Seven Great Resources for New Writers

As a writer you probably spend a lot of time working alone, and you probably wouldn't have it any other way.

Yet, when it comes to promoting your work in either print or electronic format, it’s a completely different ball game. Networking with other like-minded and experienced people is crucial and there is much to be gained engaging with others through the many social media platforms, blogs and websites available.

Here is a list of some very valuable resources for new (and experienced) writers …

Everything Books & Authors

This website dedicates a page specifically to new authors and their work, and provides great tips and resources on writing as well as well researched reading recommendations for readers.
On twitter: @WriterToniC

One Thousand Worlds in One Thousand Words

A site where new sciFi and fantasy writers can showcase their work and submit the first 1000 words of their published novels, novellas, or other works 

On twitter: @1000worlds

Scifi Book Cafe

A virtual Facebook café that discusses science fiction and fantasy books – aimed at both readers and writers. Authors can post their novels and promotions in the vein of science fiction, fantasy or horror books. Request to join.
On twitter: @ScifiBookCafé

Author Central

A Facebook Page moderated by Daniel L Carter – for authors to share their experiences, events and promos, network and support each other – request to join.
On twitter: @G6Chronicles

MarSocial
(Media Arts Review Social)

MARSocial.com is a dynamic social media network and online magazine for writers, authors, artists, and musicians, with the opportunity to contribute commentary, poetry, and excerpts from original works of fiction.
On twitter: @ceoMARS

The Book Designer

A goldmine for writers, providing a wealth of articles, advice and resources to help you write, design and publish a print book or eBook 

On twitter: @JFBookman

The Book Reviewers & Authors Club

Authors can showcase their work through an author interview or Member’s Biography pages.
On twitter: @review_club

Nisha P Postlethwaite is the author of The First Sense eBook available from several online retailers. To find out more visit www.nppostlethwaite.com

The Character Build vs. A Character Assassination

I am currently writing two, very different books. 

The first, is a moving but darkly humorous collection of short stories based on relationships, specifically how we painstakingly build them up, only to tear them down again. The relationship-stages of laying foundations, building, destroying, recovering and the rebuilding process are told through different characters.   

I am also working on the sequel to The First Sense; this second novel is set in my British City of the future, in the genre of magical-realism, and revolves around several complex and unusual characters.

For me it's all about character building. I love breathing life into seeds of imagination to grow characters of substance with many colourful layers. 

As writers we become our characters’ closest confidants – nurturing their traits, sharing their secrets, feeling their pain, enjoying their highs, inventing their histories, even giving them habits, and we always know what they’re thinking.

If I have to tear a character down again - all in the interest of a good story - I can’t help grieving.  A character assassination is never easy, even if the character deserves a gruesome ending. It’s like having to say saying goodbye to someone you don’t necessary like but you are deeply connected to, because you shared so much along your journey.

   

Maybe there is some truth in that old adage ‘everything happens for a reason,’ because many of the joys, successes, misfortunes, atrocities, break-ups and kicks in the lives of those around me and also in my own, become the building blocks to base my characters on. Maybe that's why I get so attached. 

Nisha P Postlethwaite is the author of The First Sense eBook available from several online retailers.  To find out more visit her website 

Discover more about the main characters from The First Sense eBook, their extraordinary gifts and what makes them tick

8 Fascinating facts about Classic Novelists, Playwrights and Poets

                             

I read across many genres of the past as well as the modern day. I'm fascinated by many of the great classic writers of novels, poems and plays who lived interesting lives in trying times, and had a huge influence on literature. 

Here are eight interesting facts about some of the best classic writers:

1. Thomas Hardy’s ashes reside in the Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, but his heart was removed before his cremation and buried in Stinsford Church graveyard, where his first wife, parents and grandparents, also lay.

2. William Shakespeare is estimated to have created more than 1,700 words for the English language including the words ‘assassination,’ ‘cold-blooded,’ ‘tranquil’ and ‘gossip.’

3. In 1937, George Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War for a group fighting against General Francisco Franco and was shot in his throat and arm. He and his wife were indicted on treason charges in Spain - after they left the country.

4. Ernest Hemingway lived through skin cancer, malaria, anthrax, pneumonia, hepatitis, diabetes and two plane crashes. He also ruptured his spleen, kidney and liver and fractured his skull. He finally killed himself with his favourite shotgun.

