends start falling.  Fortunately I am healthy and stay active.  I absolutely HAVE to because I have to get this novel completely tidied up and marketed.  And as travel writing is part of my income, I need to focus on getting those stories written!

Hence I am trying distract myself from the stressful things that are happening around me.  Of course they are on my mind,  especially my dear friends who are in such dire straights,  but I must not let depressing thoughts take over in place of those important creative ones.  I must create a semblance of order out of all the events that have been and are happening.  There's lots of work to be done ahead of me.  I can't afford to stray off course, no matter what!

Sculpture in National Gardens, Athens

WHAT DO WRITERS DO BESIDES WRITE? PART 2: MY QUEST FOR TRANQUILITY

STRAWBERRY FIELDS WITH MT. BAKER IN DISTANCE

"Empty your mind of all thoughts.

Let your heart be at peace..." Tao Te Ching 16

And so, after the visit to the Buddhist Temple, and since reading that inspiring book "Eat, Pray, Love", I decided it was time to withdraw into a more peaceful space; meditate; keep centred; and be still...if I could be in this busy life of mine.

So the day after the two-day eat-a-thon, my two friends and I drove out to the country to get fresh strawberries. What a lovely day it was, and how sweet those strawberries, all freshly picked. We had lunch by the river first, then a stroll around the little town of Steveston (where I'd been two days before); then we went to get the strawberries. It was such a clear, beautiful day there was an amazingly clear view of Mt. Baker which is south in Washington State.


On my quest for solitude and relaxation I also went to the park one day. I strolled through the rose gardens, all the pretty flowers in full bloom. Now I have a collection of rose photos. So exquisite!
And then, of course, to my favorite spot on the beach where I went for a picnic after I'd had my swim in the pool (I do swim in the ocean sometimes but I enjoy the swimming pool then I usually come and sit on the beach. I find that being near or in the water, it seems to wash away all the tension and helps me relax my mind so that crystal clear thoughts come to me. I often do some of my writing while I'm walking or sitting on the beach.

So now I am trying to keep myself back on a program that will be condusive to create thoughts so I can proceed with the rest of the novel. I have been taking acupuncture treatments for my back and foot problems and it has helped a lot. Now I can walk again without pain, and I am feeling more limber each day. If I can swim a few times a week, do my fitness walking, ride my bike and dance! then I will feel physically better and more able to concentrate on my creative thoughts. I'll have lots of these solitary picnics this summer, plus little outings to parks and beaches. The clearest and best thoughts come to me when my mind is relaxed and free of the daily clutter and negativity that can sometimes clog it up. That's why meditation is so important for a writer.

"Do your work, then step back.

The only path to serenity." Tao Te Ching 9