Friday 23 November 2012

Thinking Time


I'm not planning to blog every day but I’m keen to get started with a proper first post, so here goes.

Thinking time is as important as writing time and the best way for me to let the mind wander is to take the body for a walk. Not always easy with the erratic weather we’re having at the moment. Normally it’s one of the best times of year for walking but this year so much of the land around here is either water logged or flooded.

However, taking advantage of a fine day a week or so ago, I took my camera to Bradgate Park. Normally I’d walk there across the fields and avoid the car parking charges but as the footpaths have been reduced to quagmires, I drove. It was worth the money though.

Bradgate Park consists of about 830 acres of bracken-covered hills interspersed with ancient trees and rocky out crops. It was once a medieval deer park and is still home to herds of red and fallow deer. Bradgate House, now just a ruin was formally the home of the Grey family and birthplace of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey.

The low sun at this time of year brings out some amazing variations in colours, not just in the oranges and reds that you might expect but also here and there, splashes of purple and magenta. It’s truly magical. I'm not sure my pictures do it justice but they’ll give you a taster.

And to think they once planned to build the M1 motorway right through the middle of the park!




Thursday 22 November 2012

Breaking Cover


This is the awkward first blog where I break cover, say ‘Hi’ and give a little wave.

My name is Sally and I live near Leicester in the UK and I’m a secret scribbler. Have been for a few years now. Writing short stories, flash fiction plus the inevitable novel in progress. Most of it ends up languishing in a folder on my computer so a writing buddy persuaded me to join the twenty-first century and start networking. Hence the blog.

In a past life I worked as a graphic designer so my interests extend to how books are made as well as the words that go in them. Expect to see topics such as design, illustration and photography as well as the occasional slice of life.

If there’s anyone out there, please feel free to wave back and leave a comment.