5. Jane Austen was the earliest novelist to use the phrase 'dinner party’ (in Mansfield Park) and the first English writer to use the word ‘baseball’ (in Northanger Abbey – written in 1798-99)

6. Charles Dickens was interested in the paranormal and a member of The Ghost Club. He loved magic and once put on a conjuring show for his friends.

7. C S Lewis’s favourite books were Treasure Island and The Secret Garden, and Beatrix Potter was a main literary influence.  He dedicated one of his books to J.R.R. Tolkien.

8. H G Wells is famously known for first coining the phrase ‘time machine,’ but did you know that in his lifetime he wrote a larger volume of work than both Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare’s combined?

I am the author of the fiction eBook The First Sense  for more information visit my website

In Pursuit of the Meaning of Happiness

Happiness is a complex state of well-being – if you over-think what it is, you’re in danger of eroding what it means; if you try and define how happy you are, you risk convincing yourself you’re not happy enough; and if you reach the dizzy heights of happiness, you have a long way to come back down.

I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist, but I can’t help wondering what happiness is all about. 

Unhappiness is easier to comprehend: we feel it when our loved ones’ lives or our own are a struggle, when we try to be what we’re not (but think we should be), when we get our heart ripped out by a loved one, or if we believe the grass to be greener on that other, bloody side.

Yes, any of the above will make us truly miserable with our lot.

But what about being happy? Is it really as simple as perceiving our half-empty cup as half-full? What is happiness made of anyway? Is it just a fanciful concept to keep us on our toes as we endlessly pursue it? If we could bottle happiness and sell it would it be in demand? Or would it quickly go out of fashion when we realise we don’t need it anyway? Is happiness just about not being unhappy? 

There’s a well-known Ernest Hemingway quote: 
"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."

By no means do I profess to be intelligent; but I can certainly over-think a shiny subject like happiness until I’ve wiped the gleam right off it. 

Like a lot of writers, I write better when feeling intensely sad or angry… you might call that wallowing, but at times like those, writing is all I can do. So what if I’m happy? Well, then I’m usually too busy celebrating that to do anything else. 

I want to know if happiness feels different for different people. So what is happiness to you?

I’ll leave you with the words of Haruki Murakami: 
“It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.” 

Anyway,if all else fails, here’s 10 ways to trick yourself into being happy

Nisha P Postlethwaite is author of eBook The First Sense for more information visit her website

Emotional Intelligence & Creativity

We often hear the term ‘Emotional Intelligence’ used to describe a person’s ability to identify, evaluate and control their own emotions, or that of others. 

Last week, I came into contact with a person with absolutely no emotional intelligence. As I observed them flatten their employees with their harsh and unnecessary criticism, I was shocked how little understanding (or interest) they had in the impact of their words on those they are supposed to lead... by example.

Unfortunately, we often come into contact with emotionally ignorant people; yet most of us find it unbelievable that people exist that have little or no empathy when dealing with others. 

Unfortunately it’s also common to come across Emotional Vampires who suck the optimism and energy right out of us and try to push us into a pit of their pessimism. 

It appears Emotional Intelligence may be something we are born with, or it can be strengthened and improved upon if we have very little of it; but what if we are born with no Emotional Intelligence at all? Is there any hope? 

I wonder about the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Creativity; for a writer to create believable and interesting characters, surely they must have a good degree of Emotional Intelligence or their characters would lack depth and substance, and their words would have no impact? 

Even if a writer creates a psychopathic character, the writer must be Emotionally Intelligent enough to portray what is missing from that character’s personality? 

To improve on Emotional Intelligence, we need to understand the importance of it, to be self-aware, to connect our feelings and thoughts with our actions, and put ourselves in other people’s (or our characters’) shoes. 

When dealing with someone with no Emotional Intelligence, by just trying to understand their behaviour shows at least we are Emotionally Intelligent. 

If you have any thoughts are articles on the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Creativity, I would love to hear from you

Here are some useful articles on improving Emotional Intelligence

Five Key Skills for Raising Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence Developing Strong "People Skills"

Here is a useful article on Dealing with Emotional Vampires 

Nisha P Postlethwaite is author of eBook The First Sense  for more information visit her website  

Fancy Dress Etiquette, Halloween Birthdays & a Toffee Apple Cocktail Recipe

My husband’s birthday is two days before Halloween; inevitably the events amalgamate and he has an excuse to dress-up in some ghoulish garb. In recent years, he’s been The Joker from Batman, a horned demon, a hatchet man and the Grim-est Reaper. 

