How do we find the stories, the ideas for our novels or how do they find us? I am always on the lookout for ideas, for seeds that might grow like flowers into fully-realised stories. We writers are always digging about for nuggets. Magpies, we are, looking for what shines. Sometimes, the work involves weeks,…
Dear Friends, Well, if you are reading this you, like Michel and myself, are still here. Thank heavens. We have all struggled through and reached December of this crazy, rollercoaster of a year of 2020. Earlier, back in the spring, which seems like many lifetimes ago now, I lost two very dear friends to Covid….
Dear Readers and Friends, I have been waiting quite a while to send out this letter to you, waiting while we finalised the colours and the look of this cover pic for my next novel, AN ACT OF LOVE, to be published in the UK on 29th April 2021. It is available for pre-order on…
Dear friends and readers worldwide, It is ages since I have written a Newsletter. There have been several blogs posted directly to my website, but no Newsletter. My sincere apologies for this; we have been experiencing technical difficulties with the site and some glitch or other was blocking mails going out. Grrr. Fingers crossed my…
A Felixstowe Festival Zoom Chat between Carol and Rachel Sloane. This replaced the cancelled event https://www.facebook.com/FelixstoweBookFest/videos/716342118912290/
Someone sent this to me recently. It is the film found on Youtube, adapted from my very first novel for children, THE HAUNTED SCHOOL. It was made into an eight-part TV series which we shot in Australia. Disney bought the series and edited it into a film, (which is the link below). It won the…
I am frequently asked who my favourite writers are; authors I return to time and time again. One of the first who springs to mind is Jean Giono. Son of a cobbler and a laundress, he is a Provençal writer through and through. Henry Miller, the great American writer, described Giono as one of the…
Hello to you all, I am writing this from our home/office up north, east of Paris. The pic above was taken at the farm last week. We’ll be back down at the farm after the weekend. It’s mighty hot here in the Seine-et-Marne region with the temps soaring to 34C yesterday and then an overnight…
Dear Friends, It is the last day of April. I am at my desk looking out onto more blossoms than I have ever seen here before. It is a riot of colour and a joyous expression of nature’s determination to live and procreate. Our “confinement” will due to ease in twelve days from now. It…
Dear friends, I am waving a hello from the Olive Farm where we are in our fourth week of lockdown. In spite of the horrific virus that has led us all to be isolated from one another, there are positives to be found during these days of “confinement”. Michel and I count ourselves very lucky…
This is worth your time. Do read through to the end https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe Here is an Oscar-nominated film about beekeeping: https://slate.com/culture/2020/01/oscars-2020-honeyland-international-documentary-north-macedonia.html
It is very dark here and silent. Very early morning. I am up and at my desk before dawn. The quietude here seems a long way away from the frenzy of Christmas and holidays and shopping. I love these silent hours when all I hear is the heartbeat of life, which is the dogs (and…
This is a very unusual bumblebee. You might be interested n reading about it https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebees-of-the-world-bombus-kluanensis/#more-19259
Hello dear friends, Apologies. I don’t seem to be very good at keeping to my schedules at present. There seems to be so much on, not least hammering away at a new novel. I am almost half way through – that’s of the rough draft so doesn’t quite count as half way through. Even so,…
The Autumn Equinox is upon us already; the year seems to have reached this point too fast, don’t you agree? Yesterday morning, I stood on the terrace looking out to sea, inhaling that wonderful sense of tranquillity I feel when contemplating the water. Suddenly, I was aware that there was a very distinctive squeaking sound…
I am writing this from Kastellorizo, which is a small Greek island situated in the Eastern Mediterranean approximately two kilometres from Kas on the Lycian Coast of Turkey. We, Michel (husband) and I, are here attending a documentary film festival, Beyond Borders. Michel is the Director of International Development for the festival. This is our…
Hello friends,I have been asked to recommend some Bee Books, books that will help us to understand the problems we are facing and how we can contribute in this fight to save our planet. Also to be included, we need a couple of books to introduce us to our friends, the Bees … Here are…