Mataiva Island: reconnect with yourself

The warm sands move between your toes as you stroll down the sparse beach in the early morning light. The warm breeze licks across your face, weaving in and out of the palm trees surrounding the island, interlinking all of the elements around you together. You gaze in awe at the sun rising, and you step into the lapping water. The water surprises you, because its warmth is not something you were expecting. You feel part of something living and breathing. That is because you are. Then you suddenly remember. You are on Mataiva Island, only a hop, skip, and a jump from Bora Bora, which lies somewhere in the south-west. And you count yourself lucky that Mataiva is not swarming with tourists all trying to work on their tan.

This is not an Island that you come to for entertainment, shopping, or even really socialising. This is an island that is isolated, stunning, warm, and extremely affected by weather patterns and the like. But the good thing is that it does have a very small airport, hardly any accommodation, and not that many people either. This is most definitely not a tourist destination. We are off the beaten track in the Tahitian islands.

The island is shaped like an incomplete ‘O’. It has a massive lagoon that spans across the internal breadth of the island. In the lagoon area, you will find warmth, fishing, diving around the coral, and somewhere to laze around casually in the water. A place to be alone with your thoughts. This is a location where you can let go of your everyday stresses that you constantly harbour from your busy life. An island paradise, that no one else really knows about. The place where the first thing you do when you step off your flight, is to really make sure your mobile is switched off, and any other connection you have with the outside world. This is an island where you are allowed to lose track of time by not wearing your watch.

In terms of this Urban Fantasy trilogy that I am currently writing, I chose it for war. Yes, you did read that correctly. It was somewhere remote, beautiful, and calm… I knew that I had to have a war somewhere secluded, and so this devastatingly stunning place was where I chose to spill blood, sweat, and tears. My poor characters.

But I also chose it to be a medical base for my characters as well… A really big medical base. I wanted it to be a place that only my characters would be able to move freely to and from with their own unique ‘other-worldly’ abilities. Being so remote gave me that opportunity. This place has tranquil warmth, healing properties, its own eco system, and I just knew that while it could be a place of destruction and fear, it could also hold the potential to heal those who are sick.

So, this is Mataiva Island in the Polynesia region. For whoever reads this – don’t go there to turn it into some sort of highly profitable holiday resort. This is not the kaupapa* of the island. Go there to take time for yourself. Get to know the locals. Learn the legends surrounding the area about the rock and the tortoise. Get to be who you are. Heal from your everyday life.

*Kaupapa – the land within (Maori)

Kaupapa (Maori) is a plan, a set of principles and ideas that inform behaviour and customs. Mana whenua (authority in the land) is achieved when a person’s inward kaupapa is aligned with the outward land. When the relationship with the land is lost, people’s inner sense of security and foundation may be lost too.

 

Writing scenes that make you emotional

Research department working on emotions - at the University of Nevada. Click image for more info.

I think that every writer will eventually go through this. These are the moments that you are so physically and emotionally connected to your manuscript that you can become ‘teary-eyed’ emotional over the scene that you are writing. There are also moments that have you in fits of giggles.

In terms of the crying thing, I can’t say that I have experienced this much yet, but I have been there a few times. I remember the first time this happened to me really clearly. It was a revolting weekend, weather-wise, and I was sitting in my old library. Classical music thumped around me, as I sat there on Saturday morning at my computer tapping my little heart out. The scene that I was writing was the death of one of my characters. Now this character, Lucy, doesn’t play a big part in the book, but she is an incredibly significant person to the main characters – their mother figure.

And it was when my main characters were trying to deal with the loss of Lucy, that I lost it. Tears flooded all over the keyboard, but yet I kept writing. I’m not kidding when I say that I was sobbing with grief. My husband finally heard the commotion, stepped into the library, to find my heart breaking all over the keyboard. He kept trying to remove me from the computer, but I kept pushing him away – knowing that I had to finish the scene. He did eventually get me away from the computer, threw me into the car, and dragged my sorry backside out for breakfast. Yes, I was still crying in the car. Capturing these emotions that I was experiencing was crucial to the scene. I felt that if I was this emotionally connected to the scene, then just maybe my readers would feel something similar, (even if it is to a lesser degree.)

Excellent blog on Human Emotion. Click image for more info.

The same goes for laughter. If you are reading or writing a scene, and bursting into fits of giggles at the same time, perhaps your readers will find it amusing as well. I know, to a non-writer – this post would seem like an insane writer rambling away about emotions, but trust me – we writers are like this from time to time.

