May 13th, 2009
Another long wait for a blog! That’s because I’ve been using all my brainpower to do the rewrites of the new book which I have to say were quite testing, one or two of the changes altering quite significantly the dynamics of the plot. However, I do think they probably improve the book and the editing notes of Caroline Hogg, my English editor at Little Brown, were quite excellent, the best I’ve ever had to work with. It looks like the book is going to be called ‘A MATTER OF TRUST’ - the suggestion of Karyn Marcus at St. Martins in New York. I think it’s got a really good ring to it, and consequently, for the first time ever, I reckon I won’t need to get embroiled in a lengthy discourse over the title! Anyway, the 2nd draft has gone off so we’ll wait and see!
Shortbread, our short story website, continues to thrive and I really am amazed, and pretty gratified, at the quality of writing that has been submitted. If you haven’t discovered it yet, just click on the link at the bottom of the introduction on this page. We are probably getting about ten new stories a week and at the same time we are building up our audio library. What has been slightly disappointing is that I had envisaged established authors in supporting these talented new writers by being a Guest Editor on site, picking a number of stories and making comments on them, but I must have sent out about seven emails and never even got a reply. Maybe I’m being a bit idealistic about this, but I don’t think it’s too much to expect just to get some kind of acknowledgement, even if to say that they were far too busy writing their next tome!
We went the other day with some friends – and Ros - for a sort of pilgrimage up to Glenlyon in Perthshire. Kirsty, my wife, had spent the first seven years of her life there and Ernest Wills, the great-uncle of our friend, Richard Broadhurst, had owned Meggernie estate which was right up at the head of the glen. We stayed at the hotel in the village of Fortingall, which, believe it or not, is reputed to be the birthplace of Pontius Pilate. If you ever come to Scotland, I would suggest you try the hotel out. It is owned by the Glenlyon estate and is really beautifully run. The website is http://www.fortingall.com/ . Glenlyon itself is often described as ‘the most beautiful glen in Scotland’ and the day we went up it, one could quite easily see why. We must have had about four seasons in one day, driving rain giving away to hot sunshine and then followed by sleet and even a few flurries of snow. We were away for only 24 hours, we never left the boundaries of our county, yet it felt like the most restful week’s holiday. How lucky we are to live in such a wonderful place!
Will Thomson, who runs Shortbread with me, is a trustee of the Pushkin Prizes, an annual event set up in honour of Alexander Pushkin by his descendant Lady Myra Butter. The Pushkin is a creative writing award that links schools in Scotland and English-speaking schools in St. Petersburg and is open to children between the ages of 11 and 14. Last week, we went to the 2009 awards and I have to say it was quite mesmerizing to hear some of these stories read out. You should have a look at some of them on
http://www.pushkinprizes.net/ . I think probably my favourite is Poppy McLean’s ‘Lethal Tennis’, a brilliant piece which will hit a chord with all mothers who have dealt with the mood swings of daughters!
I am now off to indoctrinate Ros in the art of using a mobile phone! She says she is a technophobe, so I’m going to have my work cut out in changing her opinion!
February 27th, 2009
On a lighter note than taken in my previous blog (!), I have received pretty positive feedback to the first draft of the new book. My agent wrote “I have really enjoyed the novel and was hooked over the weekend. BRAVO!” and one of my editors in New York came back with “I’ve read it now, and enjoyed it immensely!! It’s masterfully plotted and I just love the character of Leo.”
So far, so good! I now await the opinion of the Big Man himself!
February 27th, 2009
If you happen to Google ‘Sierra de Aracena’, you will probably find words describing the area as ‘más bonita’ (most beautiful), ‘la tranquilidad’ and ‘la communidad’, while many references are made to ‘flores y fauna’ and ‘the beautiful woodlands’ of the area. Rustic Blue Guide describes it as ‘a land of glorious woodlands and far-reaching views, one of Spain’s most beautiful and unspoilt mountain regions’. The Spanish Tourist Board says of it that the ‘Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche house holm oaks and cork oaks, and in several areas, there are chestnut trees that form forests situated in the wettest areas. As for the fauna, the species of predators in the area are of special note – amongst them being the lynx, the imperial eagle and griffon vulture’. That is the reason why, in 2002, UNESCO designated this whole area a Natural Park, to protect this very special part of old Spain from the advances of modern times.
The Sierra, however, is not a simple or backward place. The people who live here are farmers, businessmen, who are as proud and as fiercely protective of where they live and work as they are about creating success for themselves in their affairs. The community spirit in the area is therefore strong and unbroken.
The town of Aracena lies 90 kilometres north-west of Sevilla on the N-433 which is the main route from Sevilla to Lisbon in Portugal. It is a main arterial route, yet it carries no more than two to three thousand vehicles a day. Until 15 years ago, the road was no more than a winding ribbon with passing places, but then EC money was pumped into a fine wide carriageway with strategically-placed overtaking lanes that cut the driving time from Sevilla to Aracena from about 3½ hours to just over 1 hour. Aracena itself was by-passed by a ring road that skirted the town to the north and, in all the time I have lived here, I have never seen a queue or even the merest hint of congestion on the road. However, because of the low volume of traffic, it is a fast road and it has been dogged with numerous fatal accidents.
