tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82864877687309527442024-02-21T10:11:10.223+00:00Emylia HallEmylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comBlogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-72566309730146453812018-10-12T11:59:00.000+01:002018-10-12T11:59:08.155+01:00Happy 50th, dear Arvon<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's the fiftieth anniversary of Arvon this year, and to mark the occasion I wrote a piece about my connection to this remarkable institution. It's entitled Coming Home, and you can read it <a href="https://www.arvon.org/blog/arvon50/2018/10/emylia-hall-arvon50/" target="_blank">here</a>, on the Arvon blog. </span><div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-88402309485061328912018-06-08T10:13:00.000+01:002018-06-08T10:13:08.696+01:00'Pure dreamy escapism'<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Two blog posts in three days! I've been hibernating lately, working on Book 5, dreaming of far off places: specifically a place of palms and seasalt, of green hills and red carpets. My hut at the end of the garden is an escapist's lair, a portal to where ever I'm writing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the subject of escapism... Back in the spring the fabulous Fearne Cotton, as guest editor of Stylist magazine, <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/happy-place/fearne-cotton-wants-you-to-read-these-10-brilliant-books/197703" target="_blank">recommended ten books that she considered 'truly life-changing'</a>. Among them was The Thousand Lights Hotel. She described it thus: <i>'This sun drenched book is about love, food, and Italy; what's not to love? I didn't actually read this while on holiday, but somehow I felt like I was on a mini-vacation every time I opened its pages. Pure dreamy escapism with a side of biscotti.' </i>I couldn't be happier with that!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the same list Fearne also recommended Elizabeth's Gilbert's Big Magic. What a brilliant book that is. I love books about the creative process, and this is a belter - full of great wisdom worn lightly, funny, moving and, above all, inspiring. It's been by my side as I've been writing, and rewriting, and rewriting some more, these last months. There's still a long way to go on the new book, but I'm enjoying the journey. Mostly. Some days it's like clambering mountains, and I'm dressed in all the wrong kit to boot. But when those moments of light come along - the Big Magic that Gilbert talks about - well, it all feels worth it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-18138007640454953212018-06-06T14:37:00.000+01:002018-06-06T14:37:26.955+01:00The Thousand Lights in Scandinavia<span style="color: #444444;">Last week <i>The Thousand Lights Hotel</i> came out in Denmark. It's the first novel of mine to be published in Danish, so I'm particularly thrilled - thank you, Gads Forlag. I love the cover, how it's in keeping with the UK design but has its own distinct flavour: aperitivo time!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Back in February <i>Thousand Lights</i> also came out in Norway, published by Gyldendal. Fab to see it on a bookshop banner in Oslo (thanks Liane, for the snap), keeping very fine company indeed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's also scheduled for release in Germany next year, with the brilliant btb. I love the thought of the Hotel Mille Luci throwing opens its doors in all these different lands. <i>Buon viaggio</i>, little book!</span></div>
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<br />Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-72900309280013173942017-08-04T11:50:00.000+01:002017-08-04T11:54:13.023+01:00The Simple Things - and the story behind my story<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm really happy to have a short story in the August edition of <i>The Simple Things</i>. I love this magazine - it's always an inspiring and refreshing read. Its motto is 'taking time to live well', and as the name would suggest, it's about enjoying life's simple pleasures. In the latest issue there's a photo essay on Seaside Nostalgia, extracts of some of the best contemporary nature writing including Robert Macfarlane and Amy Liptrot, and a host of appealing campfire recipes. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My story, <i>Waking Up at Sunset</i>, occupies the back page Bedtime Story slot - and has been treated to some gorgeous illustrations. Last month there was a story from Gail Honeyman, author of <i>Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine</i>, so it's an illustrious baton to take.</span><br />
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<i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Waking Up at Sunset</i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> contains both an element of wish-fulfilment, and an inversion of my own experience (as much of my writing does, I think). In it, Jen is just arriving in Portoferraio, her first time on Elba. She is alone, but is yet to learn to embrace solitude. She stops at a bar and hesitantly samples her first <i>aperitivo</i>; the waiter - a clear descendant of Valentino in </span><i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Thousand Lights Hotel </i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">- explains it's all about appreciating the moment, while looking forward to all that's to come. With a sunset-coloured drink in her hand she feels a clear, bright pleasure; and it's there to stay.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two summers ago I explored the island's capital for the first time. On previous visits we'd docked and dashed, eager to shed the other tourists disembarking the ferry and hasten to our own corner of Elba. But on my last trip, a five night solo writing retreat on the northern coast, I decided to spend a couple of hours in Portoferraio before I caught the ferry back to the mainland. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'd achieved what I'd come to Elba to do - immersed myself fully in my work-in-progress, written thousands of words - I knew I'd be returning to Bristol triumphant, full of inspiration, and excited to see my family. But I was still reluctant to leave. So I studiedly turned my eyes from the port. I ignored maps and wandered blind; all-seeing.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I found myself in the steep streets of the old town in the midday sun (mad dogs and an English woman). Knowing this was my last piece of solitude, my last blast of heat, I soaked it all up, my toes tingling in my flip-flops, my footsteps the only sound in the hushed residential districts. Considering this was the island capital in July, its emptiness was a surprise (I suppose anyone sensible was at the beach, or reclining on a shaded terrace). The unexpected quiet of those seductive backstreets </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">gave me the sense that I was walking in a kind of limbo - the place between being away and going home; where you're still in the moment, but already awash with nostalgia. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I passed an alluring-looking bar and thought of stopping, but instead I chose movement, motion. I felt like if I sat down then reality would sink in and take hold; the clock was ticking, my ferry was waiting. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For me, those last hours wandering in Portoferraio had felt like a gift; as I climbed stone steps the day sizzled with possibility. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'd pretended it was the beginning, not the end. Looking back, it kind of was. Two years on, to take the moment and make it into a story - to let it be the start of everything for a girl called Jen - is, for me, one of the great joys of writing fiction. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-36592001956802081682017-07-22T15:06:00.000+01:002017-07-22T16:05:50.839+01:00Publication week - events, a blog tour, and No. 1 in Foyles Briz!<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The doors to THE THOUSAND LIGHTS HOTEL are now officially open! Welcome to Elba, one and all. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's an emotional feeling, knowing that the book I was writing here...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">... is now here!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I marked publication day with a launch at Foyles in Bristol, where I wheeled out my best Melamine and much Prosecco was drunk. Editor of <i>Italia! Magazine</i>, Amanda Robinson, kindly hosted the evening (who I also had to thank for a fab review and interview in this month's issue) and I'm grateful to everyone who came and helped send the book on its way in such warm and merry style.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">With my husband Bobby, pulling what I *think* is his proud face...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The following week I headed to London for an event at Notting Hill's Book + Kitchen, an absolute gem of a bookshop that feels like you're walking into somebody's very cool, eclectic home (with excellently stocked shelves, mind). Big thanks to dear friend Kate Haines, who organised and hosted, and to all who came down, it was truly a memorable night. