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I promised photos from the trip

April 18, 2024 by donnamareehanson

I feel like a slacker but I have been busy. There’s so much going on, so much to write about. We’ve been back six weeks. It feels like a short time and a long time. I’ve been back at the day job and writing.

Now writing doesn’t just mean writing. I’m doing a bit more than that and writing admin takes time. But the good news is that I’m getting there. My newsletter has been sadly neglected and I will end up losing most of my subscribers with the last one I sent out. But it’s my own fault because being a slacktard! Lesson-Don’t stop sending newsletters! Because you get restricted to only those who interact with your newsletter in the last 90 days.

Next thing is picking up subscriptions for Bookfunnel, setting up my store (in progress), reducing the price of Awakening to $0.99 USD (check out the link in my books) and then getting in various newsletters etc. I’d really like to write a sequel to this story but i’ve got no reviews and it’s not selling and I don’t know why. Mind you I don’t advertise but that’s crazy these days, particularly on Amazon.

What have I been working on? Sihem, now called The Founders’ Legacy has been revised, reworked and will go to the CSFG novel crit group next month. Meanwhile I’ll start trying to put it on submission. I’m also working on a kids’ fantasy, Grandma Neebs: Through the Pantry Door. I had some lovely and encouraging feedback on this book. This, too, I will put on submission. It’s middle grade and around 43,000 words. I have a couple of things in drafting stage. A paranormal romance that links into by two series, Spellbound in Sydney and The Cursed Ones. I am also writing something else for a new pen name. Plus there is a backlist of stuff that needs revising/restructuring etc. My next project will be Amber Rose, in the Cry Havoc Series. We shall meet with Jemina and Fulton yet again. This time they are up against evil machines. Meanwhile I’m rereading Ruby Heart and Emerald Fire to make notes for Amber Rose. I’m also picking up typos so will fix them soon. I’m thinking of doing a paperback version of these.

Now for the photos.

This is the River Trent, Nottingham, in flood. It rained a lot before we got to England and more while we were there and it was still raining when we got home. I thought the submerged bench spoke volumes.

While in Nottingham we took a day trip to Cromford and Buxton, because there were bookstores there. This is Scarthin in Cromford. Cute town too. Below is a pond and tree opposite the bookstore.

That’s me walking into Scrivener’s bookshop, Buxton. I’m wearing my very warm Macpac coat. It was a godsend. Pity I’d spent a lot of money in Scarthins.

My bad but I can’t remember which shop this was in. Forgive me, I’m getting old. Matthew will probably know as he has a functioning brain. Lol.

By the way, Buxton is a pretty town. Apparently, the Dukes of Devonshire was wanting to make it rival Bath so there is some amazing Regency architecture there. It is also very hilly so some great views. If only I could paint.

In Nottingham we visited Warhammer World twice. Matthew was trying to connect with his editor but we had no luck as his emails went to spam. However, we had fun. Bought stuff and went to look at the gallery. I’ve posted pictures from this before. Actually my most popular images in the life of my blog. It used to be free but now you pay a small amount. But it’s now huge and amazing. Here are some shots.

I took this shot of Angron, because it was cool, of course, and because Matthew wrote a story about Angron in After Desh’ea, appearing in Tales of Heresy. The final masterpiece was a huge room for one diorama featuring the attack on a planet.

I should mention we took my son and grandson to Warhammer shop in Singapore, Katong to be precise. My son has painted some awesome miniatures but then he’s artistic.

And finally for this set of photos, me with Marc Gascoigne at a restaurant in West Bridgeford, Nottingham. Matthew took the photo. I have no idea what Marc is doing. Oh well. We’ve known Marc a while and he first published Matthew when he headed up Black Library. It was great to see him again. The food was good too.

Of course, there are more photos and I’ll try to put more up over the coming weeks. We stayed in a delightful village outside of Lincoln. Now I’m using it in a story.

Next time!

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A home: feels like a whirlwind

March 7, 2024 by fantasywritersonretreat

We’ve been home exactly one week.

