Freedom To Walk…

Freedom To Walk… And Write...

So, finally this week, they let us out.
Not for long: an hour a day. And not far, within 1km of home. And not without restrictions: between 6am and 10am for me, or 8pm to 11pm. There are other time slots depending on your age group.

But it’s Freedom…

Until the days of Lockdown, I’d not realised how much my daily walk is a part of my life, my writing life. I’ll explain…

Right now, I’m working on ‘Fatale‘ – ‘The Master’s Child’ #7. When I’m writing, my method is to walk and think. While I’m out; strolling along the beach, ambling through the town centre, hiking up the mountain; I chat with James, Michael and Charlotte, and more recently with Klempner. They tell me what their plans are, what’s been happening to them, or about conversations they had with each other.

I note all of this down as I walk. I keep the Evernote app loaded on every device I own. So, whether I write my notes on my phone or my tablet, when I get home, everything I’ve written syncs onto my laptop and I can get down to some serious writing. Working like this, I can typically bang out 2,000 words a day. More on a good day.

But… over the last couple of months, I’ve not been able to walk. He and I have a huge garden and a treadmill in the house. I’ve tried doing my walking that way. It’s simply not the same. My head doesn’t work the same way. James, Michael weren’t talking to me. Charlotte fell silent. Klempner wouldn’t tell me what he’s doing in Brazil.

Then, last weekend, they let us out again.

And I can walk. And even though it’s only for an hour a day, it’s made the difference. My brain, my writing brain, is working again.

I should have Fatale ready for you in about 10-14 days. The cover shown here is, by the way, only a draft. I’m not happy with it yet. But it gives you the shape of what’s coming.

Meanwhile, April and May are wonderful months here in Spain. After the winter rains and before the summer heat. So, Spain is in flower. So, I thought I’d share some of my walking with you. It’s all from within a mile or so of my home as we’re not allowed, yet, to wander any further.

The header image on this post gives you an idea. If you’d like to see more, I’ve loaded a few photos onto Instagram and, people are interested, I plan to post more.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.