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The last two weeks have also seen me head off on a Blog Tour (desk-bound travel; no vast buses or barroom riders), organised by my fab publicist at Headline, Millie Seaward. I'm really grateful for the support and enthusiasm of the bloggers who took part, hosting guest pieces, Q&As and reviews. Thank you to the blogs <a href="https://havebookswillread.com/2017/07/11/the-thousand-lights-hotel-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">Have Books Will Read</a>, <a href="http://shortbookandscribes.uk/reviews/blogtour-the-thousand-lights-hotel-by-emylia-hall-emyliahall-headlinepg-bookreview/" target="_blank">Short Book and Scribes</a>, and <a href="http://brewandbooksreview.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-thousand-lights-hotel-emyliahall.html" target="_blank">Brew and Books Review</a> for the wonderful reviews. And thank you to Linda's Book Bag for the beautifully thoughtful interview questions (read <a href="https://lindasbookbag.com/2017/07/10/an-interview-with-emylia-hall-author-of-the-thousand-lights-hotel/" target="_blank">here</a>) and The Book Trailer (read <a href="http://www.thebooktrail.com/cuppa-and-cake/authorsonlocation-island-elba-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>) as part of their ace Authors on Location series. The blog tour also gave me the opportunity to write a number of guest posts, which proved to be a gratifying way of reflecting on aspects of my process, and the writing journey I'd been on with this novel. <i>The Thousand Lights Hotel </i>feels dearer to me than ever after writing these pieces...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For <i>WeHeartWriting.com</i> I wrote about finding, and holding onto, the spirit of your story - and you can read it <a href="https://weheartwriting.com/2017/07/knowing-the-spirit-of-your-story-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>. It felt cathartic to look back over the months of writing and rewriting (and, misty-eyed, remember the Chemical Brothers' earworm...). </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For Kath Eastman's <i>Nut Press</i> I wrote about why 'place' is so important to me as a writer - and in doing so realised for the first time that maybe it's all about mortality (isn't everything?) - you can read it <a href="https://nutpress.co.uk/2017/07/writing-elba-guest-post-by-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For <i>My Reading Corner</i> I wrote about the role of food in <i>The Thousand Lights Hotel</i>, and how cooking and eating played such a part in its writing - you can read it <a href="http://www.myreadingcorner.co.uk/2017/07/thousand-lights-hotel-emylia-hall-blogtour-guest-post-thousandlightshotel.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the blog <i>From First Page to Last</i> I wrote about some of my favourite hotels in fiction, and why I think hotels make for such intriguing settings - you can read it <a href="https://fromfirstpagetolast.wordpress.com/2017/07/18/my-favourite-hotels-in-fiction-by-emylia-hall-guest-post/" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And for <i>Trip Fiction</i> I wrote about the very first journey I made to Elba, back in 2003, and how it was the start of an enduring love affair with the island - you can read it <a href="http://www.tripfiction.com/novel-set-on-elba-emylia-hall-talks-about-setting/" target="_blank">here</a> (guest post follows the review). </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What else? In further reviews, the Express' S Magazine said it was 'a powerful story of grief, family, and self-discovery with a magical sense of place and beautiful storytelling'. And Italia! Magazine called it 'wonderfully evocative', and a 'riveting story'. In the same issue of <i>Italia!</i> there's an interview with me about the novel and Elba - thank you again to Amanda Robinson for that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile m</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">y short story, </span><i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Light Years</i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, appeared in S Magazine on sunday 15th. You can read it online </span><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/828070/Short-story-by-Emylia-Hall" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. It's set on Elba during the annual Lovers' Festival at Innamorata...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I ran a Twitter competition to win an *exclusive*<i> Thousand Lights Hotel</i> apron (featuring the beauteous <i>aperitivo </i>graphic designed by Esther Curtis), Aperol sweets, and a signed copy of the novel... and was pleased that the prize went to Mary Marshall in Ireland.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Finally, it was a joy to pop into Foyles in Bristol's Cabot Circus and see that THE THOUSAND LIGHTS HOTEL was their top seller for the week! A moment in the sun, that I had to snap for posterity. I'm a big fan of the Local Author sticker the book's sporting too...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Such thanks to everyone who's made publication feel so special. I was very happy to have my agent Rowan, and editor Leah from Headline with me for the Book + Kitchen night, and Lucy and Liane from Furniss Lawton too; thank you so much. All my author friends who came out to celebrate or sent their well wishes (and who know better than anyone how simultaneously wonderful and weird this particular time feels). The bloggers and readers who've reviewed and shown great support. And my lovely friends, and family, who are always so immensely good at cheering. My little son gave me a 'Happy Book Day' card with this Miffy picture, chosen all by himself - what could be more perfect? Maybe I should write my first drafts in sunshine-yellow pencil from now on... it might just be good luck.</span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-82326658153330819252017-07-09T09:42:00.000+01:002017-07-09T18:51:26.146+01:00The Final Countdown - and pre publication happenings<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's Publication Week at last*! THE THOUSAND LIGHTS HOTEL will be out on Thursday the 13th, and I'll be having at LEAST one of these to celebrate ...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*Slightly inaccurate - the eBook was in fact published on the 1st July, sneaking out early with <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Lights-Hotel-Escape-gorgeous-ebook/dp/B01LYV866E/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1499585310&sr=8-1" target="_blank">a special price of just 99p (!) on Kindle</a> ... At that price? DIVE IN!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's such a delight to have a finished copy in my hand - the colours POP, ah that Aperol orange sunset! - and I'm very grateful to wonderful authors Lucy Diamond, Veronica Henry, Lucy Clarke, and Rosanna Ley, whose generous words appear on the book ...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The days and weeks leading up to publication are always nerve-wracking, so I've been *very* happy with the reviews the novel's so far been getting. It's one of <a href="http://www.redonline.co.uk/reviews/book-reviews/best-summer-beach-books#image=36" target="_blank">Red Magazine's Best Beach Reads</a>, described as 'an emotional, evocative novel about guilt, grief and belonging,' and makes <a href="https://www.gransnet.com/life-and-style/books/best-summer-reads" target="_blank">Gransnet's Best Summer Reads</a> list too. <i>Prima</i> magazine calls it 'a delightful summer read', <i>Woman & Home</i> say 'vivid, atmospheric, and heart-breaking', and it received a gorgeous five-star review in the <i>Express</i> - 'a glorious, sun-drenched story' and 'an intoxicating novel' (full review <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/825896/The-Thousand-Lights-Hotel-book-review-Emylia-Hall" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've been blown away by reviews from Book Bloggers too - Linda Hill at Linda's Book Bag called it 'gorgeously crafted' and 'exceptional' - review <a href="https://lindasbookbag.com/2017/06/12/the-thousand-lights-hotel-by-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>. Mary Mayfield blogging at Our Book Reviews says it's 'a book to treasure' - review <a href="http://ourbookreviewsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-thousand-lights-hotel-by-emylia-hall.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Lucy Pearson over at The Unlikely Bookworm writes of the 'melodic prose and evocative sense of place' - review <a href="http://theunlikelybookworm.com/review-the-thousand-lights-hotel-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>. Janine Jewell at Jewell Books says 'beautifully written with a serene backdrop' - review <a href="https://jewellbooks.