Writing and remembering trip to London

I keep looking at my blog and thinking, "You need to post something." But nothing earth shattering has come to mind. But, I've been thinking alot about this time last year. It was the beginning of preparing for my trip to London and Paris. I was contemplating getting a passport, thinking about what places my sister and I were going to see. I read about what articles to bring and then which of those items the airlines would allow. I wondered if my sister and I would get along and be like-minded travelers. And then in an instand it was all over. But the memories of traveling, of the long plane ride, of all the places we went and all the different foods we tasted are still vivid. The times we stayed up until 2:00a.m. telling each other to get to bed. Only needing a few hours of sleep and traveling all over the city.

Maybe I've already posted some of these pictures, but since I was in a reminiscent type mood, I wanted to see each of them again.  The bus was just like the one we rode on all through the streets of Westminster and London. The apartments were across the street from the Cavendish hotel. We were on the 9th floor so the picture was taken from our window.

These last couple of weeks, I have taken a writing course. I did learn new things, but what I could immediately start working on was the organization of any book. The instructor said it best when she said that in planning a trip to CA to see her son, she must map out her route. There are many different ways to get there in a car, but if she doesn't plan which route to take. She will never get there.So mapping out a story a writer must do the same thing."

Garden, Rain and London

Went for a walk in the rain last night. It was wonderful. There is a peace that comes from simple things. 

This is a flower blooming in my front garden. I took it from my childhood home before my parents moved a few years ago. This is the first year it has bloomed. Hail and errant basketballs annihilated them in previous years.

Still missing Chip, and Libby is still listless. Poor dog misses her friend.  My back is getting better every day.
And vacation to the mountains of Colorado is only two weeks away. 

Working on the second chapter of my second book. I have set goals for the next 20 weeks -- one chapter a week. I have not been great about reaching them, but inspiration has struck and I'm excited to write something new.  Edits on my first book are slowly edging forward. My editor is going to a writing conference in August and will bring my book with her. We shall see. 

Can't post without  pictures from London. Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. The city is full of beautiful old architecture. The building with the clock is from 1832

   

A Wedding, Four Graduates and a Funeral

The first night in London was magical. Everything was new and after we ate at a local pub, then explored the city. 

In January, it rained quite a bit. But we were on vacation. What did we care?

The bus below is one of the many 
double-decker buses that we rode on to see the sites. A great way to get around.



The snowflake decorations were still up in Soho and we truly enjoyed the atmosphere as we walked through this area.

Now to writing. I haven't. Isn't that terrible to say when I devote this blog to writing. My back is still out. I work the best that I can during the day and then at night exercise or lay flat on my back watching TV. The pain is less then. I tried to go for a walk a couple nights ago and told my husband after only a few houses away that I had had enough.  But day by day, I know it is getting better. By 8 weeks, I should be back to normal. I'm only on week 2. This week is going to be busy. A funeral on Saturday and a wedding the following Thursday. Two family college graduation parties on the 4th of July and two eighth grade graduation letters to write.  

39 Steps

On our first full day in London, we bought tickets to the play, 39 Steps. 

That evening we had high hopes to see the Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller. Four actors playing 130 roles in 100 minutes. It was wonderful.

We happened to meet a tour group from Alabama. Our seats were in the balcony. But it made no difference. The actors were amazing in their ability to be believable in each role they layed.sometimes even two at a time.

I've not been able to write anything new this week. I threw my back out again, so I've just been in pain. It is amazing that when you are in pain, it is hard to focus on anything else but just getting through the next moment. I know it will get better and yet in the back of my mind, I think, what if it doesn't. What if I am in pain like this for the rest of my life?  What if I never write again?  

Burlington House

Looking outside from within Burlington House's courtyard was surreal. It was after 9 p.m. and my sister and I had taken a walk when we stumbled upon this magnificent piece of architecture. Less than a block away from our hotel we entered the courtyard. The only standing square left in place. It now houses the Royal Society, the Linnean Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry as well as the Royal Academy.  

This is where I am re-writing my 5th novel to take place. After seeing this structure and loving everything Regency, I am plotting their every move based upon the location of this building and the areas surrounding it. Which sounds easy. But it's like being there. I have to check the map every time my characters go outside. Which direction do they take and what is there. Not only there but would have been there back in the early 1800's.  

