This is my birthday month, and we also celebrate our wedding anniversary on the same day! It’s also my Bestie’s birthday too, and several other friends - a popular month.
It’s wonderful to see the buds on trees and bushes, and also snowdrops, daffodils and other spring flowers bursting into life.
Book 1 of The Beaconsbury Series is going well now that I’m back to writing, after having a horrible bug for weeks. I’m now on 50,000+ words, so getting there. In the next few weeks, I hope to be sending out copies to my Beta readers for feedback – always a little scary.
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My business networking group, Business Wise is having an open networking night on March 11 at the Doubletree by Hilton, Swindon 6.30 – 10pm. Our speaker for the night is Chris Hunt Skelley MBE, Gold and Bronze medallist in Tokyo and the Paris Paralympics. He is a British Paralympic judoka who competed in the visually impaired – 100 kg category at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 and won the gold medal. Chris is an amazing person, a funny and moving speaker, so well worth a listen. It’s going to be a great night. Tickets are £27.80 available here
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This month I’ve been reading ‘Rough Music’ by Patrick Gale.
He has become one of my favourite authors, after reading just two of his books. My bestie, Fiona introduced me to him when she leant me, ‘A Town called Winter’.
Rough Music is a story of memory and desire. It’s beautifully written, and he always captures the feeling of the place where the story is set, in this case mainly in Cornwall. The story moves between past and present and is captivating as it tells the story of Julian when he was a naïve child, told from the adult Julian’s memory of a childhood holiday which was full of secrets and loss and impacts on his later life. It’s brilliant and I couldn’t put it down.
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The March poem is going to appear the first Beaconsbury Series book. It’s a haiku written in response to a photograph by my friend Nigel Hudson. The poem appeared in his beautiful book of his photo and where I wrote a haiku for each one. This poem also works well for my first book of the series, ‘Honey’.
Poets and Writers born this month:
2 John Irving b. 1942 (The World According to Garp)
6 Elizabeth Barrett Browning b. 1806 d. 1861 poet
9 Mickey Spillane b. 1918 d.2006 (Mike Hammer mystery series)
11 Douglas Adams b 1952 d.2001 (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
12 Jack Kerouac b. 1922 d.1969 (On the Road)
18 John Updike b 1932 d. 2009 (Rabbit Angstrom series)
20 Henrik Ibsen b. 1828 d.1906 (A Doll’s House)
26 Robert Frost b. 1874 d.1963 poet (The Road not Taken)
Tennessee Williams b. 1911 d.1983 (A Streetcar Named Desire)
30 Anna Sewell b. 1820 – d.1878 (Black Beauty)
Have a wonderful March!