Hey readers, it's me I am back for good as Take That once sang. This last month has been tricky and I found it next to impossible to keep my blog and novel for Nano going at the same time, and as a result the blog suffered. On a more positive note I did manage to hit my 50,000 words for Nano and am officially a winner (Yay!) I do still have some work to do and have three more chapters to write but the end is certainly near and this makes me so very happy.
The problem I have now is motivating myself to write those last three chapters to finish, now that nano has finished the pressure has been relieved and as a result I haven't finished like I should have done, and this is something I seriously need to get on and do, especially as I know I will feel so much better when it is done. Strangely enough the next few chapters should be some of the easiest to write and I have them planned out in detail in my head. I just have to sit down and convince myself to do it.
I actually have quite a busy weekend ahead of me, I am out all day tomorrow, I am out tomorrow night, working saturday, and then out saturday night so I do have limited time available, but I shall persevere and get this novel finished if it kills me.
On a slightly different subject, I understand that Amanda Vickery's series on the Georgians began tonight although unfortunately I missed it. I hope to watch this over the next few days and once I have I will post a review for it.
Will be in touch soon xxx
Showing posts with label Amanda Vickery behind closed doors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amanda Vickery behind closed doors. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Monday, 11 October 2010
You wait ages for a bus...
Don't you just hate buses? I know I do. I left my house this morning at 9.30 to catch a bus in order to be at cheltenham town hall for 10am. Normally this is a 10-15min journey and a bus turns up every 10mins. Unfortunately I just missed one bus but no fear, I thought, I will catch the next one due in ten minutes and so I waited. One bus went the other way and i thought ooh won't belong he'll be back in a minute (we are right at the end of the route), I waited, and 5mins later another went pass the other side the road and then a few minutes later and a third one went the other way.
Suffice to say I was getting a little worried. the reason I was going to Cheltenham Townhall was for the Cheltenham Literature festival where Amanda Vickery, Author of 'Behind Closed Doors' and 'a Gentlemans Daughter', was doing a talk there which started at... 10am. Finally at 9.50am a bus turned up. I jumped on and off he went, but as we had to stop at virtually EVERY stop and there were 5 or 6 people queuing at each stop and then one of the buses and our bus kept overtaking each other. When I finally got to my stop to walk to the townhall it was 10.05am. I legged it to the box office, "Is it too late to go to the Amanda Vickery Talk?" I asked. The lady radio'd someone- no we can sneak you in. I paid my £7 and finally walked in at 10.10am and fortunately appeared not to have missed too much.
Amanda was brilliant her talk was very relevant to my most recent chapters that I have been writing about relationships and proposals in the 18th Century. She talked about several case studies and of the diaries she had come across in her research at the many archives but the one that I found of most interest was that of a gentleman by the name of Dudley a man of means who proposed a total of 8 times to various women before marrying. I had read of this case study in her book but it was the way Amanda put the case study across that made me enjoy it all the more. I have sat in on many lectures previously but very few were like this, and Amanda's sense of humour made her delivery of her lecture all the more enjoyable.
I was also very interested in the research side of things and at the end of her talk she was asked a question pertaining to how easy it was to find diaries which were relevant to her topic. She said that this wasn't easy at all, for example she had heard that at a particular archive there was a document called the Personal records of x (I forget the name) but upon her visit to the archive she discovered that instead it was a book of lists. Instead she had to be versatile in her methods and instead she moved her focus to that of diaries of bachelors and widows who were more likely to write of relationship matters in diaries due to loneliness.
All in all it was an excellent talk and at the end I had the opportunity of meeting the author when she did a book signing. I complemented her on her talk saying I had enjoyed it immensely and she was kind enough to sign both copies of the books i had brought with me 'behind closed doors' and 'a gentleman's daughter.'
I also understand that there is to be a documentary series to be shown on the BBC based on her books which will air in three weeks time and I cannot wait to see it and if you have access I also recommend you do the same.
I am off to another talk tomorrow this one on Courtiers specifically those at the court of George I and George II by Lucy Worsley Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces. The description of the session advertised in the official brochure of the Cheltenham Literature Festival is as follows:
"During the reigns of King George I and his son King George II, the elegant assembly room at Kensington Palace was a place of Skulduggery, where fans whistled open like flick-knives. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, unlocks its secret world and brings to life its memorable characters in this eye-opening talk based on her book Courtiers."
I shall update you all with a review of this talk when I attend tomorrow.
