Life, death, and not writing
Sep 12, 2022 9:01 am
Hi
Hello from springtime Sydney, where all the cherry trees, azaleas and magnolias are now in full bloom. The transition seasons of spring and autumn are my favourites. The changes are not as dramatic here in Australia as they are in England but they’re beautiful nonetheless – the cycle of life continuing through the years.
The last few weeks have been tough. My father-in-law sadly passed away after a long illness, and so we’ve been spending time with my husband’s family in his home town of Tamworth. A friend of my husband’s described death of a parent as ground-shifting, and it really is. We are now back home, and normal life has begun again.
Needless to say, I haven’t done any writing or even much reading. In between the trips to Tamworth however, I was offered a new part time job which I’m very excited about. Since the floods happened earlier this year and forced us to move house, I’ve been doing a 2-hour each way commute by bus which clearly wasn’t sustainable (although I did listen to a lot of audiobooks!). The new job is a very similar role as a Quality Coordinator in a day surgery/clinic, but it’s only a 20 minute walk away. Walking to work is a dream for me – I love to walk, and if I take an extra few minutes, I can even walk along the bay, which is a perfect start and end to the day. I start at the beginning of next month.
But before then, I hope to finish the edit of my new novella – The Last Goodbye. The story is based around the character of one the other crewmen from the American Maiden, the B17 bomber plane that Tom flies in Another Time and Place. I’m excited about it and a little nervous – it’s a dual timeline novel, which is new thing for me. I hope to have it ready by the end of the year – I’ll keep you posted.
What I’m Reading -The Liberation by Kate Furnivall.
I’m about a quarter of the way through this beautifully written and absorbing novel set immediately after the war in Sorrento and Naples, where a young woman finds herself in danger as she struggles to clear her father’s name.
What I’m watching - Seinfeld
I love this show, although we only discovered it fairly recently – we were living in Tokyo when it first aired, and had no TV! But we’ve needed light, funny and short these last few weeks, and Seinfeld ticks all the boxes. It’s dated surprisingly well, and you can really see just how influential it was on all the sitcoms that came after it.
Here are the links to my books. Have you read them all?
Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction with a touch of fantasy
Till next time - happy reading!
Kind regards
Samantha
https://www.samgrosserbooks.com
