Easter blog
It has been a rather hectic few days in these running up to Easter and my departure next week for the States. My computer crashed. Amongst other losses, everything within my email files has disappeared. Visits to Apple, assistance from teckie friends: nothing has retrieved the files. And, before you shout at me about backups – I hang my head in shame – no, the material had not been copied. My external hard drive was full and I was intending to buy another… I only mention this here because it means that I have lost all your emails to me. If you have written to me during the past month and not yet received a reply, it is because I do not have your note or address anymore. Please will you send it again? I feel very bad because there were several emails from schoolchildren talking about one or other of my My Story titles, asking questions, wanting feedback etc, and I hate to disappoint.
So, please, write the mail again and I will reply as soon as I can. Thank you.
On a more upbeat note, four of the Olive books are about to be published for Amazon Kindle in the States: The Olive Harvest, The Olive Route, The Olive Tree and Return to the Olive Farm. I, along with my excellent website partner here, Bart Hulley, have designed the jackets and I think they are gorgeous. Please see below:
Our documentary film series of The Olive Route goes to air in France and Germany on Arte the first week of May. La Route des Oliviers or Die Welt der Oliven. It will be broadcast in their early evening, prime-time slot for splendid travel programmes. I rarely watch television because I have so little time, but this is a slot I do tune into because the photography is usually so lush and the locations fascinating and exotic. I am very honoured we have been allocated such a position. Coming soon, the series, a slightly longer version known as the international cut, will be broadcast on TV5, which is a channel that services French-speaking territories worldwide. As soon as I have details of dates, also for other countries, I will let you know.
The feedback from those who have seen the films so far has been absolutely terrific and I see that some of the French TV magazines are advance rating it with five stars. The DVDs (international cut in PAL or NTSC) are available to buy through this website. If you would like your own copies of the five films, please send me a message on olivefarmbooks@gmail.com or via this site.
So, America looms. I will be setting off the day after Easter, flying to Houston and then on to Austin, which is very exciting. However, it is also a season when it is hard to tear myself away from the farm. Everything is blossoming and many birds are nesting. It has been an unusually wet winter for the south of France and the local shopkeepers and visitors are moaning, but for those of us who have produce growing on the land, the downpours are replenishing the groundwater. The olive trees are shooting upwards and will have plenty to keep them from getting thirsty throughout the arid summer months. Fingers crossed, it will give a boost to the blossoms and then fruits, promising us another fine organic harvest later in the year.
Did I tell you that I have signed a contract with Scholastic to write a World War I love story? In between packing suitcases, I have been sketching out the storyline and both my editor and I are getting very excited. It will be published next yeat to coincide with the centenary of the start of the Great War hostilities. I will be delivering the finished manuscript in the autumn so it it will keep me busy throughout the summer.
I am off now to buy Easter eggs for my family, which I will hide on the land tomorrow and we will hunt for on Sunday. I want to wish you wherever you are a wonderful Easter or spring celebration.
I will try to send regular blog updates from the US from my laptop. So, more soon and, if you are coming to one of my events in the US, I am so looking forward to meeting you.
Carol
