I've just recently returned from a fabulous festive trip to London to see my editors! It was our third trip to London in fifteen months and the best one so far. My mother and I really enjoyed it. Whenever I have such a meeting to go to, my mother becomes my PA for the day! She keeps me calm. The weather was damp but not too cold, the transport was reliable and even the London taxi drivers were nice to us this time round, so it must have been the stress surrounding London due to the Queen's death that made them so rude and unfriendly last year. This time they were lovely and welcoming.
My editor had booked us into the Great Court restaurant, inside the British Museum for a traditional afternoon tea and I have been looking forward to it for some time now. Its always nice to meet my editors in person. Much of the business of writing books is conducted via email, so to actually meet them face to face is a lot of fun. This time, both of the main editors were able to come to the meeting, so we were a merry foursome, nibbling cakes and scones and dainty sandwiches. We even shared a bottle of Champagne, to celebrate Yuletide and all the work we have done together this year. It was simply delightful! I felt very spoilt indeed.
It is a great opportunity to find out how things are moving along at their end, how the books etc are performing in the market place and what new projects might be on the cards for next year. My editor made a point of telling me not to get another job, so I'm taking that as a sign that lots more commissions and writing work are heading my way in 2024 and beyond! Fingers crossed. Eighteen months after I handed in my notice at the vet practice, this is a great sign that they are happy with my work and wish to continue commissioning me to write lots more books. So I feel quite optimistic about my future with them. They are the best publisher I have ever had. I know that my ideas and synopses are safe with them and they know that I am reliable with regard to the quality of my work and meeting deadlines, so its a good partnership.
Its also nice to be able to talk about books and the publishing industry at large. It has been a tough year for magazines and some smaller Houses, so to know that our House is secure and in a good position gives me great peace of mind. I can't wait to see which of my synopses they will commission next and what new projects I will be working on in the new year. Its all very exciting!
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| One of the Elgin Marbles |
This year has been geared towards writing on various world mythologies, so I took my editor's advice and ensured that Mum and I arrived in London early enough to have a look around the Museum before our afternoon tea. I knew that there were three things I really wanted to see - the Elgin Marbles, the Ancient Egyptian exhibition and anything Viking and Celtic. We managed to see them all! Our first port of call was the Elgin Marbles, which were just beautiful. Temples, gods, goddesses, nymphs, satyrs and equestrian statues filled three large galleries, with another room full of wall carvings. The marble was so pure and gleaming in the lights. I have never seen anything like these magnificent pieces before, and I can understand why the Greeks want them back! They are truly stunning and I'm so happy we got to see them. It felt like such a privilege to be so close to that much ancient history. It made me feel proud to know that I have just delivered a project based on this Classical mythology, which will be published next year.
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| Ancient Egyptian Exhibition |
From the grace and beauty of Greece and Rome, we travelled straight to Ancient Egypt and into the Egyptian exhibition. This had a completely different atmosphere. While it still had the grandeur and the beauty of the Elgin Marbles, it was much darker and had a more sombre atmosphere. It felt a bit spooky at times, due to the Egyptian's reverence for death and mummification (not to mention the dead bodies lying around!) but it was magical and very educational. Again, they had things that I never would have imagined, like the stone altar where Queen Cleopatra worshipped the goddess Isis! It was amazing and I felt quite wonderstruck by it all. There were beautifully decorated sarcophagi, stone tomes carved with hieroglyphics, shabti and canopic jars which held the organs of the dead. Basically, everything that I had been writing about this summertime, was right there before my eyes!
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| One of many sarcophagi |
There were also actual mummies, laid out in glass cases to preserve them. You could clearly see the bindings - some wrapped around the body as a whole, like a shroud; others wrapped around the individual limbs, so that you could see each and every finger of the mummy. It was a rather strange experience to be so close to the ancient dead in this way. To be standing next to a body, with the death mask painted on the bindings to give the deceased a recognisable face - it was a little sad, as death always is, but it is also in keeping with the mentality of the ancient Egyptians, who feared being forgotten above all things. So to have a mummified body on display in a museum ensures that this never happens and the mummy will always be remembered, centuries after passing away! For the Egyptian in question, this was the goal achieved!
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| Viking stone carving |
Making our way through the galleries, we came to the exhibits for ancient Britain, and here were the Vikings, Celts and Anglo Saxons. I love anything Viking or Celt, so this was extremely interesting to me and very inspiring for new books! Of course, much of Britain has been influenced by Norse culture since the Vikings invaded, so I do feel as if Vikings are as British as they are Scandinavian. They are a part of our heritage and you can see echoes of their influence in place names to this day. They may have invaded centuries ago, but they have never really gone away. It was fascinating to see their carvings, knotwork, weaponry and so on. This gallery wasn't quite as big as the Elgin or Egyptian ones, but I certainly feel like I got enough out of it to really get working on a new project over Christmas! Its very exciting to be writing about the ancient world. I love history and I hope that passion comes across in my new projects that will be dropping in 2024.
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| Peggy Porschen! |
After exchanging Christmas cards and gifts with my editors, we did a spot of souvenir shopping. I still had some birthday money left that I had been saving for London, so I bought a replica of one of the Isle of Lewis Chessmen. I got the Knight as he was my favourite. I also got a Queen Elizabeth II Beefeater teddy bear and a pretty tote bag from Harrods that has pastel pink images of London landmarks all over it! It's very pretty. Then I got a smaller pink bag from Laduree and a bar of their rose pink chocolate, which I can't wait to try. My mum also treated me to a pair of silver Bast earrings from the British Museum, so it was a good little shopping spree! London is so pretty at Christmastime.
It was an amazing trip and I can plainly see why my editor suggested we meet at the Museum for tea and Champagne, so that I could see all the things that I have been writing about all year! It has cemented the research in my mind in a more tangible way. Experiential learning is a great boost to academic learning and research, so I felt that the long trip was worth it, being both educational and good for me professionally too. I can't wait to bring these experiences into my new books. I'm looking forward to spending the Christmas period writing about our visitors from the snowy North!
All in all, it was the perfect editorial lunch meeting and I enjoyed it very much. What a fantastic way to round out a year of ancient world mythology writing! I feel incredibly lucky and very grateful to my publishers for the experience. Now all I have to do is curl up by the Christmas tree and write about Norsemen! Its not a bad job is it? 😃
There are lots more photos from all the exhibits I've mentioned in this post up on my Twitter and Facebook.
Blessed be
Marie x
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