I was telling Matthew that I haven’t found my groove yet. I’m currently grooveless.

Last post was from London. I don’t think I’ve ever walked so much in my life. Even using the tube and so on, there’s always a walk and those steps add up. This was a good thing because it helped with the weight gain. Lot’s of nice but expensive food to be had in London.

We also discovered the river bus (ferry), expensive but so much better than being crammed into a tube train. And there was coffee.

Biggest takeaway was how to ordinary people live-it’s so expensive. And why are there so many obviously wealthy people.

After two weeks in London we went to Malta for about five days. Why Malta? It was on a list of the possibles (Spain, Ireland, Italy) but what it had in it’s favour was one flight direct, warmer and dryer than the UK, cheapish flight and lots of accommodation to choose from. We loved Malta. We stayed in Sliema, with views of the beach (St Julian’s Bay I think) and we did tours as you do. Not quite warm enough for a swim for me. We even took a day trip to Sicily, which was awesome. It’s only 52 Nautical miles from Malta. Next time, more Sicily and Malta. Also, did my fan girl, Montalbano, visit to his police station. I didn’t pay to go in, just took photos.

Next stop was one night in London and the Hilton Heathrow Terminal 4 and then Singapore. We stayed with my son and his wife and my grandson in their apartment. We ate crab! Thanks Taamo! and did the Night Safari and the Amazon experience. Again more walking. We also did the Gardens by the Bay, which was lovely but Singapore is humid and hot. We caught up with some writing friends, Dev and Joyce and ate lots of yummy food and swam in the condo pool, well I walked in the pool, which was lovely and huge.

Sadly, all good things come to an end. We came home. For a few weeks we had started thinking about home, what we wanted to do, changes in our habits we wanted to make and thinking about our lovely granddaughter who started school while we were away. Nothing hurts more than those heart strings and she sent us messages that made us almost weep.

I started work on Monday (Day job) and today was meant to be a writing day. Alas, dr appointment, tradie, pool walking, Genius appointment because my phone is chucking a wobbly, and then meeting friends tonight, I can’t see where I’m going to slot even a solid hour in.

I am doing a novel crit group thing so I have at least finished this month’s novel and just need to write up my feedback. I guess that’s what I’ll be doing today because that’s not hard.

Jetlag I’ve been okay. I think the stop over in Singapore helped me adjust to Australia again, although I do zone out and get fatigued.

Weight I’ve lost 2.5 kilos since I’ve been back. Most of that would be fluid retention from the flight. But I found this neat and free calorie food diary thing and that’s helping me keep track.

I’ve also am trying a new self mantra. Instead of looking in the mirror and criticising myself, I’m going to say “Hey gorgeous. You look fantastic. You’re awesome.” I’ve read about two celebrities that I really admire and both have talked about how they have hated their bodies (Winslet and Thompson) and how every woman is unhappy with her body. I think this is mostly the body norms that are thrust at us constantly. For years I’ve had body dismorphia and I’ve hated how I looked. Now I’m going to accept it. That doesn’t mean I’m letting myself go. I get sick if I put on too much weight so I’ll keep my goals but I’m going to stop the negative self talk. Try to at least. Not easy.

Next post I’ll put up some photos. I’m currently backing up the phone so can’t right now.

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Currently in London

February 3, 2024 by donnamareehanson

We are renting a small apartment near the Imperial Wharf. It’s lovely and a 15 minute walk to the metro, but close to overland trains which is useful when we go to Hampton Court if the trains are not strike affected.

We are staying for two weeks because we wanted to get a feel for the place and do as many of things that we can. However, this is possibly the most expensive part of the trip just in accommodation alone. We had a lovely week in Kent with writing friends and we enjoyed every minute. Matthew was very happy to visit and, I think observing him and Dan together, that Matthew was nurtured and encouraged and mentored as a writer and fried.

