{"id":3744,"date":"2023-03-20T16:35:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T14:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3744"},"modified":"2023-03-21T17:04:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T15:04:05","slug":"fil-reads-writing-cave-or-rather-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3744","title":{"rendered":"Fil Reid\u2019s Writing Cave \u2026 or rather boat!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019ve a real treat today as historical romance writer Fil Reid shares her very special writing space.<\/em> Over to you, Fil \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
My guest – and her lovely rescue dog<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Thank you very much for inviting me on to your blog. I\u2019m very excited to join you and your readers. Speaking personally, one of the things that fascinates me is finding out how other writers go about their work and where they do it. So, I am pleased to share with you today how I write my books, which are historical romance in the main.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
One of Fil\u2019s gorgeous covers!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For a start, my writing cave isn\u2019t in a house, as I don\u2019t live in one. I live in a type of canal boat that\u2019s called a widebeam. It looks much like a narrowboat from the side, but is twice as wide \u2013 rather like living in a floating apartment. We\u2019re eleven feet across and just under seventy feet long, and have all mod cons, including a huge built-in generator and a battery bank that enables us to seamlessly transfer to battery power if there\u2019s a power cut. We\u2019re in a marina, so most of the time we\u2019re on shore power, though. This means my writing never gets interrupted by lack of electricity.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we take our boat out onto the cut, our engine will charge our battery bank as we travel along, and we can use the generator for a top up if we need to. The only thing I don\u2019t have all the time when we\u2019re out is the internet and mobile phone coverage, as some areas are in blackspots. But I love being moored in some quiet spot with no one about but the swans and moorhens we can see floating past our windows and a few sheep or cows in neighbouring fields. It\u2019s very peaceful and conducive to writing, and the nice thing is we can keep changing our view whenever we feel like it. When we first had the boat we went down to Bath with it (about an 80 mile journey as the canal wiggles about a lot). A month to get there and a month to get back! Not something you can hurry, rather like writing.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
I mean, how beautiful is this?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We have two bedrooms on board, and I could<\/em> use one of them as a study, but I\u2019ve got used to writing in the main saloon of the boat, which is where our logburner is, and I like the sociability of being able to chat to my husband every so often. He\u2019s my chief editor and walking encyclopaedia \u2013 there\u2019s nothing he doesn\u2019t know and is particularly good at telling me what birds are around both when and where and what they sound like. My desk is in a corner near the back of the boat, which is also the way we come in and out so feels like the front. I have a built in desk backed by a useful set of shelves on which I keep my reference books. One of the problems of living on a boat is finding room for books, and we do have a lot stored in one of our two garages in damp-proof boxes. I tend to do my pleasure reading on my kindle as that doesn\u2019t take up valuable shelf room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite my lack of space, or perhaps because of it, I\u2019m quite a messy writer. I accumulate piles of notes on the desk beside me, and in storage boxes underneath. Before taking a photo of my workspace, I had to tidy it a bit<\/s> lot! I tend to wear noise cancelling headphones while I work, even if I\u2019m sitting in silence. I have asperger\u2019s syndrome, which gives me a liking for things that are familiar \u2013 like the headphones. Plus, I don\u2019t like extraneous noises, so I don\u2019t even listen to music. I don\u2019t like to write without my headphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
So tidy! <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been writing all my life, on and off, since I was five years old when my parents gave me a Petite Children\u2019s Typewriter for my birthday. But work and family got in the way, so, until we returned to England from France, where we lived for ten years, my writing was only sporadic. It\u2019s still sporadic nowadays, due to some health issues, but I\u2019m more driven than I ever used to be. I think success has spurred me on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
I love these covers!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I won the Dragonblade Publishing Write Stuff competition back in 2021 for which the first prize was a three-book publishing deal. The first three books in my Guinevere series came out between January and May 2022, and Dragonblade have just taken on the next three in the series, as well as the regency romance series that I\u2019m currently working on. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on for more information about Fil, linky things and where to buy her books:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

website<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/filreid.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/filreidauthor<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guinevere Series<\/strong> (books 1 \u2013 6)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When young librarian Gwen goes to scatter her father\u2019s ashes on Glastonbury Tor, she\u2019s kidnapped back to the post-Roman Dark Ages of King Arthur by none other than Merlin. To her dismay, he insists she\u2019s the one with the power to help Prince Arthur become the king of legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, Gwen doesn\u2019t want to stay, but before she can escape the hilltop fortress of Din Cadan (South Cadbury Castle), news comes that Arthur\u2019s father is dying in far off Viroconium (Wroxeter). Arthur heads up there to wrest the kingship of Dumnonia from his older brother\u2019s acquisitive hands, taking Gwen with him. While she\u2019s in the old Roman town, by mistake she helps set in motion two of the major threads of Arthurian legend. The road to Arthur\u2019s doom seems as though it might already be set in stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, Gwen is a pawn in the hands of powerful men, but as the books unfold, she begins to take on the role Merlin predicts for her and becomes the strong warrior queen Britain needs, although she still has the sense to stay silent when required. Difficult for a girl raised in the twenty-first century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a series that takes the oldest and sometimes the most obscure of the legends and twists them into a believable history of Arthur told through the eyes of his queen. There are battles, of course, but it\u2019s very much about Gwen and Arthur\u2019s changing relationship over the twenty years of their marriage, and the enormous pressures brought to bear on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there\u2019s an element of magic involved, as how else could you tell some of the major elements of Arthur\u2019s story? All the places used in the books exist, so if you want to, you can go and visit them for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buying links for first three books \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guinevere: The Dragon Ring<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n