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/the-thousand-lights-hotel-by-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>. Zarina at Page to Stage Reviews writes of 'the pure magic of Emylia's words' - review <a href="http://www.pagetostagereviews.com/2017/05/what-i-read-in-may-2017-wrap-up-mini.html#more" target="_blank">here</a>. Meanwhile Joanne D'arcy, blogging at The Book Jotter, wrote 'if there was ever a book that seriously made me want to go and visit a place, this was it' - review <a href="https://josbookjourney.wordpress.com/2017/07/09/the-thousand-lights-hotel-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>. Next week I'll be off on a blog tour with THE THOUSAND LIGHTS HOTEL, with guest posts on topics ranging from writing place, researching Elba, ripping it up and starting again, and the part Italian food played in my writing process - watch this space.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was thrilled to write a piece for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/30/elba-island-italy-emylia-hall-tuscan-archipelago" target="_blank">The Guardian about Elba</a>, as part of their Why I Love ... series. You can read it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/30/elba-island-italy-emylia-hall-tuscan-archipelago" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And I was interviewed by the excellent magazine Bristol 24/7 - you can read that <a href="https://www.bristol247.com/culture/books/interview-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This Thursday I'll be launching the novel at the fabulous Foyles here in Bristol, with <i>aperitivo </i>and much bookish chat (event details <a href="http://www.foyles.co.uk/Emylia-Hall-The-Thousand-Lights-Hotel" target="_blank">here</a>). I'll be in conversation with the editor of Italia! Magazine - Amanda Robinson. And I've my talented sister-in-law, designer Esther Curtis, to thank for the mouthwatering invitation ...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm also excited to be heading to the very cool <a href="http://www.bookandkitchen.com/event/book-launch-the-thousand-lights-hotel-by-emylia-hall/?instance_id=3440" target="_blank">Notting Hill Book + Kitchen</a> on 20th July, to talk all things <i>Thousand Lights</i>, hosted by dear friend, freelance editor and Italophile Kate Haines. Details of that event can be found <a href="http://www.bookandkitchen.com/event/book-launch-the-thousand-lights-hotel-by-emylia-hall/?instance_id=3440" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whew. Here endeth the update! I'm extremely grateful to many people who've made the run-up to publication feel happy and sun-filled - it's a strange time, one that's full of anticipation and pride but, also, anxiousness. I've been so grateful for the book love on Twitter, from fellow authors and enthusiastic readers. For the friends who've pre-ordered and are helping me celebrate the launch. For my family who've only ever cheered me on. And for my ever supportive agent and publisher. <i>Grazie mille. </i>Roll on Thursday, when the Hotel Mille Luci opens its doors to welcome all who care to spend a week on Isola d'Elba. <i>Benvenuto!</i></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-37094135388916735482017-04-19T15:39:00.000+01:002017-04-19T15:39:50.524+01:00The countdown to summer<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now that Easter is behind us, it's all about the countdown to summer, right? Enjoying those lighter and brighter evenings, the simple pleasure of leaving the house without a coat, seeing if last year's flip-flops are still up to standard (and treating yourself to some spanking brand new ones anyway)... And, for me, feeling the mix of trepidation and anticipation that goes with the publication of a new book: three months to go!</span><div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's already up on Amazon (<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Lights-Hotel-Emylia-Hall/dp/1472212029/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i1?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=1472212029&pd_rd_r=077R7GADFKP8V5KDDGY1&pd_rd_w=KihmJ&pd_rd_wg=p6Qap&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=X2FTGF1Z4N10585XD9JA&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=16f14aeb-bd11-4e9e-8c26-9ca0139074ee&pf_rd_i=desktop" target="_blank">HERE</a>), where some early readers - members of the Vine programme - are leaving some very nice reviews. There's also a collection of quotes from fellow authors who've read a proof of the book (listed within the 'product description' section) - and I'm blown away by the loveliness, and generosity, of their words.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To mark this very sunny start, I've wheeled out my Elba souvenir mug and brought some blooms. I hope you'll come with me to the island of Elba this summer... </span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-24396042689488317042017-03-31T15:08:00.001+01:002017-03-31T15:08:40.470+01:00The book (or close) is here<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After months and months and months of planning, writing, and rewriting, of scribbles in notebooks, shifting words around on screen, and squinting over printed pages, </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">my book is... here!* Well, proofs, anyway, which - after the aforementioned months and months - feel ever so close to the real thing. It's a joy to hold it in my hand for the first time. Big thanks to Headline for making it look so beautiful. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And for a closer look at that sumptuous cover...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">How to celebrate this new arrival? With an Aperol Spritz, of course, while staring into the sunset. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*It'll <i>actually </i>be here on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Lights-Hotel-Emylia-Hall/dp/1472212029/ref=s9_simh_gw_g14_i2_r?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=C90GG6FMNRYWGTPSBVFN&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=16f14aeb-bd11-4e9e-8c26-9ca0139074ee&pf_rd_i=desktop" target="_blank">13th July</a>... </span></div>
Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-14143356703171202222016-10-09T13:42:00.000+01:002016-10-09T13:42:06.239+01:00New novel out summer 2017<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm very happy to be able to tell you both the title of my new novel, and its publication date here in the UK (out with Headline).</span><div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">*drum roll*</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>THE THOUSAND LIGHTS HOTEL </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>13th July 2017</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's set on the Italian island of Elba, and is a story told through three people - Kit, Valentino, and Oliviero (guest, hotelier, and chef, respectively). It's a novel full of food, landscape, love, loss, and summer heat.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since the earliest draft of <i>The Thousand Lights Hotel</i> two quotes have sat at the start of the manuscript, capturing the flavour of the story to come.</span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">‘If
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Emily Dickinson<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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strangers, lest they be angels in disguise.’<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Inscribed on the wall of Shakespeare
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- attributed to W.B. Yeats<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can't wait to introduce you to <i>The Thousand Lights Hotel</i> next summer. For now, here's a pictorial <i>aperitivo</i>, to whet your appetite, I hope...</span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-67749962941087034822016-06-08T10:16:00.002+01:002016-06-08T10:16:49.039+01:00Wished I was here - and I was<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">June! How did it get to June?! Back in December I said I was hunkering down for the winter, taking a holiday from pretty much everything except my new novel (<a href="http://emyliahall.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-mountains-are-calling-and-i-must-go.html" target="_blank">channelling snow season days</a>)… Now the sun is out, and so is my book - well, a first draft delivered into the hands of my editor and agent - so I figure I should be too. HELLO. HOW ARE YOU?</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Want to see where I've spent the last six months? Figuratively, at least. It's nearly a year since I was actually on the island of Elba. Maybe this time next year I'll be able to take you there too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-64492216006927893512015-12-06T17:03:00.000+00:002015-12-06T18:42:53.790+00:00The mountains are calling (and I must go)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ten years ago,
almost to the day, we left to spend the winter in the mountains. One snow season turned
into two, so happy were we in the great wide open. I’ve written about this time
before - <a href="http://emyliahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/days-like-these.html" target="_blank">how it was thanks to snowboarding that I started writing</a>, and how,
actually, <a href="http://blog.whsmith.co.uk/emylia-hall-the-extreme-sport-of-novel-writing/" target="_blank">snowboarding isn’t so very different to writing</a> – but this post? This
post is about doing it all again.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But figuratively.
