Takin' it easy...!

I have to admit, I worked myself into the ground last year. (FYI, I think in 'college' years because I'm in education... so my year stops at the beginning of July and starts again at the beginning of September!)

I wrote a lot on a deadline (wanting to publish part 3 in the Island series in June because of a large promo I did with BookBub) and wanting to translate The Space in Between before the end of July (because I went on vacation to the Philippines in August) almost took me to the brink of burn-out. Having a 4-day job AND spending the other 3 days writing books is not a good idea (hey, where did my weekend go?!).

So I've decided to take things easy for a while. I am now only working 3 days a week in education, so that's a big improvement, plus I'm writing without any deadlines. I am writing for FUN again. :) I know it would be wise from a marketing point of view to publish something new in November before the X-mas season, but I am not going to beat myself up over it if I don't. Tomorrow, my new English book The Space in Between will go on sale, last week the Dutch version of The Boy From The Woods was published, and that should satisfy my fans for the next few months. I have so many ideas I still want to put on paper that I will most likely 'buffer up' and get a pile of books done before publishing anything new, so I can just use my surplus of written work to publish something new with regular intervals.

Three days of teaching, three afternoons of writing and one day off is what my life will look like from now on. It makes me happy, it pays the bills, and it keeps me more balanced. I am sorry if I am making you wait a little bit longer, readers, but there's only one Jen Minkman and I have to make sure she doesn't crash and burn. ;)

The Space In Between - Croeso i Cymru!

So, I did it again - I went to one of my book places! In this case, it's for a book I haven't even published yet (but will soon): 'The Space in Between', set in the beautiful Welsh town of Penmaenmawr.
Moira joins her Wicca-practising sister Tabby when she wants to do a Halloween ritual at the ancient stone circle in the hills behind their village. Little does she know that this will transport her to a magical land and she'll go back to that land in her dreams every night. Why does the mysterious boy named Hayko need her help, and will she be able to stop herself from falling for him? After all, he doesn't really exist - or does he?

Welcome to Wales!

As you may have noticed, the title of this blog post had some weird, non-English words. That's because people in Wales, besides English, also speak Welsh, an ancient Celtic language. Croeso i Cymru means 'welcome in Wales' and is pronounced kroy-so ih koom-ree. As you can see on the welcoming sign for Penmaenmawr, the road signs are bilingual.

Moira, the main character, works in a small hotel in town called the Gladstone. This is what it looks like from the outside:

And this is what it looks like on the inside:

This is the town station, where Moira had an accident one year ago:

And this is what I imagined Moira's house to look like. The only thing that's not there is a garage, otherwise it's pretty much the house I had in mind!

This is Penmaenmawr Promenade and the beach. It's high tide in this photo, so you can't actually see the sand!

Walk to the Stone Circle!

Walking around town was fun and all, but my bigger plan had always been to visit the stone circle I used in my story! So, off we went (I dragged my sister, or rather, she dragged ME as the climb got steeper and steeper :).

We walked all the way uphill via Mountain Lane and only found out we could have driven that bit up when we got to a parking lot, haha! After that, there was still a brisk walk ahead. When we got to this milestone, at least we knew we were on the right track (though, to be fair, we did get lost once).

After that, we went higher,

and higher,

and higher still, (you can see my sister and the stones sticking out in the distance)

until we were there! :)

(me, completely exhausted)

(my sister, looking way fitter)

Invoking the magic...

Here I am, sitting at the exact spot where I imagined Moira to be sitting while doing the ritual. Of course, in the book I have three people (Moira, her sister Tabby, and her brother Dai) forming a circle within the circle.

... isn't the view just amazing? :)

And all the way down, we could see Penmaenmawr. I can't believe we walked all the way up here! My knees were still suffering after a few days. But it was totally worth it :D