Looking Back: 2012 - 2013

 

Two years ago I ran the Cheltenham 10K, then was diagnosed with Stage 4 (incurable) breast cancer. At the time I didn't know if I'd be able to finish writing BOOK 2 but thanks to modern cancer treatments and lots of love and support from friends and family, I've been able to send BOOK 3 to the publisher this month.

This seems a good time to look back over the past few years, and reflect on the way my life has changed.

November 2012:

Looking back, this is where my desire to write took hold. Simon and I woke to this view of Lincoln cathedral on our first visit to the city in November 2012. There was so much to see and so much history to absorb. The cathedral and city provided the perfect setting for my first murder mystery.

Climbing up Steep Hill to Castle Square, I felt an affinity with all those who had tackled the ascent in previous centuries. I made my characters pause to rest halfway up when they first arrived in the city, as I needed to do.

Back in 2012, Gainsborough Old Hall still had displays about the Pilgrim Fathers' group who met there illegally before fleeing to Amsterdam in 1607/8. English Heritage have removed all mention of them since talking ownership, preferring to focus on King Henry VIII's earlier visit to the manor house.

Finding this lonely monument was an emotional experience. It marks the bleak spot near the coast beyond Boston where the Pilgrim group - men, women and children - whilst trying to flee to Amsterdam to avoid arrest by Archbishop Bancroft's church pursuivants. 

When I saw the view from Lincoln Castle I knew I had to write a scene there. There are two in Paying in Blood - the bear fight and Baxby's last last conversation with glover Jane on the Cobb Tower roof.

June 2013:

This is me on holiday in June 2013, when after finishing two big security contracts, I took a break from consultancy work to start to write. At that point in my life, I had lots of ideas but little knowledge of the craft itself. However, I was used to learning 'on the job', having often worked with new technologies and moved into different business sectors during my career, and knew it was time to write about historical national security threats rather than dealing with modern ones in the office.