And that’s the kicker (not an actual kicker, the like of which I once enjoyed*…)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Gratuitous airborne shot </span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This winter I'm going to work hard to imagine that I’m back once again in that bright, white world; a place of
freedom and focus and soul-lifting energy. I need it, and I think my writing
needs it. There’s nothing new about a writer tearing up their work-in-progress first draft, just as there’s nothing rare about a person struggling
to juggle parental responsibilities with, well, just about everything else, but…
this is the first time I’m experiencing the two in tandem. Stepping sideways,
just like I did a decade ago, feels like the way to go. I want to look at the
mountain that’s before me, and tingle with anticipation. I want to keep the kind of focus you need when you’re hurtling down a
powder field, watching out for crevasses or tree wells or rogue rocks, but with looseness in your body and joy in your heart. Maintain
that fine balance of control and abandon. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fall down and get back up again. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So for the
next few months my fourth book and I are heading to the mountains. In mind, if not in body. My hut at
the bottom of the garden can, in the right light, sort of pass for an alpine
refuge. It’ll be the opposite of hibernating in many respects - writing and
flying, wind in my hair - except perhaps the digital one (Twitter & Co won’t
be coming with me on my winter trip). I hope to see you on the other side, with plenty of words (and rather less chance of broken bones).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Stay warm.
Stay cool. May your festive season, and beyond, be merry and bright.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Love Emylia X </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-13202943243577057912015-12-04T09:59:00.000+00:002015-12-04T09:59:30.593+00:00Top Ten, Woo Hoo<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">BIG THANKS to the estimable review site The Bookbag, who've listed <i>The Sea Between Us </i>as one of their Top Ten Women's Fiction Books of 2015. I'm chuffed to be in such grand company (Judy Blume!) - you can see the list <a href="http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Top_Ten_Women%27s_Fiction_2015" target="_blank">HERE</a>, and read the review in full <a href="http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Sea_Between_Us_by_Emylia_Hall" target="_blank">HERE</a>. 'The prose is an art-form in itself' is a line that will keep me smiling for quite some time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I recently did a Q&A over at the lovely Jera's Jamboree - talking writing surf scenes, stealing work time, and teaching writing - you can read that <a href="http://www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/2015/11/author-interview-emylia-hall-sea.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also chatted to Susan over at The Book Trail - a blog that places the settings and locations of novels front and centre - and you can read that interview <a href="https://thebooktrail.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/cornwall-emylia-hall-talks-about-setting-location-and-the-lure-of-the-sea/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile, thank you to any readers who've posted a review of <i>The Sea Between Us</i> somewhere online. I love <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/books/reviews/isbn/9781472211972#review-72245" target="_blank">THIS ONE</a> from a Waterstones Bookseller in Truro, and there are some absolute belters on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Between-Us-Emylia-Hall/dp/1472211979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449222663&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sea+between+us" target="_blank">Amazon</a>. Happy days.</span><br />
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<br />Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-64917624193659464562015-11-21T16:44:00.000+00:002015-11-21T16:46:24.365+00:00Beach shoot<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Earlier in the autumn I met Sarah Pitt from the Western Morning News. It was a bright and blustery morning in St Ives, and we had coffee and cake at the beach cafe on Porthmeor as I told her all about <i>The Sea Between Us</i> and the inspiration behind it. The article came out in October, and is online <a href="http://issuu.com/marketingswmg/docs/west_october17_2015" target="_blank">HERE</a>. It's a great piece from Sarah, so many thanks to her - and I was chuffed we made the cover…</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The photographer on the day was <a href="http://www.victoriawalkerphotography.co.uk/" target="_blank">Victoria Walker</a>, and I loved her style - suggesting I kick through waves and clamber over weed-covered rocks. It was a lot of fun, and the pictures turned out great, the beach itself the undoubted star of the show. When the wind whipped the clouds away we were treated to brief moments of blue skies and Victoria was quick off the mark to catch them. Just look at the luminosity of the water in that first picture! The fabled St Ives light in all its glory. That morning, with so few people about, Porthmeor had a wild edge to it (despite the water being flat as a mirror) and I'm so glad we were there to capture it. Big thanks, Victoria and Sarah Xx</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Picture credit: Victoriawalkerphotography.co.uk </span></div>
Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-18834681534842356702015-10-08T15:23:00.000+01:002015-10-08T15:23:35.161+01:00Novelicious Book Club pick - and thank you to bloggers<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm thrilled that Novelicious - the fabulous women's fiction website and community - have chosen <i>The Sea Between Us </i>as this month's <a href="http://www.novelicious.com/2015/09/the-novelicious-book-club-pick-for-september-the-sea-between-us-by-emylia-hall.html" target="_blank">Book Club read</a>. If you'd like to read along and get involved in the discussion, then head <a href="http://www.novelicious.com/2015/09/the-novelicious-book-club-pick-for-september-the-sea-between-us-by-emylia-hall.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> to find out what to do. On the 27th October at 8pm there'll be a live Book Club chat on Twitter, with the hashtag #NoveliciousBookClub </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy Reading, y'all…</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I thought it'd be an appropriate moment to gather together some of the wonderful blogger reviews of late. I'm truly grateful for the support the book's enjoyed, particularly from people who have such teetering TBRs, and who do all their reviewing in their precious spare time. So in no particular order…</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Louise Jones, blogging at TheBookBag - review <a href="http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Sea_Between_Us_by_Emylia_Hall" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lucy Pearson, blogging at TheUnlikelyBookworm - review <a href="http://theunlikelybookworm.com/the-sea-between-us-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mary Mayfield, blogging at OurBookReviews - review <a href="http://ourbookreviewsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-sea-between-us-by-emylia-hall.html" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Linda Hill, blogging at LindasBookBag - review <a href="http://lindasbookbag.com/2015/08/30/the-sea-between-us-by-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Joanne D'Arcy, blogging at JosBookJourney - review <a href="https://josbookjourney.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/the-sea-between-us-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Janine Jewell, blogging at JewellBooks - review <a href="https://jewellbooks.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/1094/" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Zarina de Ruiter, blogging at PagetoStageReviews - review <a href="http://www.pagetostagereviews.com/2015/09/book-review-sea-between-us-by-emylia.html" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">THANK YOU! X</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-71289804444955070502015-10-03T21:12:00.000+01:002015-10-03T21:13:28.930+01:00Dear Tim Winton<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The good folks over at Novelicious have a lovely segment on their site - Literary Love Letters - where writers can pen a missive to their bookish heart's desire. Mine? Tim Winton. You can read it <a href="http://www.novelicious.com/2015/09/literary-love-letters-dear-tim-winton-from-emylia-hall.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">*blush*</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-30133078628420391522015-09-29T18:28:00.001+01:002015-09-29T18:28:26.908+01:00Arvon<div class="MsoNormal">
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returned from a week teaching for Arvon at Lumb Bank in Yorkshire. I took an
Arvon course myself in 2008, and one of my tutors back then was Patrick Neate.