This year, who knows what he’s got up his sleeve? He asked me to extend a fancy-dress party invite to all our friends, and I did a little half-heartedly, adding ‘fancy dress is certainly not compulsory.’

I’ve never been a great fan of fancy dress, for this reason Hallows' Eve makes my heart sink a little. I don’t mind very well-done fancy dress on other people, it’s just that when I wear it, I lack any credibility and find myself apologising for my shoddy-outfit to those born to shine in frippery and trinkets . The truth is, I just feel silly in fancy dress. 

It’s not like I’ve imposed a blanket ban on wearing it to be a party-poop; my arm has certainly been twisted when told I’ll be the only person not wearing it, or if I’m convinced to be part of a fancy dress team (that I can hide behind.) 

My husband jokes I’m not into fancy dress because I’m scared my second self will escape and take me over … me and myself are still laughing. As far as fancy dress etiquette goes, I think : never force anyone to wear it and only do it you are good at it.  

So, the good thing about having a loved one’s birthday this time of the year is that there’s many delicious and inspiring ingredients for a crisp, Autumnal menu. I’m posting my recipe for a scrumptious Toffee Apple Cocktail that can be served  hot or cold (serves 4)

Toffee Apple Vodka Cocktail Recipe (serves 4)

For the toffee syrup, melt 120g of unsalted butter in a saucepan on a low heat with 120g of Muscovado sugar until dissolved. Add 300ml of warm water, a pinch of sea salt, pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon,  a split vanilla pod with its scraped-out seeds and three cloves. Bring to the boil and simmer, and keep stirring until the syrup has thickened and glazes the back of a spoon . Immediately take off the heat and strain out the spices. You can easily increase the quantity, and store the syrup in a sterilised wine bottle in the fridge.

To serve a cold version of this cocktail (per person) blend 50ml cooled toffee sauce, 50ml Crystal Head Vodka or any your preference , a couple of ice cubes and 75ml of organic apple juice. Serve with apple slice that’s been soaked in lemon juice.

For the warm  version (per person), warm  50ml of warm toffee sauce with 100ml of  apple juice in a pan, and stir in 50 ml of vodka before serving.

                                                  

What’s your view on fancy dress etiquette?

Have a happy Halloween… I’ll leave you with the haunting words of Clive Barker:

“Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red.”

Cumbria Sci-Fi Novel 'The First Sense' - Rated 5 Stars

This week I'm printing a 5 star review of my science-fiction, future fantasy novel based in Cumbria, The First Sense, left on Amazon Kindle  . It was wonderfully detailed, entertaining and heart-warming review for a rainy Sunday. Thank you to reviewer J. Crowther. 

Nisha P Postlethwaite

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious nouvelle fiction!
By J. Crowther

This review is from: The First Sense (Kindle Edition)

I felt compelled to add a review on here, something which I have never done before, after a friend drew my attention to this book.

I consider myself a bit of a tough crowd when it comes to my tolerance for bad literature, I am a huge fan of David Mitchell, Salman Rushdie, Gary Shteyngart, et al. and am definitely not a fan of chick-lit.

So with my tastes established, I just wanted to add some praise for this debut novel. I found the characterisation to be strong and believable, the elements that set the story in the not-too-distant future are imaginative and entertaining. There are some beautiful pieces of observational descriptive prose, some very moving passages and several genuine belly laughs.

The strongest ingredients of the book are the engaging characters, the storyline, which intrigues and surprises right to the last page, and critically some of the most sumptuous descriptions of food and emotion that I have read since Chocolat. 

I sincerely hope the author is planning 'The Edible Remedy Cookbook' soon, as my mouth will probably never stop watering until I've tasted salt chocolate and toasted peanut muffins, or fennel bread with butternut squash pate, or rosewater and cardamom buns!

Considering this is a self-published book that hasn't gone through the rigorous editing process of a published novel, there are of course a couple of bits of grammatical tinkering to be done, but the absence of the strong editor means you get to taste the book raw, as the author intended it. 

This is no fast-food manufactured pulp fiction, this is lovingly crafted, homemade and delicious story-telling, which you will devour greedily in one sitting!

