Rock picking in scotland

One of my favourite passtimes is to go out into this fabulous wilderness that surrounds me and retrieve mineral samples. This started as a lifelong interest in crystals, their healing power and their downright prettiness and has led me to some astonishing natural landscapes in the short year I have spent on it so far.

The photograph to the right is actually from a public park as you enter Kilsythe from the east. Dog (Kai) and I climbed to the top of the cliff face to look for rocks. This is the view from the top. There were some beautiful views but no visible quartz veins or other evidence of good veins.

Although this location wasn't successful the areas both north and south of where I live are littered with good finds.

Glencrieff Mine

The location to the left is Glencrieff Mine that lies just outside of Wanlockhead, the highest village in Scotland and home to the Lead Mining Museum. They call this part of Scotland "God's Treasure House" and do so with good reason.

There are three main veins that dissect Scotland and are of geological interest. The first dissects along the Southern Uplands range, the second along the Tyndrum band and the third can be found north again, this time up as far as Helmsdale. Understand that these veins run all the way across the country and are not limited to those areas.

This Calcite formed on hardened dirt

This means that all of these areas where gold is found is actually also prime crystal picking territory. The Calcite crystal sample to the right actually came from the mine pictured above. Calcite grows in absolute abundance here. You can't throw a stone without finding that stone is made of Calcite! These crystals are often growing on or around rock and are usually combined with other minerals from the area, such as Pyrite and Galena, which is a deep blue-grey when found in this locale.

Calcite Crystal from Wanlockhead, Scotland

The Calcite crystals themselves are mostly white and off-white. Some are yellow and some are stained red while some are growing from Galena leading to a beautiful silver blue hue on the surface crystal.

I learned early on that the make-up of Calcite means it will bubble when you put acid on it. This didn't stop me leaving a few pieces in vinegar to see what would happen. Within moments the vinegar turns black and murky as it starts to dissolve the dirt molecules. Unfortunately it doesn't stop there, and it will move on to destroying any aged calcite crystals that are breaking down already. Ultimately you will be left with only the strongest of the crystals and even these will be coated with a powdery dusting of dissolved calcium.

Possible Pyromorphite from Wanlockhead, Scotland

 

Interestingly, if you put quartz into acid it won't bubble. So if you ever find yourself with an unknown clear crystal formation and you pop it into vinegar the Calcite will produce small bubbles while the quartz will not! Not so common in this area but still found are Pyromorphite and reportedly Flourite, although I have yet to find any. Gold too, of course, though all I ever get in my pan is flour gold too fine to amount to anything.

My rock box, where crystals go to be cleaned

 

Traditionally, Scottish rocks consist mainly of agates. Agates are easily identifiable as multiple layers of colour all inside one stone. You do get sandstone like this too but it is very easy to tell the difference just by feel alone. An Agate found on the riverbed is likely to have the coloured layer exposed whereas one dug out of the fields is more likely to resemble a bumpy potato and be encased in some sort of stone. I haven't had the pleasure of digging up an agate yet.

Kai at Elie Bay

More recently we took a road trip out to Elie Bay in the hope of finding some of the elusive Elie Bay rubies. No joy yet, but we did come across this magnificent vein in the exposed bedrock. I believe it is quartz but I have yet to test it in acid. The theory of Elie Bay is to do with a deep red coloured seaweed dyes the rock red. I don't know if I have been searching the wrong locations or what but I haven''t given up on finding an Elie Ruby yet...

Lastly for today I think, Scotland is home to some of the most beautiful Morion quartz in the world. Me and doag are always out hunting the darkest pieces and actually sell some of it on Etsy. If you happen to be a crystal collector or someone with a tumbler who wants samples get in touch and we can work something out. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures and I will try to keep you up-to-date with my escapades... it all slows down here in the winter though... but I have a whole summer's worth of rocks to sort out meantime!

Morion Smokey Quartz from my collection

You can buy some of these lovely samples for yourself through the Stone Circle page.

Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one: the Bits that didn't make the Book

The Edelweiss bin... a free photo the photographer gave me...

SPOILER ALERT

So I am currently huddled up on my sofa choked with the cold and unable to think straight. I have so many blog posts that I want to get through, but this is about all I feel up to today. I will get back to normal thought processes soon I promise... nobody needs to switch me off and back on again.

Anyway, I wrote Edelweiss so many times that there are all sorts of things I had to cut out from the novel. The end product had so much squashed into it that I wanted to expand that I often get confused over which parts made it and which didn't, and then I need to go back and check. So let's start...

...One of the most minor changes I made was in the names. Stephen Lawrence was originally named Paul Thomas Damas but I stole his last name for another character and re-thought. He just seemed more like a Stephen than a Paul; and definitely a Stephen with a 'PH'. Imagine how different it would have read if Stephen wasn't Stephen? That change still torments me sometimes. Should he have been Paul? I guess now we will never know...