I was working alongside Patrick this time, and for a nostalgic sap like me, well…
let’s just say that set the tone for a pretty special week.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If it’s possible,
I loved returning to Arvon to teach even more than I loved being there the first
time around. Preparing for my workshops forced me to stop and think about
process and craft in a way that’s easy to blast past when you’re entrenched in
your own work. I realised I was re-inspiring myself - even before I got to Lumb
Bank I was grateful, once again, for Arvon. It’s a privilege to be taken into
the confidence of someone – the sharing, the listening, the discussion, what we
write and why we write and who we write for – because even if we haven’t fully
realised it ourselves yet, writing is about as personal as it gets. Last week it
felt as though everyone at Lumb Bank gave it their all, and isn’t that as much
as you could ever ask? I had a moment in a workshop when I looked around at
those fifteen writers, their heads bent, pens touching paper – each of us wholly
separate, but bound in the moment – and, I thought, you know what, right now, there’s
no place on earth I’d rather be.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For over forty years Arvon has been giving people ‘the time and space to write’. For
me, as a tutor, it offered the time and space (even amidst the busy workshop
& tutorial schedule) to </span><i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">remember why</i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
I write. Something that can be all too easily forgotten when you’re chasing
deadlines, and fretting book promo. When the thing that once felt to you
extraordinary and precious is in danger of becoming, just sometimes, a little too
much everyday. In fact, that was the very last written exercise that I set the
group. </span><i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why Do You Write?</i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The looks on
some people’s faces as they put down their pens showed that some kind of understanding,
one that might previously have proved elusive, had been reached. Me? I know why
I write. I write because life’s too amazing to live just once. Because somehow
we’ve been gifted hearts and minds that permit us to transcend the order of
things, so why wouldn’t we want to see where that takes us (even if, sometimes,
it turns out to be just three streets over, drinking coffee instead of tea)? I
write because it’s time travel, it’s hurtling through place and space, it’s
kissing the one who got away, or the one you never knew existed. It’s the
button that came off your skirt one day when you were five years old, and knowing that that button </span><i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mattered</i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> – maybe
because your mother sewed it on and she’s not around any more, or maybe because
she is here but you don’t see enough of her, or maybe, actually, everything’s
pretty fine between you and your mother, but for some reason you still find
yourself caring about that button… In a world where even the things we think we
have a good grip on tend to have a habit of, sooner or later, slipping away, writing them down feels like the one practical, magical thing that we
can do to hold on tight. </span><i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That’s</i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> why I</span><i style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">write. It just took this week – with one
other tutor, one guest, fifteen writers, centre staff and their dogs, together in
a grand old house on the side of a hill – to remind me. And for that, dear
Arvon, I’m eternally grateful.</span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-60065160533511239402015-09-16T16:32:00.000+01:002015-09-16T16:40:33.294+01:00A trip out west<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm writing this from my hut. The wind blows hard down this line of back gardens, so on a blustery day like today I'm working to the tune of whistling and rustling - the silver birch I can see from my window is caught in a swaying dance, while some other form of robust shrub is tapping against the wooden wall. Close my eyes, and I can fancy I'm on a cliff-top. I can hear the push and pull of the tide, its gusting roar. Open my eyes and the coast is still there - my desk has a new scattering of shells, gathered from Porthmeor and Sennen Cove, and my flip-flops (worn persistently) probably still carry the faintest traces of sand in their tread. New postcards are taped to my wall, souvenirs from seaside galleries. I'm just returned from a week's holiday in Cornwall. It was a trip that was the perfect mix of business and pleasure, thanks to it falling so close to the launch of <i>The Sea Between Us</i>. Here are my (Busman's) Holiday snaps, and a few words to go with them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The excellent Waterstones Truro was our first stop in Cornwall - where I was thrilled to spot this poster. I signed a heap of books, while my little son oohed and aahed at their particularly colourful and inviting children's section. It was great to meet Libby too, and I'm grateful for their brilliant support for the book.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The Edge of the World Bookshop</i> in Penzance, a town that features in my novel, was next. I signed another grand stack (thank you, guys!), while around me the shop buzzed with book buyers. James and Rachael have created a wonderful place, and it was inspiring to hear their story of settling in the west and setting up shop. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next to The Old Coastguard in Mousehole, a hotel I stayed at on a writing retreat while working on <i>The Sea Between Us</i>. Their support has been amazing, buying copies of the book to go in guest rooms, selling it in reception, and choosing it as their first title for the brand new Old Coastguard Book Club (thank you Alice!). We ate good food, drank great wine, CJ charged about the palm-tree filled garden, and later we sank into bed feeling full and happy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The next morning, after a stop-off at Sennen Cove for a windy beach walk (another location in my novel), we took the stunning road that runs around the north coast and across the moorland. The west at its wildest. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thanks to the fortuitous spotting of a postcard at The Old Coastguard I'd discovered Kurt Jackson had a newly opened gallery in St Just. Jackson is one of my favourite artists, and I talk about him in the essay I wrote for the back pages of <i>The Sea Between Us. </i>I've several of his books at home, and when desk-bound in Bristol I'd stare into his seascapes to feel again the energy of the water, and try to put into words what he does so magnificently with a paintbrush.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Foundation was a beautiful space, and full of yet more beautiful work. I was thrilled to meet Kurt's daughter Zinzi at the gallery, and - somewhat bashfully - left her with a copy of my novel. After that happy encounter we had *amazing* cake and coffee in a cafe around the corner. CJ was more than content with his portion. I think I want to move to St Just.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our destination was St Ives, and we'd never approached it from this angle before. While still amidst rocks and ferns and rugged moorland we saw a sign that said <i>St Ives 2 miles, </i>then we were upon it, the glitter of water, the slate and granite glinting silver in the sun. We oohed and ahhed at the sight of the town, in the way of children catching their first glimpse of the sea. Our home for the week was on a hillside behind the Tate, <a href="http://www.classic.co.uk/nas/visitors-book/finding-inspiration-in-the-wild-and-wonderful-west-1413.html" target="_blank">our 3rd stay in the same cottage</a>, and just seconds from one of my favourite beaches in the world - Porthmeor. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I wrote a piece for the WHSmith blog about <a href="http://blog.whsmith.co.uk/emylia-hall-the-extreme-sport-of-novel-writing/" target="_blank">writing as an extreme sport</a>, and in it I mention bodyboarding, and messing about in the shallows with the pre-schoolers. We got some pretty big waves this week in St Ives, and while I'm a novice there was much whooping at waves caught, and some proper face-riding too. We went out every day, and it was altogether more thrilling than my one attempt at paddleboarding (something I've always fancied) - though admittedly 25mph gusts and choppy seas didn't make for the best (i.e. pretty treacherous) learning conditions - I stayed the course of the lesson but BOY were there moments when I wanted to chuck in the towel (or, rather, go running for one).