Every Morning

Tell Me a Story

I wake up to this view every morning in Jalon, Spain. Sometimes I just want to sit and soak it up all day long... But soaking it up doesn't put food on the table.

I need to sell books.  To sell books, I have to write them in the first place, so sitting isn't really an option.

Ah well, must get on with the next chapter...
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Emotion in Writing

Erotic Romance

National Hispanic Awareness Month - Living In Spain

Tell Me a Story

I LOVE living in Spain. As an Ex-pat from England, I'm maybe uniquely placed to comment on what it's like to live in Spain. Sometimes pictures speak better than words. Maureen Sabina has been looking at the photos around Jalon and Moraira and is interested in what my own villa looks like - so here goes -

I've taken a few snaps around the garden and here they are. Hope they meet with your approval - I love the place - but then again I am rather biased.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

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Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

National Hispanic Awareness month - Around Moraira

Tell Me a Story

As promised, for those living in the New World here are some more photos to remind them of their origins in the Old World of Spain. This time I've featured Moraira. A picturesque resort close to Jalón - featured in the novel Without Reproach.

National Hispanic Awareness month

Next post on Tell Me a Story.



Who needs writers agents?
Book writing tips - A Perceptive Notebook

Underfloor heating rules, Okay!

Villas with no insulation.

If you’ve been following my blogs, you’ll already know that Spanish winters can be damn cold – not necessarily because of cold days – but because villas have little insulation and at night the temperature dips – ugggh!
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When will they catch up - well maybe they are doing - but not in my villa - and the construction of concrete beams forming the ceiling, means that I can't get into the roofspace to lay any - well not without major building work.

Keep away from shade .

Winter time in Spain can bring beautiful sunny days – and when it is, it's warm providing you’re out of the wind and of course, away from shade.

When it's sunny, I absolutely love my little courtyard. A coffee with a splash of brandy goes down well around midday

.But come evening …. Whoops! Where's that sun gone. Who stole the heat .... Hells-bells, get out your thermals, lads.

Expensive

Gas central heating has become very expensive to run -it's all bottled stuff around here - delivery man has a field day when it's cold.

So, I’ve had a high-efficiency eco wood burner installed to help out . You know the sort, has an insulated firebox, an auto vent on the stack to prevent heat being lost up the chimney, fans to circulate heat around the room..... all high tech stuff.... different to the open fire I knew as a kid.

I love it – thought it was the bee’s-knees–

- until I visited a friend’s home.

What a lovely snug place he has – I couldn’t understand why it felt so comfortable until he pointed out he'd had underfloor heating installed. Wow – what a difference.

My memories (showing my age now) of underfloor heating are of electrical elements buried in several inches of concrete – and not a lot of efficiency. They were heated in the middle of the night by off-peak electricity, which made it lovely in a morning but dreadful in the evening. I never saw the point. .

Lower, yet snug.
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.These modern underfloor heating systems such as the one in the picture from HandyHeat Floor Heating Systems, of Nottingham, UK, seem great. Not a bit like I recall. They're warm all day.
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The air temperature is actually several degrees lower than my place - yet it feels more snug. Something to do with - warm feet cool head - I've no idea how - but it works.


Reproduced by kind permission of HandyHeat


Underfloor heating seems the way to go, so I might just give it a whiz – if I can sell enough books that is..

• Next post on Tell Me a Story

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Story Characters - 7 Cool Secrets
Book Strategy - Tactics To Promote Your Book
Plot Of The Book - Mastering The Art Of Plot




Underfloor-heating Underfloor-heating Underfloor-heating ***
End of post - Underfloor Heating rules, okay!


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Cold nights in Spain

Well... I'm beginning to think we might as well be back in the UK.

Ice on car

The weather here in Spain is pretty vile at the moment. Perishing cold, wet, overcast - you name it, it's here. The car was iced over at 21:30 last night - and I was scrambling around in the dark trying to find things to wrap around exposed pipes on my above-ground, 3000 litre, water deposit, (it's there because we suffered the water being cut off so many times when we first arrived).

This morning I purchased pipe lagging and was fitting it in driving, icy, sleet - not very funny!

The problem is, villas over here aren't insulated like houses are in the UK and winter can be damn cold. You can't even get into the roof-space to lay insulation. The floors are either marble or ceramic tiles (the builders think it's summer all year round), so we lay rugs wherever we can.

We have a high efficiency woodburner which helps out - in fact I love it - but it doesn't compensate for the fact that the rest of the rooms are cold. We have central heating, but bottled gas makes it very expensive to run, so we only have them on in the evening.

Weak financially

The Euro is so strong against the pound that it's now one-for-one, which means I've had a 20% cut in finances PLUS the cost of living is up, so I'm effectively 25% to 30% worse off compared to this time last year - so all in all, the UK is looking quite attractive at the moment....

• Next post on Tell Me A Story.

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To Write A Story - 20 Ways To Write A Story Better
How To Describe - Mastering Descriptive Writing
7 Cool Ways To Jump-Start The Story Characters In Your Writing

End of post - Cold nights in Spain

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Hot Spanish days and cold Spanish nights

Hot Spanish days.
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At last the Costa Blanca winter days have shrugged off the damp coldness we've been suffering of late. We're having sun and feeling warmer and better for it. Nights turn cold, but at least at lunchtimes we're sitting in the courtyard - sipping coffee laced with brandy - makes me feel good just at the thought.....
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I built the courtyard last year and already it's lush and overgrown - thanks to too much rain but plenty of warm days. The Costa Blanca has had more rain this year than in all the nine years since we've been here - we were in drought for a while.



Cold Spanish Nights

You might not consider it very green. But I love my high-efficiency, glass-fronted log burner. It makes cold Spanish nights bearable. The price of gas for central heating is now 50 Euros a bottle, and in cold weather we can get through a bottle in 5 days - 10 Euros a day - not much fun.
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Wood is much cheaper - and I can suppliment it from the campo - much more fun.... And before you start moaning about smoke damaging the environment - at least it's a renewable form of energy....

• Next post on Tell Me a Story - Party Time.

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To Write A Story - 20 Ways To Write A Story Better
How To Describe - Mastering Descriptive Writing
7 Cool Ways To Jump-Start The Story Characters In Your Writing

End of post - Hot Spanish days and cold Spanish nights

Spain can be damn cold

With a bit of luck the fuel for the wood-burner will arrive this morning. If it doesn't it won't be long before we feel the cold.

Gas now cost 50euros for a large bottle for central heating and we use a bottle every five days when it's cold - very expensive.

I've managed to cut up some dead-wood from the surrounding area, so it's supplimented the heating bill somewhat, but we've had to succumb and place an order because I can't keep pace - we're using wood a lot faster than we hoped - the weather has turned into a damp cold that gets into your bones.

For those who think Spain is wonderfully warm all year around - forget it. Winters can be cold and houses aren't insulated like the civilized world. You can't get into the concrete roofspace to lay insulation - so when it's cold -its damn cold.

The wood should have arrived yesterday, but wouldn't you know, rain came down in buckets and it couldn't be delivered because it was soaking wet. I just hope it's dried sufficiently overnight.

It's windy (and perishing) this morning so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be here soon.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story - Writing is lonely.
• My other blog - Bedlam.

End of post - Spain can be damn cold