Holidays as Inspiration for Your Stories

This has been a good week for magazine stories. I have two in The People's Friend Weekly (very unusual as they don't often feature a writer more than once unless it's in the Special) and one in Take a Break Fiction Feast.

It was as I was reading them again that it occurred to me that all three had been written following a holiday. Two from this year and one a while ago.

My first story in The Friend is called 'Welcome to Paradise' and I'll tell you a little about how this one came about. In May this year, my husband and I went on a fantastic holiday to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. For the second part of the holiday, we stayed in the beautiful village of Positano.

When we arrived at the beach around the headland, we were greeted by a young man from the local bar. 'Welcome to Paradise!' he said. We thought that was rather lovely and it amused us when we heard him say the same thing to everyone. If a group of pretty girls came down to the beach, he was extra attentive. I just knew I had to write a story about him as soon as I got back. I sent the story along with the photo above to my editor who bought it. This is the lovely illustration that they put with it - rather arty don't you think!


My second story in The People's Friend is called 'A Walk on the Fells'. The original title was The Coffin Stone which was much more interesting I think - maybe they didn't like the word 'coffin'. I wrote it after I came back form The Lake District in April. It is absolutely one of my favourite places in England to holiday and I have written (and have had published) a story every time I've come home from a visit. This is my fourth Lake District story for The Friend and I've had one published in Fiction Feast too.

Fiction editor, Shirley Blair, asked if I would tell the readers the inspiration behind my story and here it is. Have any of you ever walked the 'coffin route?'

My final story this week is called 'Don't Rock the Boat' - originally titled, 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' (never be precious about your titles). It was one of my first stories and was written after my first canal boat holiday in 2012. It didn't sell then so I put it away in a drawer, revamped it and resent it four years later. I've had three more canal boat holidays since then.

I'm off to the Greek island of Ithaka soon... I feel another Greek story coming on!

Go with the Flow

I've just been reading an interesting post by Helen Pollard (you can read it here) about summer being a bad time for writers. It certainly struck a chord. Since I started writing, I have definitely found that I am more productive in the winter when I can squirrel myself away in my cave with little or no distractions. 

Unable to stay inside and write in the summer, I find that like Helen I have to contend with sunlight on the screen, bad internet connection as well as bugs dropping on me from the pear tree. This is not all though...  I also have an overwhelming desire to be doing something other than writing.

It bothered me at first but now I just accept that this is the way things are and no longer get het up about it. Instead of fretting that I should be writing another story, editing my novel or writing a blog post, I take Bonnie for a walk or potter in the garden. I've learnt to go with the flow, as they say.

Which leads me very nicely to the canal boat holiday I've just been on with my husband, step-boy and step-dog. Its the third we've been on and this time we spent five days on the Kennet and Avon starting at Aldermaston. As always,we had a fantastic time but, when we booked it, none of us could have predicted the heatwave! Opening eight locks in 32 degrees, when there is no shade, is no joke I can tell you. No wonder I slept like a baby, even though the double bed was the tiniest you could imagine.

While we were travelling, we saw the lovely horse-drawn barge in the photo above. It was pulled by Joey who apparently one day had fallen into the canal and had to be rescued. Luckily, he looked fine when we saw him, so it couldn't have been too serious. 

Evenings were gentle, warm and peaceful. Husband and step-boy fished and I sat at the prow, with a glass of wine, and managed to write a story, I hadn't gone with the intention of doing so but one just popped into my head - see this is what sometimes happens when you don't force it in the summer.


While I was in Newbury, I managed to get a copy of The People's Friend as I wanted to see the illustration to go with my story, You'll Never Walk Alone.

Now I'm back, all I need to do is think about what I'm taking to the RNA conference on Friday. My clever husband has made me some business cards (though I'm not sure who I'll be giving them to) and I've bought the chocolate and wine... I'm told that's probably all I shall need!  

Finally, if there are any other newbies attending, this post on the RNA blog is a must-read.