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">St Ives is home to a fabulous indie, St Ives Bookseller, and it was a real pleasure to meet Alice and her colleagues, and sign copies of the book (one of the benefits of staying locally was that when they sold out, I dropped in again and signed a new batch - woo hoo). I also picked up a couple of Cornish-set gems - I own a couple of different editions of Rebecca but couldn't resist this new one, and as to The Shell Seekers… I'm reading it now and it's utterly, utterly charming.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What else? CJ established himself as a total Beach Bum, never happier than when the water was in sight, his toes dug in the sand. We ate superlative paella at the Porthgwidden Beach Cafe (only my third evening out with my husband in 18 months… we were giddy). I scrambled through rock pools and braved slippery heights for a photo shoot one morning on the beach (for the Western Morning News - more on that soon). I had one of the best cakes <i>ever</i> at the West Beach Bakery - pumpkin and chocolate - gobbled down while still in my wetsuit early one brisk morning. I went to all my favourite galleries, and thought of Robyn in <i>The Sea Between Us</i> doing the same, her creative calling enlivened by everything about her, but most of all the ever-present sea. We saw the ocean early in the morning, where even in this town of dawn surfers and eager holidaymakers there was nobody else around save us and the gulls. We saw it in the dark, as it thundered on the beach, stones dragging and clattering. In full sunshine, the wind sending clouds speeding along the horizon line, white horses galloping towards the sand. Every time we had to leave the beach my little son turned and waved at the sea. For him it was a living thing, marvellous, ceaselessly entrancing, and deserving of his farewell. Plus, he really likes waving.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As holidays went, it was wonderful. As a trip to the spiritual home of a book I've written, one that's just published, the ink barely dry on the pages, it was… perfect - thanks to the brilliant support of booksellers, and the enthusiasm of people I met. Everywhere I looked the unending beauty of the coastline, and the beguiling mix of landscape, surf, and art, reminded me why I wanted to set a story there in the first place. The Emerson quote that <i>The Sea Between Us</i> begins with - <i>live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air's salubrity</i> - well, we channelled that all week. Even on this windy (now raining - torrentially) day in Bristol, I'm channeling it still. </span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-81867081186462621322015-08-27T15:48:00.001+01:002015-08-27T17:19:04.017+01:00Publication Day! And many pieces of writing<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today THE SEA BETWEEN US is published in the UK! Hip, hip, hooray!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here it is, looking rather handsome in a patch of summer sunshine…</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">…and here I am, in Pub Day selfie mode… I'm wearing my favourite 'Life is better in the ocean' jumper, of course… </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've been busy scribbling articles and blog posts in the last few weeks, and most seem to have gone live today. Again - hooray! If you fancy a read of a little something then make yourself a coffee (or two) and take your pick from the below... </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you'd like to read a brand new short story of mine, called <i>The Seashell</i>, then hop over to The Book Corner and read it <a href="http://mrsbbooks2011.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/exclusive-short-story-by-emylia-hall.html?m=1" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you'd like to read why I consider writing to be a sport that's every bit as extreme as the likes of snowboarding and surfing then head to the WHSmith blog and read it <a href="http://blog.whsmith.co.uk/emylia-hall-the-extreme-sport-of-novel-writing/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tired of not getting enough holidays? Then join me in fostering a year-round holidaymaker spirit. I explained how over on the James Villas blog and…. yep, read it <a href="http://blog.jamesvillas.co.uk/a-year-round-holiday-state-of-mind-by-emylia-hall/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile on FemaleFirst I've a piece called 'Ten things I want my readers to know about me'… and you can read it <a href="http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/emylia-hall-the-sea-between-us-867169.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As part of my 'getting to know and love Cornwall' research I stayed in some beautiful places in the far west, and I told cottage company Classic just how inspirational I found it to be - you can read that piece <a href="http://www.classic.co.uk/nas/visitors-book/finding-inspiration-in-the-wild-and-wonderful-west-1413.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The very lovely Hannah Beckerman interviewed me for the Huffington Post - and you can read my answers to her excellent questions <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/hannah-beckerman/interview-with-novelist-emylia-hall_b_8045530.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, I wrote a piece for the wonderful people at Book Slam about the story behind the song in my novel. You can read that one <a href="http://bookslam.com/news/20382/the-song-between-us" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>In St Ives, last summer </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The song I'm Always With You was written by him on the left, for me in the middle </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A BIG, BIG THANK YOU for all the support. My Publication Day has been filled with kind and lovely words, from kind and lovely people. You've done me and my book proud, and I couldn't be more grateful. <i>The Sea Between Us</i> is dedicated to my son Calvin Jack and my husband, Bobby. I wrote much of it while I was pregnant, and rewrote it much of it when my son was very small. The fact that the last was even possible was down to the incredible support of my husband. It's a book that is, I hope, full of love - for landscape, surf, art, music, and the people who make life worth living. This one's for you, boys. It's yours.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll leave you with the aforementioned song - it's called <i><a href="https://soundcloud.com/teambookends/im-always-with-you-the-song-inspired-by-the-sea-between-us" target="_blank">I'm Always With You</a> </i>and you can listen to it <a href="https://soundcloud.com/teambookends/im-always-with-you-the-song-inspired-by-the-sea-between-us" target="_blank">HERE</a> Xxx</span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-70253684809607135122015-07-13T15:22:00.001+01:002015-07-13T15:22:41.975+01:00First showing: book trailer for The Sea Between Us<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fancy a glimpse inside the world of my new novel? I'm thrilled to share with you here the trailer for <i>The Sea Between Us</i>. I've also written a few words on how we made it, and the generous, talented who people came together to make it happen. You can read that piece <a href="http://www.welcometobookends.co.uk/blog/2015/07/exclusive-first-look-at-the-sea-between-us-trailer/" target="_blank">HERE</a>, on the reading community website <a href="http://www.welcometobookends.co.uk/blog/2015/07/exclusive-first-look-at-the-sea-between-us-trailer/" target="_blank">Bookends</a>. Happy watching Xx</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-73590601161957063582015-07-08T16:20:00.000+01:002015-07-08T16:33:13.174+01:00Beach notes<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Throughout the writing of <i>The Sea Between Us</i> I spent a lot of time on Cornish beaches (I know, it's a hard life…). I've come to know and love Porthmeor in St Ives, with its swathes of surfers and iconic curvature of the Tate. The serene and sandy stretches of Sennen Cove, its shoreline puddled with jellyfish as the big waves come crashing in. The scrabbling, scrambling descent to Pedn Vounder, a dreamlike place, and easy to miss at high tide. Last week I took my little son to Ness Cove, one of my favourite Devon beaches. Back in 2011 I was at Ness Cove when I heard I had my first ever book deal - I ran into the sea, soaking my jeans, kicking through the shallows with unbridled joy. Whenever I've been back since I think of that day and, well, <i>glow.