The much travelled Angela Britnell is on today’s blog, sharing her Poldark themed writing cave! Over to you, Angela …

This room was planned in my mind before my eldest son ever left home and as soon as I waved him a tearful goodbye I swung into action. Peach paint and lace curtains soon transformed the grungy space of a typical teenage boy into my dream writing space! Before I’d been writing in any available quiet(ish) space, although in a testosterone driven home with a husband and three sons you can imagine that was a challenge. I rounded up furniture from everywhere including my father-in-law’s beautiful desk, an old family drop-leaf table and an unwanted sofa. I chose several of my father’s watercolours to decorate the walls and added a bookcase and lamps.

I soon discovered a serious drawback to writing upstairs was the constant need to traipse back down to the kitchen for the essential cups of tea – resulting in tea spilled on the carpet (I’m on the clumsy side) and a trail of biscuit crumbs. A drum roll please for the tea table! Now I have all the necessities to hand including my prized Poldark mug, and as my long-suffering husband often jokes I have no need to leave my office until I run out of tea bags and biscuits!

Now that’s a brilliant idea. Consider it nicked!

On the top of the desk you’ll see some of my favourite things – the necessary dictionary and thesaurus, a Cornish painting, carved figures brought back from Kenya by my middle son, a lovely wood clock from Gatlinburg in the Smoky Mountains, a collection of pebbles and shells, a paper rose made from discarded romance novels given by a friend to celebrate my first UK book signing, and of course a picture of the delightful Aidan as Poldark to inspire creativity!

The top shelf of my crowded bookcase is a mixture of items I’ve collected from places I’ve visited, often in connection with my books. Then there’s the random hoarding of “things that could be useful for research” – at least that’s my excuse for holding on to them. One shelf is all things Cornwall from the complete set of Poldark novels (are you seeing a theme here?) to books on Cornish names and places. Without being boastful (I hear my mother telling me not to brag at this point) I’m a little bit prouder than I should be of the shelf holding copies of all of my books, magazine stories and audio books. In the middle of those head-banging moments (we all have them) when a story isn’t working and I’m convinced no one will ever want to publish anything of mine again I allow myself a quick glance over to that shelf.

Now we’ve found out about Angela’s Cornish inspired writing cave (although it sounds too cosy to be called a cave, it’s more of a nest) here’s the blurb for her latest book, The Wedding Reject Table.

Once on the reject table, always on the reject table? 

When Maggie Taylor, a cake decorator, and Chad Robertson, a lawyer from Nashville Tennessee, meet at a wedding in Cornwall it’s not under the best circumstances.

They have both been assigned to ‘the reject table’, alongside a toxic collection of grumpy great aunts, bitter divorcees and stuffy organists.

This is an inspired idea!

Maggie has grown used to being the reject, although when Chad helps her out of a wedding cake disaster she begins to wonder whether the future could hold more for her.

But will Chad be strong enough to deal with the other problems in Maggie’s life? Because a ruined cake isn’t the only issue she has – not by a long shot.

The book is the second novella in the Nashville Connections series.   if it’s whetted your appetite, the first is: What Happens in Nashville.

 Amazon US http://tinyurl.com/nj4lhaw

Amazon UK http://tinyurl.com/pokd2

And just what’s behind Angela’s love of all things Cornish? Here’s her bio:

Angela was born in Cornwall, England and joined what was then the Women’s Royal Naval Service to work as a Naval Secretary before she met her husband, a US Naval Flight Officer, while being based at a small NATO Headquarters on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. They lived in Denmark, Sicily, California, southern Maryland and London before settling with their 3 sons in Franklin, Tennessee. Angela took a creative writing course in 2000 and loved it so much that she has barely put her pen down since. She has had many short stories and novels published in both the US and UK. You can find out more about Angela and her writing at:

http://www.angelabritnellromance.com/index.html

and follow her at:

https://www.facebook.com/angelasbritnell?ref=ts&fref=ts

and:

https://twitter.com/AngelaBritnell

Thanks so much for coming on Angela. It was lovely meeting you and hearing about your writing cave. Mine’s a tea with milk please. And in a Poldark mug of course!