There are times when our characters do something (yes, they do take over) that seriously makes you laugh. When I read my own work and I come across something funny – these are the moments when I shake my head in wonderment and say aloud to myself: “F*!k, I’m clever.” (*Clears throat*… Excuse the ‘French’ – but it’s generally what I say! J)

Emotions are powerful existences of nature when it comes to literature. As a reader, I know that if I laugh at books, or cry with books, I feel very connected to the book, no matter who has written it.

So there you have it. Go forth; write literature that readers are going to emotionally connect to. It’s a winner.

 

Tales for Canterbury

Wow. I didn’t get the chance to put this up yesterday, so it’s better late than never!

As some of you know, over the past month,  there have been a couple of incredibly driven New Zealand writers pulling together an Anthology of Short Stories for Earthquake relief.

This is an amazing opportunity for you to donate to Red Cross Earthquake Appeal – and get something really special in return.

Tales for Canterbury is an opportunity for readers everywhere to give support to the people of Christchurch, who have shown resilience and bravery as they work to rebuild their lives and city. This charity anthology features tales by more than two dozen writers from New Zealand and beyond who have generously donated their works.

We are now taking pre-release orders for this volume of inspiring works. If you wish to pre-order a copy, you can do so directly with the publisher, RandomStatic.

This book will be released in hard copy ($24.95 incl. postage), as well as e-book ($12.00), and printing is expected to start in April. All profits will be donated to the NZ Red Cross Earthquake Appeal.  See Tales for Canterbury for more details.

Tales for Canterbury brings you a variety of stories set in both contemporary and future times, worlds touched by disaster, magic, and the otherworldly, where everyday truths are explored, and you never know what shape the future might hold. Explore the depths of what it means to be human, escape the real world, and find hope in these pages.

If you wish to send out to your networks, then please do so. We want to raise as much money as we can!

Whilst Cassie and Anna talk about resilience and bravery, I am truly amazed at the shear drive and passion that these two women have for this cause.  The incredible amount of coordination in getting something like this together (in just one month!) is amazing. This has been a big process for both of them, but the resilience and bravery that these two women have displayed throughout this journey is inspiring.

Even if you can’t help out financially, drop them an email or a message to show your support. I know that it would mean a lot to both of them.

 

My writer’s journey: Part I

All I wanted for my 30th birthday was to have my book published. Of course, I was only 25 when I decided this. By the time that I actually reached 30, I knew that there was more of a journey for me to follow through with before that vital publishing step could happen.

But if you had asked me five years ago, it would have definitely been publishing. Don’t you just love naivety? It’s a beautiful thing. A sense of innocence. 

My parents always told me that I could be anything that I wanted in the world. It’s even more amazing, that I found what I wanted. It was the incredible world of literature. Of other worlds that amazingly creative minds have created. Worlds that I just love to immerse myself in. Of course I didn’t just stumble across it. I have always been a reader, since I was a wee spring chicken. At our local community library when I was a child, I managed to pretty much read my entire way through it. Yup, even the adult stuff. I loved it. Libraries are now a great sense of comfort for me. That is one of the reasons why I built my own library at home. Oh, it’s not that ‘grand’, but it is lined with books. So many books.

Skipping back to when I was young… I was also a writer back then as well. I wrote many a short story, and many a poem. I also kept numerous journals, for numerous years. But I didn’t actually know that I was a writer. I guess that it had never really occurred to me. This was not an aspiration that I had worked towards. I spent years training to be a designer. Then once I actually got to be a designer… I just knew somewhere deep down inside of me, that this wasn’t right either.

When my parents split up (when I was 25), I went through a bit of a rough time. I took a few days off work to process this fracture in my life. During those days off, I stumbled across an old diary of mine. (One of the many diaries that I wrote.) Inside was a list. A beautiful list of all the things that I wanted to do and achieve before I died. So I sat down in the bottom of my wardrobe, and I started going through the list, and crossing off things that I have done. Like bungy-jumping, buying a house, driving a racing car down the quarter-mile track, getting married… you get the idea. But on this list, stated at item number 13 was: Write a book.

Just for the record, number 13 has always been one of my lucky numbers… and reading this list was all the encouragement that I needed.

I started straight away. I leapt into character development, and storyline planning. And then I started writing. I wrote and I wrote. And in between writing, I was comforting my brother and sister through the separation. But I was writing. Writing like the wind, I would say. I was cranking out 6000 words per weekend. Now, for an amateur, that’s not a bad effort.

