Forest

Merman Inspiration

All, and I mean all, of the original ideas behind my fiction writing occur to me whilst I am out walking in the wilds. My muse is obviously the outdoors type. This past weekend, whilst taking a walk along a lonely stretch of coastline, I happened upon this particular scene:

The scene that set up an entire short story

The picture shows a large log/tree stump that had been washed ashore on a particularly high tide. Now, my eyesight is not at all good these days, but the lack of clarity in my sight does, I believe, make food for creative thought. For example, it can take a little while for me to work out exactly what it is that sometimes catches my eye on my countryside walks. My mind then engages in a little creative whimsy as it tries to focus on the object it tries to delineate. In this particular instance, I wondered if this object washed up on the high tide line might have been a seal. Then I realised it was too big to be a seal- it being of almost of sea-lion dimensions. But, of course, exotic animals like sea lions never get washed up on the U.K. coastline, do they?. Hmm. I then wondered what other wonderful creature it would be fascinating to discover washed up here. The thing looked large, with a tail and a torso, maybe? As I neared the object, it turned out, as it so often does, to be something far more mundane than my imagination had fired me up for - a great whacking log. But my creative juices had been stirred and I had myself a rather late night when I got back home as I jotted out the rough outline of  a story of an old fisherman who stumbles upon the washed up body of an aged merman!

I am rather proud of the fishy little tale I conceived after this foreshore walk. I have always wanted to write a tale of Selkies and Mermen/Mermaids and often enjoy a bit of reading on their folklore. The story is now fully fleshed out and will be next writing project when I complete work on Edn™...

14,000 Words In, Despite This Furry Girl

Friday, September 01, 2017

I am now 14,000 words into my new novel, despite this furry girl:

Faery Door

Our new faery door

Bala Lake

On moonlit nights, in the depths of Bala Lake, it is said that you can glimpse the shimmering spires of the old town, long since flooded beneath its deep, dark waters [1]. A monster too, is said to reside in the lake - Teggie, a humped crocodile-like creature with a penchant for wrecking the boats that sail upon ins waters [1] On my visit to the lake, however, I saw no drowned township nor terrifying water-monster. No, all I saw was its entrancing, mesmerising, ripples play with the storm-leadened sky reflected upon its surface. An equally magickal sight, if you were to ask me:

Nag Champa

There is no more calming and serenity-inducing fragrance for me than Nag Champa incense. The scent has an immediate effect upon my nerves and thoughts. The meditative chilled atmosphere it induces is immense. Burning this incense also induces creativity and is the perfect way to set the scene for a good old writing session. It works for me anyway and I loves it. Here are some links if you fancy reading some more on the topic [1][2].

Zombie Gnome

Monster Fish & Chips

The Loch Ness Fish & Chips shop, located near the famous Loch in Fort Augustus. I can personally recommend their lovely chips too :)

rainy window at sunrise

It is seldom a nice walk along the corridor that leads to my office in work. However, sometimes, just sometimes, I catch a nice glimpse of the sunrise through one of its windows there. And on even rarer occasions, the glass in that window appears as fine and beautiful a display as any expensive stained glass window I have ever seen:

There are wonders to behold even in the most mundane of places and situations...

Pixie and Chives