Now, the powers-that-be want to improve the infrastructure of the N-433 by upgrading it to a ‘vía rápida’ and the plan is to follow the existing road as far as possible. However, when it comes to the Natural Park, they have decided in their wisdom (and with the use of a straight-edged ruler) to drive this road through a large proportion of the small, well-tended farms that surround the town, exactly those which the Natural Park was set up to protect. The plan is devastating. Hundreds, if not thousands, of protected trees will have to be swept away and houses will either be knocked down or have huge viaducts built directly above them; the ‘caminos reales’, the ancient walking tracks that have connected the small, isolated white-washed villages for centuries, will be cut through; power lines to the outlying houses will eternally be disrupted, water wells could easily cease to function; and the road is planned to go straight through the valley where the River Odiel has its source, And then, if the road is built, the traffic will grow heavier in time, and when that happens, the powers-that-be will once again step in to upgrade it to a motorway…
Of course, this has happened in so many other countries and one has to take a balance into consideration between the need for conservation and a country’s desire to drive the economy forward. However, just four kilometres to the south of Aracena, there are hills that roll ever-southward and, although beautiful, they are barren and sparsely populated. If the road has to be built, then this is the most obvious way to direct it, all the way from Sevilla to the Portuguese border. In the millennium year, there was a plan for a motorway to be built on these exact lines, but a change of government…
There is a huge local groundswell against the project. The population want to protect this area for its history and its draw on tourism. The mayor of Aracena is a good man who has the interests of his constituents and the area at heart and I’m sure he will put every bit of pressure on the various ministries to have them re-think their plans. The whole project is still at the initial study stage, but this is the only time being given to raise objections - and they have been with vehemence. One can only hope, however, that the power of the straight-edge rule does not prove to be greater than the voice of utter reason.
February 17th, 2009
Last Friday evening, I sent off the first draft of the book. Usually that results in a huge sigh of relief, but unfortunately I heard four days before that the Spanish authorities want to push a new ringroad around Aracena, my local town in Spain, and it will pass by my house about 100 yards away and about 100 feet off the ground. That’s not the real problem, though. The Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche is the most beautiful natural park and many of the farming practices there are centuries old - small ‘huertas’ (vegetable plots) and smallholdings which are still tended by their owners, who walk out from the town every day. There is a fair groundswell against the project and I’m heading out there at the weekend to try to do my bit.
On a lighter note, one of Scotland’s top pipers, Duncan MacGillivray, was playing at a funeral in the north of Scotland three months ago, and I happened to be there, sporting a pretty gaudy pair of kilt socks. Duncan was extremely envious of them, but I had to tell him that there was little chance of him getting a similar pair because they were knitted by the Famous Authoress herself, Rosamunde Pilcher! It is another of her great talents, and she is presently handing the art down to her granddaughters, who so far are proving themselves to be rather inept at the task! When I told Ros about Duncan’s comment ( and also told her that there happened to be a huge hole in the heel of one of his own socks!), she picked up her knitting needles and rattled him off a dark red pair which hopefully will ‘accessorize’ the stripe in his kilt tartan. Anyway, the parcel went off to Duncan yesterday, so we’re expecting by return a specially-written pipe tune called “The Knittin’ o’ Rosamunde Pilcher.” T’would be a fair trade, don’t you think?
February 3rd, 2009
Sorry, I’ve been really remiss with my blogs! January went past in a haze as not only have I been thumping the keyboard on the new book, but Shortbread went a bit crazy after its launch in December and we’ve been running hard to catch up! It’s been really gratifying to see how it’s taken off, and I think at the last count we have over 900 members and the site has been accessed from over 80 countries. We were always worried that there was going to be some stories that weren’t quite up to scratch, but the quality of story writing has been phenomenal, and the team feel really priviledged that they’re up on our site! Of course, there have been a few problems - rather like Top of the Pops, some of our writers have been quite cunning in trying to get their stories to No. 1, but we have a very good ‘policeman’ who writes them a kindly letter, asking them to abstain from such practises!
We went to the Winter Words Literary Festival in Pitlochry last weekend to promote Shortbread and I was asked to be the compere for a number of writer events and had a great time with Anne Perry, Andrew Greig, Stephen McGinty and Kenneth Steven - all wonderful people and excellent writers in their own different fields. Kenneth has actually got some lovely stories up on Shortbread, three of them being recorded this month.
The writing is going well - hopefully first draft should be finished in the next two weeks and then I’ll be sitting with bated breath, waiting for the reaction from my publishers! In the meantime, onwards and upwards!