Poor Samuel and Isabel were always going to die. It was set in stone the moment I started writing. I rewrote that first scene so many times I lost count but they always died. Abigail always got lost in the woods and the Shadow Man always paid a visit. I struggled to get the words he says when he first appears correct but finally settled on something suitably creepy. He was always going to be the main bad guy, I just never expected he would be so much fun to write.

A Map of the Islands, by Kirsty Anderson, Illustrator

The next big change was in fleeing for Ronton Bay. The first time around I had them on horseback but I had so many problems getting the timing to line up. If they were on horseback George Dickson would have caught them without argument. I appeased the timeline by having Greer sneak away to catch Stephen in the night only to disguise Abigail as a boy and take refuge in Oran Grime's inn.On the rewrite I considered it would be much easier if they just took a rowing boat. It was a lot less complicated and saved time - but we missed out on Oran Grimes, whose character I adored. You will find his name dotted throughout the series because I couldn't bare to part with him completely.

Anyway, after they reached Ronton took so much working out. I originally had the hunters chase them down only to be massacred by the man with no name. Then I had Echan hunt them back to Catherine to save their lives for later. Poor Illion initially died in the woods - but even then, the assassin placed his sword into his hands after the deed was done. It was Siara witnessing this event that sent her to find Stephen in the first draft. All this changed because I initially wrote Siara as Greer's role then hated her guts. I couldn't give Abigail a co-parent that I hated so I had to invent a new character. Thus Greer was born and Siara got relegated to traitor status...

Asa was always a destination. Where Asa lived changed a fair amount. Porta was convenient because it was right next to Estora and I knew they would have to go there at some point. I also knew I could get away with the 'alpine' feel better in the islands than I would on a continent and keeping them in the islands was a good way to keep Echan and Talphibious on the periphery.

the cover image we settled on

The next part I really wish I hadn't changed was the first time Liandor met the group. In the first draft he successfully saved Abigail's life only for Greer to come bounding from the undergrowth and tear his throat out. Again, Liandor was pretty cool to write and that saved his life. It also prevented a war with the druids which was the opposite of where I wanted to go. Liandor turned into her best friend instead and, in my opinion, the poor wood elf would be better off dead than seeking Abigail as a love interest.

Earlier drafts didn't have blood magic, nor did they have Cobol, who I find exceptional and love to write scenes for. In the first draft the whole group plus Liandor went to Estora by invitation. Lorne didn't exist yet and Aaron was a lot nastier than Marcus was. Abigail always found out the truth in the end and fed him the serum - but it was a lot more convoluted to get there. Besides anything else Amber, Cobol and the others weren't even conceptualised yet and the whole last third of the book was messy and stressful.

 Introducing the use of Blood Magic and the whole "Abigail on the bucket" scene was a happy accident that happened after windows 10 swallowed earlier drafts. It meant that I was able to get her to Estora without anyone else being in danger for at least a few days. Realistically, without Cobol they would have died as soon as they set foot on the island. Cobol gave me an in to get her back out, a little smarter than she was when she went in there.

The last major change I made was in the way the war started. Originally it spilled from the Temple and chased them off the island but that didn't flow well. It meant I was starting something at the end of the book and it was unsettling. Granted you wanted to know what happened next but it wasn't a satisfying ending. Instead, I cut it to Abigail and the all-important healing potions and added Aaron's warning. The reader knows he's serious but naturally she hates his guts by this point... sort of. I do so love the complexity of their relationship.

Anyway. I need to wrap myself in a duvet and a housecoat and drink hot lemon and honey. I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into how editing changes storylines over time - and into how windows have swallowed more creativity than a good book burning - but that's a subject for another time.

Writing Your Novel: Avoiding Procrastination

procrastination

/prə(ʊ)ˌkrastɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/

noun

noun: procrastination; plural noun: procrastinations

                                             the action of delaying or postponing something.

"your first tip is to avoid procrastination"

So none of you probably need the dictionary definition but by happy coincidence your first tip is to stop procrastinating. Today I wanted to tell you the story about how I used to be a procrastinator, until the Universe intervened and kicked my ass into submission. 

Procrastination doesn't just apply to the writing your novel part - it's about the whole process.

I wrote my first novel (that's Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one) by hand and mostly sitting in the
bathroom of my University dorm. It was the only place in the building you could smoke without the warden catching you and I didn't have a laptop back then. Just to give you some idea of the timescale I went to Uni back in 2008 and I didn't publish until 2016. That's not to say I was sitting on my hands the whole time, but it ought to give you an impression of how long it took me to build my confidence up enough to even send the damn thing away.

The thing is, you see, that I wrote it easily enough. I wrote it over and over again because I lost pages.The procrastination didn't kick in until it was written. What did I do with it next? In the end it lived in a drawer for a few years while I dealt with some weird life stuff. I forgot about it for a while, then I remembered and bought a new laptop to type it up on.

