WRITERS ABROAD MAGAZINE: THE THIRD SPACE
What impact did Spain have on you emotionally, sensorally or intellectually and did
you incorporate this into your writing?
We live in a very isolated area and it’s made me understand myself better. I’m a total
introvert and I’ve always felt a little g uilty about that. Now that I’ve accepted it, I’m much
happier, and also make more of an effort to get out and meet people.
The area I live is so beautiful that it’s a constant feast for the senses. Not only visually, but
scent (crushed thyme as you walk along the mountain tracks) and taste (the sweetness of
figs and grapes), can’t help but spill over into the words I write.
Intellectually, it’s a struggle for me because I spend a lot of time alone. That’s where
writing groups such as Writer’s Abroad are so valuable.
What are local attitudes to writers?
I have no clue. I live five kilometres away from the nearest village and no one speaks
English. So it’s fair to say that none of them have ever read my books. And it’s not
something I talk about much—I still find it hard to actually say, I am a writer.
What have you learnt from living in Spain?
How to build a swimming pool? Actually how to build a lot of things.
Who is the audience for your writing and how much of it is local?
None of it is local. Actually most of my sales are made in the US, some in the UK, and a
few other places.
Describe a typical day in your life in
Spain including your writing.
We tend to get up with the sun, which
means very early mornings in the
summer, but sleeping in in the winter.
First things are all animal related—
walking the dogs (we have three),
feeding Piggles my three-legged
Vietnamese pot-bellied house pig,
getting Gencie my mare and her goat
friends breakfast, cleaning up after
them, maybe going for a ride or a run.
Once all the chores are done, then I
write. I tend to write new words in the morning and usually have a word count goal of
maybe two or three thousand words. Afternoons are spent doing everything else, edits,
marketing, blogging, playing on Facebook, lying under that fig tree, reading. Evenings
we’ll walk the dogs, maybe read or watch TV (We recently got Netflix and have been
working our way through a number of TV series) and of course…drink wine.
18 | November 2016