PAULINE BARCLAY
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Daily Jottings!
July
Wednesday 28th July...
Losing You
You held my hand as I stood by
you uttered words that made me cry.
You said so many things I didn’t understand
but still you held on to my hand.
You said it was impossible to go on
that you and I could no longer belong.
You said you were sorry, and it wasn’t planned
but still you held on to my hand.
I wanted to cry and loudly shout
What is this all about?
But you just stood and stared at me
holding my hand so tenderly.
And as you stood and watched me cry
I heard you whisper a last goodbye.
Then you turned and as you did
your hand from mine slowly slid.
You walked away and then I knew
Despite it all I was loosing you.
Friday 23rd July...Hot Air, Yellow Sand & Rising Temperatures!
This last week as just flown by, but then I seem to be saying this every week!
The weather has governed when and how we do things these last few days and
it may surprise you it is not because of rain. Down here on Lanzarote, it is not
unusual to have several months without rain and certainly this time of year, rain
is unheard of. What has kept us on our toes or should I say in the swimming pool,
has been the heat. The early part of the week we had a calima. For those not
familiar with calimas, they are hot winds that come from Africa and carry minute
particles of sand – Africa is a close neighbour to the island so the winds have not
far to travel to reach us, a distance of around 70 miles.
Sometimes the sand in the air is so dense that it creates a mist effect and visibility at high levels can be poor. When airborne the sand is not visible to the naked eye, but as soon as it lands, you will not fail to notice it presence.
The fine sand covers everything creating a thin blanket of yellow. Nothing escapes! When the island has a calima it is pointless cleaning up because as fast
as you wipe table tops, sweep terraces, clean cars or your pool it
returns within nano seconds. But as messy as a calima is, it is the
heat that will take your breath away. Shade temperatures can
climb into the 40s and 50s and even after the sun as long gone
down the heat will only fall by a few degrees. A calima normally
lasts around three days and during that time your best friend
is your swimming pool or the sea, a fan or even better still,
an air conditioning unit….phew!
Tuesday 13th July...SARA This afternoon I went along to see Emma at Sounds Familiar, they sell books, stationery and greetings cards in an air-conditioned shop in Puerto Del Carmen....phew! I was pleased the little unit was gushing out cold air! The temperature outside was 32c, so much for it being cooler today!
Emma greeted me with her usual cheery smile as she served her customers I
sawto my delight my books, Magnolia House & Satchfield Hall were on fullview.
Just as we got talking, two familiar faces came into the shop and before many
more minutes had passed, I had handed over a signed copy of each of my books.
On this occasion we didn't make a sale, the two ladies who had entered the shop
are volunteers for SARA Animal Shelter here on Lanzarote and the books will be
used to help raise much needed funds.
Janet Rose, one of the volunteers said, 'Thank you, this is wonderful,
we will raffle the books at our next Ladies who Lunch meeting.
We might even make 200 euros from the ticket sales.'
As I left the shop and bid Emma a nice, but cool afternoon, I hadn't sold any
books during my visit, but I came out of the shop much richer. I was so
pleased that I had, by chance, bumped into the ladies.
If you can help SARA with a donation or in any other way, please email:
info@sara-lanzarote.eu or visit their web site: www.sara-lanzarote.eu
Thursday 8th July… Redhill – Cotland Acres Reading Group met on Tuesday 6th July to discuss their June book of the month, which was Magnolia House. Prior to the meeting, Alma Botes from the reading group told me, ‘Everyone I have spoken to so far has loved it! I will let you know all the feedback after the meeting. I have ordered Satchfield Hall and I am eagerly anticipating the third book!’
After receiving these encouraging words, I was delighted
when I received the comments from Alma after Tuesday’s meeting.
‘Everyone really enjoyed the book and some
of the comments were:
Nice and easy read - perfect for a holiday.Loved the way all the different peoples' storiestied up in the end.
True to life, believable charactersToo short - did not want it to end!Could see Magnolia House in my mind, and was almostplanning how I would change it if I moved in
I liked the short chapters as I always have to read upto the end of a chapter before I put a book down.’
I would just like to thank everyone at the Cotland Acres reading club not only for the wonderful feed back, for which I am overwhelmed, but for choosing Magnolia House. Thank you so much.
I hope you will also enjoy Satchfield Hall.
Tuesday 6th July...Goodbye & Hello! I can not believe that it is July already, where has the year gone? Have I slept through it? The year certainly seems to be racing along at an alarming speed. The weather we are having down here is heavy clouds for several hours each day, just so not Lanzarote and this as lasted for over a month now. But despite the fickleness of the climate, I've been busy with my new novel. As I have said before it is drafted, but now I am working hard on honing and perfecting it. The characters are amazing and I do have two favourites. One is a bitch from hell; I cringe and laugh out loud regularly at what she says so brazenly to friends and strangers alike. How she gets away with it is amazing, but then who knows who is around the corner…..mmm, yes of course I do!
The other lovely character is scatty, giggles far too much, but she is lovely and in my opinion adds a lovely balance against Mrs Bitchy!
Working on my draft, is for me the best part of writing. I feel at this stage I can spend as much time as is necessary, not only to get to know my characters really well, but to feel the depth of their pain, laughed out loud with them, cringe in embarrassment at some of their ways and more importantly, know them as intimately as is possible. In some cases, I think I know them better than myself!
And because of this, if there is a down side to writing, then for me it is when my book is finished. By the time the last page is complete, I know that my characters will leave me and drift away because our journey together has come to an end. Their story has been told and we must go our own separate ways.
But despite this, they are still there in my head and from time to time I can hear their voices. Jane Leonard from Magnolia House, talking about her family and despite her being a strong lady, she was so vulnerable when she gave half of her house away. Henry Bryant-Smythe from Satchfield Hall, his voice will forever thunder through my head as I can not believe someone could be so callous. And as their voices slowly fade and my new characters take their place it is a mixture of emotions as I say goodbye and hello and all the time my fingers nimbly slip across the keyboard into a new world of fiction.