The new laptop was brilliant. I went through every piece of paper I had ever written and typed it onto digital format. Up until then I had always been a pen and paper writer. I'm going to go ahead and say that this was a major turning point for me. With a laptop over a desktop you can just punch notes in that you never lose - and I've lost a lot of work in my time.

Anyway, I had finished typing Edelweiss up and saved it on to disk, gone through my bucket of notes and got most of it done. I couldn't decide what to do next so I powered on and wrote Valerian as well. I worked my way through the third novel while I was there - all of this without actually doing anything with the novel. Then Windows 10 happened in 2015(?) and I used a temporary profile one night to work in. The next morning all my work was gone. Absolutely all of it. Every poem, every story, every note - and the manuscripts.

I tried everything. I reverted my settings, I had my techy cousin look at it, I called Windows... it didn't matter and I never got it back. At 30 years old and with all the work I had ever written destroyed I had two options: give up or start again. Now let's be clear about this, I felt like someone had died. I was absolutely gutted. Many of those notes that I typed I had thrown the originals for away and loads of it was just lost forever. To this day I still think about the loss of some of those pieces. Old scripts from University, shorts from when I was still learning the trade... stuff that was more valuable for the memories than the actual content.Argh. Give up and go home or start again. Judging by the fact you are reading this now you can probably imagine what I chose.

I started writing again, I rewrote the whole damn thing. This time I wrote the intro and sent it to a bunch of literary agents whose names I had looked up online. I didn't manage to secure one, although some really positive feedback came through from one agent who had read it, really liked it and couldn't get behind it because it was too dark. After it was completed, edited and formatted to the best of my ability (which, at the time, wasn't much. It's better now, I promise) and decided to self publish through Amazon.

During that time period I wrote like a demon. I decided to self publish after sending short stories out and having a few published by other people. I figured that if other people thought my work was good enough that they could make money from it - then why wasn't I? OK so it's not much money but the alternative was literally sitting in a drawer gathering dust for nearly ten years... so what did I have to lose?

Self-Publishing is Losing the Stigma

There are thousand other authors out there with the same story as me. Not only that, but publishing contracts are getting worse and worse. I have witnessed people advertise for ghostwriters for fifty dollars... I have seen 'contracts' for books valued at $500. I have seen people pay half a cent a word for literary genius and I can promise you - publishers are not all they are cracked up to be. The rates some of them want you to work for equate to pennies per hour.

Basically what I am saying is give it a go. Send your manuscript out to the big fish and see if they

bite, If you don't you'll never know. This whole business is a sea of rejection but the important thing to remember is that your work won't fit everywhere. It's not going to be right for some people no matter how good it is. So there isn't any point in letting the rejection get to you. Keep sending, keep submitting, keep writing. You will be successful as long as you don't give up. If the big fish don't want it then self publish and start working on the next one.

Procrastination is a terrible thing. Don't let it eat your work, don't let it put you down and certainly don't give in to it. The Indie Author industry is huge and growing, and there are some of us who believe it is the new way of writing. Jump in with both feet and move on to the next novel...take it from someone who learned the hard way.

Writing a Novel: Character Building (not in the fun way)

This week I want to talk a bit more about character because it seems like a natural next step from the planning blog I wrote last week. Planning can be broken down into all sorts of little stages to stop you losing the will to live before you have even set pen to paper; but for our purposes let's try and organise it a little....

...So you know you want to write a book. You either have a character you already love or you have a rough plot and no idea how to tell the story. This blog will be aimed at the latter group - the plot thinkers - but there might be some take-aways for us character types too.

Characters are Difficult

They're difficult because it is in their nature... because one way or another, a character is always in need of some new adventure to propel them along. Let's face it, nobody wants to read about Bilbo Baggins not going to find the rings and staying at home to have tea and second breakfast, instead. So the character and plot are inexorably linked. If your character isn't right (and trust me on this) you will end up with a totally different story from what you began with. They can have a mind all of their very own... but that's OK, they're supposed to.

Keeping it Real

OK, character pointer number one is to start with a personality. Don't think about names or descriptions just yet. Think about the type of person you would need to be in order to carry out the overarching plot. That's the personality you want. Everything else you add is just chocolate sprinkles.

So if you have a bus full of schoolkids that need saving the alcoholic bus driver might not pull it together in time; but the former firefighter on his way out of town might. There is another little trick that most stories use to build empathy with the main character: they are told that they are the only one who can save the bus full of kids/the earth/the Universe and they refuse the call. Either through self doubt or simply to make them more endearing to us. This is a natural part of 'the hero's journey' and I will go into more detail on that in a later blog.

At the moment let's consider that the character we are trying to develop - be it male, female, alien or talking horse - needs to be real. It doesn't matter if you have dropped them into a fantastical universe or if they themselves are supreme magical beings - they need to have thoughts, feelings, emotions and back-stories just like every other real person you ever met in your life. If they are not real (at least to you) then they aren't worth writing about... and that's the sad truth.

