Some FAQ's

I'm interrupting my drawn-out summary of my England trip to answer some frequently asked questions.

First of all, though, I want to thank everyone who has read and loved Edenbrooke! It is wonderful to know that there are kindred spirits around the world who love the same things I do. A special thank you to everyone who has left comments or sent me emails. I have had to stop reading reviews, because the things I read do crazy things to my brain when I sit down to work on my new book. So the only reviews I read are the ones you send to me, and I value each and every kind word. Thank you, thank you! Now, on to the questions...

Q:  Is Edenbrooke part of a series? / Are you going to write a sequel?

A:  I have loved living in the imaginary world of Edenbrooke the past few years, as I dreamed up and wrote my first book. I would love to live at a real version of Edenbrooke forever, if I could. But Marianne and Philip's story is complete. You can all rest easy with the knowledge that their happy ending WILL last forever. They will get married and have children and meet for secret kisses in the orchard and Meg will eventually beat Philip's horse, and Marianne will eventually get that library organized, and Philip will tease her and make her blush while they grow old together. So, no, I'm not going to write a sequel for them. I MAY write the story of another character in Edenbrooke (like Cecily), but not right now.

Q:  Are you writing another book? When will it be released?

A:  My next book will be called Blackmoore, and it is slated to be released next spring. Of course, that release date depends on my ability to write quickly and well. If I'm blogging less, it means I'm writing more. So good things are happening, and I hope to have something finished this summer. (Send your positive thoughts my way as I try to juggle being a full-time mom and a writer.)

Q:  Can you come to our book group?

A:  You are so awesome to invite me! And thank you for spreading the word about Edenbrooke to your friends and fellow readers. Unfortunately, I have a busy family and a book deadline to meet, so I can't accept invitations to attend book groups. But if you want, you can send me an email about skyping with your book group. If it works out with my schedule, I am happy to make a skype visit for fifteen minutes during your meeting.

Q:  Is Philip real, and if so, can I marry him?

A:  Sorry, no. But I am sure your own Philip is somewhere out there.

Okay, that's all for now. But next week I will finish my posting about England, and after that I should have some fun things to tell you about--trips and events and giveaways and fun stuff like that. For now, I'm off to dream of Blackmoore!

(Not really. I'm really off to welcome my kids home from school, stop the dog from chewing up a pencil, fold laundry, bake banana bread, and pull weeds in the yard. But later, tonight, I will be visiting Blackmoore.)

England Adventure Day 5 & 6

{{Disclaimer: My dinosaur computer, iPhoto, and the new Blogger format have engineered the perfect storm designed to drive me bonkers. I can't waste any more hours trying to upload photos that won't load after a whole lot of spinning rainbow wheels. Sorry. Maybe down the road I'll put more photos up. For now, this is what I've got.}}

Driving was blissfully uneventful during our trip until the fifth day. On that day our GPS (or sat-nav, as they call it) led us astray when we traveled from York to Haworth, home of the Bronte sisters. Instead of telling us when we turned a wrong way, it simply thought, "Okay, you want to go off-roading. Fine by me." And then it sent us into unchartered territory. One road we found by accident took us over sheep-studded moorland and was aptly called "Black Moore Road." When I saw the sign, I yelled, "Blackmoore! That's the name of my next book!"

But name coincidences aside, frustrations got the better of us, and we only found our lodgings with the gracious help of a receptionist at a medical clinic in Haworth. (Thank heaven for nice English people!) After settling into our B&B, we walked up the narrow cobblestone road to the top of the hill where the Brontes lived in all of their gloomy glory. It was dusk, and there was fog, and a super creepy graveyard, and loud black birds cawing in the skeletal trees overhead, and a black cat that followed us through the graveyard and rubbed itself against my legs when I stopped to peer at weathered headstones. I was in writer's heaven. Atmosphere galore!

The next day we toured the Bronte museum and learned all about their terrible, gloomy lives that led them to write such gloomy books. Then I said, "I've had enough of the fog and gloom. Let's head to the coast." 

I was excited to get to Scarborough, where I had booked a room at the Grand Scarborough hotel for two nights. I thought it would be a great home base for exploring the coast. But the grand, elegant, old-world exterior of the hotel belied the truth--it was a mini Las Vegas for old people. There were hundreds of them, dressed up, gambling, drinking, smoking, and listening to a bad lounge singer. To make matters worse, our room was located in the BASEMENT. The window looked out onto...nothing. A stone wall was in front of it. We could hear the drunken roar of other guests through the walls. It was wrong in every way possible. This was my tour into history! And how could I immerse myself in history when I was in the midst of so much modernity?

The Grand Scarborough Hotel

We settled into our room then found the stairs to the beach, where we discovered neon lights, arcades, and waffle and hot dog stands. It was too late to see anything historical, and we weren't in the mood for arcades. We definitely didn't want to go back to our dingy hotel room. So we saw The Hunger Games movie. It was awesome, except for the part where, right while Katniss is being chased by fire bombs, the screen turned red with the words "intermission" and people got up and walked around. What the...? It kind of killed the dramatic tension.

