This was a typical New Year's Eve party at our house. Everyone would be dressed up (that's me in the pink dress and the bad perm). Our group would usually number around ten - my parents and me. the Griffins and their son, the Jones and their friends Madge and Jim. The evening would start with a meal out at a country pub, then it'd be back to our house for a party until midnight. At twelve o'clock, everything would stop and as the final chime rang out, we'd join hands and sing 'Auld Lang Syne'. After the resulting hugs, we'd go first footing, calling in on each other's houses. Sometimes one of us would bring along a piece of coal and a sprig of greenery, other times it would be a bottle of wine. One year, Jim even led us down the street playing his bagpipes. Unfortunately the mad gasman (one of the neighbours not at our party) called the police that year but that's another story altogether.
Christmas Day was different. The morning was for pyjamas; the afternoon was casual. We stayed indoors with our loved ones and left the outside world for Boxing Day. It might have been cold outside but we didn't care.
I never went anywhere for Christmas Eve. Now we sometimes go to my inlaws house. But usually it's Christmas books, music, and shows. Then after my daughter goes to sleep, my husband and I exchange gifts so the morning can just be about her.
Real life doesn't just have to provide inspiration for our characters. It can also feed into the locations we use in our writing. This is the school I attended between the ages of seven and eight years old. This photograph, and more of the interior, was kindly taken by an old school friend. I always loved this building and now it has provided the inspiration for Darkacre School in my novel. Photograph taken by Dan Howard of 500px.com York Minster (from my home town) was the inspiration for the cathedral where Rex Haven's funeral takes place in my novel. Taken from www.rightmove.co.uk The terraces of the South Bank area of York, where I lived for a time, are the streets of the old town in my novel. The details don't have to remain the same - we writers are tailors of imagination after all - but basing our story locations in reality can add a grounding element to our writing that convinces our readers. What real locations have you used in your wr...
There's nothing better than taking a little writerly touch along on an evening out - even if no one notices it apart from me. Why not buy your writerly friend a piece of writing related jewellery or cufflinks. The Literary Gift Company The Literary Gift Company DoonyAndMoony - Etsy JezebelCharms - Etsy charmphilosophy - Etsy Custom Made
I've recently finished a new murder mystery play called Thoroughly Murdered Millie . Set in the 1920s, rich young widow Millie Harper-Smythe shocks her family (and the staff) with her plans for the future. Her stepchildren will lose their home, William the butler has no choice but to emigrate and who knows what she has in mind for the gardener? Can anyone stop her? You can find this play over on the Murdering The Text website. Have a look .
I never went anywhere for Christmas Eve. Now we sometimes go to my inlaws house. But usually it's Christmas books, music, and shows. Then after my daughter goes to sleep, my husband and I exchange gifts so the morning can just be about her.
ReplyDeleteOn Christmas Eve we went to church and then to my grandparent's house to open one present and eat cookies and other snacks.
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