In the middle of all this, I started to network with other writers online. A very small grouping, but it was enough. This was when I met a really good, and long-term writing friend, Peter. He wrote these amazing stories about a chap named Tom Fish that kept me in fits of giggles.

But it was the support and the love of the craft that bonded us together. He was also the first reader of my very amateur blogging efforts. Bless. I feel sorry for Peter, now that I look back on those times.

I’m so pleased that I have walked the incredible path that I have already. It has taken me years, but still I trudged onwards.

Not long after I met Peter, I printed out the 80,000 word manuscript that I managed to crank out, and I gave it to a friend. She told me that she wanted to read it, and I let her. Big fricking mistake. I wasn’t ready. I really wasn’t. The feedback that she gave me was appalling, and I’m afraid that this has scarred me for life.

When I say that it has scarred me… well this is because I think I wasn’t ready to hear what she had to say. Maybe this has made me a better writer? Maybe it hasn’t. But what I really didn’t need at the time was for her to go through my precious first manuscript that was so close to my heart with a red pen, and mark out every single mistake I had made. I needed someone to read it, and tell me whether or not the story was okay, or whether or not the storyline needed further work. It was hard enough hearing her say that she thought my story was a trashy novel reincarnated, but it was even harder reading through all the red pen. Needless to say, that story [The Legacy] is hiding away in a deep dark drawer waiting for me to finally pay it a little bit of love and attention again.

This story is particularly close to my heart because this was the novel that I wrote during an incredibly emotional time with my parents, and my family unit falling apart. This was the story that helped me work through a multitude of issues. My husband once told me that I should burn it. put it through a formal burning ceremony, to release and let go of those dark days… but a part of me just can’t burn up months and months of solid and hard work. You see, it’s not just the manuscript that I would be burning. It’s a part of my writer’s journey. The foundation stone of this journey.

After getting that first initial lot of feedback, and after all the hurt, I sat back and took stock. I looked at everything in detail, and reinvented my ideas, and my working methodology. During that time, I also started to build a fortress around myself. I taught myself that feedback is one person’s opinion, and that you can either take it or leave it. But it is a readers opinion. And if you want anyone to read your work, then you should probably pay attention to it. You don’t have to take it on board – just pay it some sort of attention. After all, the reader has taken the time out of their lives to give this to you. it’s a gift. Embrace it. Embrace the criticism, because only you can learn from it.

I still consider myself being at the start of my journey. Perhaps I will always feel that way? Perhaps not. All I know is that there is so much more out there for me to learn, embrace, and produce. There are many more stories and novels in me. And only I can put them out there.

So, that’s me for the moment. This is part I of my story. I’m sure that there will be many more parts to this as I progress, but this is it for now. This post was intended to be a post about me reviewing other people’s work… but somehow it morphed into something bigger than just that.

Tom, Me, and Millie. My siblings, and the most awesomely creative people.

 

Stunning Sesimbra!

Sesimbra at night

Today I am taking you all on a journey to Sesimbra, Portugal. Now, this little township is relatively new place to me as well, but I have been using it to set the scene in my latest WIP, and I thought that you guys might be interested in this beautiful area too.

Once again, I used Google Earth to find the place, and I chose it for its direct proximity to the coast. I wanted my characters to feel a sense of healing from the sea and the community. And I just knew that Portugal was probably the place to do it. I have seen the beautiful photographs of stunning sunsets, beaches and the locality of these places from my friends… so I thought, why not?

To start with, Sesimbra is definitely not a ‘new’ town; in fact it’s actually very old. It even has a castle there overlooking the township that was built somewhere around the 13^th century, I believe.

Today, this township stands proudly as a fishing village where the cliffs meet the sea. It has incredible beaches surrounding the area, with sand dunes, clean waters, and even a port area for all the fishing boats. If you climb the hills of Arrabida, behind Sesimbra, you will find breath-taking views of the coastal area below. Warm sea-winds will sweep across your face, sunlight will reflect off the water, and just imagine how you would feel watching the sun set over the horizon. The red Portuguese dusky light encompasses you, the last rays of the sun shining upon your face, and you feel the most incredible sense of satisfaction that while today has ended, a new day will soon begin.