Summer time or I guess we are still in spring, is a hard time to write. There is so much to do. My family and I went for a day trip to our favorite spot in the mountains on Saturday. We enjoyed a picnic, fishing, playing cards and then a downpour of rain. It always rains in the mountains, but Colorado this spring seems to be rainier than ever. I don't mind the rain so much now since the sun has decided to come out every day.

      

Views of London

The sun is shining, and as I scan the skies and see only white clouds I am refreshed. But it will take some time for me to warm up. A month of greyness and rain has taken its toll. However, it has caused the backyard lawn and my flowers to flourish. The snow and hail left marks, but the sunshine is repairing it all. Little leaves are beginning to form on my geraniums and I feel the same way. Little by little I am coming alive. Although it was not a harsh winter by any means, the greyness lasted longer than I can remember .

         

This view is from our hotel room. And the next one is the side view from outside the Cavendish Hotel. I wish I would have taken a picture of the front of the Cavendish. But going through my pictures found I must not have taken any of it.

Along the streets of London, one minute we were walking and enjoying the scenery and in the next we had  become ensconsed in a protest. Fighting our way to become free of the route the protest was taking, we emerged to take this picture of the tail end of the procession.  The last picture is another wonderful example of great architecture from days gone by.   

My editor/sister believes my regency novel is ready to send out to publishers. And so this week also brings optimism that perhaps all the work we have done on this book may have brought it to a level that others might enjoy reading. To enter the world we've created and for a few minutes in time be transported back to a time of romance, intrigue and murder. 

She assures me it is a long process, but I'm ever hopeful. 

  

Shows, Writing and London

Usually for Mother's Day, my kids help me plant the garden, pull weeds and put flowers in the pots and in the flower garden in the front yard. I love getting so much work done in a single afternoon and then it feels as if summer has officially begun. But for the second year in a row, snow is predicted. So instead of planting, we will play card games, go through photo albums and my husband will make something yummy for dinner. It should be a good day.

Went to my Mom and Dad's show this week. It was very enjoyable. My Mom was in the chorus and my Dad played the accordion and sang.









Below is Leicester Square, my sister and I spent a lot of time walking around this area. It is in the Theater District.

The first picture is one side of the square and the other is the other side. Cars and people share the road.


I wish I could report that I've come to the end of editing one of my books and am ready to self-publish or send out querries to publishers.

But instead, I am still re-working both my Regency and my modern day novel. I'm on Chapter 8 of the former and 10 on the latter. I've said it before that it is a lonely job filled with words that almost work. And then in a moment of inspiration it comes together.

Only to find another chapter that isn't quite right. The process begins again. Sometimes the moment of inspiration does not come and then you work hard until something takes shape. I worked on a chapter for two days and it is not quite right. So today, I will keep at it. Maybe inspiration will come or maybe I'll need to work it. Either way progress will be made.

 The picture below is one I took during a walk near Covent Garden on our way back to the Cavendish Hotel.

   

Thames, Shard and London's landscape

Going through my email, I found more pictures from my sister's and my trip to London. I had forgotten that my camera's battery had died half-way through one day and when we went to the hotel that evening she e-mailed me the pictures she took.

      

It was so wonderful to see even more shots of the places we had been. I had wondered why I had only one picture of the Thames. And that one was blurry with rain falling on the bus's window.

 All of these are taken from the Tower Bridge. Above you can see the construction that is going on in London. St. Paul's Cathedral stands majestically in the midst of it all seemingly unconcerned. For centuries she's watched the city. What's change to her?

The Shard is below.

Writing, writing, writing. Every waking moment I am in the midst of writing. If I don't have pen and paper or if the computer is not near, I am working out a scene. It seems so easy to plot it in my mind. But then when I transfer it to paper, it seems to change. I think it is because with my mind, I see the setting, all the colors are vibrant. I can feel the moods and the stuggles of the characters. But on paper they are just words without soul or purpose. I'm getting there. Little by little I will get there.