We did NOT stay the second night, as we intended, but instead made our way to Robin Hood's Bay, which I was very excited about. It was a famous smuggling town for over a hundred years. It was perfectly quaint in a red-roofed, steep cobbled streets, chilly north sea way. Walking along the beach, I found a real, legitimate fossil (a belemnite), which I brought home for my husband, who thinks it was the coolest part of my trip.

Finding my fossil on the beach at Robin Hood's Bay

Robin Hood's Bay--the tide was out, and people were playing all over this marshy beach.

Then we drove up the coast to Whitby. In the daylight hours, Whitby has a busy, touristy feel to it. This is, I gathered, a favorite weekend diversion for locals. But when the sun sunk low in the sky, we made our way up the 200 or so stone steps to the cliff overlooking the bay, where an old church and a ruined abbey stood guard over the bay.

Whitby from the east.

The church at the top of the hill in Whitby. The daffodils!

It was lovely and peaceful and ancient. These were the sites I loved the best. These were the places where the ghosts of the past mixed with the ghosts of my imagination and gave them stone and brick, grass and hill, sky and wind. Things got fleshed out for me--important things, that can't be observed through an online photo, but must be imbibed personally. It was the chilly coastal wind and the sun glinting off the water and the crowded angles of red roofs and chimneys. It was the daffodils that grew everywhere and the absolute quiet of the ruined abbey. These were the sources of inspiration that imprinted on my imagination and fed my creativity. These were the reasons I came to England.

England Adventure Days 3 & 4

Day 3 of my England adventure began in Harrogate, which was a popular resort/spa town in the Victorian era. Now it's a place with lovely, high-end shops that featured designer dresses and famous chocolates. I tried to take a picture of one of the dresses I saw in a shop and the French shopkeeper stopped me with a "tsk" and a finger shake and a very snooty, "I do not zink ze designer would like zat." Okay, then. On to the free stuff.

I snapped this photo after being shooed out of the store. Can't stop me from taking pictures outside, right?

We toured the Royal Hall, visited some antique shops, and stopped at the Mercer Art Gallery, which was very nice. Then we walked along the Valley Gardens, which made me want to move there. Valley Gardens is a lovely remnant of the Victorian era that is still very popular today. This is where moms take their kids in strollers for their daily outing and old people meet at the outdoor cafe for brunch. I had the yummiest hot chocolate there, and afterward met some friendly older men who were happy to give us advice about what to see next. Biggest local draw? Fountains Abbey. They insisted it was absolutely worth our time, and I believed them.

The best hot chocolate ever. Sipped at a lovely wrought-iron table outside in Valley Gardens.

Fountains Abbey was probably my second favorite place to visit on my entire trip, the first being Chatsworth House. It's an enormous old, ruined abbey that was built in the early 1100s. The scale and fine craftsmanship of it elicited a sense of awe and wonder in me that I could not find an end to. And it felt so nice to be there, as far as ruined old places go. Very friendly ghosts, and all. There were hundreds of acres surrounding the abbey that are part of the monument. There was a manicured Georgian water garden that was lovely. And plenty of trails to walk and fine prospects to enjoy.

Inside Fountains Abbey

Another part of the Abbey, this one with the roof intact

One angle of the Abbey, but the perspective does not do the size of it justice.

Another angle of the Abbey, ditto on size distortion. It's enormous.

After Fountains Abbey, we headed to York, which is a city rich in history. It was dark by the time we got checked in to our hotel, so we found a nearby pub (called The Hole in the Wall) and had some dinner. The burger I ordered looked appealing, in a carnivorous way, but about halfway through, I realized the meat was not quite the same as the meat we eat in burgers here. It seemed to be from a different part of the cow. That realization killed my appetite, and I spent the rest of the evening regretting that burger.

The next morning we set out to explore York. Our first stop was York Minster, an enormous old gothic cathedral with soaring stained glass windows, flying buttresses, and lots of history. We paid to climb the tower, which consisted of 275 uneven and narrow stone steps up a tight, winding tower. The view from the top allowed us to see all of York, which might have looked a little better if it had not been so hazy.

York Minster, from halfway up the tower.

After Minster, we found the Shambles, which is a series of old cobblestone streets which have been blocked off from traffic. The old houses have been preserved and turned into nice shops, and you have a fairly glamorous outdoor shopping experience in the midst of hundreds of years of history. I found it strange, this combination of history and commercialism, and finally had to settle on the idea that history is something Europeans live among, because there is so much to be had of it. In comparison, our historical sites in America (especially here in the west) are so paltry and few that we memorialize them and set them apart, shrine-like. In England, they just keep living in and using the same old buildings and the same ancient walls and streets. It's one of the things I love about England.

Shops in the Shambles.

Oh, finally, some good food! I ate the most decadent chocolate filled croissant, with the chocolate dripping down my chin and the croissant perfectly flaky. It was heavenly.

A perfect chocolate croissant

Walking along the Roman walls.

 And, of course, no trip to York is complete without a walk along the old Roman walls that surround the city. Daffodils were in bloom everywhere! I loved the bright yellows. Highlights of York: the croissants, the hike up the tower, the quaint homes turned into shops, the wonderfully helpful shopkeeper who superglued my broken sunglasses for me, and the croissants. Oh, wait. I already mentioned them.

Next up: Haworth and the moors!