Is the sun shining?...by Sheila Claydon

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I've just realised that many of my books are either set in sunny countries or the protagonists visit them during the story. Kissing Maggie Silver is one of them. Is this because as an English person living in the northwest of the UK I want more sunshine, or is it just that I've travelled to the places I write about? And why am I thinking about sunshine, after all the UK is not known for it.

Indeed, people living in warmer climes mostly think of it as a grey, rainy island with erratic weather. Sometimes they are right. July can be cold and August wet and dreary, only to be followed by days of sunshine and soft breezes through September and October. Then another year gives us a long, hot and dry summer followed by an autumn of biting winds and snow on high ground. It isn't consistent and in many ways that's how we like it. It's why British people are teased for always talking about the weather. It's why, when we holiday, we can sometimes be overwhelmed at having to face the same sunny weather day after day. We seem to like not quite knowing what the following twenty-four hours will bring. 

When we take our dogs for their daily walk nearly everyone we meet comments if there has been a sudden change in temperature, or if it's dry after a week of rain and puddles. It might only be 'it's a bit cold today' or 'that cloud looks as if it's going to rain on us in a minute,' or it might be a five minute conversation about how great it is that we've had a whole week of sun. So given the erratic nature of British weather, why would we decide to have solar panels installed? Surely it can't be worth it.

We, however, have a friend who is a battery expert (quite what that means I'm not sure!) and he, after much discussion, has persuaded us otherwise, so now we have solar panels installed on our roof. It's been a noisy and busy week what with scaffolding being erected, then roofers spending a day installing the panels, followed by the scaffolding being taken down again. Initially the dogs made a fuss but then they seemed to shrug and give up, whether that was because the workmen were making more noise than them, or whether they just got used to it, we'll never know!

Anyway the panels are up and running and wow! Despite almost universally grey skies ever since they were installed, plus snow yesterday, the miracle of photovoltaic/solar panels and battery storage means that the house has been running almost exclusively on sunshine during the day, even though it was hidden behind the clouds. This is a bonus we weren't expecting. We knew when the sun came out we would get our free power, but we didn't expect much in November. 

Of course at this time of year the hidden sun isn't storing enough energy in our batteries to keep us going 24/7 but it's doing its best. Yesterday, as well as supplying the ongoing power for fridges, televisions, battery chargers etc., it saw me through using the dishwasher, the washing machine twice, the tumbler drier once, and cooking an evening meal before it reverted to online power. We are so amazed by the systems's ability to use the faintest of the sun's rays, that we have to keep going to look at the battery readings. And once the sun really starts to shine we will be able to sell any surplus power back to the National Electricity Grid, so a win win all-round.

And there is something very satisfying about it too.  It feels a bit like growing our own vegetables or, maybe a more apt example, foraging for fruit in our nearby woods, something we do every autumn, and which results in blackberry and apple pies, crumbles and cobblers, apple chutney, rosehip syrup and plum jam. Of course everyone likes getting things for free, but when nature is involved it is far more satisfying.  To know that our house will now be almost exclusively powered by sunshine is a fantastic feeling...and guess what, while I've been writing this the clouds have rolled back and the sun has come out. Happy days!

How to keep 3 children happy for one week without really trying... by Sheila Claydon

Anyone who reads my books knows that children frequently feature, usually as background or secondary characters, but occasionally battling for prime place with the hero and heroine as in Double Fault and Kissing Maggie Silver, so it stands to reason that I like them.

Sometimes this liking leads me down unexpected paths. For example, when I was younger I never thought I would spend months in Australia helping to care for my youngest grandchild, nor that I would attend school sex education meetings for my middle grandchild when neither of her parents were available because of work commitments. Then there are the concerts and the prize givings, the birthday parties, collecting grandchildren, and sometimes their friends as well, from school, and the sleep-overs... the list goes on and on, as any grandparent knows.

This week, however, could have been a real challenge. 3 children aged 15,10 and 3, 2 dogs and a husband all staying together in a cottage on a working farm in very rural Wales. How easy was it going to be to keep children of such disparate ages interested and happy. The older ones brought their technology of course, but the Internet in such a remote place is unreliable to say the least. So is the weather!

I need not have worried. The resident donkeys and goats arrived at the kitchen window for breakfast each day and for the price of a few bags of the cheapest carrots and apples kept all 3 children occupied for hours. The younger ones also learned how to chop the food and how to keep their fingers safe as they fed their new friends. Then there were the alpacas in the next field, and poor old Sunny, the one male alpaca who had been banished to live with the donkeys while his babies were growing up, much to his disgust.