</i> The beach was special enough before - with its damp, dark smugglers' tunnel, and the startling silver of the sea as you step out into the light, it was always a childhood favourite - but now it's one of my most beloved places on earth. Last week CJ built his first sandcastles there, and scampered on the sand. We also, unwittingly, staged a recreation of the book jacket design for <i>The Sea Between Us</i>...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Continuing the oceanic theme, I've been reading a gem of a book called <i>Gift From The Sea</i> by American author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, written in 1955. It elegantly and inspiringly argues the need for solitude, and suggests the seashore is the very best place to find it. Here's to that. Whenever I take myself off on writing retreats I head for water - the sense of perpetual motion is energising, I never feel stuck by the sea...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">… and IN the sea is even better, as my new sweatshirt attests...</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the subject of quotes, I'm lucky that some fabulous authors have read early copies of <i>The Sea Between Us</i> and even luckier that they've said some very generous things about it. You can read what Lucy Clarke, Tiffany Murray, Hannah Beckerman and Liz Fenwick had to say <a href="http://www.emyliahall.com/the-sea-between-us/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. It's always a nervous feeling, waiting for a new novel to come out, and knowing these fellow book writers and book lovers have enjoyed it is cheering indeed. My thanks to them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This post feels a little random - a note here, a picture there - but that's how it is by the sea. Your mind bobs and drifts. You gaze at the endless horizon, hypnotised by the infinite sense of promise, then are brought back to the minutiae, the feel of a shell in the palm of your hand, the glistening of a pebble, the shifting of sand between your toes as the tide rushes out. You lie back and watch the seagulls wheel. Then you charge to the water and blitz beneath the waves. It's serenity and it's exhilaration. Aimlessness and focus. Days like these, with just a few weeks to go before publication, feeling that particular blend of anticipation and angst, there's no place I'd rather be. I hope you make it to the beach this summer. I hope, as Emerson says, and whose words I chose to open <i>The Sea Between Us</i>, you let yourself 'live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air's salubrity'. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-76205114068822306112015-05-27T17:55:00.000+01:002015-05-27T17:55:27.651+01:00New home, new book<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My poor blog has been a little neglected in recent months. Mainly due to moving house, and the day to day juggling of writing and mothering that I'm still working on balancing (what IS the trick? If you've got it figured then DO TELL. I wrote about the subject of managing offspring - both books and babies - for Book Slam recently, and you can read it <a href="http://bookslam.com/news/20136/offspring" target="_blank">HERE</a>). Today - the 27th May - is the three month marker for my new novel, <i>The Sea Between Us</i>, coming out, so with that wind in my sails, with that super light on the horizon, here are a couple of updates…</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In April we moved house. Apart from all the excitement of owning our first home (after many years of renting we can finally go wild with the Blu-tack - walls watch out!), I'm also a little giddy at being the proprietor of my very own writing hut. While elsewhere in the house there are still many unpacked boxes, early on I spent a happy afternoon making my hut ship-shape and fit for my purpose. Here's a glimpse… </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The only kicker is that the hut is right on 'CJ's lawn'… so I'll have to learn to resist the temptation of hanging out with him instead of working...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbUB-Y255KkfNrRuLp75bHVyZ1eI1zjnrW58V4oIk_MXEb4kOILHy4YHrX8sdmnoNfQi98rugJVEA7Fn15XgUgrcya5H8A4BAmUsvKYXZYuj9QFpVOJA30DIvvHBxAuoqJcE8pqK_oflI/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbUB-Y255KkfNrRuLp75bHVyZ1eI1zjnrW58V4oIk_MXEb4kOILHy4YHrX8sdmnoNfQi98rugJVEA7Fn15XgUgrcya5H8A4BAmUsvKYXZYuj9QFpVOJA30DIvvHBxAuoqJcE8pqK_oflI/s400/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="323" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">…but when interruptions are this cute, well, who even WANTS to resist?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There was another knock at my door earlier, and it was another welcome diversion. A big box of finished copies of the trade paperback of <i>The Sea Between Us</i>. This edition is bound for Australia and New Zealand and beyond - it's basically a chunky, slightly larger version of the mass market paperback that'll be out in the UK in three months. It is a BEAUTY - big thanks to my publisher Headline for making it look so divine. The title is picked out in gorgeous coppery foil, and there's a splendid driftwood effect on the spine. I love a bit of driftwood, me. I'm also thrilled to bits that the generous words of author Lucy Clarke adorn the cover - 'an utterly beautiful story'. I'm a big fan of Lucy's books - she has a new one out this summer too - The Blue - I've read an early copy and can confirm that it is FAB. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What else? Well, between decking out my writing hut and getting increasingly excited about the forthcoming publication of <i>The Sea Between Us</i>, I've been trying to lose myself in the writing of a new book. It's early days, but I've a stack of notebooks full of scribbles and am just feeling my way into the first draft. At this point it feels a little like an awkward dance, one where we're both trying to learn the steps, still unsure of who's supposed to be leading. We haven't quite found our rhythm yet, but I'm not worried. I know we'll get there in the end, this new book and me, because I've felt the SPARK. And right now, so early in our lives together, the spark is what it's all about.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-57882591235519798422015-03-12T15:12:00.002+00:002015-03-12T15:31:49.226+00:00The mother of all years<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is a picture of me on my fifth
birthday, with my brand new baby, Morris.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was never much for dolls as a child.
Climbing trees and playing football were far more preferable to me than cooing
and cradling and yet… there was Morris. He was both planned, and deeply
anticipated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before he arrived his name
was already waiting, as was a pile of handmade clothes. I wasn’t any good with
a needle and thread - again, tree-climbing and ball-kicking – but I could wield
a stapler and a roll of sticky tape with the best of them. I raided my mum’s
bag of fabric remnants, and ‘stitched’ him a pair of dungarees and two shirts.
When Morris arrived, and I found the clothes I’d lovingly made him were far too
small, I cried. It felt like my first maternal misstep. I should have taken it as warning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here’s another picture, this time from last April. Calvin
is about ten weeks old and I’m thirty-five. To the five year old me, that would
have seemed like a towering age at which to first become a mum. But then I
didn’t become the owner of a donkey sanctuary, or a Wimbledon champion either,
so I guess life doesn’t unfold as we, at five, might imagine. In fact, when it
comes to motherhood, it doesn’t unfold as we might imagine at thirty-five,
either.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would never have imagined that CJ, now
aged one, would still be sleeping in our bed each night, lolling between us, his arms
thrown out wide with sweet abandon as we just about cling to the mattress. Nor that for the first five months of his life he’d sleep only on our chests, curled in a ball as tight as a hedgehog. Each
night I’d wedge him between my boobs, falling asleep kissing the top of his
head – neck only marginally cricked - and wake up again doing the same. I would
never have imagined that my first three months of motherhood would be so coloured
by breastfeeding woes, that I’d forever be clapping on hot compresses, or
ice-packs, or grimly massaging blocked ducts, my tears rolling. I’d thought only
cows got mastitis, just as I’d thought abscesses only appeared in mouths.