Increasing Levels of Realness

There are loads of little ways to make your characters more real. Just loads. How do you learn about them? Go and sit in a cafe somewhere busy, buy a coffee and watch. A train station is best, or an airport. People rushing tend to reveal all sorts of little personality traits about themselves. Just people watch and see what you notice. Some drag children behind them while others laugh and giggle with their kids. Some fumble and spill their shopping bags, are never organised or trip over themselves. Some have been sleeping on the train and rub their eyes, others hurry to smoke. At the end of your trip to the cafe you should have a whole page full of little personality traits that you can use for your own future reference.

One little tip on personality traits... consistency is important. Don't forget to include a trait because plot has picked up. Keep them going throughout and make them believable.

Another trick is to write a whole short story in itself all about your character. You might never include any of this information in the book but it helps you establish what their motivations are. For example, a character who had formerly lost a child might be reluctant to adopt a child or have a child thrust into their care, which could create friction in a story set around orphaned children. Knowing little facts about your character's background helps you to explain how they react to your plot points, and also helps you develop those reactions in the first place!

Once you have a well rounded, fully developed character on the page before you a name will come. Don't start with a name and shape a character... that's not how we name people in real life, is it?

One Last Thing...

... Not that I condone stealing but a pro author is basically a pro thief. That's not to say we go around ripping off one another's work (at least not deliberately, at least I hope not...) but rather that if there is an interesting personality quirk in your possession we will steal it. We will steal the fact that you constantly push your glasses up your nose and we might even steal the fact that you have had them re-shaped twice now but it's done no good. We will steal your history, your back story, your tales of woe and tales of joy. It's what we do, it's why we were once known as 'bards' and it's what you need to do to create successful, believable and real characters.

So go out there and pinch mannerisms, steal personality's and immortalise the many weird and wonderful quirks that human beings have. Copy your friend's thought patterns, or steal your partners ability to start a fight in an empty room - thieve it all and revel in it... because all of it will go towards creating the best character you ever wrote.

Just remember to change the names. People don't take kindly when you start killing them off...

Writing a Novel: Planning

Writing a novel is easy (said nobody. Ever.). You sit at the computer and you tear your hair out for about a year - but let's face it, anything up to a lifetime - until you have battered out your masterpiece. It sounds easy in theory and that's why every month, at least one person approaches me and starts a conversation with "I've been meaning to write this book..."

Consider instead that the real reason they haven't written it yet is because it's Goddamned difficult. And, to be honest, it's understandable that not everyone goes through with it. It's one of those dreams that sounds great in theory until it comes to doing the actual work... Anyway, as usual I am getting sidetracked.

I put together this little blog because when I first started novel writing/short story writing I had no idea what do with formatting, no idea how to edit and no idea what was expected of me... well all you lucky people have me so you won't be as lost.

Back to Basics: Novel Planning

OK So forget punctuation, grammar and sentence structure for now. Kill it in the fire. At the moment what we want to look at is overall structure - as if you are starting from complete scratch.

Character V's Plot

This is an ages old argument in the script writing business. What drives your story? Character or plot? The answer is that it doesn't actually matter that much except to you. By appreciating what kind of writer you are you can better learn to play to your own strengths. Personally I am one of those weirdos who writes short's based on plot and novels based on character. I feel that a solid plot can carry a short better than a full length piece and vice versa - but t doesn't need to be that way for you.

You might have an idea for a brilliant character whose skin you want to move inside and whose personality you want to steal. In this case you are a charact3er writer. Start with your imagined friend and envision them in different situations until such times as you hit across an idea that you love. Next develop a beginning, middle and an end of your story then start writing. As a character writer you must not change your characters to fit your plot - and you have to be wary of this as you work.

If you are a plot writer then break the story down into as many sections as possible. Start with a beginning, a middle and an end and break the story down into plot points that you want to reach at particular times. Once you have the story pinned down develop some nice rounded characters to fit in...Always make your characters super interesting and believable. If you are a plot writer then keep constant check on if your characters are real or not.

Spider Diagrams

Make no mistake: Spider Diagrams are the aspiring author's best friend. Write your first plot point in a bubble and surround it with other bubbles that might go alongside it. It works with character too and is a great development tool. You might write your characters name and pick a load of traits they have, then pick a few bad habits, a few good habits, cherished childhood memories - you get the idea.

What If..? 

This is one I learned at University. You start with a vague notion and then you keep asking yourself what if? even if it doesn't make sense. This is a great method for blitzing through ideas when you are stuck linking one plot point to another. For example....

"What if I wrote about a blue man living on Mars; what if that blue man had a space puppy named Dooobaloo? What if the dog bit him one day and, because it is a space puppy, now he is somehow pregnant? What if he shoots the puppy because he is so upset? What if that leaves him all alone in space and without anybody... doesn't that reflect the overarching premise of humanity?"

You follow?

Charting it out...

This is a great trick for when you have to make up a story in an afternoon with no prompting. It is also my favourite trick for building new plots for shorts. You take a sheet of A4 and you separate it into columns .Next, you give each column a title. I might use "Character", "Antagonist" (that's 'bad guy'), "Situation", "Revelation", "Outcome". Similarly if I need more details I will add more columns. Anyway, next go down each column and fill in up to ten different answers for each heading.

Ergo under "Character" I have 5 rows and they look like this:

1970's party girl
London Policeman
Chef de Partie
Suicidal Salesman
Drunkard Bar Owner

And then we move on to the next rows:

Character                                      Antagonist                           Situation

1970's party girl                          Angry clown                          High-end Restaurant
London Policeman                     embarrassing Uncle               summer school
Chef de Partie                             Big Ben                                 Earthquake
Suicidal Salesman                      that nice guy from work        Train Crash
Drunkard Bar Owner                  Santa Claus                            Stranded on a Desert Island

And now all you need to do is mix and match the rows... so we could have a suicidal salesman who is being hounded by Santa Claus while trying to sell the latest high trend kids toy to young children at Summer school... OK, they don't always make sense, but it's fun, fast and gets you out of a fix.

Format

Always format before you start writing. When it comes to short stories follow the Shunn format like everyone else does or your manuscript won't be read. When it comes to your book take a new page for every new chapter, file -> new page-> first page style for the first few pages you don't want to be numbered and pick what size you want your book to be to set the page size. 6" x 9" is normal nowadays.

And that's about all from me today, back to the daily grind of article writing. I hope I have managed to help at least one of you on your story telling journey. Good luck out there, it's tough... but it's totally worth it when you can look someone in the eye and say "Me? I'm a writer."...

An Introduction to Gold Panning in Wanlockhead, Scotland

Kai enjoying the sun

As the 2018 season draws to a close and the mining museum shuts its doors for the winter; now is a good time to do a little introduction to gold panning in Wanlockhead, and some of the do's and don't's associated with it.

As some of you know 2018 was my first season "on the water". I'm telling you this first because I don't want anyone to think it has made me rich, or that there is a single thing in my house worth stealing. For a whole season I don't have much to show yet - but I have learned enough in those few short months to know where to find it, how to find it and how to get it out of the dang'd water to boot.

All that being said if you are looking for an old pro to guide you I am not the one. If you are a noob just starting out then pay attention, there are probably a few things you can learn from my (many) mistakes.

So first off there are a few rules to follow when you are gold panning in Scotland. First and foremost you must do no damage to flora and fauna, or to natural habitats. It is OK to dig into things as long as you fill your hole back in - and I can't stress this enough... ALWAYS fill your hole back in. It's the best way to let the reserves replenish and to ensure you don't change the flow of the whole river. as for the flora and fauna thing that means rinse the moss, don't pull it out at the roots. That moss took years to get there. While we are on the subject don't go digging into the banks either, keep it around the water and respect the land.

One of many waterways near Leadhills

Another very important rule is about location. There are rivers in Scotland that harbour a protected species of shellfish called the Freshwater Mussel. I don't have a photo because I have never come across one. You cannot pan in rivers known to home this species under any circumstances. You should also avoid any areas where salmon or other freshwater fish populate. Disturbing the silt in the river bed can upset their eggs, so be thoughtful about where you pan. A good way to get around this is to only work streams, although your chances of finding gold are higher in a river. Hence why the Leadhills area is quite so popular.

When you choose to pan in Wanlockhead you eliminate the problem of permission. You can buy a license from the Lead Mining Museum for as little as £3.50 for a day and you can rent a pan for about a fiver, so one day to have a shot and see if you like it really doesn't cost you much. I should also mention that there are some good maps out there that show where the gold veins run in Scotland. This one from GeoCache goes some way to explaining why Wanlockhead is such a popular mining area.

If you choose to go to other places to pan then this is reasonable. You need to get permission from the landowner - never poach for gold. If you have the landowner's permission and someone complains to you, you are in the right and you do not need to move on. However, the crown has already claimed all of the gold in Scotland - so if you do find a £50K nugget you need to formally ask the Queen if you can keep it. I'm only half kidding.

Exposed Bedrock is a good place to hunt for gold.

So: you have got the license, you have got your gold pan, you brought a shovel... where do you start looking? It's not as simple as picking any spot and digging, rather you need to examine the river for the best places to dig into. The river will have what is called a 'gold stream' which is the path that the gold slides down while it works its way through the water. If you dig down and get no gold you might not be on a gold stream and you may have just wasted two hours digging. Trust the voice of experience and learn how to test pan before you commit to a giant, fruitless, hole. I may do an article on that in the future, for now let's keep going.

Where the stream meets the river is another good place.