Within the township, you can find a range of things, including markets, amazing music, and decently made fresh coffee at the local cafes. You will also find big flashy hotels to stay in if that’s your thing. Personally, I would much rather hire a local Villa, eat local food, and enjoy the local atmosphere. I like to embrace the locality I’m in, and learn as much as I can from the experience – not fight it by using big hotels with swimming pools, and nasty food and coffee.

At nights, the town will thrum with activity. People will sit out on their balconies, eating antipasto, drinking good wine (or anything else that tickles their palette at the time), and they will laugh. Music plays, the scent of freshly caught fish cooking wafts down the street, and you know that this is an incredibly relaxed town full of friendly people – who are ready to welcome you into their homes.

In my book, I deliberately sent my character to Sesimbra to heal. Although my character is an extremely fast paced and tough woman on the outside, on the inside – she was breaking. I needed to give her a break. This is where I sent her. For her to let go of all the everyday stress and expectations that she had been subject to… and to embrace the locality around her. To realise that there is more to this world than just war. To get to know herself, once again.

If I were to write a tagline for this town – it would be something like this: “Sesimbra: Get to know yourself.”

For more information about Sesimbra – have a look here.

Sesimbra Coast at dusk

 

Drink from the cup of mediocrity

I am sure that  like many Authors, and I hate drinking from the cup of mediocrity… but when is it really enough to stop with the reviewing, critiquing, and editing of your own work?!

I finished a manuscript years ago, chucked it out to my beta-readers, and revised, reviewed, revised, reviewed… on and on… a continuous cycle. So now I ask – when is it really ready to let go? After each re-edit, I think that it’s ready to go. So I’m happy with it for a while, chuck it in the mythical drawer, until I eventually re-open it – and see that it can have more plastic surgery done to it. Give it some more face-lifting… A nip here, a tuck there, and a little more Botox in ‘that’ spot… Then all over again, I am happy. Until I pick it up again. This is my own vicious cycle that I am trapped in. (Argh! I feel like the literary version of Joan Rivers!)

Maybe this is because I hate sipping from the cup of mediocrity, and deep down inside, I’m not prepared to release it to the professionals until I’m totally happy about it. A friend said to me the other night, “Leigh, you need a Critique Partner.” She thinks that a Crit Partner will kick my ass into gear. Maybe they will, maybe they wont… but I’ll never know unless I try. Now let me quickly clarify something… This MS is not ‘my baby’. I’m happy for the wolves to chew it up, and spit it out – as long as they give me some decent reasoning or feedback on how I can make it better.

I’m starting to wonder if using Critique Partners is the answer to my vicious cycle problem?

What do you think? Do you have Critique Partners? Do they give you the ‘critical’ feedback that your MS needs? Do they shove their foot up your rear end and tell you to stop editing? (Because unless my MS needs further work – this is what I need. A serious ass-kicking.)

To put it into the words of Stella Artois: I’d rather die of thirst than drink from the cup of mediocrity.

 

The lyrics are inspirational

Being a great lover of music, I am always listening to it. I have tons of the stuff. (Addict.) But the reason why I am always listening to it is because much of the time I find the lyrics are truly inspirational.

Some people listen to it for the catchy melodies, others for the lyrics that they like. I listen to music, partly for the good of my soul, but more for the development of my characters. Each of my characters has their own ‘life soundtrack’ playlist, which I play at the time when I’m writing them.  I find that this helps enormously with their potential reactions to the different and dangerous situations that I’m throwing them into. Even when they are emotional, just by playing one track that is close to that character’s heart helps. And believe me, those tracks are far from my favourite, but my characters have their own personalities and taste in music, and therefore they life music that doesn’t particularly tickle my fancy.

Yes, I guess these are the ramblings from a neurotic writer. (One day I might tell you what else I do for my characters… besides giving them their own soundtracks. Trust me, it gets worse.)

Now, I have a good friend whose favourite artist is Leonard Cohen. Now, a lot of Leonard’s stuff is quite dark, (I think he suffered from tortured artist syndrome,) but a lot of what Leonard is voicing out to the world are emotions and beliefs that some of us are just too scared to say out loud. These lyrics are awesome for tortured characters!

But, first and foremost, Leonard Cohen is a poet. I’m not saying this out of adoration for the man, but out of truth. I recently found out from my friend that Mr Cohen was a poet and a writer long before he was a musician, or a lyricist. He had his first book of poetry published when he was just 22 years old, and he wrote his heart out until the age of 33, when he released an album. I was having a conversation with my friend the other day about Leonard Cohen (he comes up in conversation a lot) and my friend said to me, ‘It’s unheard of nowadays to embark on a new career as a musician so late in life. And to be so successful at it.’