                         

Writing about London

The adage write about what you know, is true. I've always loved England and London imparticularly. But all I have had in the past was books to glean my knowledge from. Now after having been in London it feels more authentic to write about the places I've seen. Charles Dickens and Keats were said to have frequented the pub below. We had lunch there. The entrance still has the same brickwork that Dickens and Keats walked on.

                                 The picture below was a shop in Covent Garden that has been kept as it was in the 18th century. In my mind's eye, I can see horses out front as the owners went inside this shop.  The pastries are from the cafeteria at the Tower of London.

I love the old building to the left. And the right is a view from Berkeley Square with it's sign below.

I'm still re-working my first novel - chapter by chapter.
And then writing the 1,000-2,000 words a day on another one. A Regency book also, I'm using all the places I saw in London as the backdrop. Just finished Chapter One.  

Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower

Buckingham Palace. 775 rooms, 19 State rooms, 52 Royal guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. Buckingham House was transformed into Buckingham Palace in the 1820s by the architect John Nash for George IV. But the first monarch to use Buckingham Palace as their official residence was Queen Victoria, who moved there in 1837.

I've decided to throw myself into writing and have committed to write between 1,000 to 2,000 words a day. Not re-working but writing something new. 

I've found that the difference betweeen the movie and the book of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice has to be the rich dialogue between the characters that shows who they are.

This excerpt is priceless:


 "If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy," cried a young Lucas who came with his sisters, "I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine everyday."
"Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought," said Mrs. Bennet; "and if I were to see you at it I should take away your bottle directly.
The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she would, and the argument ended only with the visit."

St Paul's Cathedral

I find out in 2 weeks if the book I entered in the contest has made it to the semi-finals. In one way, I can't wait to hear. But in another way, I don't want to know.  I don't want to find out that all the hard work that I have put into this book is still not enough.

The pictures below are more of St. Paul's Cathedral. There has been a church on this spot since 504 and it has always been called St. Paul's. After the fire, it was once again rebuilt in 1666. Although we couldn't take pictures inside the church, the first three are outside and show the intricate craftsmenship of the building. 

To the side and below are views from the walkway at the top of the Cathedral. 250 steps from the Whispering Gallery and 200 to the outside. 550 in total. You can see the building called the "Shard", the "Gherkin" & the "Razor".  As well as a view of the Thames and the London Eye in the mist.

 Raining and windy as we looked out over the city. Below is the staircase leading to the crypt. Again, pictures were not allowed. The crypt memorialized Nelson and Wellington along with so many others. We viewed wooden sculptures that had been petrified in the great fire that laid on top of crypts. 

London

The sun is out and it makes me want to write. This last week I was able to write twenty pages. It sure feels good to be in the middle of a story again. While my sister/editor and I are going through the plot lines of the book I entered into the contest in December, I'm starting to work on a new story in my spare time.

The picture to the right is The Sherlock Holmes Restaurant in London. We met a nice English chap there while eating fish and chips and enjoying a pint of beer.

To the left are Londoners in front of the National Gallery showing support for France. This was right after the terrorist
act there.







To the right is the French flag displayed in projected lights on the National Gallery later that evening.  Below is the advertisements the size of a large building on one corner of Trafalgar Square.





 Right before we left for London, my great Uncle Dee (92) passed away. My sister and I had long talks about him and went ahead with our plans to go to London because we knew he had wanted us to. I miss him and think of him often.

Then a month to the day, my husband's Uncle Ray (78) passed away unexpectedly. That was another shock.

Yesterday just a month later, I received a call that a friend, only 43 passed away last Tuesday. My heart is still missing Uncle Dee and Uncle Ray. Now my heart is sad again for Kortnee's family. Her 4 children, the youngest, Max only 8.

Writing and London

The snow was falling this weekend, and my husband and his brother traveled to Kansas for their uncle's funeral. I spent five hours writing on Sunday. It reminded me how much this hobby can take from a person. No matter how much you give, it wants more. Fifty pages into the re-write with 250 more pages staring at me, a person can give up.

But the morning came and new ideas sprung into my mind and I'm back at it.

The picture above and to the left are in Covent Garden where there are a lot of shops and street performers.

We were amazed at how many tourists were there in freezing cold January. Making us wonder how it looks during peak season. We asked one shopkeeper about it. He said, "In the summer, the place teems with tourists."