After the loss of NaNoWriMo, it did not take the Crowvus writers long to realise how much we relied on this structured routine for our writing. For me, November had become the only time I was guaranteed to do creative writing. In fact - if truth be told - I've done very little at any other point of the year. Consequently, we decided to adapt to our own interpretation: Cro(w)NoWriMo - the W is in brackets because there was some discrepancy over whether or not it should be in there. The rules were simple: Write. As November went on, the end goal changed slightly for each writer. Was it 50,000 words? Was it to write every day? Was it to write an entire book? For me, it was about finishing a book. I haven't finished an historical fiction book in ages - though I've started plenty! Now, with four more writing days left on the clock and into the final chapter, I might finally be able to lay the ghost. The story I returned to was Poisoned Pilgrimage , the book I began as a submiss...
I absolutely love this song! I don't know whether it is that I know more Tom Jones and Welsh songs which the Owain Glyndŵr song calls on, or whether it is just more my sort of music, or that - which I think is another consideration - this is about a historical figure who drifts into the realms of legend. At the moment, I am rereading my family saga and I came across this line: That man will be a legend until the day he dies, and an inspiration beyond. When I decided to write today's blog on Owain Glyndŵr, this quote fitted rather well. The man being discussed in the book was not a real figure from history but - after sharing more than 400,000 words with him during the course of my family saga - it certainly feels like I know him better than any of his real-life contemporaries! When I was researching Owain Glyndŵr for this blog, I was surprised to find just how long his reign lasted. I had assumed it was almost a flash-in-the-pan uprising, similar to those we had in Scotland se...