Welcome… I’m New Here! Hi from a Brit currently stuck in Morocco!

[Pete Sherrard]

Hello everyone.
So, I've recently finished a novel set in the muddy trenches of northern France (It's been odd to look up sometimes and see camels wandering across golden sand dunes). I'm normally from Bristol, England.

I'm about to start the horrifying stage of sending query letters to agents. But I've just found Litopia, so it's all going to be fine...

My reading interests are anything good. Genuinely anything. But it's taken three years to write this book and most of that time has been spent researching about life in the trenches, so I can't wait to read something based somewhere else for a change!
I'm vegan.
I'm currently travelling around Morocco in a campervan, with my girlfriend, a ten month old baby and a three-legged dog.

 

[izi 出久]

Ah, the wanderer's life. Welcome!

 

[Dorm Ant]

Hello and welcome. Travel isn't my thing, though the vegan way certainly is.

Are you on holiday, or do you live in the van?

 

[Mel L]

Hey Pete and bienvenue! Trenches aren't exactly my thing but France certainly is -- lived there for over 20 years, now in Switzerland. Sounds like you're having fun wandering the world while gathering some amazing material for your next book. You're in the right place here. Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Pete, hi and welcome.
And, oh, I’m so envious. My hubby and I lived in a Motorhome for 3 years, and it was the most wonderful time of my life.
But getting wifi was a bitch.
Xxx VH

 

[Ed Simnett]

great to have you on board.

I'm in a similar space (historical thrillers set in and around WW1, though not much trench action). My great uncles both died in the war, one was part of the Christmas Truce in 1914.

Ed

 

[RK Wallis]

Welcome aboard @Pete Sherrard Sounds like you're having the time of your life! Have you seen Band of Brothers? You probably have. It's a must for anyone writing about the war

 

[Pete Sherrard]

I have! And visited the actual locations, sat in the fox holes, still surrounded by splintered trees. It's an amazing show.

 

[Pete Sherrard]

great to have you on board.

I'm in a similar space (historical thrillers set in and around WW1, though not much trench action). My great uncles both died in the war, one was part of the Christmas Truce in 1914.

Ed

Hi Ed, that's fascinating about your uncle. Was he part of the famous one with the football? I read there were lots of them all along the line. My grandfather was a very young medic and was the inspiration for my book, although it ended up not being about him at all. Have you published or are you in the process now?
I've started reading Two Storm Wood, not sure about it at all. Have you read it?

 

[Pete Sherrard]

I have! And visited the actual locations, sat in the fox holes, still surrounded by splintered trees. It's an amazing show.

Pete, hi and welcome.
And, oh, I’m so envious. My hubby and I lived in a Motorhome for 3 years, and it was the most wonderful time of my life.
But getting wifi was a bitch.
Xxx VH

Hi, 4g is amazing here in Morocco. There's almost nowhere you can't get it! We were planning a year long trip, very convoluted, to Mongolia but got stuck here in Morocco when the borders closed and they still haven't opened. And Mongolia would be via Russia so... There's worst places to be stuck than here though.

 

[Pete Sherrard]

Ah, the wanderer's life. Welcome!

Thanks!

 

[Pete Sherrard]

Hello and welcome. Travel isn't my thing, though the vegan way certainly is.

Are you on holiday, or do you live in the van?

Hi,
We were planning a long trip via Morocco to Mongolia and back,but got stuck here in Morocco with the borders closing and Mongolia would have been through Russia, so that might be a tad delayed... We're thinking we will be traveling for about a year, but everything is so up in the air right now.

 

[Pete Sherrard]

Hey Pete and bienvenue! Trenches aren't exactly my thing but France certainly is -- lived there for over 20 years, now in Switzerland. Sounds like you're having fun wandering the world while gathering some amazing material for your next book. You're in the right place here. Looking forward to hearing more!

Hi Mel,
I thought about settling in Switzerland for awhile. I love that country. I'm jealous. I settled for Italy in the end. Much, much cheaper. I still have a house there. Where are in in Switzerland?

 

[RK Wallis]

I have! And visited the actual locations, sat in the fox holes, still surrounded by splintered trees. It's an amazing show.

How epically cool! That would have been sobering...

 

[Ancora Imparo]

Hello Pete, and welcome – looks like you're already making yourself at home, which is great.

Once you get to know the place, check out the Workshops. There's some great advice on offere there.

You can always submit the first 700 words of your own work to Pop-Ups if you'd like some advice on the beginning. That's on YouTube, Sunday evenings from 5pm (UK time). I'm not sure how that translates into Moroccan time but since they're on YouTube, you can listen in whenever suits you. There's excellent advice every week on writing and publishing in general.

I'm one of the Guardians on Litopia. If you have any questions, please get in touch — happy to help any time. Look forward to seeing you around the Colony!

 

[Jonny]

Welcome @Pete Sherrard . Hope you enjoy Litopia.

It’s extremely friendly here so do feel free to get involved as soon as you’re ready.

Here's a good place to check out (How-to guide) to see a lot of what goes on in the colony.

If anything is unclear please contact me and I’ll be happy to assist if I can.

 

[JanePettegree]

Hello everyone.
So, I've recently finished a novel set in the muddy trenches of northern France (It's been odd to look up sometimes and see camels wandering across golden sand dunes). I'm normally from Bristol, England.

I'm about to start the horrifying stage of sending query letters to agents. But I've just found Litopia, so it's all going to be fine...

My reading interests are anything good. Genuinely anything. But it's taken three years to write this book and most of that time has been spent researching about life in the trenches, so I can't wait to read something based somewhere else for a change!
I'm vegan.
I'm currently travelling around Morocco in a campervan, with my girlfriend, a ten month old baby and a three-legged dog.

Hi Pete - I love grey skies and imagining living in a metal box under burning skies would be exhausting! How do you hold the memory of rain and northern grey clouds clearly in your head when you live in Morocco?

 

[Pete Sherrard]

Hi Pete - I love grey skies and imagining living in a metal box under burning skies would be exhausting! How do you hold the memory of rain and northern grey clouds clearly in your head when you live in Morocco?

Hi Jane, I don't normally live here in Morocco. I'm just stuck here until they open the land borders. But I actually find it easier to write about places for sensations when I'm not actually experiencing them. I don't know why. I guess the nostalgia for something is stronger for me than the observation at the time. But it's not all burning skies here. I'm in the mountains at the moment and it's snowing. So there's lots of weathers to choose from.

 

[JanePettegree]

Hi Jane, I don't normally live here in Morocco. I'm just stuck here until they open the land borders. But I actually find it easier to write about places for sensations when I'm not actually experiencing them. I don't know why. I guess the nostalgia for something is stronger for me than the observation at the time. But it's not all burning skies here. I'm in the mountains at the moment and it's snowing. So there's lots of weathers to choose from.

Daft of me to forget the Atlas mountains are pretty tall! Snow in Africa - ice and fire. Hope you are safe and not too cold!

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

Hi, Pete. Welcome to Litopia. You'll love it here.
You are currently living my (vegan) daughter's dream. How long have you been travelling? I saw your journey has been interrupted by covid restrictions, but as you say, there are worse places to be stuck.
I've always wanted to visit Morocco, so I'm just a little envious. Currently, I live in southern France and we have lots of Moroccan friends.
Where in Italy did you live? I was in Rome for 6 years, with occasional forays to Assisi (where I was one of the organisers of the WWF 25th anniversary celebrations), and Verona and Turin where I was an interpreter for an environmental exchange programme of young Europeans.
Like most people here, I had a grandfather in WW1. Somehow, although he was S African, he was in the British Army, then when he was discharged on health grounds he ended up working for the French army (as an interpreter). I haven't been to the part of France where he was, I'm vaguely curious, but I'm afraid wars don't hold much attraction for me. But do I know he had something to do with evacuating civilians in Meaurain (Belgium) and Haussy (France).

 

[KateESal]

Hi Pete, welcome to the colony!

 

[Pete Sherrard]

Hi Rachel,
We've been travelling for 6 months now. The plan was to do a round trip to Mongolia, but when covid closed a lot of borders, we decided to wait things out in Morocco. Five months later we are still here, but that's ok, because if things had gone to plan we would probably be somewhere near the Ukranian/ Russian border by now...
I've restored a farmhouse in Tuscany, near Lucca. I lived there for a few years and loved it. I envy your language skills. I'm so slow to learn. It's very frustrating.
What brings you to Litopia? Are you writing a novel?

 

[Pete Sherrard]

Hi Pete, welcome to the colony!

Thanks!

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

Hi Rachel,
We've been travelling for 6 months now. The plan was to do a round trip to Mongolia, but when covid closed a lot of borders, we decided to wait things out in Morocco. Five months later we are still here, but that's ok, because if things had gone to plan we would probably be somewhere near the Ukranian/ Russian border by now...
I've restored a farmhouse in Tuscany, near Lucca. I lived there for a few years and loved it. I envy your language skills. I'm so slow to learn. It's very frustrating.
What brings you to Litopia? Are you writing a novel?

Loved Lucca when I visited. I enjoy communication and that seems to make picking languages up fairly easy. Sadly, I'm not able to keep them all in my head at the same time; certainly not at a fluent level. I also used to speak Japanese and German fairly well but haven't used either for about 30+ years I'd need a month of hard study to revive them . . . and apart from being able to say "I love you, darling" and a few other basic necessities in Arabic, I've never managed to learn more than a handful of phrases.
I wrote and self-published a novel in 2019 called The Panopticon Experiment (speculative fiction YA), and last year brought out Blown Out Of Proportion - Misadventures of a Glassblower in France a memoir, but 'not as we know it, Jim'. Currently writing a time-slip novel.
Being in Litopia is invaluable. The pop-ups are incredible (both terrifying and brilliant in equal measures). Litopians are supportive, fun, and knowledgeable. You have access to all sorts of advice, know-how, information, and skill-sharing here that elsewhere you'd have to pay through the nose for. I suspect most of us worship our intrepid leader, Peter Cox, to some degree.
(Just realised I sound a little crazy, sorry)