The EV car is a gift that keeps on giving. Besides the scratch they have pinged us for lots of little things. No invoice as yet but Hertz had debited us $1200 so far. I don’t mind so much but an invoice would be nice so we can claim on our insurance. I wish Hertz paid as much attention to the EV battery performance as they do scratches on tire rims etc.

Yesterday after a late start we made it to the British Library for the fantasy exhibition: Realms of the Imagination. It was a lovely homage to the fantasy genre, with a focus on fairy tales and folk lore as origin, and featured some neat stuff. I have some new books to track down. Not comprehensive but a bit hard to do that I think. The exhibition was full of nerdy people like us who took ages to look at things so a bit frustrating for me, the whizz kid. Matthew took his time. I checked out the store and wept for the things I could not buy due to postage costs.

We went for a drink in a nearby pub then decided to go home and cook for ourselves. A quick shop and Sainsbury’s at the tube station and we had a heathy dinner except for the icecream. We have enhanced our supplies for breakfast and soon will be off to the Natural History Museum which isn’t far away. We will be taking the tube though.

Because we are here for two weeks, we get to fully unpack. I think I’ll have time to read and write but who knows. Sometimes I’m just so tired from walking around. I am averaging 9500 steps per day this last month. Of note, the weather is currently mild. I nearly died of heat in the tube with my coat on but no room to take it off. Today is set to be 13-14 degrees which is crazy warm. Where are the blizzards? I’ll probably jinx us.

We are scheduled to fly to Malta after this but now there are strikes in Europe so who knows. Watch and see.

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Travelling with too much to post

January 30, 2024 by donnamareehanson

Since Lincoln we have moved around a lot. We went to Newcastle upon Tyne, staying mostly out at South Shields. We loved this place. My Hanson grandfather was born in South Shields and it was lovely to get a feel for the place, where his father and his grandfather live. I went searching for the houses where they lived. Alas, the Long Row had been demolished and the Long Row now is only part of the original with new buildings, but they lived in these tenements along the river. They were seaman, steveadores etc so lived close by. I went looking for two other addresses. Catherine Street I found was now a library and the other place still existed but the house they lived it appeared on Apple Maps in someone’s backyard so no longer existing. We went looking for St Hilda’s cemetery and it is now a car park. I sort of gave up after that. I was going to go and look where my nana was born in Washington but her street didn’t exist and it was a suburb’s name now. Besides it snowed that day. We did one day in Newcastle and did my Vera thing, including Whitley Bay and the Holy Island on our way to Scotland.

In Edinburgh I caught up with a second cousin on my mum’s side. He and his wife were very interesting people. One of the things they do is medieval music. Fascinating.

We stayed in a lovely hotel, Holyrood with views to Arthur’s seat and very handy to the High street etc. They were so lovely. We left something behind and they posted it to us, charging us only for postage. Food was good, room was large and warm. We did a day trip to Perth to visit Farah and Edward and had a lovely lunch, talked about books etc before heading out to walk through the town/city. It’s quite big Perth. It was also quite cold with barely getting to the high of 1 degree C.

It was time to turn south and we stopped in Lancaster for the evening, meeting up with Patrick and Julie for dinner. Lancaster is a place we’d like to come back to as it seemed interesting but we couldn’t really look around as we were headed south.

In Knebsworth we stayed with my cousin and had a fab time. She took us to Windsor for the day and spoiled us rotten. Now we are in Maidstone in Kent also being spoiled, but today is chill day so I can blog.

It’s kind of sad as I have lots of photos but here are a few.

Windsor castle

Windsor Moat

Matthew in front of St George’s chapel, Windsor Castle.

A snap taken in the Undercroft Cafe with my cousin, whose treat it was for us.

The castle ruins in Rochester, Kent. We went for a day to check it out.

Medway River at Maidstone, we did a long historical walk around the town.

A Tudor style house in Maidstone. Then we went to lunch at La Villetta, enjoyed some great food and company.

We went to Aylesford to visit to Friars again and it was misty and moody and very serene. We enjoyed it so much.

