That Trip to England.  When will the book be out?

It’s weird, people’s perceptions of writers . . . or maybe not.  Pearl and I just spent two and half weeks in England and Dublin.  People asked “Are you doing research?”  Of course we were.  So, okay, Pearl writes the regency period, that made Bath, etc. obvious stops for her. But what about a contemporary writer like me?  My last books were about baseball and Sudoku.  That’s a little harder to explain.  And you can immediately see that “oh sure” look in the questioner’s eyes.

Others were fascinated.

I had an interesting two rain days (the rest were bright, blue, beautiful. ) No I swear , cross my heart, it was sunny in England for two whole weeks. But on the two mizzley days in Dublin, I hung out in coffee bars or just a bar and chatted with people—research.  (Also my favorite thing to do on a trip.  And the ale will definitely find its way into a book, yum).

When are you going to write this book?  When will it be published?  What’s it about?

Well, I don’t really know.  And the location may change.  And the ale might be lemonade and the old man in the Fish and Chips place might be an Italian vintner. Or it might just be about two writers on a trip to England.

The thing is, unless you’re writing non fiction under a deadline, things are not so cut and dried.  Two years ago, I went to Rome with several women, only one of whom I really knew.  I didn’t really care about going to Rome, I’d been there lots, but I thought what the heck, this will be fun.  As always I took copious notes, jotted down ideas, filled my camera’s memory with interesting pictures.

And forgot about it.

Then a few weeks ago I’m sitting on the top level of a tour bus, clicking pictures of London landmarks, and a story based on the Rome trip comes to me, full blown.  I put down my camera and quickly wrote down the essential points.  So maybe the Rome book (actually I’ve already moved it to a village outside of Rome (seen on another trip.) is close to being written.  Or at least closer to being written.  But what about the England book?

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Shelley

ShelleyFreydont/GemmaBruce

Sudden Death Sudoku/The Man For Me

shelleyfreydont.com/gemmabruce.com