I'm away from home for a month to concentrate on my novel, which started out as a bit of fun to get me through February (which used to be my least favourite month) but has become a serious and enjoyable endeavour.

I read lots of advice on how to write, and boiled it down to three things which I have on a piece of paper in front of me now.

NEVER GIVE UP

DON'T EAT CAKE

BE VERY ORGANISED


The hardest one is not eating cake.

I am in Buckinghamshire, England on my writing retreat, in a house that was built in 1640.

Well done Cath and all the observant people who picked up on the photoclues and the few extra ones which appeared in the comments!

Looking for possible clues has really increased my pleasure in my daily walks around here and made me more observant about what is really distinctive about this lovely part of England. I'm trying to walk every day (or do some yoga with Angela!) as writing is such a very sedentary occupation.

I'm about 11 miles away from Aylesbury (Elaine and Cath's guess) and just 8 miles from Waddesdon Manor (yesterday's photograph), in a little village called Botolph Claydon which is one of a group of four villages known as The Claydons. The name is said to come from the clay soil typical of these parts.

And now, back to some writing!

..It's not all muddy fields here in the middle of rural ..........shire!

And we've seen several pairs of these..  Fabulous!

I found Common Ground's Manifesto For Fields  an interesting (longish) read..

Some of you are so close! Jessica? Elaine? Are you there still?

Some of you are getting warmer - though last night there was a cold starry starry sky and a deep deep frost - it looked as though it had snowed. But now the rain is dripping from the thatch..

Big clue tomorrow.

I hope you are finding it fun too!
 
It still astonishes and delights me that I can sit here in (Oops! Nearly said it!). In a mystery place and have a conversation about local identity with people from all around the world...I love it.
 
What a wonderfully diverse world we inhabit.

Will you celebrate it with me by telling us something about the distinctiveness of where you live?

Another small architectural clue on the left....

Somewhere between the rainbow and the Internet a place that is important to you is struggling to maintain its integrity.

Isn't that a great opening sentence?  Read more of this essay by Common Ground's Sue Clifford here.

I loved hearing about what is locally distinctive where you are!

Iberian wolves and blue butterflies in Portugal, bald eagles in Michigan and Canada geese in the Netherlands, ice and 7 foot deep snow in Boston Massachusetts. Thank you for sharing.

Are there distinctive architectural features where you live?

In looking for photoclues as to where I am for my writing retreat, I am seeking out features which are locally distinctive - not unique to the area, but characteristic of it. Like duck ponds! (I can't think where there is even one at home.)

The charity Common Ground has made local distinctiveness a tenet of their work - I love what they do - and if you are interested in the natural environment and the arts I think you will enjoy their website. There is a 30 minute Radio 4 programme about their work here.

What is locally distinctive about where you live?

I was interested in this article from The New Yorker. I'd like to think other companies might follow suit...I wonder, will it catch on?

Posts are rather erratic this month as February is my writing month. In past Februaries I have posted great first lines of novels and great last lines of novels, tips from writers and places that famous writers have found to write.  If you have time to browse February 2011- 2014, or under Simply Write, I hope you'd find some posts of interest.

I remember reading about writers who went away to write. Vera Brittain whose memoirs Testament of Youth and Testament of Experience I loved comes to mind. She would go to a small hotel on the south coast, or to her cottage in the New Forest (taking staff with her) and I thought 'Lucky woman' and I have to admit, with considerable envy 'Its all right for some!'

Well, my turn has come! I am going away for a month to concentrate on my novel!

I won't tell you where (in case the paparazzi seek me out, ha ha) but will post some clues over the next week or two....

So excited!

Snow is magical!
 
I've always loved it.
 
Some of these snow paintings will be at Tighnabruaich Gallery's new show opening on Friday 13th February.

The large one is The Sound of Snow. Someone asked 'Did you not get bored painting all those snowflakes?' On the contrary. Do you ever get into a kind of a trance watching big soft snowflakes silently falling? Do you know that feeling? That was how I felt while painting this big landscape. (It's 97 x 76 cms)  It was like a meditation upon snow. It has hung above the dining table every Christmas. It hasn't been on show in a gallery before and it is only now, 12 years after painting it, that I can contemplate selling it.