The Second Letter: The Bitter End of A Relationship

Following the mysterious and somewhat chilling letter I published last week, a second letter appeared on my desk again from 'Dominic' to 'Mia,' and a photograph; I've published both below. 

The story between these two people becomes clearer and is most poignant. If you know anything these people, please enlighten me... I am not sure if they are real or fictional.
N P Postlethwaite

Dear Mia

Grief is a funny thing. It rises like the strong wave of a tide and when it hits, it leaves you breathless; then it ebbs away and you forget your loss for a short time. But today the emotional pain feels more physical - more tangible somehow; I suppose it’s reminding me I’m still here.  

I want to pick up from where we left off but I know I can’t. The last few days have been a total blur; time seems irrelevant when I have no future. 

You have been so silent these last few days; I can see you’re scared by the life growing inside of you, but do you really have to look at me with such cold resentment? I can’t have that you see – I can’t have you poisoning our child with hate through your womb as she grows - poisoning our child against me. 

That is why I’ve made my decision, Mia; this has to end - whatever it is. I’ve made this decision for her, so she will never know how much you hate me for changing your life, for stalling your ambitions, and making you share me. 

I want you to be kind to our child Mia - if you’ve got it in you. I want you to love her well and tell her the good things about me and how we fell in love and were happy in the time that we had, before it all turned sour. Every time I left, I know it killed something in you, Mia, I know, but please leave that out.  

I bet you never knew I could read your feelings so well. Well, I could spot them welling up inside you before you even knew what they were. 

I know your disappointment, Mia; I know you wondered what life would have been like with someone richer, cleverer or more handsome than me - someone that was there for you all the time, who you didn’t have to share. I know you wondered how you ended up being with me, Mia. You don’t have to say it. Your silence speaks volumes. 

Yet Mia I love you. I know sometimes the most beautiful things in life are the ugliest. I’m glad to have known you and loved you, but you know this has to end, before you completely ruin me, and I you.

Dominic 

N P Postlethwaite's novel, The First Sense is now available 

Is This a Break Up Letter or Something Much More Sinister?

Today, I'm publishing an undated letter along with a photograph that was mysteriously forwarded to me this week. I'm wondering what's happened to the person that wrote the letter and the addressee. 

Is this a letter about a relationship break up, a work of fiction, or something much more sinister? I found it really sad, but it also sent a chill right through me.  I sense there is more to come. Readers, your thoughts would be valuable...
N P Postlethwaite

                                  

Dear Mia  

 

I don’t think I’ve ever written a letter, but it feels like the most natural thing to do now and easier than saying these things to you in person. The truth is, I felt us breaking away for some time, but I couldn’t gather up the pieces fast enough to put us back together again – they seemed to run, rather than fall, from my hands. All the while, you pretended everything was normal.

I’ve had a terrible pain in my chest since yesterday and I’ve taken a few of your strong painkillers, but it hasn’t gone. I think it’s heartache. You can’t take pills for that, can you? I don’t know the point where your love became resentment, Mia, but I felt the resentment behind your mask of love, and I know you blame me for cutting short your future. 

You used to greet me with such raw passion, but then I felt flames of hate burning me instead. Yet still, I can’t believe we’ve disintegrated to this wretched state. I keep thinking I can’t cry over you anymore, but I do and I’m surprised by the intensity of my tears and how they leave me feeling completely  crippled. 

I see things from a different perspective now. I see right over our relationship, what we once were, and how pathetic we’ve became. I know I can’t climb back down to where we were, especially now we’ve reached this point; too much has happened and I’m tired of all the secrets.  

I tired Mia, so tired, but I can’t sleep. I don’t know how you can lie there so peacefully, when I am utterly haunted by how you reacted to our news. I know you didn’t intend for me to know how devastated you were, Mia, but nothing you feel escapes me. How you actually felt was the final knife wound to my soul. 

Your bitterness resonates right through me, my love. Sleep escapes me, but I must try. I just want the pain to end. We’ve had our chances. We fucked them all. I’ll finish writing to you soon, but now I’m tired.