The peace walk lookiing back to the gatehouse at the Friars. Note, to Ruby Heart/Emerald Fire fans, this is the priory I used in the book. It was a great setting for a secret society of magicians.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more photos. We head to London for two weeks on Thursday. The sand in our hour glass is running down. Although we are going to Malta and Singapore before we see our cats and family again.

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The downside of renting an EV vehicle in the UK as a tourist

January 30, 2024 by donnamareehanson

We have an EV at home in Australia and we love it. When we planned our trip to the UK we decided an EV would be the right thing to do. Guilt free travel and better for the enviroment.

Immediately, though, we had issues, the first thing was charging in the suburbs of Brighton. There are a huge number of providers and apps, but some of the key apps can’t be downloaded to an Australian phone. Admittedly I was sick with a lurgy and it played on my mind and I was saying just take it back and get a hybrid, but my partner didn’t want to. If we had we might have found out that UK Hertz charge way too much to drop a car to a site that isn’t the orginal hire site. Like some 200 GDP.

After a few days we were able to charge on the motorway services using Gridserve, which has lots of chargers. However, the cost per kw is quite high in comparision to Australia, even though in Australia it is rising. So on average 79 pence per kw so that’s about $1.60 per kw so nearly what we pay for a litre of petrol at home. But consider I kw is not equivalent to 1 litre in terms of distance. Anyway we were just grateful to just to be able to charge. Eventually we worked out our favourite chargers and also our least favourite. Scotland Charge Place is our least favourite because can’t download the app, and they were everywhere in Scotland! So to charge in Edinburgh it was a hunt and then a long drive to charge, in the opposite direction. We almost always needed fast charging because the slow chargers were not accessible without RFID cards or apps.

The next challenge was that the car we drove a Corsa E did not go as far on a charge as advertised. It would say 219 miles on a full charge on the dash and it barely went 100 miles and so on average one and a quarter to one and a half hours before having to charge. We became very cautious because it was unreliable and we didn’t want to get stranded. At times it was cold and that affects the distance a battery will take you and having the heater on. We tested it without the heater on and it still fell very short distance wise. So when we planned a trip to move from Lancaster to Luton I added an additional three hours for charging. I was very pissed off at this stage. The reason we surmised was because this car was a rental, it had been slammed and only subject to fast charging which depletes the battery. So not only were we paying heaps for charging we were charging a lot more often so it was double the cost. It sucked big time.

Then if your plans change or you don’t want to drop the car at 8.00am at Heathrow try to find an alternative. Phone numbers not answering. Finding someone to talk to and eventually finding out that dropping the car anywhere than Heathrow was going to cost an addition 200 GDP so $400 in Australian money and that is ridiculous. When we picked up at Heathrow they said it was 200 GDP to drop at Marble Arch and we assumed that was because of congestion charges etc. But no, it is what they charged for any drop off other than Heathrow which I assume we are also paying a airport fee. We really like Hertz Australia, so efficient and helpful but alas the same cannot be said of Hertz UK.

We ended taking the car back to Heathrow early the day before it was due to save getting up early, getting caught in peak hour traffic etc. When we dropped it back the bloke assessing the car was not interested in how the battery sucked but he was interested in the scratch on the car which we didn’t know was there. Fair enough, but really he should have noted down and expressed some concern at the crap battery on this car.

Also, did I mention they charged us extra for the electric car. We had found that car at that price in Australia but they didn’t honour it because we didn’t take a screen shot. So lesson learned if you are looking find something but can’t reserve it take a screen shot. We had issues with our Aussie credit card not being accepted on the UK site (various cards over days) that we had to book from Australia using Australian Hertz.

Interesting to note that our last charge on a Tesla supercharger was cheaper than any on the other chargers we used. Go figure that.

That said, some of the charging at services was really brilliant. Ten or so fast chargers and a separate bank of Tesla chargers. Only a select few of the Tesla chargers allowed non-Tesla charging. To do so, google Tesla superchargers UK, then un highlight everything but non-tesla superchargers, then if you are actually at that charger just press on the charger on the map, find the number, add your credit card details and you are away. I found that worked with BP Pulse too, using a map etc, much to my partner’s surprise.

