My dream goal I want to achieve before I die is to complete the Bangham Family trilogy, of which Coalbrookdale is the first. Apart from that I would like to re-visit Paris, preferably in the spring!
I have occasionally suffered from 'Writer's Block'. when everything just seems to seize up. When this happens, I put the work aside for a couple of days, then come back to it, re-reading the previous few chapters and usually this does the trick. Sometimes it may mean that the plot has taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way, and a little back-tracking can work wonders.
I have been writing poetry and short personal memoirs for many years but when Covid 19 came along and we were forced into lockdown, I decided it was time to get down to some serious writing. That was in early 2020. I began with Karma; A Mystery in Paris, followed by Secrets and Lives. Both of these were set in locations that have meant a lot to me, namely Paris, and Bath in Somerset. After completing these two short mystery and suspense novels, I felt confident enough to begin the book I seriously wanted to write; Coalbrookdale; The Bangham Family Story, which I began in May 2021. This book is based on the life of my 5th Great Grandfather Joseph Bangham, who was living in the Severn Gorge, Shropshire in the early 18th Century, working for Abraham Darby. At this time Darby was perfecting the production of iron using coal instead of charcoal, which eventually facilitated the mass production of iron, and the Industrial Revolution had begun. It was a pivotal moment in the history of the world and Joseph and his family were there at the very beginning.
