I also spent much of yesterday updating this website. Considering I started it sixteen years ago, and didn't really use it for a couple of years until I started this regular blogging, I found that a lot of links were broken or outdated. There are still some things I need to fix, but I think most of the stuff on the right sidebar is in better shape now.
In other news, the garden is growing, and as we had a couple of days without rain, I finally got the grass mowed. And the roses have started blooming. Summer at last!Thursday, June 8, 2023
June 2023 - Update #2
Thursday, June 1, 2023
June 2023 - Update #1
I've also been keeping another outline of things Taliesin has told us about his life in the books so far. I think this will eventually be another spin-off prequel, provisionally titled King Arthur's Bards, but unlike The King's Druid, it won't overlap the Storyteller books.
Celtic things come in threes. In the case of the Storyteller books, three trilogies. The first, the "Young
Gwernin" trilogy, consists of Storyteller, Flight of the Hawk, and The Ash Spear. The second trilogy, "Gwernin's Quests", consists of The Fallen Stones, The Old Gods Endure, and The Well of Wisdom. The third trilogy will be "The Fall of the North", and will consist of The Last True King, Three Hundred Spears, and The Fall of the North.Yes, I have had all this planned out for a long time.
I didn't quite finish the first draft of The Old Gods Endure by the end of May, but I came very close - I only need another 2,000-3,000 words to finish the last chapter, and that will be easy writing. I will be looking for first readers / proofreaders in a month or two.
In other news, the tomatoes are all planted, and I really should mow the grass again this week. No new reference books this week, as I'm just tying things up in places I've already been.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
May 2023 - Update #4
Gardening is coming along well - one of the things which has made writing slow this week. It finally stopped raining every day and I was able to deal with the knee-high dandelions in the front yard. I've planted the lemon cucumbers and some of the tomatoes, and direct-seeded peas and some of the beans. The rate-determining step is the need to clear out the stuff which has come up in the pots, since I mostly do container gardening nowadays. No great hurry though, beyond planting the rest of the beans, as the tomatoes are all still small.
References in the last week:
Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales by Hywel Wyn Owen and Richard Morgan (again)
Stories from the Táin by John Strachan
Thursday, May 18, 2023
May 2023 - Update #3
In other news, the little tomato seedlings are growing happily in the cold frame, and I will probably be planting the lemon cucumbers in a day or so. Unusually, we haven't had a May frost this year, but I'm told that if the weather had been 10 degrees colder during the 36 hours and 3 to 6 inches of rain last week, it would have translated into 4 to 5 feet of snow! Every morning I praise the Steerers of Storms for their mercy, thank them for the moisture, and ask that the incipient thunderstorms don't contain "hard white bits". There's a reason that during summer rituals here in Denver we use the word "praise" rather that "h**l".😀
Not a lot of new references this last week, other than maps:
Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales by Hywel Wyn Owen and Richard Morgan.
Thursday, May 11, 2023
May 2023 - Update #2
In other news, my little tomato seedlings are outside now in my cold frame and doing well. I meant to include a picture of them, but it started raining yesterday and hasn't stopped. As I noted on my Facebook page, a flood watch warning is at least a change from a fire weather warning.
Selected references:
Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales by Hywel Wyn Owen
https://davidsuttonpoetry.com/2021/10/01/week-466-cofio-by-waldo-williams/ [something I shared with my Welsh language class last week, which fits the atmosphere of a number of parts of this book]
A Welsh Classical Dictionary by Peter C. Bartrum
Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (History of Wales) by T. M. Charles-Edwards
and a number of maps, paper and on-line, of course
Thursday, May 4, 2023
May 2023 - Update #1
In other news, about half of my tiny tomato seedlings plus the lemon cucumbers seedlings are outside now in 3" pots. We have been frost-free for about a week now, and the 10 day forecast shows lows in the 40s, but it's never safe to bet on that for the rest of May. By the end of the month my little plants can go directly into their big pots in the garden.
Not much in the way of new references in the last week - it's mostly been map work and thinking, plus a little on-line research.
Thursday, April 27, 2023
April 2023 - Update #4
In other news, the weather continues in Denver's spring pattern - a couple of inches of overnight snow a few days ago, a couple of mild days, then a lot of rain Tuesday night which fortunately wasn't snow here (although the mountains got a lot). I now have a windowsill full of tiny tomato plants plus two cucumber seedlings, the latter of which will need to be potted up and probably moved to the cold frame soon. It's about a month yet before they'd be safe in the garden, but they should be ready then.
Selected references for the last week:
A Welsh Classical Dictionary by Peter C. Bartrum
Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads by Rachel Bromwich
Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (History of Wales) by T. M. Charles-Edwards
Law of Hywel Dda (Welsh Classics) by Dafydd Jenkins
The towns of Roman Britain by John Wacher
...and of course some Ordinance Survey maps!
Thursday, April 20, 2023
April 2023 Update #3
In other news, spring seems to have finally installed in Colorado, and I'm starting cucumber and tomato seeds.
Selected references:
Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (History of Wales) by T. M. Charles-Edwards
Bugail Eryri: Pedwar Tymor Ar Ffermydd Mynydd by Keith Bowen
Pocket Guide to the Birds of Britain and North-West Europe by Chris Kightley
Thursday, April 13, 2023
April 2023 Update #2
Today I'm starting chapter 24 ("the second competition") set in Caerdydd. I'll tell you next week about Gwernin's success or lack of it!
Selected references:
Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (History of Wales) by T. M. Charles-Edwards
The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales by Patrick K. Ford
The towns of Roman Britain by John Wacher
Thursday, April 6, 2023
April 2023 Update #1
I also had to decide where they're going next. In this manuscript so far, I had mentioned King Arthur as holding court at Caerleon in south Wales about five times. That was supposed to be Gwernin's next stop, where he first stands in bardic competition. However, it occurred to me that in the very first chapter of Storyteller, he describes visiting Caerleon and seeing it in utter ruins. His visit is less than 20 years after Camlann, so I had a problem. I could do one of the following: 1) assume that my readers will have forgot that first story by the time they get to this book (#5 in the series); 2) assume that Gwernin's memory is faulty, and that Caerleon was not in utter ruins, or at least not all of it; 3) find an alternate location. If #3, I had a couple more possibilities: 3a) Caerwent, which is nearby, and a reasonable alternative although a bit on the small side; 3b) Caerdydd, also nearby, which Gwernin visited after Caerleon and found in good shape. But I was planning to use Caerdydd for the second of three competitions he'll be standing in, so I needed somewhere else for the first one.
In the end, after watching a couple more Time Team episodes and doing some reading, I settled on Caerwent -- a smaller Roman town, but at least one I hadn't already described as being an utter ruin <grin>. According to Time Team, it's the best preserved Roman town in Britain, because it never grew into a medieval city. I visited it once long ago myself, and can testify that most of the town walls are still standing and over ten feet high in places. Caerwent probably wasn't in good shape then either, but at least I haven't already described it as derelict! I changed Caerleon to Caerwent in the manuscript. Now on we go!
Selected references:
The towns of Roman Britain by John Wacher
Time Team Season 19, Episode 9 Rome's Wild West Caerleon, Newport
Britain's Best Preserved Roman Town In Caerwent, South Wales | Time Team