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Next book signing March

January 16, 2024 by donnamareehanson

Just a quick post to encourage you all to come along to the ARRA book signings. It’s a great opportunity for romance readers and fans to meet authors. The signings are all over, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

In March 2024 I will be signing at ARRA’s A Romantic Rendezvous in Sydney and Melbourne. These multi-author signings will be held in four cities and will feature up to 30 authors at each event. You can find the full list of signing authors here: https://australianromancereaders.com.au/events/arr2024/. Tickets are now on sale: https://www.trybooking.com/1123090

Another great bit of news is the ARRA awards are going to be hosted in Brisbane this year. I really like going along to support ARRA and the nominated authors and it’s a fab time too.

I had hope to have a new book out in time for the book signing. But naughty me went skiving off to the UK for a few months. I will have my newish releases available, Awakening and The Changeling Curse. And if I get a move on, I might have something else in the pipeline.

See cool banner below.

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In the North and Winter is here

January 16, 2024 by donnamareehanson

We’ve moved on from Nottingham and spent a lovely week in a village just outside Lincoln. Nettleham was so lovely. Lots of quaint stone houses, a beck and great, great company. We loved it.

This photo is Matthew on one of the little bridges over the beck. The whole village was wonderful.

The picture above is Lincoln cathedral. We really liked this and the city of Lincoln was an unexpected pleasure.

The remains of the city wall.

Now we have moved onto South Shields, where my paternal grandfather was born. My paternal grandmother was born nearby in Durham. These next few days we will explore. Today we walk into South Shields and maybe find the house where it began about 200 years ago. There are even some relatives nearby. Not sure I’ll meet them. The people are very friendly.

On BailWe did a big walk today down to Long Row but the house wasn’t the house but a 25 year old one. Later research revealed the Long Row had been subsumed into a wharf/ship building thing and the existing Long Row is just on the end of it. Also, Thrift Street was subsumed too and there was another relative there. We walked to St Hilda’s church hoping to find a cemetery but no graves were there. We walked to the churchyard and it was a car park (apparently the bodies were exhumed and it closed in 1855) and then went to another address but that was weird and I don’t think that house exists either. Then when we got back I did some research and the other place I wanted to find in Catherine Street is now a library. I should write a story about an unquiet carpark. Look, my relatives were poor so their houses don’t exist anymore. I was kind of sad. I haven’t give up hope of finding a grave but we will see.

This is a view of the Long Row but it is a newish construction and only part of the original, the original long row being absorbed into the dock expansion. It did give me an idea of how close they lived to the docks where by GGG grandfather was a stevedore in 1894. There is some historical photos which I’ll buy of these streets that don’t exist now.

A bit of trivia. My great grandfather was Alexander Hanson, but he was born after the other Alexander Hanson, his brother died at 15 months. Alexander is one of those repeating names because Elizabeth Erichsen and John Hanson who married in 1834 both had fathers named Alexander.

The above is the local church I believe my ancestors went to. As discussed, no cemetary.

Also, snow was predicted and we got a short film of it. I think it then turned to sleet but excitement.

A view of Littlehaven beach where we are staying. That’s the head of the River Tyne.

I’m tacking on the trip to Newcastle yesterday. It’s an amazing place. Too short a time to explore and we walked so much. I did my Vera homage, and we went to the castle, the cathedral, the Milenium Bridge and did a M&C cafe lunch.

We walked up the Longstairs on our way back from the bridge.

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Currently in Nottingham

January 5, 2024 by donnamareehanson

There’s been a lot of rain hereabouts. Storm Gerrick while we were in Brighton and Storm Henk while we are in the north. The River Trent is in flood, but hopefully it has dropped from its peak last evening.