There were the ducks too, and the ducklings, and the chickens and newly laid eggs. And a field of swishy grass behind the duck pond that was exactly like the grass in one of the 3-year-old's story books, which made the whole holiday just that bit more exciting.

Then there was hide n'seek. Bales and bales of newly cut silage waiting to be bagged provided hours of fun, as well as comfortable places to stretch out in the sun. And for the little one, the sight of the tractor moving the bales a few days later made it even more interesting.

Then, on the sunny days, there was the local sandy beach. Fortunately it wasn't just any old beach. It had a freshwater river running into it, with small fish darting through the weed. So a couple of 99p fishing nets later everyone was happily engaged. And when they were all fished out there was the river to splash in, or jump over, or sit in.

A barbecue was another hit, especially as it was in a wooden Hobbit House that was complete with benches covered in furs, and lit by fairy lights, just like the one Bilbo Baggins lived in in The Hobbit. This came courtesy of the farm and provided high excitement both before, during and after the event.

Nobody was bored, nobody wanted to go anywhere 'exciting', and everybody loved being muddy and dusty and not having to care what they looked like, and that included the adults! Even a walk in the rain offered excitement, what with the muddy puddles and dripping hoods.

All it took was a few bags of carrots and apples, 2 fishing nets, a hay field and a whole lot of friendly animals. Now I need to see where I can add that to the mix in my next book!

You can find Sheila's books at Books We Love on her 

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On the Casting Couch with Maggie Silver

I'm sitting on the Casting Couch myself this week to talk about my latest book, Kissing Maggie Silver and what prompted me to write it.

What prompts any writer? It can be a photo, an overheard conversation, a personal experience, a snippet of news, a throwaway remark by a friend...the list is endless.  In the case of Maggie Silver it was two things.  The first was a visit to a nature reserve in New Zealand, a place where seals, penguins and sea birds are allowed to breed and feed naturally without any interference from the rangers who protect them. The peace and the wild  beauty of the place is magical and especially memorable is a spectacular beach of pale sand that belongs to the tiny blue penguins that live there. No human had walked on it for many years. Instead the penguins and visiting seals  are viewed from camouflaged hides that are built into the surrounding cliffs.

The second inspiration was a photograph of a lovely red-haired model whose clear gray eyes seemed to be full of wistful  longing. I couldn't get her face out of my head and thus, Maggie Silver was born.

Once I'd found Maggie Silver I knew she would visit that beautiful beach in New Zealand one day; the problem  was how to get her there. I knew it was so far from her own life experience that she had a long way to go...much further than the geographical distance she would have to travel...to reach it. As soon as I understood that, then her whole personality clicked into place.She was the youngest of a large family, the only girl, used to being teased and treated as little more than a child. She was also kind, helpful, sparky and full of life. Deep down, however, she was still immature and lacking in confidence. I also knew she was someone who was actually more comfortable with her own company than she realised.

Ruairi was far more difficult.  I knew he was the person who would open up the world for her, but how? His face came to me long before I knew he was a wildlife photographer and there were no prompts. He just appeared, fully formed, in my imagination, the absolute counterweight to Maggie. After that it was only a matter of time before his tan skin, his size and strength and his casual confidence turned him into a world traveller, someone who could quickly be at home wherever he was.

After that it was easy because I already knew that Maggie had fallen in love with him when she was far too young to know what her feelings meant. I knew, too, that she had always had a special place in Ruairi's heart, so all I needed to do was to find a way for them to meet up again, and with Maggie's large and ever present family ruling her life, it wasn't difficult. What was difficult was finding a way for them to be alone.

Then there were the small glitches in their personalities that I had to overcome; Maggie's temper and her tendency to feel sorry for herself, and Ruairi's obstinacy. Maggie had to grow up and Ruairi had to learn that sometimes he was wrong. Fortunately they had good people on their side, people who wanted the best for them because they loved them, and because they knew, even if Ruairi and Maggie didn't, that they were absolutely right for one another.

To find out what happened and how they  got there go to http://amzn.to/10hfmBq or http://bookswelove.net/claydon.php. When you do you will understand how much I enjoyed writing about them.

And finally, who would I most like to meet? It's the question I ask all the authors who sit on the Casting Couch so I can't avoid it myself. In this instance it would be Ruairi. Maggie I already know intimately because I lived with her through every emotion and I suffered her frustration with Ruairi when he walked away. Ruairi is another matter entirely.  He has been to so many places in the world and seen so many things that he would be the ideal dinner companion, and the fact that he is easy on the eye would just be another bonus.