Dominic 


N P Postlethwaite's novel, The First Sense is available at http://goo.gl/m1hycJ

A Guest Blog - from N P Postlethwaite on Writing The First Sense novel

Last week, I had the pleasure of guest blogging on the website Beyond the Edge of Reality - a fantastic site by Peter Wake - a 'timber artisan, engineer, collector and Model Maker.' Peter also delves, questions and writes about Science Fiction, Fantasy & the Metaphysical - if you haven't checked his site out, you should do so... he'll make you think.

This was is my guest blog for Peter's site:

I'm Nisha P Postlethwaite. l write science-fiction, fiction, poetry and recipes. Sometimes I live in an alternate reality which is where I mainly write from. My novel The First Sense, is set in a future British city called ‘Lakes City’ that sprawls across what is now the Lake District and Cumbria. The First Sense centres around several characters who each have an unusual ability; you could call their abilities ‘gifts’ but they can be more like ‘curses’ – so my characters tell me. Sorry, did I not mention that? I am not quite sure my characters are fictional as they tend to take things over… like my space, my life and my blog.

Anyway. I am currently writing the follow up to The First Sense – not just because I want to, but I have to. I often get asked what inspires me to write apart from pure obsession, well, it’s quite a list:- the intricacies of the human species and relationships, numerous life experiences, unanswered questions, dreams, living in beautiful Cumbria, human intuition – something many of us feel compelled to replace for conscious reasoning, reading between the lines of conversations and situations, my love of creating recipes… I find food magical because of its endless creative combinations and some of the foods in The First Sense do some very unusual things to people. I find writing therapeutic and cathartic and ‘Lakes City’ is a wonderful place to escape to, for a change from the present.

Like a lot of writers, I read a lot. I love a writer with a vivid, visual imagination and a tendency towards the unusual and magical, or a writer with a very original style, who may invent their own words or language. There’s no limit to what I read, but I am drawn to writing that is deep and genuine, where I can tell the author really believed in what they were writing, even if that writer happens to live in a different reality, time or on a different planet. That’s the beauty of it all, you cannot impose rules or restrictions on the imagination.

Thorsen’s Lemon Cake Recipe – A Delicious Cake from the Future To Quieten That Annoying Person

Hello, it's Thorsen  from The First Sense novel again. I’ve got this guest-blogging-from-the-future-thing down to a fine art now. 

If you’ve read The First Sense novel, you’ll know my recipes not only aim to please, but I tailor some to cure my customers’ psychological illnesses, annoying habits or negative traits - but I'm careful my customers don’t know what I do, so not to be labelled a ‘psyche saboteur.’   

The First Sense author, Nisha P Postlethwaite, tells me several people asked for the recipe for my lemon cake from the novel. I’m flattered, this cake not only tastes divine, but with a little bit of extra special thought, it can be used to shut up overly-talkative people, or those that have nothing good to say. I come across quite a few people like this…I suppose it’s human nature to talk more than necessary (except for when it's important). 

Anyway, this lemon cake is deliciously moist and the fragrant woodiness of the lavender cuts through the sweetness, and dulls any sharp tongues (lavender will always do this if used by the right hands). If you can’t make the lavender shut up who you want to, you'll just have to try a gag instead.

Thorsen’s Special Lemon Cake Recipe 

In this recipe, you can also replace the lavender for rosemary if you like. I often use rosemary to calm neurotically inclined or slightly disorientated people (I get quite a few like that in The Edible Remedy Café, especially around the time of a full moon).

So. Start by preheating your oven to 200°c/Gas mark 6. Grease & line a 30cm round tin or loaf tin. In a large bowl, beat 185g golden caster sugar with 185g of unsalted butter until pale in colour. Beat in 6 free-range medium-sized eggs, one at a time. Add a heaped tsp. of lavender flowers (Nisha says that the sun you actually had in Britain this year has ended and so lavender flowers might not be available - so use dried lavender flowers instead; they’re just as good).  

Grate into the mixture the zest of 2 large, unwaxed, organic lemons (reserving a tbsp. of zest aside). Fold in 300g of ground almonds. Sift in 150g of self-raising flour and mix well. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin. Bake for 35 minutes or until the cake’s a lovely golden-brown colour & risen. Leave the cake in the tin to cool. 

Meanwhile, heat 150g of golden caster sugar in a pan on a medium heat with the juice of 2 lemons until the sugar’s fully dissolved. Insert a fine skewer into the cake and make holes all over it, then pour over this syrup, and once absorbed, carefully remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool.

