It's Halloween - some folks are scared by thunderstorms, so this is a poem I've written about a huge thunderstorm. It hit my previous home town of Towcester ("Toe-ster") with a strong fist and I felt inspired. Yep, I'm a proud hippy. #NatureInspires 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Humbled and Rumbled

First a rumble
A flash, a pause
I’ve seen heavier rain
But these drops sound weighted 

It’s a wonder
How rain eases
In anticipation
Of foreboding anger

Stuck in a bowl
Towcester’s storms hang
Over grey cloudy skies
Loudly voicing their thoughts

Rain falls harder
Hail storms partner
Celestial thunder
Follows a splitting sky

Photographic
Blinding lightening
Catch it in the corner
Of your eye – instant light

Flashes light rooms
Excitement builds
Electricity’s loose
On a regional scale

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist

Image courtesy of Wunderground

I'm back from Costa Rica and blogging about writing again! If you missed me, take a look at my travel blog, Born To Be A Tourist and see what inspiration came to me from a week in Central America...

So, dear reader, let's get to the point. How exactly can a visit to the Doctor's surgery help your writing? 

You might find ideas for characters in your book amongst your fellow patients and pill-heads sitting in the waiting room. Physical descriptions you hadn't thought of. Ailments you hadn't considered. Let your mind wander!

Eavesdrop - some local gossip might inspire a short story or a poem.

Something interesting might come up in conversation in the consultation room. I found this myself when I went for my Hep B jab last year. Good Doctors will try to distract you with conversation if you're going under the needle, I find!

Look around you. Take in your surroundings. There will probably be medical certificates on the walls; what would a story about a Doctor who had fake medical certificates look like? Who is the Receptionist whispering on the phone to? And what do you think the window cleaner might see by accident?

There are always magazines to browse while waiting for your appointment - use them! You might find a competition you could enter, or discover a new market for your short stories.

So next time you have the unpleasant or tedious task of visiting The Quack's, take a moment to work your creative brain. You might discover something more worth holding onto than what ever has put you in the waiting room in the first place!

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist

I normally share my holiday reads with you, so here's the next installment. 

I'm jetting off to Costa Rica again tomorrow for 12 days. I have, however,  been told by my boyfriend in no uncertain terms there won't be much time for reading. I'm currently working my way through William Boyd's 'Restless', but I imagine I'll finish that before it's time to board the plane.  

I read 'Any Human Heart' by Boyd last summer and really enjoyed it, so no surprises, this volume is working out very nicely for me and my reading tastes... unlike when I read Tom Jones... A spy novel I can actually get on with! *shock*

I'm also going to sneak 'East of Eden' (1952) by American writer John Steinbeck into my luggage. Just one extra book. I don't intend onto finish this while I'm away, but it would be a tragedy to be without a novel on my return journey!

I've been recommended this book by a former colleague and borrowed a copy off my mum (who also enjoyed it), so it looks promising for what Steinbeck called his 'magnum opus - his greatest novel.  Steinbeck stated "it has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years." I look forward to it!

I'm leaving early tomorrow morning, hence my weekly blog post is on a Thursday instead of a Friday. I'll see you in two Fridays time!

If you get bored in my absence, why not visit my travel blog? This blog is published every Monday, including while I'm away, so take a look! 

Recent posts include:

My Travel Life Story - in 150 words!
11 British Tourist Spots You Should Not Mispronounce 
How to find a Novel Set in the Country You're Visiting

Happy reading, writing and traveling, whatever you're doing in the next week or two - see you on the other side!

Lou x

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I've baked again... successfully! These are some chocolate beetroot muffins I whizzed up this afternoon. I'd send you one, if they'd post!

Note: Do not wear white clothing while baking these. I managed to get all the way through the bake without getting beetroot on me (other than my face), but dropped a muffin as I slid it out of a case and got raspberry coloured dots all over my top. 







Ingredients

• 75g/2½oz cocoa powder or powdered drinking chocolate
  
• 180g/6½oz plain flour
  
• 2 tsp baking powder
  
• 250g/8½oz caster sugar
  
• 250g/8½oz cooked beetroot
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 200ml/7fl oz oil
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• icing sugar for dusting
  
• Raspberries to garnish 
  
  

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4. Arrange paper muffin cases in a 12-mould muffin tin. This recipe makes a lot of mixture, so don't be surprised if you have some leftover. 
   
2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in the sugar, and set aside.
   
3. Purée the beetroot in a food processor. Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and oil and blend until smooth.
   
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the beetroot mixture and lightly mix. Pour into the muffin cases. Put a raspberry (point up) on each muffin. Sometimes I do this 15 mins into the bake to prevent over-cooking and over-softening. 
   
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is firm when pressed with a finger.
   
6. Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Lou x

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I admit it, I've cheated. I've given up and cheated on reading Tom Jones ~ Henry Fielding. It's one of the top 5 books of all time, according to the Guardian, and therefore it was given a *coveted* spot on my 30 Before 30 list.

However, I have struggled with it so much, I have given up. I tried so very hard to read it - gave it a good 100 pages out of 400 odd - but it was just too much of a challenge. The text was hard-going. The characters were too numerous to keep up with. I felt no empathy for the characters, and to be honest, I don't really care how the story of the poor orphan bastard ends. 

If it wasn't for the challenge I would have given up way before 25% of the way through. Probably by page 10 ish; that or two chapters in is my normal (but rarely used) cut-off point. However, I persevered and wasted a lot of time. 

I felt kind of bad for my 30 Before 30 list.  How did I get over this? I jumped onto Amazon and bought myself a copy of the Tom Jones BBC series on DVD. It's 312 minutes long (a double DVD set), but for £3, it'll be worth it. And Max Beasley is playing Mr. Jones. Fab. I'll know the story in many fewer weeks than it will have taken me to read it. 

Yes, the challenge was to read the book, but at least I will know the story now - enough to answer a pub quiz question, maybe! 

From reading one quarter of Tom Jones, I have learned the following:

1. Henry Fielding is the author, not the name of the principal character. Yes, I struggled with this for the first few days of considering this read. He himself seems to be, following some research, amazing man, journalist, barrister, justice of the peace to name but a few, whose character is embellished even more so by the scandal his publication made 5 years before his death  in 1754!
2. Reading the word 'bastard' a couple of times on one double page spread makes me smirk, even though I know the real and non-offensive meaning the author intended. 
   
3. There is no uncertainty; I hate classic books written pre-Victorian era.
4. If a book I'm not enjoying is a heavy tome, I am more likely to quit. My handbag was significantly heavier with this beast in there!
5. I'm capable of caving in to the DVD if the text is just too boring. That's a first for me. I'll always try to read the book before watching the film adaptation. Same with stage plays. Going to see 'Les Mis' on stage is also on my 30 Before 30 list (done!), and now I've seen it love in the West End, I can watch the film guilt-free. 

I was relieved of Tom Jones by Iain Bank's novel, 'The Quarry' for a couple of days. Banks saved me from going off reading good and proper, but Tom Jones is well on his way to a charity shop book shelf. 

Just Don Quixote and Pilgrim's Progress to go on the 30 Before 30 list, then... More classics - what fun!

Lou x

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