On the loose

                                First dawn at Roose Ferry - I guess there are worse places to be? New Zealand's summer is over and once again, swallow-like, I found myself migrating between two hemispheres, leaving behind the blue skies and green hills of Banks Peninsula, to arrive back in Wales, where somewhat surprisingly, I was greeted by blue skies and that intense burst of  April  greenery. The New Zealand Summer has been a little unsettled, a strong "La Nina" event was playing out in the Pacific but that did mean that the water temperature was higher than normal and the weekly showers kept the grass green. My lawn, thanks to the kind attentions of Mr Mark Walls and his little bag of nitrogen, could have produced four cuts of high quality silage. This kept me busy with the a weekly mowing and him very amused! Christchurch airport was quite busy as I departed; New Zeala...

RS Thomas (Photo credit Wikipaedia) If you have already read my debut novel, "The Bell That Never Rang" you will have encountered fragments of RS Thomas's poetry, as I used them as quotes at the beginning to each major chapter. He was one of Wales's foremost poets (he died in 2000 at the ripe old age of 87) but it is quite likely that many of you reading this blog have never heard of him!  Of course you have all heard of "The Other Thomas!"  Ronald Stuart Thomas was once "world famous in Wales" but sadly in recent years his profile has faded.  Until now that is! Just before I left Wales I had the great pleasure of being invited as a guest on Pippa Davies's Poetry Pause Podcast. (There's a link at the bottom of this blog, or search for it on your usual podcast supplier):  It proved to be a very enjoyable conversation as we explored the great man's work and I managed to shamelessly plug my book as well! (I'm getting quite god at that...

The Akaroa Mail is a popular local free newspaper, produced fortnightly and frequently running to more than 12 pages. I recently made it to page 4! I am sure they held the front page for a while but the story about tomato plants growing in gutter of Akaroa's main street just sneaked in before me! Garry Brittenden has written a very kind review in the latest edition and he wouldn't even let me buy him a coffee when we met last week in a local cafe.  The newspaper was first published in 1876 and it was an invaluable resource for me as I researched  the novel. Like most New Zealand newspapers, there is an extensive archive on-line and many of the events I included in my novel were first researched from this archive. For example, you can find the original account of the "football match" here: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA19130527.2.8.3 Meanwhile my simple marketing campaign continues. I am learning a lot about what publishers do for their money: every...

I came across this photograph on my computer this morning and it immediately took me back to June 2020 when I was deeply immersed in writing the first part of the novel. New Zealand had been in lockdown and I was due to return to the UK but COVID was making international travel little difficult. So writing the novel became a big part of my daily routine. Nearly two years later and the book is published. Thanks for the generous and positive feedback received thus far, mostly it must be said from friends and family. I look at this picture and sometimes wonder what was going on in my head at that time? Lots of research, so many threads to follow and a lot of determination to drag it all together into a story. The book finally emerged from a long term ambition to see if I could do it - could I write a novel that I would like to read? I was enjoying myself!  Of  that I am now sure and my thoughts have already begun to stray towards a sequel. ...

I t's a nervous time for me! Quite a few copies of my first novel "The Bell That Never Rang" have beens old and I imagine the readers avidly turning pages - or nodding off, as the book slips onto the floor! The book is based on the life of my Great Uncle Jim Bowen who served for many years on the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand. The vessel, which was purchased by the New Zealand government and commissioned in 1912, had a relatively short but illustrious naval career. The picture above shows the medal and medal card that was issued to commemorate her visit to New Zealand in 1913.Three years later she was in the thick of it at the battle of Jutland. I spent many hours  researching  the history of HMS New Zealand so that I could make the storyline of the novel authentic. It was therefore a trifle ironic to learn, as I was on my final edit, that the NZ historian Matthew Wright, had just published a book on her history!  'The Battlecruiser New ...

Ever since I was a child, it has been an ambition of mine to write a novel. I was always writing stories in those days, and then laboriously stitching them into little books with lengths of wool stolen from my mother's knitting bag. The busy veterinary years, found me busily scratching way at something, usually technical articles or newsletters but sometimes I allowed myself the luxury of some less focused writing, the occasional poem or the beginnings of my next best seller. When lockdown arrived in New Zealand and the prospect of many weeks of my own company loomed, I no longer had any excuses; there was no longer any shortage of time. As I began to assemble the various scraps and notebooks together, I began to realise three things: I really enjoy the researching and writing.  It is very easy to get sucked into the detail. It takes a very long time to produce something like this. But slowly I pulled it together. On a few occasions I probably spent too much time down web...

This is it folks: the big day dawned and freedom loomed. Release time was 2.20pm and there was no exercise slot beforehand, so the morning did drag on a little. Packing didn't take very long, I don't really know why I even unpacked some clothes, its been shorts and T-shirts most of the time: and underwear. I assure you I did change my underwear! The hot NZ news this morning had nothing to do with COP26 in Glasgow; "Bird of the Year" has been won by a bloody bat! How can that happen? My bellbird didn't even make the top five! Huh - not impressed! Suitably incensed, I sat back for a while and looked over that rather familiar view of the carpark and pondered a little on my imprisonment experience. What have I learned over the last two weeks? Coffee: I drink rather a lot of coffee - 750 grms in 14 days to be exact, that's just over 50 grms a day. Of course it hasn't been that nasty toxic instant coffee that you all drink, it has been pretty good coffee, produ...