To make the thin icing , add 250 grams of sifted icing sugar to the juice of an organic lemon, adding a little bit of water if needed. Pour the icing over the cooled cake and sprinkle on the reserved tbsp. of lemon zest and half a tsp. of lavender flowers.

And to Add a Bit of Piece & Quiet…

I realise I’m sharing a long-held secret with you, but it’s not like it's going to ever catch with me or my customers because I’m further in time than you are (and you need the right hands to accomplish this part):

To add the quieting element, cut an eighth slice of the cake. Visualise your subject talking absolute drivel as normal, then introduce a more palatable thing coming out of their mouth – I usually think of flowers - until you can picture that person talking with no noise coming out. Hold on to that image for a moment. 

Take a deep mind-clearing breath, then serve the slice of cake on crockery imprinted or painted with cypress leaves (to strengthen the quietening element.) A piece of cake customised in this way can make a person shut up (or a negative person speak sweetly) for about a month. If the person can eat another eighth of the cake you can prolong the peace for another month and so on.  

Ok, that's me done, but I'll be back soon with another recipe. I’ve got to go help a customer in the future with his ergophobia, or fear of work. I've been deliberating for some time about curing him because he spends a lot of his free time eating at my cafe... but I know it's the right thing to do.

Some of my favourite lemon cake recipes from your time are:

Nigel Slater’s Lemon & Thyme cake  
Nigella Lawson’s Lemon Meringue Cake

Martha Stewart’s Sour Lemon Cake

Regards, Thorsen 

The First Sense is available from several online retailers

More information about Thorsen and his previous blog from the future

The Writer’s Cats - A Tale of Two Personalities

For the last few weeks in our house, we have been trying to integrate Saphie, our tiny tabby kitten, with Hendricks our two-year-old cat. There have been many endearing and hilarious feline moments, but to be honest, many more trying ones. Saphie still crawls on my lap to sleep while I write at my desk, occasionally shredding a piece of paper or hiding a pen – all quite charming.

Big cat, Little Cat

Yet since my last blog on introducing a little kitten to a big cat, we have found the big cat, Hendricks, to be the very least of our worries. After a couple of weeks, Hendricks stopped whingeing about little Saphie and became more intrigued by the incredible speed she could move at and her endless capacity for play; he soon realised he had a little playmate for those many rainy days to come. 

As for Saphie, she followed Hendricks around the house in awe, trying to mimic his actions. It was not long before Saphie’s confidence grew. Did I say ‘grew?’ Well, it actually soared to unbelievable heights. Even though she is less than a quarter of his size, Saphie now stalks Hendricks, chasing him from room to room, biting at his tail and ankles and wrestling him to the ground at every opportunity. She will wait until he is asleep, then showing him the ultimate disrespect, climb up and stand on his head to nip his ears. 

The more we pull Saphie off Hendricks, the more persistent her naughty behaviour becomes. So we move her to another room to cool off for five minutes, after which she returns to being a well behaved, purring fluff-ball…. for a short time.

Poor Hendricks is far too soft and sweet natured to rise to Saphie's provocation. I’ve been told it’s very much up to Hendricks to tell Saphie off, especially if he does not want to make a rod for his own back, but all he will do is give her a gentle bop on her head, leap to a height she cannot reach, or hide in a paper bag. So all we can do for now is distract and supervise the two.      

 

Hendricks hiding from Saphie

My novel The First Sense is available from several online retailers. Please visit my website www.nppostlethwaite.com for more information. 

The English Lake District & Cumbria… an unlikely source of inspiration for science-fiction?

On the Cumbrian fells

The English Lake District and Cumbria was the main source of inspiration for my science-fiction novel The First Sense. I’ve lived in Cumbria for twenty years but it got under my skin in the first 12 months. 

In The First Sense, Cumbria is the fictional ‘Lakes City.’ It retains natural beauty juxtaposed with futuristic urban architecture and culture. ‘Lakes City’ is known as ‘The Green City’ of Britain, and ‘The City of Sport,’ as it has a large number of unusual outdoor sports on offer, along with those we are more accustomed to now.  

So was The Lake District and Cumbria the only source of inspiration for my novel?

