As a regular blogger, it’s difficult to get my head around the fact my last ‘apperance’ on this blog was to promote Jessie Cahalin’s debut, A Gift for Maisie Bloom. That was March last year. Since then, I seem to have fallen down a rabbit hole. Part of this was a bit of a wrestling match with my current WIP, which wasn’t behaving itself. Back in Autumn 2024, I began a new book. I’d decided to return to Somerset for this, my twelfth story. What I set out on paper should have worked, but as I started to write, it soon became clear that it wasn’t going in the direction I wanted it to, or in any direction for that matter. To cut a long story short, I shelved the whole project and decide that a return to my Cornish town of Kingswater was on the cards. I’m not divulging the plot, or the characters. I will only say that there was one key resident who had the potential for their own story. And I’m glad I decided to make this change of direction, as the whole thing is working out so well. Now 89,000 words in, I’m almost there. Well not quite, as typing THE END is only the first part of the journey. There is more to do – a whole lot more before I can forward it to my editor.
What have I been doing during my year’s absence? Well a few niggly health issues have caused some unwanted road blocks and diversions to writing and to life in general. As for the writing journey, I’m hopefully nearly at the end of this annoying intrusion and hope to navigate the rest of 2026 in good health. Reading also took up some of my time
Holidays, of course, featured last year. In May we stayed in Wells Next the Sea in Norfolk; a place we’ve been regular visitors to since 2008. We have friends who relocated there and it’s always good to meet for lunch and catch up. Telephone calls and social media are fine, but it’s always good to meet in person over good food and a glass of wine.
July saw us staying just outside Winchester. It’s one of my favourite cities, whether making a summer visit or wandering around their Christmas market. Our two night stay in the village of Easton, with its thatched cottages and houses, gave such a relaxed atmosphere and a feeling you were stepping into an episode of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. Such a relaxing couple of days plus a wander around Winchester wrapped up with the bonus of lots of sunshine.
The final holiday saw us back in Fowey, which due to my last three books being set on the south coast of Cornwall, feels like coming home. The coastal town of Kingswater, which features in all of my Cornish Coastal series, is a cross between Fowey and Dartmouth. Two communities (Fowey and Polruan and Dartmouth and Kingswear) facing each other across a river estuary, have been ‘borrowed’ in order to create my fictitious piece of Cornwall – East and West Kingswater. Although the weather wasn’t as co-operative as it usually is (drizzle on our visit to Trurto), we did find some sunshine. It was enough to recharge the batteries and immerse myself in the atmosphere there in order to move my WIP forward. Although Fowey is a popular holiday destination, you can still find places to wander, with wonderful views of both countryside and coast.
This year we will be staying in Dartmouth for a week in May and catching up with family, then in July we return to Casterton, near Kirkby Lonsdale. It’s a place we visited in 2022. It’s within easy reach of the Lake District, so we’re hoping for good weather there too.
There will be more updates soon, and special news towards the end of the month…stay tuned…
JO LAMBERT 