When, several years ago, I embarked upon writing the first of the Meonbridge Chronicles, I read a lot of books in preparation. Most of the books were filling in the gaps in my knowledge of how ordinary people lived in the 14th century: their homes and clothes, their food and tools, what they did and …
What next for the Meonbridge Chronicles?
I am delighted that A Woman’s Lot, Book 2 of my MEONBRIDGE CHRONICLES series, has been published, again by SilverWood Books! I do hope you will consider reading it. A Woman's Lot has already received some wonderful reviews, which might encourage you to give it a try… “It’s a great tribute to Carolyn’s wonderful writing …
Heavy industry on the River Meon: Bricks
As the second part of my post about industry on the River Meon, today I am looking at brick making, which, like iron working, was, for centuries, carried out around the lower reaches of the Meon, at Titchfield and a little further upstream at Funtley. To reiterate briefly what I said last month, the world of …
A Woman’s Lot is almost here!
I’m so excited that A WOMAN’S LOT, the second “Meonbridge Chronicle”, is going to be published next Monday, 4th June. Brook Cottage Books (https://brookcottagebooks.blogspot.co.uk) is arranging a blog tour throughout publication week so, if you’re on Facebook or Twitter, do follow the tour, especially to see what the bloggers who’ve already read an advanced copy …
Heavy industry on the River Meon: Iron
I've always been fascinated by industry and the world of work. I had a couple of other jobs before I settled on being a Technical Author, which I then pursued for thirty-plus years, and one of those earlier jobs was as a local education careers officer. The aspect of that job that I liked the …
Self-sufficiency then and now…
For today’s blog, I am reposting a piece I wrote for the History Girls blog in January. I have been musing recently on how, for the past, say, nine centuries or so, until perhaps the early or even middle of the 20th century, the communities in the Meon Valley were mostly self-sufficient, one way or another. …
Plotter or Pantster?
I first wrote this piece last year as a guest post for The Hazardous Hippo blog. Do hop over there – Neats has some interesting posts and does lots of fascinating interviews with authors. <<<>>> When I read of authors who simply sit down and start writing their novels, to “see where the story takes …
