Busman's holiday

[Bernard Stacey]

I've just returned from a couple of weeks in southern Italy, where I've had a lovely time with the family, largely involving the beach (daughter insistent) and sundry gelato/latte macchiato cafes (wife insistent). Despite this hectic schedule, I've managed to read six novels and get 10,000 words of my WIP done (mainly whilst sitting on the balcony overlooking the sea and Sicily, whilst everyone else was siesta-ing).

I feel suitably reenergised, which is just as well as it seems I'm expected back at work tomorrow...

 

[Emurelda]

Sounds lovely...i wish i could get that sort of writing in.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Ooh, lovely

 

[Jennifer Stone]

Sounds like you had a great time

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Did the beautiful location provide you with any literary inspiration? And, I've got to ask - which six novels did you read?

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Definitely lovely, but too short a?

 

[Bernard Stacey]

Did the beautiful location provide you with any literary inspiration? And, I've got to ask - which six novels did you read?

No inspiration from the view (though it was idyllic) as my WIP had little to do with sun-drenched Mediterranean vistas but it was great to look up and see it between paragraphs!
The six novels were non-intellectual and hugely entertaining holiday reads:

Lamb, Christopher Moore
Fool, also Christopher Moore
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, Jonas Jonasson
The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
Vermeer to Eternity (novella/short story only), Anthony Horowitz
The Girl Who Couldn't Read, John Harding
Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan

Hard to rank them but probably
3
1
6
2
5
7
4 (I found the Paula Hawkins one OK, but a bit tiresome. It was a good lesson as to how important it is to have the reader empathise with the MC, whether he/she is good or evil. John Harding did that fabulously so that one spends much of the book wanting a murderer to get away with it).

 

[Bernard Stacey]

Definitely lovely, but too short a?

Holidays are always too short!!

 

[Karen Gray]

Bet it is feeling just a smidge less sunny. Welcome back though