I learn something new from every painting I do. I keep many of them until I feel that, if I wanted to, I could do them again, (I never do..but I have this need to know I can!)

The three smaller ones (30 x 30 cm) are from the top -

Waiting For Snow
The tension in the air, and in me, builds up when snow is forecast.

Fire and Ice
Hot inside, cold without. I love the contrasts in winter.

Santa Disappearing!
You have to look hard, there, near the horizon where the sun is just rising....

For prices and further information contact Robbie Baird here.

..at least for a while.

In the film Mr Turner, Turner ponders the future of photgraphy -  the daguerrotype -  and wonders if he is looking at  the death of painting.

I felt a bit the same when I looked at my finished bookshelves and considered the physicality of the information in all those (heavy!) books and of the physical effort it took to sort them, and thought that all the information they represent and much much more can be accessed through a computer, a tablet, or a mobile phone!

Are we looking at the death of books?

153 years on from Turner's death some of us are still painting....


What do you think?

Whew! That was a big task.

I'm thrilled that I won't ever have to do it again.  At least not on this scale..

'The last bit is the hardest.' I was telling myself as I got to the pile of books I didn't know what to do with. Back to Kondo. 'Does it move you?' she asks, and I know straight away that the answer is 'Not in the least!'

Out it went.

No regrets.

Just so many sparks of joy coming from my book shelves they might set the house on fire!

So how will I celebrate?

By having a day off tomorrow.
 
Lovely.
 
I might read.

Are you making progress? You don't have to go at decluttering full-tilt of course (I've always been a rather all-or-nothing type and Marie Kondo's method is right up my street!). If you'd like to declutter a little bit just do your sock drawer...or the bathroom cabinet...

I've moved on to papers and am making literal sparks by burning years' worth of old financial papers in the garden incinerator - it kept me warm for a wee while.

Linda, your name came out of the hat!

I'll be posting  Howard's End Is On The Landing out to you very soon.

I loved all the thoughtful suggestions for which books to have for my guests. Thank you very much to everyone who took the trouble to comment. There were a few I had not thought of, and I'll do a short post on the subject soon.

Am feeling the first little spark of excitement about the garden, even though the ground is frozen solid, and am hoping that sweet pea Prince Edward of York will be a winner. I plan to put it with red Barry Dare for a good colour clash, and will also grow the true- to-it's-name Nearly Black and the deliciously frilly and scented Anniversary. All from Sarah Raven whose site has lots of information and videos about how to grow them. I have to unwire the door of the greenhouse (wired shut against the northerly gales) and start getting ready to sow them.

Are you thinking about your garden yet?

Or growing something, somewhere?

A window box, a pot, an allotment?

I liked this sign outside a cafe in the city!

I plan to get fitter with Angela at Fitfor15....during my writing month. I managed 15 minutes almost every day in January and am upping it to 20 minutes minimum for February!! Wow I hear you say. (I know you are impressed! Some days I even do more..)

You may be enchanted by Sue Blackwell's work which I have linked to before. She sends out a newlsetter, not too often, which I always enjoy.

And for further fascination this February take a look at Swiss Rose's A - Z of her adopted country here.

I shall be drawing names out of the hat for Howard's End Is On The Landing tomorrow....

Some of you will know that February, which used to be my least favourite month, is now a favourite month on my calendar.

It is my writing month.

To see how that came about see my posts A Little Crazy and a Lot of Fun  and Making February Fun, and under Simply Write (sidebar).

'The Novel' is being edited (again) this year and all other commitments are set aside while I pretend to be a real writer!

That includes blogging, so forgive me if posts are few and far between this month

I will post once a week on Fridays (and probably at odd times in between)

The first year I awarded myself the luxury of time to write (one of the joys of being self employed is that I can do this!) I blogged about finding special places to write. This was very much part of the fun for me. I absolutely loved it. Here is one of my favourites.. I also posted Tips From The Writers - some of them quite amusing! See here, and here

I hope you might enjoy a browse through my Februaries if you have time. Can I suggest you start with February 2011? (See sidebar.)

That's what I am about to do right now, to remind myself why I am doing this thing..

Do you have nice plans for February?

If not, can you make some?

(To win a nice book scroll down a page or two and leave a suggestion....)