So the gold stream will generally build up around bends and it can be fairly easy to work it out when you get the hang of things. Imagine you are going down the river in a boat and riding the current. Which parts of the river would you hit? Look in those places for silt banks and that's where you dig. Another important thing to learn is that an open hole usually means whoever was digging it is coming back to finish it then fill it in. You should never jump into someone else's hole. It's rude. Likewise digging three foot downstream from them is cheeky as hell. Find your own spot so nobody questions you.

So once you have picked a place you want to look for clues. Things like quartz crystals, pyrite, other interesting mineral presences in the first pan you pull out. If the signs are looking good dig deeper. If you still don't find anything dig deeper some more. If you find anything like lead shot, nails or old steel bolts you are on the right track. Wear gloves because there are a lot of ignorant people that camp on the Mennock and leave their rubbish behind. There are smashed up bottles and all sorts, so be careful (and while we're at it don't be one of them).

Like my wellies?

Pyrite will fool you. If you can swirl water in the pan and the fleck of gold moves then it's generally pyrite. If you can't move it then it might be gold. You will find gold where you find fine black sand, which usually means you need to be right down to the bedrock level. The idea of using the pan is to shake it to trap the heavier debris in the bottom, then to wash away the top layers one layer at a time until you are left with only those heavier pieces. Prepare to have a sore neck and an aching back that first few times...

In terms of equipment you will need a garden spade, a gold pan and something to get the gold out with and store it in on your fist attempt. The Lead Mining Museum sells everything you need to get started and have a whole bunch more information than I could ever put here. If you want to increase your knowledge base before you go out and try for yourself then make a customary stop there on your first visit. They do great work and you will learn a lot.

Another way to learn is to stop the car and ask panners themselves. Most of them don't mind a chat, just don't ask them to share good spots with you. They won't. It takes a long time to learn where the good spots are and their locations are closely guarded secrets. The one I used for the pictures is one I found for myself. It isn't great and there is a load of man-made sand in there that makes it difficult to pan. For all my effort once again I got very little flour gold... One of these days though, the elusive nugget will be mine!

So that's all for today. I may return to this topic in the future, I want to gauge the reaction of the community first and make sure I haven't upset anyone with my article. Gold Panners are some of the best secret keepers in the world - but I'm one of them... you won't be getting any good spots from me either... you will just have to find them for yourself!

Writing Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one.

So the time has come for the obligatory "this is how I wrote my first book" blog post. I apologise in advance to those who show up for the funny stuff, I'll try to make sure it isn't a dry read.

The Final Cover Image, courtesy of Craig Anderson Photography

Edelweiss started as a character: Dr Abigail Jones (who was never a real Doctor, just a healer in disguise). This was a character I developed to play in a Live Action Role Play and was probably the first character that I went to bed and dreamed about. She was very real to me. To this day I have other Larpers to thank for some of the characters... Rufus Frank, who you meet in Valerian, Captain Charles Echan, Mister Talphibious and Asa Lupine were all based on real people; Talphibious and Frank only loosely.

The setting is completely different to the LARP world I played, albeit with similarities. The original Abigail Jones was a member of the Temple of Shadows (ironically the good guys) so her path was never going to be easy. The story developed with her as a starting point but, as she was only a girl, I needed a caretaker who was loyal and who could remind her of where she came from when her ideas got too big for her boots. Stephen Lawrence was born as Paul Thomas Damas, a name I changed in later drafts for reasons that won't become clear until you read the second and third books.

My main protagonist was always going to be a dual threat of Catherine and the mystery murderer we meet in the prologue.What I didn't expect was for those two characters to take on their own stories throughout the series. It has been just as interesting for me to find out what they have been up to as it is for the reader. The trouble with writing character-driven stories is that sometimes they change the plot for themselves because of their attitudes and abilities. Abigail is particularly hard to write because she is always off doing her own thing. She needs a big group around her so that she can be constantly reigned back in. Usually for her own good. If she didn't have Stephen she would have marched straight from Beeton to Estora and got herself killed in chapter 2. So.

An alternative image, courtesy of Craig Anderson Photography

People often ask how I go about the process of writing and it is very simple. I sit down at a blank screen and I tell the stories that I would like to read. There isn't enough dark, nearly-horror-but-not-quite fantasy out there. When I have come across it (mentioning no names) I have found it a little flowery and hard to read in places. I think my style is very simple but I believe that simple can be more shocking at times. I guess all writing is subjective and it just comes down to what you like.

As for planning well, I started with the prologue as a back story for Abigail and just couldn't stop telling the story. I had to get her out of there so I did. Then I had to get her to Ronton Bay, so I did. After that things just kind of took care of themselves. I knew at some point Asa would come into play and that later she would get to the root of the problem - but in terms of planning that was about it. What I will say is that I worked on Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one for eight years before I put it into a real format and edited out the parts I didn't like. In the future I will post about some of these, though it will contain spoilers, so not yet...

There's no better feeling than holding the hard copy!

