Sir Thomas More by Hals Holbein (Accessed via Wikipedia ) During lockdown, we had Time. Remember that? I was in my probationary year of teaching: almost certainly among the most exhausting years for any profession. All my time had been taken up with school work, and I regularly stayed at school until after 6pm, having arrived there at eight in the morning. Now, children, this is not sustainable and, very soon, I decided I didn’t like working where I was. Then I realised that I didn’t like teaching at all. But, in fact, neither was particularly true: I just needed to be true to myself and to say no, which would give me the ability to manage my work/life balance in a more appropriate way. What does this have to do with historical fiction, I hear you say? Well, during March 2020, we went into lockdown and suddenly I went from working ten-hour-days to ten-hour-weeks. I met up with my class on Google Meet, I put work up for them on a meticulously designed Google Classroom, but I just h...
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about Writing from Artefacts about a box of historical objects I received as a gift. Each month of 2024, I hope to build on this and introduce you to some of the artefacts I've gathered over the years. These are all things which have been - at least in part - inspirations for me, and I hope they will give you a few extra ideas along the way for your own writings...
The old organ in Thomaskirche
It's probably unsurprising that I'm starting with musical instruments, since music is my day job! There tends to be music in all my stories, and there is something very special about connecting to the music of the past. When I went on my German adventure in 2013, it was very special to visit Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach was the Director of Music for more than quarter of a century.
Here are three of my own little musical treasures...
Music is something which is here to stay - its forward-facing legacy at least as long as its past. Whatever you are writing, whatever time or whatever place, music would always be a part of life. It is wonderful to be able to hold and study instuments made in traditional ways and with traditional crafts.
I have no idea what the age of these drums are, but they are made in a traditional style, using hollowed wood and animal skins. I would love to know more about where they came from and who made them, but there is no clue that I can find about either thing.
I got this bugle from a local auction. It is a military instrument, probably from WWI. Not being a wind musician at all, I can't get a note out of it, but Judith (our resident trumpeter) managed to play The Last Post on it. It was a very strange thing to hear that music on an instrument which - in all likelihood - had not played it for a century. Every dent on here has its own story, and I love imagining what that story might be.
Delving a little further back in time, this drum dates from the turn of the 20th Century. Again, it came from a local auction but from a different house clearance. This is a marching drum, still carrying its original (as far as I can tell!) skin on one side, although this is now torn, while the other side has been fitted with a synthetic skin.
Caithness held many Mafeking Night celebrations and - judging by the age and style of this drum - this could easily be a part of those celebrations.
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