We are having a quiet, relaxing time with a few trips out. Matthew’s lovely cousins gave us the use of a room at the top of the house with an ensuite and we are cosy and warm. We sleep a lot but as I might have mentioned it is very dark here in the UK in Winter. Two hours less sunlight than Winter in Canberra. I did a bit of research. The flip side of that is that there is two hours more sunlight in summer in the UK than at home. I am very sunlight dependent I find. At home I’m awake with the dawn.

If we have something on I’m fine with being awake when it is dark, otherwise at 4pm I feel like it’s the middle of the night and I have this instinct to go hibernate. Weird. I can understand why some people get SAD in Winter.

So far we went to the Broadway cinema and watched a Filipino film called Raging Grace. It was a great film screened in a lounge with an eclectic mix of chairs. We had dinner in the cafe first. Then last night we had dinner with Marc at The Botanist restaurant a short walk from where we are staying. It was great to catch up after so many years. I saw Marc in 2019 but Matthew has not travelled since 2014 I think. It is hard when you really enjoy spending time with someone but you live so far apart. Anyway, we ate, we talked and were chucked out of the restaurant as it closed at ten. Hahahaha. We could have gone to the bar but it was late by then.

Yesterday we went for a walk. First to grab some brunch/lunch and then cousin Bob suggested we walk along the embankment next to the river which was in flood. We did do that walk but kept on going until we walked to Warhammmer World. We had a look around and a drink in Bugman’s Bar. I think we are heading there again today. We caught an Uber back though as it was more than 10,000 steps.

Otherwise today I’m not sure what we have planned. Maybe dinner in the pub across the road. As we were travelling in Winter we hadn’t really planned to do touristy stuff. We planned on hanging out getting to know our family and friends more and maybe write and walk etc. This is what we are doing so all good.

We hadn’t planned too much ahead but now I’ve booked some accommodation in South Shields, Newcastle on Tyne, within walking distance of the great, great, great grandfather’s house and other things so that’s kind of cool. Then we head to Edinburgh for a few days, a day in Lancaster to meet up with friends as we break our journey back to Hertfordshire.

Trent River in flood
A quick view of how fast the river is flowing.

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Travelling in Winter

December 30, 2023 by donnamareehanson

The things you do for your art. Matthew and I wanted, among other things, to experience a Northern Winter in the UK. Add visiting family into the mix and here we are.

My first week was plagued by sickness. I do not recommend. Not Covid. Much worse than my bout of Covid in October. I had a painful fever for three days. I had to isolate and also stressed about getting well enough to eat Christmas dinner, the whole reason we had come to this particular place and our particular cousin host. No runny nose per se, terrible chest and stomach ache. I still have a cough. However, while I was lying about on Christmas morning contemplating going to the A&E about my gut, I thought I’d try one more thing. I had two mugs of hot chicken stock. That helped. Not a cure but I could be normal. I don’t think my appetite is quite back to normal but that’s probably a good thing.

Being sick also induced homesickness in both of us. Matthew because he was worried about me being sick (separate rooms) and we had hired an EV car and couldn’t get the blasted thing charged. Many of the apps required our app store to be set in the UK. We tried doing that but the app store would not accept our Australian credit cards. Stupid, stupid system. I was lying in bed feverish and fretting. I made up my mind we should just take it back and swap for a hybrid. However, at long last Matthew found a place and was able to charge. Once on the motorways it was even easier as there are plenty of charges that just take credit card. No need for apps.

It was very windy and drizzly in Saltdean (near Brighton). We did a walk in the fields where I had walked in the summer of 2019. Totally different with the fields empty and rolling mist coming in from the sea. Lucky I had a down overcoat from Macpac. My daughter urged me to get one and I went the day before we left and there was a sale and I got a great deal. The magic is the squash into the hood so takes up very little room in the luggage.

There was a break in the storm and we went out to the seafront this time. What surprised me was how many people were out and about. It was Boxing Day so I figure public holiday and people had been holed up with their pups and kids. Also, a drop in the wind had made so much difference. The next day the wind was back and we went for a walk along Telscombe Tye (the common on the rise). There we were nearly blown off the face of the earth and the sea was raging. Those lovely seawalks that people were on the day before were crushed by huge waves that slapped and grabbed at the white chalk cliffs. Inexplicably my phone camera would not take shots. My iphone 13 has been a bit dodgy recently. Matthew took some photos thankfully.

