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Tag Archives: Memoir
The magical act of returning
The sky is beginning to drop its heavy white. Clumps of fog tumble down from the mountaintops into the valley where the cottage is. I stand by the window with my dad. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to … Continue reading
Posted in History, Memoir
Tagged Adventure, Battle of Camlann, Bedivere, climbing, Excalibur, Gabriela Blandy, happiness, Hiking, how to write, King Arthur, Llyn Ogwen, Memoir, Mexico, North Wales, travelling, Writing, writing advice
25 Comments
What we write about when we write
A sheet of A4 is pinned beside the bar. It hangs loose against the stone wall. There’s an image of a four or five year old in an orange sundress. I notice a plaster at the top of her arm. … Continue reading
Maes Caradoc
For weeks I have been trying to explain to people how I came to be going to an isolated cottage in North Wales for a holiday. It was a friend of my dad’s who told me I had to go … Continue reading
Posted in History, Memoir
Tagged Adventure, Caractacus, Compass, Gabriela Blandy, Hiking, History, Holiday, how to write, Maes Caradoc, Map Reading, Memoir, Nant Ffrancon Valley, North Wales, Silence, Solitude, Writing
28 Comments
A place to write
Daphne du Maurier was five when she first discovered Cornwall. That summer, she had watched as the gardener caught a snake in the grass of her Hampstead home. He nailed it to a tree, standing back to watch it writhe. … Continue reading
Posted in History, Memoir
Tagged advice, Daphne DuMaurier, Gabriela Blandy, History, how to write, Manderley, Memoir, Rebecca, Writing, Writing process
27 Comments
The story of a room
Don’t believe anything you see. This is what the curator says as I enter the Whistler Room at Mottisfont Abbey – a line he repeats as more people come and go. I can hear the pleasure in his voice as … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, History
Tagged advice, Fiction, Gabriela Blandy, History, how to write, Memoir, Mottisfont Abbey, Norah Lindsay, Rex Whistler, Trompe d’oeil, Writing
13 Comments
Lost Belongings
Dan is on the station platform, holding a woman’s handbag. He stops and looks back in the carriage. What’s that? I ask. Someone’s left it, he says. Maybe they’re in the loo, I tell him. I don’t think so. I … Continue reading
Moments that change us
Something happened last week, which made me refer back to the diary I kept when Dan and I were living in Denmark, WA. It was the end of February, 2011. Dan’s mum was staying. I wrote that I was going … Continue reading
Posted in History, Memoir
Tagged Falmouth, Father, Gabriela Blandy, History, how to write, Humphry Davy, Memoir, Penzance, Sailing, Writing, writing advice
8 Comments
Between two people
There are five or six girls, sitting on a bench in Christchurch meadow with notebooks on their laps. On the lawns behind are larger groups of students, in the city for the summer. Backpacks lie flung on the grass. I … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Memoir
Tagged Australia, Autobiography, Fiction, Gabriela Blandy, Holiday Romance, how to write, Love, Memoir, Process, Students, writing advice
16 Comments