And so on that note, I am going to leave you with an inspirational little poem by Leonard Cohen, and you can make your own decisions on the creative pathways that you or your characters walk. I know that this is a little cynical and crude… but he’s right. And he’s probably one of the only people in the world who will say it so bluntly.

The fifteen year old girls

I wanted when I was fifteen

I have them now

It is very pleasant

It is never too late

 

I advise you all

to become rich and famous.

 

Gossip and Banter. Not the same thing.

Oh boy, here I go again. It’s one of those sessions, where I am thoroughly pissed off.

Right now, as I am sitting at my desk in my office on the seventh floor of a big building in Wellington, there are people sitting on the other side of my desk divider gossiping and moaning about other people sitting on the same floor, who are probably not that far away, trying to get an honest day’s work done.

DEFINITION:  gos·sip //  (gsp)  n.

1. Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature.
2. A person who habitually spreads intimate or private rumors or facts.

intr.v. gos·siped, gos·sip·ing, gos·sips To engage in or spread gossip.

 

Why am I pissed off? Because this is destructive and unwanted behaviour from people who really should know better. The stories that they are ‘telling’ and ‘discussing’ with each other, is not positive. It is not even remotely helpful. It is what I would call “petty idle gossip.” And what happens to gossip? It turns into Chinese Whispers.

Truths are distorted and repeated… and whatever these two ladies are talking about right now, will be retold a multitude of times in a totally different context – not too far down the line.

Gossip is another form of story-telling. It is not fair on the subject, or fair on the people who really just don’t give a hoot, and because our office is open plan – they have to listen to it. 

Now banter, on the other hand, is a lot more pleasant to listen and engage in.

DEFINITION:  ban·ter //  (bntr)

• n. Good-humored, playful conversation.

v. ban·tered, ban·ter·ing, ban·ters

• v.tr. To speak to in a playful or teasing way.
• v.intr. To exchange mildly teasing remarks.

As long as you don’t hurt anyone’s feelings in the midst of it, then I think that banter is fine. Banter is another form of rapport building. Something that you can definitely play with when developing character relationships with one another.  It also provides a bit of humour and light relief to the dialogue in your writing.

What’s the moral of this story? Don’t gossip, banter instead. It’s a lot more fun, and you don’t bring people down. Instead, you start building the bonds that hold everyone together.

Once again, I have gone from being extremely annoyed, to pleasantly positive. Thank you, little blog.

 

Plotting or Pantsing?

This seems to be a subject that I keep coming across at the moment. People have asked me if I am a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’. What does this mean? The question is really, “Do you plot out your novels before you start writing? Or do you write organically?” (Flying by the seat of your pants.)

Plotting tool: Sticky notes

Technically, I am first a plotter, as I like to kind of know what pathway my writing is walking down. Great at character profiling before I even start writing a novel. But then I find that my characters start taking on a life of their own, and then I become a ‘pantser’.

I think that writing organically can take you places that you never would have plotted before. Once you start researching locations, careers of your characters, and all sorts of other symbology in relation to your work in progress, the story starts to evolve. So, to start me off, I’m definitely a plotter. It’s as if I need some sort of map or some form of direction to get me going.

When I first started writing, I used to plot out every stage. Each chapter had its own plotlines that I had to follow. Each character has their objectives that are carefully laid in order to eventually meet at the height of the book. But I found that having a set plot regime hindered my creativity a lot. I would get to the point where I already knew what was going to happen, and therefore I was no longer writing the piece of work for myself, but I was writing it down, just to get it down. But since I already knew everything in the storyline, it was no longer exciting me, or surprising me.

I can’t do that now. Instinctively, I know that I can have a very loose plot. And in that loose plot, I have to manoeuvre my characters to the peak of the plot. Sometimes I know how this is going to happen… other times I don’t. And this is all part of the fun.

I primarily write for myself. I write myself stories that I love, and I am my own audience. Granted, there are other people out there who read my work as well, but I know that as long as I am happy with the process and the finished product – then that’s the only thing that matters.

So here are two core questions I’m putting out there into the Interweb ether:

1. How do you do it? Plotting or Pantsing?
2. Who do you write for?

I think that these are questions we all need to eventually have an answer for.