On the way back to our cousins we stopped for a coffee at a little cafe called Daisy’s and shared a sticky bun, sort of looked like a Belgian Bun, but not quite.

Our plans for New Year had to change due to a friend’s illness. We had a bit of a brainstorm about what to do. I think New Year can be a hard time to invite yourself to someone’s house on short notice so we ended up in York for New Years. We upscaled to DoubleTree by Hilton and it’s nice, just by the walls and an easy walk into the old part of town. We can either join the fun in town or stay in at the bar on the day.

Last night we went for a walk after we arrived. There were so many people out, going to restaurants and bars and just walking. I knew it was like this in summer as we stayed in the city in 2019 but was surprised that even in the cold and rain people came in numbers. We ended up at a York roast place after walking around for a bit. When the rain set in we went back to the hotel and sat in the warm while Matthew sipped a Bulgarian red.

Compared to Brighton there is half an hour less sunlight than Brighton. I guess they make up for it in summer with more time. However, for me personally the lack of sunlight is such a challenge. I don’t feel fully awake until the sun is up and even when it is up it’s a pallid thing leaking through streaks of cloud. In the afternoon it starts to get dark at 3.30pm and it’s totally dark by 4pm. I feel like it’s very late at night when it’s barely 5 o’clock. We are still taking naps and I have to set alarms to get us out to eat otherwise I fear we’ll just keep sleeping.

I’m on hotel wifi so I’m not sure if any photos will load. Yay!

This is Saltdean Beach as discussed.

Above is the cliff walk, which the next day had pounding waves.

Our cousin fed us the most amazing food. We had this venison roast on Boxing day.

Now this is what I call a bank of chargers. There was also a bank of Tesla charges.At times people had to wait for a spot.

Us driving up to Monk Bar where our hotel is.

This is the first time I’ve switched on my computer so far. This of course translates to no writing. I’ve been sick so I have an excuse. However, hence forth, not much of one. We are about to head off to find some breakfast. Talk again.

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Back from the long holiday

November 19, 2023 by donnamareehanson

We’ve been to Bali, Singapore and drove through Victoria and spent a number of weeks in Tasmania. We tested positive for Covid on arriving in Hobart. Luckily we were still able to do our Terror Australis Writers Retreat because they let us, and we had a sefl-contained unit and our meals could be delivered. I got out of isolation in time to have my fan girl moment with Ann Cleeves.

This is not a detailed travelogue. Something even more exciting to me!

You see for nearly a year now I have not wanted to be in my office. Instead of finding it hard to get me out of there and off my computer, I just didn’t want to go in there. I thought perhaps I had burn out from the PhD. I’ve dabbled and so on. I got a few things done but the joy wasn’t there…just little glimpses of hope when I achieved something.

On Thursday, I decided I was going to work on an academic article based on my research. This has been on my to do list for about 2 years…and it kept getting pushed down the list so far down it wasn’t even on my radar. Along with my PhD novel I might add. I started doing some preliminary work. Reading some articles, checking out the formatting requirements for the journal I want to submit to etc. Today, Sunday, I started on it. I haven’t put a lot into it yet. What I felt, though ,is what amazed me. I felt joy. Absolute joy. And well that surprised me.

This is why only now looking back to I see that it was most likely burn out, now that it has lifted. I think the holiday helped because you know 6 weeks of being away from home, a free routine mostly. We got Bali Belly, I had a cough sore throat (non-covid) before I left and then go Covid for reals and now I’m coming good. I feel really good physically and mentally. I’m so grateful for that.

I’ve got a short window to focus on the article and the novel to be honest as we head overseas to the UK in December for 2.5 months and there’s a lot to do before we go and not as much time as you’d think to write while away.

Posted in A writer's life, Burn out, Creative passion, feminism and romance, phd, Trying to focus | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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