No. Here’s a list of the rest:  

Longing, love and loss. (So that’s three things, but they often come together, although not necessarily in that order)

Slivers of other cities: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Bergamo, New York, Bruges, Oslo and Aarhus
Human intuition – something we all too often defer for conscious reasoning.

My love of creating recipes - when I had my restaurant Eclectic, one of the best things was coming up with new recipes each week. Good ingredients are magical because of their endless combinations.   

In my previous blog, I listed my favourite places in Southern part of the Lake District, now for North Lakes:

·   Wastwater. It’s such an unforgivingly serious and lonesome lake. This lake makes you feel like you’re the only person left in the world as you gaze into its deep, dark waters. Wastwater is the deepest lake in England and once named the ‘UK’s best view’ in The Telegraph .While you’re there, be sure to visit The Wasdale Head Inn at the head of the lake for a hearty meal and to replace the fluids you should have lost on your mammoth hike/climb/bike around Wasdale. 

·   For me, one of the most scenic drives in the Lake District is to Keswick from Ambleside on the A591. This road winds past Rydal Lake, Grasmere and Thirlmere before reaching the town of Keswick. Once there, I head to Café Bar 26 with my husband to work our way through the wine list and tapas. Sometimes this is followed by a performance at the Theatre by the Lake (it is what it says)

·   For absolutely fantastic food, steaks and a great selection of ales, I love Tweedies Bar at the Dale Lodge Hotel, Grasmere.

    The drive over Kirkstone Pass - with an altitude of 1,489 feet – has heart-stopping views. The Pass connects Ambleside to Patterdale and is aptly known as 'The Struggle.' At the top sits Kirkstone Pass Inn, the third highest pub in England, complete with a bunkhouse.

·   For pure decadence and old-fashioned glamour, you can’t beat Sharrow Bay Hotel for a champagne afternoon tea while gaze right out at Ullswater lake from your table. The calorific guilt can be worked off afterwards with a stroll in their beautiful hotel gardens.   

·   For camping with a difference, try a timber built, insulated ‘camping pod’ at The Quiet Site,Ullswater. These pod-like huts are beautifully crafted and suitable for all weathers - in fact, the moodier it is outside, the cosiest they are inside. While you’re there, don’t forget a walk up to the nearby waterfalls at Aira Force - take note of the trees on the way up, some of them are straight out of a fairy tale!

Another blog on Cumbria I am loving at the moment is Lake District Life by Chris Shaw  (twitter name @cragchris or @grasmerevillage http://www.Grasmere-village.co.uk Her blog contains some absolutely stunning photography from around the Lake District.

My novel The First Sense set in the Cumbria of the future is available from several online retailers. Please visit my website for more information. 

Life Changes, Wallpaper and Changing Seasons

 As the seasons shift, the reoccurring theme of the last few days has been ‘change’ – notably in the careers and homes of the people around me, as well as my own.

At the weekend, my husband and I transformed a light and airy bedroom to a moody dreaming-room  with flocks of birds across the walls. The bird theme seems to have escaped from the cover of my novel, created by the very talented graphic designer Anna Cleary . 

I must credit the wallpaper to K& K Designs - available from Roger Austin Interiors and the wallpapering skills to my husband (who remained very patient and calm throughout.) 

The finished bedroom 

On Friday, I attended a fantastic evening of prose, poetry and music run by Spotlight in Lancaster. The significant change was it marked the leaving of a talented writer, poet and friend: Miss P – who is moving to the ‘mean streets’ of Oxford to study  - our sad loss, their huge gain. Miss P writes and recites raw, edgy poetry that is also darkly humorous, and you find yourself belly-laughing as you listen, yet fascinated by the compelling narratives of her poems. 

The next Lancaster Spotlight date is the ‘Spotlight’s Litfest  Open Mic Slam’ – I will definitely attend again, and give it three minutes of prose.

Sailing on Lake Windermere

Yesterday, I observed the changing of the seasons from a different perspective - from the water. Thanks to a dear friend and his yacht, The Scurvy Dog, we spent a glorious six hours sailing along Lake Windermere. 

I love discovering the secrets of the land from the water. It was a gloriously warm afternoon,  superseded by the biting Autumnal chill of the evening. We watched the sun slowly bleed pink and gold into the green landscape until it darkened, then we tick-tacked back to Lakeside, Newby Bridge.

N P Postlethwaite is author of The First Sense eBook 

You can visit my Webpage  for more information