So during that eight years I hand wrote it, re-wrote it, typed it up, lost it to a computer error, typed it up again and then decided to commit myself and publish. Stories constantly evolve and change and even now, two and a half books later, I still have a hazy memory of what went into the final cut and what I left out. I spend a huge amount of editing time checking back on old details to make sure I have people's eye colour just right, or their back stories on point... I did keep a compendium of all the details but it changed so much between drafts it became useless.



Writing a book is time consuming, it is hard, it is confusing and it takes a lot of imagination. Then when you do produce work you imagine it isn't good enough to be read by anyone and that you should probably take it down. Nevertheless we persist, because stories need to be told and that's just how it is.

And now I have Edelweiss. Go check it out. At the very least it will give you a glimpse into my world.

Editing because I realised I didn't put a link to the book in so here we are: you can buy a copy of Edelweiss; Dark Science, part one (in either paperback or E-book) by following this link.

A Scottish Woodland Walk

For those with a Death-Wish only

Weather + Trees = Death

The modern world doesn't leave us a lot of time to get back to nature yet Doctors around the globe tout the health benefits of woodland walks, days in the park and the general well-being boost that comes from being outside.

And then there's us Scots.

First of all: there is a fairly solid chance that the weather might kill you. If it doesn't manage to batter you back indoors from your woodland walk you may end up with a tree falling on you. I wish I was joking...

Elder Berries

Besides the falling trees there are all sorts of dangerous and not-very-exotic plants. Take these lovely looking Elder Berries, for example. They taste fantastic... but they will poison you if you eat too many raw. Put them in a pie and they're great, but rely on them when you are starving and all you will get is a desperate need for the non-existent toilet. That is what we call 'Bad Banter'.

Foxglove, a (deadly) common garden flower

Next we have the gorgeous Foxglove plant... from which we can take Digitalis which will stop your heart. Do not eat it... no matter how pretty it looks. You shouldn't really have these growing in your garden but you would be surprised by how many people do... There were two versions of this photo; one with Kai in the background and one without. I think it is prettier with the dog.

It's not all bad, I suppose, there is plenty of wildllife. One time when I was wild camping a Stag ran out of the woods and barked at me. Then there was the time I got chased by the badger... but mostly it's just bugs. I couldn't catch a midge on film so I got a really cool beetle instead.

It's not all bad, I did meet this little guy.

After a while of walking you start to notice some fairly odd things. The bench below, for example, overlooks the Clyde Walkway by Crossford. It is a beautiful area full of natural habitats and protected waterways... and someone has only gone and fenced off the benches so you can't enjoy it.

You probably wouldn't want to anyway, at this time of year, there is a high chance the cold would get you. Or a tree would fall on you. You see where I'm going with this?

The benches are wild here, we have to cage them.

 Once in a while you will come across some fairly creepy stuff... there might be a half-built shelter that looks like kids did it but you're not sure, because of all the broken Buckfast Tonic Wine bottles tossed around the place.

There are arrows that point to nowhere, and nothing, and might lead to Oz if you followed them...nobody knows and nobody ever returned to tell the tale. People don't follow the arrows anymore. We learned.

Brambles...

...Come with Thor

 And then we come to the things you can eat. This bramble berry bush, for example, probably just known as a blackberry anywhere else in the world. You can eat them, they are sweet and delicious and THEY WILL CUT YOU. Enjoy.

Likewise these nettles will keep you going throughout the winter - but THEY WILL STING YOU. Still, who cares about a little sting when society has devolved enough that you have to forage nettles for your tea... right?

Nettles

Shroooooooms

Clover

Then there are the creepy mushrooms...lots and lots of creepy mushrooms, not enough of them psychedelic and some as big as your head. You can eat them. Probably. I wouldn't though, there's a pretty serious risk of death.


The clover is edible but - this is the important part - white clover is toxic in warmer countries. It's OK to eat it in Scotland, but it does taste like yuck and it is far better cooked. Kids in Scotland spend whole summers looking for a four-leafed one among clusters just like this. Darn it kids have a lot of free time... we should give them all jobs.

This tree is definitely planning to kill you.

So let's have a round up then... Basically, if you're going out for a woodland walk in Scotland you need to go prepared. You take your phone and you tell someone when you are coming home. The chances of your phone working out there are slim to none of course, but at least you will get to snap a few pics of the thing that kills you.

Thanks once again for taking the time to read through my weird little blog. I will be back in a few days with an article on Gold Panning. It sounds like I've been really busy this week but I haven't... just damn these photos take a while to upload.

Until next time: stay safe out there (and don't go picking any Foxglove for your window ledge).

So you want to be a writer?

Let's cover something not-so-horror-focused as last time. Let's talk about what it is actually like to work in the industry. I want to troubleshoot a few common misconceptions about what it is I do all day... but let's start from the very beginning.

The very first thing you need to know is that Writer's pay Sucks (<--- notice the capital 'S').

If you happen to be J K Rowling or Stephen King you might be able to pick and choose your rates - but the rest of us seriously struggle to get the rent paid just like everyone else.