I would never have imagined that my emotions would run so close to the surface that
the slightest thing could tip me, or trip me; failing to close the freezer door
and all the reserves of baby food I’d made going to ruin; struggling to put a
shoe on a fast-kicking baby’s foot; incessant crying in the early weeks cutting
right into the core of me, quickening my heartbeat, my own voice hitting a
keening note in reply. I would never have imagined how the feeling of immense
responsibility would wallop me right in the chest, and every so often the
prickling sensation of alarm, that my old life was gone, quite gone. I never would
have imagined that I would be okay with this last. That I wouldn’t, in fact, have
had it any other way. Nor would I have imagined that marveling at my baby would
show no signs of running out, my infatuation rendering me, I admit, practically
moronic. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh, look at his hair! Oh, his
two front teeth! The underside of his foot is so smooth! His laugh!</i>
Wondering at every millimeter of him, ad infinitum. The other thing I could never have imagined as that small girl is the
importance of the person by my side. This last year, Bobby has astounded me almost
as much as our son. My gratitude to him, for being an amazing husband and dad,
is boundless. As is my respect for anyone who walks this crazy path alone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This Sunday will be my second Mother’s Day. I now know
why, when someone says ‘the mother of all’, they are talking about the absolute
extremities of experience. This has certainly been the mother of all years. And
will it always be like this now, I wonder? The everyday effusion? The elemental
reactions? The sense of change upon change upon change. Of swooping fear and soaring delight. Or is this first year -
with the transition from squirming, squalling newborn to adventuring,
muddy-kneed toddler, the journey from startled new mum to slightly more
adjusted mum - the most extreme of all? Perhaps A.A. Milne has the answer:
‘When I was one, I had just begun’. For Calvin there are still first words to
come, all the flavours of ice cream, the zig-zagging path of a never-steered-before trike. For me, the last time I unclip my bra, and lift him
to my breast, knowing it’s our final feed. The first time we leave him with
someone else for a whole day, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a whole
night</i>. The first time I watch, helplessly, as he takes a humdinger of a
fall. But these are the broadest brushstrokes. I can’t know how they’ll feel,
and feeling is, after all, everything. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I look again at these two photographs, thirty
years apart, and the similarities are striking. In each I’m holding onto
something beloved, and smiling into a future I can’t possibly imagine. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-1307380786653830572014-12-22T08:08:00.001+00:002014-12-22T08:08:51.014+00:00Cornwall in December, merry and bright<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This time last week I was on the road to Cornwall, for a post-birthday, pre-Christmas treat. Our destination was Mousehole, a village I've come to know quite well. My new novel, <i>The Sea Between Us</i>, is set in Penwith, in a fictional hamlet called Merrin, and over the last year and a half I've spent as much time as possible familiarising myself with the landscape of the far west. This has been one of the greatest joys of my writing process. I've tramped coastal footpaths in the mizzle (that brilliant west country word for the killer combo of rain and mist), pitching up sodden at a deserted and wave-battered Lamorna Cove. I've clambered over rocks as unblemished and rounded as giant hens' eggs in the Cot Valley. I've been hurled by waves and wound up spitting saltwater bodyboarding at Porthmeor. I've talked to artists in galleries in St Ives, bought fresh fish from men in wellingtons in Newlyn Harbour, basked upon Porthcurno's golden sand. After about five weeks of exploring, and many more spent dreaming, I've fallen in love with this part of the world, and hope that shines through in my book. Last November I stayed at the Old Coastguard in Mousehole and wrote furiously (i.e. very happily - no one could fail to be happy and productive in such a place) for five days. I'd seen the preparatory structures of the fabled Harbour Lights then, the scaffold for a giant Christmas pudding, the five enormous points of a not-yet-shining star. I wrote a mention of the lights into my book, and somehow that didn't seem right without seeing them for myself, in all their blazing glory. So last week we bundled up our baby, and made our last trip across Bodmin Moor for the year. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In Mousehole the winds tasted of seasalt, woodsmoke wafted over the rooftops, and strings of fairy-lanterns laced the alleyways. We walked the streets at nightfall, a burning pasty in one hand, a cup of mulled wine in the other. The harbour lights dazzled, as we knew they would. Here are a few pictures of our winter weekend in the west. Three ships casting iridescent light. A Stargazy Pie that's my kind of size, and the ever-welcoming The Ship Inn. A particularly alluring garden gate on the road from Mousehole to Paul. Angry seas and a jellyfish-strewn beach at one of my favourite spots, Sennen Cove. Mousehole village at first light. And the view from the Old Coastguard garden - silver water, sprays of palm, the glorious sun on its way up - the natural world putting on its own spectacular light show.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I haven't written as many blogs as usual this year (babies! tsk) but thank you, as ever, for reading those I have. <i>The Sea Between Us</i> has now been thoroughly copy edited. The next time I see it it'll be type-set and ready to proof. There's a gorgeous cover design, which I can't wait to share. Soon it'll be printed, bound and, come August, ready for you too. Which is an exciting, nerve-racking, at times wonderfully unlikely (babies! tsk!) thought. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here's wishing you the happiest of Christmases, and the shiniest, brightest, fun-filled (in fact, Mousehole-harbour-lights-style) 2015. </span></div>
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-41622726791912377642014-12-05T15:36:00.000+00:002014-12-05T17:16:17.368+00:00My favourite Devon places - a Holiday Cottages blog<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Devon-based holiday firm <a href="http://holidaycottages.co.uk/">holidaycottages.co.u</a><a href="http://holidaycottages.co.uk/">k</a> are running a fab <a href="http://www.holidaycottages.co.uk/youngcreatives?_ga=1.235937348.473624858.1415283560" target="_blank">writing and photography competition</a> for local school children. I was delighted to lend my support to it and write a piece for their blog about my favourite Devon places. I went for a smugglers' tunnel, a hidden cove, and a storybook valley… you can read the 'where and why' <a href="http://www.holidaycottages.co.uk/blog/emylia-halls-favourite-places-devon" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span><br />
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Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8286487768730952744.post-31481978215684814732014-08-13T16:49:00.000+01:002014-08-13T17:00:32.563+01:00Devon Air<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back in July I spent a week at my parents' house in Devon, working on my new book. My </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">visit was timed with glorious, unending sunshine, so al fresco was the order of every day. Here's a picture of my writing spot, under the big, old Bramley apple tree in their garden. It's a tree I have history with - my first swing hung from its boughs, I used to whistle up its branches and take a perch at head-spinning heights, and every autumn I'd stand beneath its canopy, hands cupped, popping on my toes, ready to catch the runaways as my dad worked the apple-picker. It even has a name - Matthew - after <i>Anne of Green Gables </i>(yes, there's a Marilla too, she's further down the garden and is an American Mother - aptly - a type of eating apple tree)<i>. </i>Anyway - as a place to write - Matthew's shade was bliss.<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Occasionally I welcomed a little visitor to my workspace - Calvin is six months old now, and loved the visit to his grandparents' place just as much as I did. Here he is, proving a convivial writing companion.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I wasn't writing, I was walking. The best way to get CJ to nap is by taking him out in his pram, so every afternoon we walked down the dusty lanes to the River Teign. It felt really special showing him the village I grew up in, and treading in the footsteps that my mum used to take with me in a pram, thirty-five (ahhh!) years ago. The hedgerows were full of cow parsley and buttercups, we stopped to marvel at a pair of zig-zagging dragonflies, said <i>hello</i> to troops of honey-coloured cows, and watched an airborne tussle between a shrieking buzzard and a crow. As we walked in the full heat of the afternoon, canopies of ash and oak lent their shade. We stood on the hump-backed bridge, looking down on the river, eyeing a tattered rope-swing ('give it a few years', I told CJ) and feeling cooler just for watching the water. Passing cars were few and far between. In such a peaceful place, with my sleeping baby trundling along with me, my mind played over each morning's writing, and I figured out solutions to some knotty problems - the like of which had been evading me in Bristol. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My new novel is a love story, but it's also about growing up and going home, and our attachment to place. Being back in the garden of my childhood, and wandering the reaches of a village that will always be a part of me, proved to be the perfect place to work on it. I'm back in the city now, writing my way towards a second draft, and I'm channelling every moment of those days in the country, my apple tree desk, the green lanes, and the sweet afternoons of walking with my babies - Calvin, and my book.</span><br />
<br />Emylia Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10676229818428067467noreply@blogger.com