 

Fall in love with Menorca

Menorca waters

How did I find this little slice of heaven? Well, I basically closed my eyes, spun the globe, and stopped the globe with my finger. Actually, it was my mouse, as I was using Google Earth – but I did have my eyes closed! I promise. I knew that I needed somewhere with water, that was preferably warm, I just had absolutely no idea where. Then when I opened my eyes, and saw where this tiny island was, I just knew that the Mediterranean was perfect for my book The Mediterranean Source.

I was listening to the melodic voice of Beth Orton at the time. Yes, I can even remember that! I remember it, because my colleague had just given me her CD, and I had written the first scene of The Mediterranean Source that day. Of course it wasn’t even called that then… it was something that I had planned on being a short story for a competition. Well that never eventuated. The more I discovered, the more I wanted to write about it.

Anyway – I’m sliding off track here… So, back to Menorca. And that very first scene. When I started writing that scene, I somehow already knew my character, in bits. I knew that his wife had died; I knew that he was a Marine Scientist; that he owned a very large boat, and that he religiously swam a bay every morning. I also knew that his name was Tom, named after my brother. Therefore I needed a decent location to set this story in.

The island

Menorca is the smallest of the three Balearic Islands. The other two, I’m sure you have all heard of. Ibiza, and Majorca. Ibiza, being the most famous party island of the Mediterranean; and Majorca, being a prime holiday destination preferred by everyday people from the United Kingdom. Oh, I’m sure that many other people travel there as well, but that’s what it’s known for.

So once my mouse landed on Menorca, the first things I had to do was a little research, as I had absolutely no idea what this island was like, or how this would affect the loose plotlines that I had dreamt up. One of the first things I discovered was that Menorca is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. You would not believe how perfect this was for my book. For once, I did not have to make this sort of thing up. Finding out that it was a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve provided a place of work for my character. Voila. Magical.

So for my character, Menorca became the island paradise that he could live on, work on, while washing away his angst, pain, fears, and his previous life. It was the retreat he needed to heal himself. Why? Well, this is why.

Cave diving

Menorca has some of the most spectacular diving areas in the Mediterranean. Yes, they are unknown to the public, but the world divers out there definitely know of the island and all of its hidden jewels. (Pun intended, for those of you who have read the book.) The beaches on the island are all individual and diverse. Some are hidden behind rocky outcrops – which only the locals know of, some are only accessible by boat, and some are more popular tourist destinations. The water is usually always warm to swim and dive in.

As a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Menorca is very advanced in the art of being ‘green’. The cultural and historic heritage of Menorca is preserved, as well as the flora and fauna of the island. They have specialist recycling collections on the island so that any rubbish is kept at an ultimate minimum. This sort of environmental positive action suited my book. I personally have very strong support for staying as ‘green’ as possible, and it absolutely delights me that there is a whole island consisting of 80,000 residents that support the same thing.

This segment is from The Menorca Guide: (http://www.menorca-net.co.uk/menorca/biosphere-reserve.php)

The declaration of Biosphere Reserve compels us to take measures to prevent our heritage changing or deteriorating. Our aim is to find ways of developing which allow us to profit from the island’s natural habitat while at the same time protecting it.

Imagine walking along the Ciutadella esplanade in the evening light within the warmth of the summer's breeze.

How amazing is that? Not only is it an incredibly beautiful island, but it is under some incredible residential protection. One day I would love to see my home country of New Zealand become this vigilant.

So, I signed up to all the newsletters that I could find about the island, and the information started flooding in. This was fabulous, as it meant that I could start getting incredibly accurate about the island, and all its glorious details. Google Earth helped immensely as well. Before my last laptop died, my Google Earth was incredibly pinpointed with locations of significance on the island. I have a lot of images of the island that I would love to put up here on the blog… but to get a truer sense of the island, you would have to read my book.

There is a local on the island, Paul Dell, who has lived there since 2004, and photographs the island nearly every day: http://www.dellimages.com/default.html I recommend that if you wish to see even more incredible images of this fabulous little island, then visit his site. He’ll also answer any questions that you pose to him about the island, as he’s even more passionate about the place than I am.

So, fall in love with Menorca. I know that this island is somewhere that I have kept in the back of my mind everyday for the past couple of years. It is my dream to go there. One day, perhaps even own my own little slice of paradise there. One day I would love to immerse myself into the Menorcan waters and go diving. I would love to walk the cobblestone streets of Mao or Ciutadella, drink fine wine, and eat amazing Spanish food. But most of all, I want to live in this paradise. To be a part of this amazing little island, with their amazing thinking.

A few last images to share