Consider this: one single book takes maybe 200 hours to write... and then we place it on Amazon for £5.99 and hope that those who feel sorry for us will buy it. Times that by five or six and take away all of your free time and you are starting to get an idea of what it takes to do this job. And I do mean All of your free time.

Making it (erm...one day)

You need to keep the day job; something menial that lets you dream up new characters based on angry customers or the robot-people who answer the phone to you on a daily basis. When you come home from your day job you have a 3K minimum word limit to break even at the end of the month - but that's only if you are lucky enough to have an editor or be part of a writing team. You can always freelance for clients but it's hard work and it seriously eats into your writing time.

If you want to write your novel you need to do it at the end of the day or in the morning, on top of all that other work, running a household and anything else you do with your life. FYI writer's don't have many hobbies... we can only really afford one at a time.

Editing in a motorhome, on holiday

If this is the life path you choose then be prepared to forego that social life. You will rarely go out - and when you do you are desperate to get home to see what your characters get up to next; or to finish that article about 'best hotel locations in Dubai' (which you couldn't care less about really but which helps buy the electric). Eventually your friends will forget you. They'll stop inviting you out because they know the only way to see you is to drop by your house.

Let's be honest about this: being a writer pays terribly, takes up all of your time, increases loneliness and isolation and basically has you living inside your head the whole time. Then someone tells you that you need an 'online presence' and you just about explode...

Still want to be a Writer?

So, with all that in mind, if you still want to do it or if, like most of us, you just can't stop, then you should probably hit the subscribe button. I get approached about once a fortnight and asked for help and advice on how to become a writer - which I have no problem giving. But when someone takes up your vital writing time because they are more curious than serious it gets a little annoying after a while. Have pity and don't waste your pet writer's time, they have a crapload of work to get through.

If you want to be serious then keep an eye out. In the future I'll be talking about how you go about building that ridiculous online presence mentioned above, how to find work, how to self publish your own stuff and why certain types of 'exposure' are a con. I hope to help you navigate the pitfalls a little, help you stay motivated and maybe give you a glimpse into an industry that is fast becoming bigger than I can keep up with.

I'll also be doing horror stories because, you know... it's me.

This is how Kai tells me to stop for the night

Starting Out...Again

Hello, my name's Katriona and I am a compulsive writer.

Creepy accidental photo of me

It has taken me many years to admit and accept this fact, but now that I have done so I am in the process of changing my life. Strangely, this blog isn't going to be about changing your life by following steps, or making money online, or any of the other useless stuff you scroll through absently on a Sunday afternoon. I'm not really sure what it's going to be about...but I'm dang sure it's going to be fun to find out.

I write, I work in kitchens, I am based in Scotland, I love dogs. I pan for gold in the summer and in the winter I hide in my house and write high fantasy novels with a hideous horror twist. I love Pratchett, King, Rothfuss and Igulden and grew up with R.L. Stine, Bernard Cromwell and Anne Rice as my chosen favourites. Adversely if I can make it funny then I will, which usually leads to strange and opposing reactions.

I write articles for people in my non-existent free time, guest edit now and again and am in the process of setting up as a freelancer so watch this space for that. I also have a rock collection that has overspilled the windowsill and extended out into the garden; so as well as creepy photo's, creepy stories, dark humour and interesting titbits you can also expect more than a few interesting rock experiments. My next task will be to use vinegar to dissolve away some mineral and see if we have crystals inside... so again, if that interests you watch this space.

Laura found a Fairy looking out from the clouds

I might talk a little about Scottish Gold, Scottish Folk Legends, Freelance Writing and the history and lay of the land I live in. We Scots are nothing if we are not vital. We like to soak up our surroundings and reflect them: which is probably why the rest of the world thinks we are wild and tough. We're not so bad. Your average Scot likes a cuddle as much as the next person, they just don't like to admit it.

I run a "Something Creepy" daily post on Facebook so if you like your photo's freaky - or if you have anything to add to the picture pile - check it out here. If you want to visit the webpage and help a girl out then you can follow this link. I am on Twitter and Instagram too but I am a bit too busy to keep up with them all. If anyone wants to volunteer as an unpaid intern to manage it all for me feel free to message me... If you want a taste of things to come you can visit my old blog, here.

Amanda's abandoned glove under her hotel room bed

I'm often on the lookout for Editors, Beta-Readers, Publishing Companies, Anthology/competition entry news, photographers and artists to help out with my novels. I make a pittance and pay as much as I can but I can't always promise a great fee. What I do promise is that the fee will grow as I do, and that if you do good collaborative work then I am very loyal. If you want to chat collaboration give me a message and let's talk. No time wasters though... I have been stung before.

So I've started the ball rolling by posting a couple of fan pics from the FB page. If you like your tales twisted and your thoughts quirky then click that follow button. I'll be doing weekly updates from now on. I will also leave you with wise words stolen from Maria Sherman, my hat goes off to you for nailing the entire industry in one fell swoop...