{"id":3830,"date":"2023-06-11T14:13:48","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T12:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3830"},"modified":"2023-06-11T14:13:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T12:13:49","slug":"in-the-writing-cave-with-gail-aldwin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3830","title":{"rendered":"In the Writing Cave with Gail Aldwin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m delighted to host Gail Aldwin on the blog. <\/em>
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Thank you so much, Georgia, for inviting me to share my writing space. I currently split my time between a house in Dorchester, Dorset where my desk overlooks water meadows and a tiny flat in SW London. We let our Dorset house as a holiday home over the summer, which means I\u2019m currently writing from New Malden. Given the limited space, my writing nook is very cave-like. Situated in a hallway is a bureau, inherited from the previous owner, and this is where I sit and write. There\u2019s no natural light as I\u2019m sandwiched between the front door on my left and the entrance to the lounge on my right. It just goes to prove I need nothing more than a laptop and a desk to be able to function as a writer. 
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Follow Gail\u2019s travels on social media – she goes to much more exotic places than New Malden! (Although I hear it\u2019s very nice!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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I like a chaotic space (as you can see from the photo) the bureau is stuffed with bits and pieces. The shoebox is my husband\u2019s and contains the various documents we need when living itinerantly. Lately, I\u2019ve been using a stand to raise the screen of my laptop. This was a good investment and saves me from having (not being!) a pain in the neck. My earphones are essential. I get the computer to read back my work as I find it much easier to hear my mistakes and typos rather than read them on the page. I also use them when tuning into Writers\u2019 Hour<\/a> each weekday morning at eight o\u2019clock. The Zoom call provides a fabulous kick start to the working day when writers from around the world gather in our little Zoom boxes to share some words of wisdom and companionship and then we get on with our individual projects for fifty minutes. I\u2019m usually stuck into my writing by the time we\u2019re called back into the Zoom room and don\u2019t tend to stay for the five minutes of chat at the end. 

What a brilliant way to start the day!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back over the novels I\u2019ve completed, it seems to me I approach each project in a different way. My coming-of-age debut was written by the seat of my pants and involved lots of experimentation because it was also submitted as part of a creative writing PhD. For my second novel, I didn\u2019t want to discard so much material and planned the work to the nth degree. My latest novel The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell <\/em>is a psychological suspense published by Bloodhound Books. It draws from my experience of listening to true crime podcasts while volunteering in Uganda. Where I lived in Yumbe, there were frequent power cuts so I was often in my bed and under my mosquito net by eight o\u2019clock in the evening. Without light to read by, I tuned into the podcasts I\u2019d downloaded during the day at a local hotel. I was repatriated due to Covid-19 and came back with a head full of ideas which needed taming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always like to have a mug of tea at my side while writing. It\u2019s frequently cold by the time I get to drink it but that doesn\u2019t matter. Weak, black Earl Grey is always acceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To find out more about Gail, here are the linky things:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter:     \u200bhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/gailaldwin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook:  \u200bhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gailaldwinwriter\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram: \u200bhttps:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gailfaldwin\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blog:\u200b\u200bhttps:\/\/gailaldwin.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


And to find out more about<\/em> The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell, check it out here. <\/em>
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A true-crime podcaster investigates a decades-old suspected abduction, in this powerful psychological suspense novel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1979<\/strong> Sixteen-year-old Carolyn Russell grows increasingly infatuated with her school mathematics teacher who is also giving her private lessons. Then she disappears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014 <\/strong>Struggling journalist Stephanie Brett creates a true-crime podcast focused on the disappearance of Carolyn Russell. By digging deep into this mysterious cold case, her confidence and flagging career are boosted. But after she confronts the suspects\u2014and talks to a potential witness\u2014the leads dry up. However, Stephanie refuses to let the story rest . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can a small-time journalist with a shoestring podcast really hope to reconstruct the ultimate fate of Carolyn Russell after all these years, or are some secrets best left buried? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Takes hold of the head and the heart and simply does not let go\u2019 Jacquelyn Mitchard, No.1 New York Times<\/em> bestselling author of The Good Son<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Captures the zeitgeist for each period with telling accuracy\u2019 Suzanne Goldring, bestselling author of My Name is Eva<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A rare and thrilling book that manages to be thoughtful and intelligent\u2019 Joanna Barnard, author of Hush Little Baby<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purchase link: loom.ly\/N2ow-gU<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you so much for joining us, Gail. Huge luck with the new book!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m delighted to host Gail Aldwin on the blog. Thank you so much, Georgia, for inviting me to share my writing space. I currently split my time between a house in Dorchester, Dorset where my desk overlooks water meadows and a tiny flat in SW London. We let our Dorset house as a holiday home over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[891,931,379,932],"class_list":["post-3830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bloodhound-books","tag-gail-aldwin","tag-new-release","tag-psychological-suspense-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3830"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3840,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions\/3840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}