Suffice to say I was getting a little worried. the reason I was going to Cheltenham Townhall was for the Cheltenham Literature festival where Amanda Vickery, Author of 'Behind Closed Doors' and 'a Gentlemans Daughter', was doing a talk there which started at... 10am. Finally at 9.50am a bus turned up. I jumped on and off he went, but as we had to stop at virtually EVERY stop and there were 5 or 6 people queuing at each stop and then one of the buses and our bus kept overtaking each other. When I finally got to my stop to walk to the townhall it was 10.05am. I legged it to the box office, "Is it too late to go to the Amanda Vickery Talk?" I asked. The lady radio'd someone- no we can sneak you in. I paid my £7 and finally walked in at 10.10am and fortunately appeared not to have missed too much.
Amanda was brilliant her talk was very relevant to my most recent chapters that I have been writing about relationships and proposals in the 18th Century. She talked about several case studies and of the diaries she had come across in her research at the many archives but the one that I found of most interest was that of a gentleman by the name of Dudley a man of means who proposed a total of 8 times to various women before marrying. I had read of this case study in her book but it was the way Amanda put the case study across that made me enjoy it all the more. I have sat in on many lectures previously but very few were like this, and Amanda's sense of humour made her delivery of her lecture all the more enjoyable.
I was also very interested in the research side of things and at the end of her talk she was asked a question pertaining to how easy it was to find diaries which were relevant to her topic. She said that this wasn't easy at all, for example she had heard that at a particular archive there was a document called the Personal records of x (I forget the name) but upon her visit to the archive she discovered that instead it was a book of lists. Instead she had to be versatile in her methods and instead she moved her focus to that of diaries of bachelors and widows who were more likely to write of relationship matters in diaries due to loneliness.
All in all it was an excellent talk and at the end I had the opportunity of meeting the author when she did a book signing. I complemented her on her talk saying I had enjoyed it immensely and she was kind enough to sign both copies of the books i had brought with me 'behind closed doors' and 'a gentleman's daughter.'
I also understand that there is to be a documentary series to be shown on the BBC based on her books which will air in three weeks time and I cannot wait to see it and if you have access I also recommend you do the same.
I am off to another talk tomorrow this one on Courtiers specifically those at the court of George I and George II by Lucy Worsley Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces. The description of the session advertised in the official brochure of the Cheltenham Literature Festival is as follows:
"During the reigns of King George I and his son King George II, the elegant assembly room at Kensington Palace was a place of Skulduggery, where fans whistled open like flick-knives. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, unlocks its secret world and brings to life its memorable characters in this eye-opening talk based on her book Courtiers."
I shall update you all with a review of this talk when I attend tomorrow.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Spotlight on... Research
Researching my novel has been one of the most challenging things i have had to do in order to prepare my novel. I thought i had done quite a bit of research before i started anyway but i also borrowed a few books from the library and have also bought some books most notably 2 books of Amanda Vickerys which look at women in Georgian England.
I keep finding that as i make progress on my novel i am having to do more and more research. I intend to write a love letter in one of my up and coming chapters and in order to do so i wanted to look at some existing love letters from the period. Some of the most notable letters were those of Napoleon Bonaparte. His letters were written approximately 60 years after the period in which my novel is set but he was quite a prolific writer and his letters tell a lot about his relationships with all of his lovers. Some of the letters i found the most relevant to what i intend to write are the letters he wrote to Marie Walewska. His language is so passionate one of my favourite lines is:
"I saw no one but you, I admired no one but you, I want no one but you.
Answer me at once, and assuage the impatient passion of N"
From this and others that i have read i am really looking forward to having a go at writing one myself.
On another note i have just heard some great news. i live in Cheltenham in England and the Cheltenham Literature Festival started today, I had a look at the programme over the next few weeks and you won't believe this but Amanda Vickery is doing a Seminar based on her two books behind closed doors and the gentlemans daughter! I am so pleased and am definitely gonna book myself in to see her and perhaps even get both books signed!!! Even better it's taking place on Monday so only a few days to go.
I keep finding that as i make progress on my novel i am having to do more and more research. I intend to write a love letter in one of my up and coming chapters and in order to do so i wanted to look at some existing love letters from the period. Some of the most notable letters were those of Napoleon Bonaparte. His letters were written approximately 60 years after the period in which my novel is set but he was quite a prolific writer and his letters tell a lot about his relationships with all of his lovers. Some of the letters i found the most relevant to what i intend to write are the letters he wrote to Marie Walewska. His language is so passionate one of my favourite lines is:
"I saw no one but you, I admired no one but you, I want no one but you.
Answer me at once, and assuage the impatient passion of N"
From this and others that i have read i am really looking forward to having a go at writing one myself.
On another note i have just heard some great news. i live in Cheltenham in England and the Cheltenham Literature Festival started today, I had a look at the programme over the next few weeks and you won't believe this but Amanda Vickery is doing a Seminar based on her two books behind closed doors and the gentlemans daughter! I am so pleased and am definitely gonna book myself in to see her and perhaps even get both books signed!!! Even better it's taking place on Monday so only a few days to go.
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