Writing about old Ryhope - and light at the end of the tunnel

The old pathway to Ryhope beach

It's a strange and worrying time. I'm veering between a state of panic and tears to being very calm and resigned. My heart flutters with worry and my eyes fill with tears when I watch the news. I'm lucky, I know that - so far. I work from home as a writer and I have a glorious, wide open beach on my doorstep for walking, a coastline for cycling, a garden for pottering. I miss my family, though. We've decided to stay apart, keep in touch online. My mam who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, lives in a carehome and visitors are banned. I don't know when, or if, I'll see her again.

My writing life is at a good point, and for that I am grateful. I'd always planned to start researching my next novel the week beginning March 23rd. I was going to allow four weeks of research with visits to libraries, museums, archives, records office, antiquarian societies, local studies  and chats with historians over long lunches where I ply them with chips in exchange for information. None of that will happen now. Which is something of a blow when I'm researching life in 1919.

But fear not. Thanks to some wonderful books I've already read, I've been able to seek out more of the same, real-life accounts of life in 1919, especially of women's lives, which I write so well about. I've ordered dusty old books from ebay and can't wait to get stuck into them. I have research notes from my previous five novels that I'l re-read and take heart from. A friend has given me access to the British Newspaper Archive online. I have DVDs of old pictures from Ryhope Heritage Society, enough to keep me going for now. But the Ryhope pub I was hoping to visit and tour before writing about it in my book has now closed. I'll have to use my imagination ... and let it fly instead.  I'll walk around Ryhope one day with my writing head on, peering over fences, trailing my hand along ancient stone walls, putting myself into the mind of my characters as much as I can.

So it's not all bad news.

My research that I'd planned to do over four weeks will now be over in one, possible two. I'll start planning the novel and writing the week after. My manuscript is due into the publisher by the end of October this year. With nowhere to go and nothing else to do but write, I'll have it finished much sooner, with the luxury of empty time and space to do nothing more than create. And what a joy that will be.

I'm looking on the bright side to stop the tears, shakes, heart palpitations and worry. I have a plan and things will be fine. Some days I will write, some days I will cycle, other days I will walk on the beach. And I will breathe in the sea air, turn my face to the sun and be grateful that my family, so far, are all well.
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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor