I decided this year I would celebrate the 12 days of my birthday! YAY for 12 whole days to celebrate my birth! I fully anticipated this would be a solo celebration but I was wrong! HA! I love how those in my life indulge me in my fanciful ideas!

Today is Day 7 of the 12 days of my birthday… the halfway point and here are some of my gifts and fun!

Thanks to my friends for indulging me! =) And playing along! How fun! I also got a new game (thanks to a gifted credit!)! Yay for games! Yay for elongated birthday celebrations! =)

You can read more details here.

Suffice to say, I think a new tradition has been hatched!

I read your excited message about the healthcare reform bill passing Congress tonight and I burst into tears of joy. I felt like the change we have been seeking for so many years, that we have been working so hard to bring about was finally coming to fruition. Only to learn it ‘passed’ in exchange for the tens of millions of women in this country. When should we expect the government to send their lackeys to pick up our shoes so we can stay home proper, barefoot and forced pregnant? When did the promise of change become the promise of positive change for men and a reaffirmation of women as second-class citizens?

I am absolutely appalled that you or any member of our government would allow such draconian measures to be perpetrated against women. You are pushing to get this healthcare reform bill passed but at what cost?

The Stupak-Pitts anti-choice amendment renders health care insurance companies incapable, financially, to support women’s’ reproductive health. In order to survive financially under this amendment, they would be forced to drop current coverage for women’s reproductive healthcare. This is a monumental step backwards. It is not simply a matter of not covering costs for the women who are currently uninsured. It goes a mile further and ensures an economic stranglehold on all insurance companies to drop current benefits provided to women.

Choosing to throw women under the bus to get the new healthcare system passed is a galling cop out. This decision is nothing more than the vehicle the opponents need to undermine Roe v. Wade. The provisions of this ‘amendment’ sets women’s healthcare back a century and delivers a devastating blow to those millions of women who enthusiastically supported Obama and this healthcare reform bill.

Women’s healthcare should not be targeted and denied because of political or moral objections. These are not our views or our opinions. These are OUR bodies, OUR choices and OURinsurance companies should cover it–period, particularly when the majority of insurance companies currently cover comprehensive reproductive health services. It was one thing to leave out coverage under the new healthcare bill. That was already a negative aspect. However, it becomes a completely different story when you add an amendment that takes away current coverage, in addition to limiting the alternative options for the coverage taken away.

How dare all of you yellow-belly Democrats who approved this Stupak-Pitts amendment decide to not only NOTinclude reproductive health services in the new health-care system but to endanger the barely-adequate coverage that exists currently. This decision sends a loud message to women in this country: YOU are not important; your needs, your body, your health and your rights are not important. Are we to understand that ‘the millions of people’ that this new system is supposed to help does not include women? Is this the new, improved, sensible healthcare system for men only?

I must have missed that part of the inspirational speeches.

I no longer support this bill or its blatant disregard for women’s reproductive health. And I am extremely angry that I and millions of other women, are being discarded at the whim of two senators in a futile attempt to appease those inconsiderate, selfish people opposing healthcare for all. Are these people who oppose healthcare for all anything more than medical and/or financial terrorists? I thought we had a policy of no negotiation with terrorists?Why then were tens of millions of women conceded in these terroristic negotations to provide adequate healthcare to our citizens?

When did women become so unimportant in this country and to our President that our reproductive health and control over our own bodies are offered up on a silver platter in exchange for the Congress to approve a watered-down, ineffective version of healthcare reform that will punish and neglect no longer by economic status but rather by gender?

I wonder what will happen to this bill once we take away the flattened, discarded feminine support that has so eagerly backed Obama. You can count me out until the dissolution of this backwards Stupak-Pitts amendment.

I see where I rank in importance in your vision for change. If Congress got tens of millions of uteri, what will the Senate get?

The Fun Theory by Volkswagen.
Pssssst, you can submit your own fun ideas as well! And more than the money they will give you, think of all the people you might help convince to live healthier or more sustainable.

I know.

I am drooling.

I need want this soooooo bad.

The Heart Truth and Red Dress are trademarks of DHHS.

The Heart Truth: Heart Disease is the #1 Killer of Women

The Heart Truth is that one in four American women dies of heart disease, and most fail to make the connection between risk factors—such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol—and their personal risk of developing heart disease.

The Heart Truth Campaign: Serious Messages about Women’s Heart Health

The Heart Truth is a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Through the campaign, NHLBI leads the nation in a landmark heart health awareness movement that is being embraced by millions who share the common goal of better heart health for all women.

The Heart Truth campaign warns women about heart disease and provides tools to help them take action against its risk factors. It is primarily targeted to women ages 40 to 60, the time when a woman’s risk of heart disease begins to increase. However, it’s never too early—or too late—to take action to prevent and control risk factors since heart disease develops over time and can start at a young age—even in the teen years.

The campaign message is paired with an arresting visual—the Red Dress—designed to warn women that heart disease is their #1 killer. The Heart Truth created and introduced the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness in 2002 to deliver an urgent wake-up call to American women. The Red Dress reminds women of the need to protect their heart health, and inspires them to take action.

The Heart Truth partners include: The Office on Women’s Health, DHHS; WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease; the American Heart Association; and other organizations committed to the health and well-being of women.

Campaign Background

The Heart Truth campaign began in response to recommendations of more than 70 experts in women’s health who met in March 2001 to develop a national action plan to reduce the toll of heart disease on American women. The campaign was developed with input from partner organizations and focus groups with women conducted across the country. This research revealed that most women underestimate their personal risk and do not fully understand the devastating impact that heart disease has on one’s life and family. The research strongly supported the urgent need to tell women about their risk of heart disease and how to lower it.

What’s a Red Dress Got to Do With It?

The Red Dress was designed to build awareness that women are at risk for heart disease, and motivate them to take action to reduce their risk. The creative concept of a Red Dress tested well with diverse women who cited its ability to get attention, convey the seriousness of heart disease, and change the perception that it is only a man’s issue.

The symbol links a woman’s focus on her “outer self” to the need to also focus on her “inner self,” especially her heart health. The Red Dress serves as a red alert to convey the message that “Heart Disease Doesn’t Care What You Wear—It’s the #1 Killer of Women.”

Seeking to advance the symbol, The Heart Truth forged a groundbreaking collaboration between the Federal government and the fashion industry, an industry intrinsically tied to female audiences. As a result of this partnership, fashion leaders—including top designers, models, and celebrities—have demonstrated their support for the issue of women and heart disease by participating in The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collections at New York’s Fashion Week annually since 2003.

The Heart Truth launched the first Red Dress Collection at Fashion Week in February 2003, when 19 designers—from Vera Wang to Donna Karan to Oscar de la Renta—contributed red dresses for a stunning display under the Bryant Park tents. In February 2004, the fashion platform expanded with the creation of the first annual National Wear Red Day and the same-day debut of Red Dress Collection 2004—a fashion show featuring red dresses from the industry’s elite designers worn by top fashion models and celebrities. The campaign returned to New York Fashion Week in 2005, 2006, 2007, and again in 2008 with celebrity-studded fashion shows. Some of the world’s most recognized stars have walked the runway for The Heart Truth in new collections of designer red dresses including: Sheryl Crow, Kelly Ripa, Heidi Klum, Venus Williams, Angela Bassett, Rachael Ray, Christie Brinkley, Thalia, Vanessa Williams, Rita Moreno, Billie Jean King, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Molly Sims, LeAnn Rimes, Ashanti, Christina Milian, Fergie, Eartha Kitt, and Liza Minnelli.

National Wear Red Day

The Heart Truth and many individuals and organizations celebrate National Wear Red Day on the first Friday of February each year. From a celebrity-studded Red Dress fashion show in New York City to local community events and awareness activities, thousands across the country wear red to unite in the national movement to give women a personal and urgent wake-up call about their risk for heart disease. Wear Red Day serves as a reminder to every woman to care for her heart, because heart disease is the #1 killer of women. On this day men and women can participate by wearing a red dress, shirt, tie, or the Red Dress Pin.

Campaign Ambassadors

The Heart Truth has been honored to have the support of former first lady Laura Bush, and six other first ladies, in sharing the message of better heart health for all women. Mrs. Laura Bush served as the national ambassador from 2003-2009 and The Heart Truth was part of her Women’s Health and Wellness Initiative, leading the Federal government’s effort to give women a personal and urgent wake-up call about their risk of heart disease.

As part of her ambassadorship, Mrs. Bush attended the launch of The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection at Fashion Week in February 2003 and hosted an American Heart Month kick-off event at the White House in February 2004. She also attended The Heart Truth’s Fashion Week events in New York in 2004, 2005, and 2007. At the Red Dress Collection 2008 Fashion Show, Mrs. Bush gave the opening remarks and joined the celebrity participants onstage at the close of the show. As Founding Ambassador, Mrs. Bush celebrates the contributions of leaders in the heart disease awareness movement. In 2007, she participated in two Heart Truth roundtables, and in February 2008, she saluted the fashion industry for their support in reaching women about heart disease at a reception at the White House.

The campaign looks forward to continued support from America’s first ladies in fighting heart disease, the #1 killer of women through such programs as the First Ladies Red Dress Collection, now in its third showing at the National First Ladies Museum in Canton, Ohio,through May 31, 2009. The Heart Truth’s First Ladies Red Dress Collection debuted in May 2005 in a special exhibit at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C, and was presented in 2007 at the Ronald Reagan Museum and Library in California. The Collection featured red dresses and suits worn by seven of America’s First Ladies, including Laura Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, and Claudia (Lady Bird) Johnson.

Campaign Resources and Activities

The campaign offers a wide variety of resources to help individuals and local communities spread The Heart Truth, including:

• Educational materials for women to learn about heart disease and how to reduce their risks
• The Red Dress Pin, the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness
• Speaker’s Kit—a “talk-in-a-box”—and other promotional materials to facilitate spreading The Heart Truth message in local communities
• Online Toolkit containing activity ideas and materials to help individuals and organizations plan their own Heart Truth events throughout the year
• Online Activity Registry allowing organizations to share what they have done and learn about what other groups across the nation are doing to help spread The Heart Truth
• Compelling photos and stories of real women telling how heart disease changed their lives
• National public service advertising (print, radio, and television)
• Partnerships with national non-profit organizations reinforced at the local level to extend the campaign’s reach and message
• Partnerships with key women of color organizations, including the Association of Black Cardiologists, Catalina magazine, Essence magazine, League of United Latin American Citizens, The Links, Inc., National Black Nurses Association, and National Latina Health Network, as well as campaign materials tailored specifically to Latinas and African American women
• Corporate partnerships to expand the reach of The Heart Truth campaign’s message, including collaborations with Diet Coke, Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, IMG Fashion, Celestial Seasonings, Time, Inc. Women’s Group , and Swarovski
• Community programs, such as the Single City program, The Heart Truth Champions program, and The Heart Truth Road Show, that extend the reach of The Heart Truth messages into local communities

Making A Difference

The Heart Truth is making progress in the fight against heart disease in women. Heart disease deaths in American women continued to decline in 2006, and for the first time, have declined seven years consecutively, from 1999-2006..More women are aware that heart disease is the #1 killer of women—57 percent of women in 2006, up from 34 percent of women in 2000. The Red Dress has become one of the most recognizable health symbols in the United States—in 2008, more than half of women recognized the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease. More women are living longer, healthier lives, and fewer are dying of heart disease. But challenges remain, and many women still do not take heart disease seriously and personally. The Heart Truth campaign will continue to build awareness among women and motivate them to take action for heart health.

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For more information, or to access photography and other creative materials for The Heart Truth campaign, visit www.hearttruth.gov.

This site is in no way affiliated with The Heart Truth campaign. The information is copied and pasted purely for informational purposes. We wish to pass along this worthy cause—that is all.

Milking Cancer from Breast Cancer Action on Vimeo.

Disgusting. Shame on you Milk companies. And on New Balance. I just learned that they have a yearly cap on how much they donate—and we all know how much they must make off the pink ribbon. People want to buy things as a feel-good thing. The pink ribbon indicates money will be going towards breast cancer awareness or research. Any item sold with it that doesn’t have any portion going to the cause should not be sold. This is horrendous.

A wag of the finger to you New Balance. Pity. I own your shoes, a bag… all with pink ribbons. I won’t be buying from you again until you decide to lift the ‘cap’. That is the responsible thing to do. Period. And I will tell my friends and tell them to tell their friends etc. etc. Women talk…and we should walk right out of your stores empty handed and see how much profit you’ll make with informed consumers.

Consumers beware! Think before you pink… its a company that will help you be an informed consumer. You should know exactly how much companies donning the pink ribbon actually give to the cause and if there is a limit etc.

What if I were to say I love you?
What if I believed it to be true?
Would it be my downfall?
Would it wither all my pride
to admit my world seems lonely without you?
What if I were to ignore all these voices
that seems to spread my body thin?
I know I am not a savior
I need to get that through my head
before my own walls come tumbling in

I’m so tired
And I’m so wired
The fraction seems to brutalize these veins
To just give in might be to win
But it takes an awful lot to find the way

What if I were to just stop breathing
And let those walls coming tumbling in?
What if I stop placing one foot before the other
And failure was my only friend?

I’m so tired
And I’m so wired
The fraction seems to brutalize these veins
To just give in might be to win
But it takes an awful lot to find the way

Gotta find the way
Oh, I’ll find the way

What if I were to just surrender
And failure was my only friend?
What if I were to speak without allowing words to filter through my teeth?
Or turn my skin to glass and let you in?

I’m so tired
And I’m so wired
The fraction seems to brutalize these veins
To just give in might be to win
But it takes an awful lot to find the way

Gotta find the way
So, I’ll find the way.

___________________________________________

This song was share-worthy. I simply love it. I love Rosie Thomas’ music full stop.

Well, recently I was trying to think what was my favorite Christmas song and of course, this one came to mind. Zooey Deschanel singing “Baby, its cold outside!” in Elf. This sent me on a Zooey music hunt… and I couldn’t believe what I found!!!

Zooey sings for the Cotton: The Fabric of My Life campaign—an entire song! You can listen to here. Or you can download it right here and read along with the lyrics here.

OH! Only I could appreciate a ballad (or two or three) about cotton! Feel it, love it, experience it…

I wrote a review post about Company of Liars: A Novel which you can read here. I contacted the author recently to ask some questions so I could fill inthe author information for her on another book lover website. Whilst exchanging emails with this most gracious and eloquent writer I mentioned the possibility of having an informal email interview. I sent her a bunch of questions, asked her to pick her favorites and respond at her own leisure. And respond she did. I am sharing her responses with all of you in this post. Karen Maitland is both thoughtful and eloquent in her responses, thank you Karen!

Karen Maitland

_______________________________________________

Tell us your latest news?

My next medieval novel The Owl Killers: A Novel is due to published in America in September 2009, so I am really looking forward to seeing copies of that.

I’m delighted to say I’ve just had another two-book offer from Penguin UK, for two more historical novels The Mandrake’s Tale and Falcons of Ice and Fire.

And I’ve just finished a novella for The Sacred Stone, the next joint Medieval Murderers novel. It was such a privilege to be invited to join five of my most favourite authors for their sixth joint novel – Bernard Knight, Susanna Gregory, Philip Gooden, Ian Morson and Michael Jecks.

When and why did you begin writing?

From about twelve onwards I used to scribble dreadful angst-ridden poetry instead of doing my schoolwork. I continued to write as an adult, but I kept it a secret for fear of failure, and I didn’t really have the confidence to try to write for publication until about sixteen years ago. Then it was because I had lived in Nigeria during in a time of bloody civil unrest, followed by Northern Ireland at the height of ‘the ‘Troubles’. I started writing a novel because I desperately wanted to make sense of the horrors I’d witnessed, so I wrote a futuristic thriller called The White Room about terrorism, which was short-listed for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award. The novel is now out of print, because tragically real events have overtaken fiction.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I wrote a series of comic stories for a local magazine, about a pacifist Viking called Ulf who was forced to go to England to govern a village of sulky Saxons, along with his frustrated henchman, Gunter, who really wanted to be a berserker and beat-up the Saxons. The editor of the magazine said she’d try one out, but she was sure her readers wouldn’t like it, but they did. In the end I wrote one a month for two years. I wasn’t paid for the stories, but the day I felt like a real writer was the day someone excitedly stopped me in the street and asked me what was going to happen to Ulf and Gunter next, because they couldn’t wait for the next episode.

What inspired you to write your first book?

My first historical novel came about because I was commissioned to go on tour with a multicultural show that was playing in remote villages the length of England. I was asked to write a book about the company’s experiences. We traveled for three months in the middle of winter, arriving after dark to set up in tiny church halls miles from nowhere, often discovering the only place to get something to get eat was shut. Many of the villages we went to were founded in medieval times, and as we journey through the dark narrow country roads in the driving rain, I began to imagine what it must have been like to earn your living on the road in the Middle Ages, tramping in the wet and cold from village to
village never knowing what lay around the corner. So the idea for Company of Liars: A Novel was born.

Do you have a specific writing style?

People tell me I have a distinctive style and that they can recognise it. I think that’s true of every writer, though it is often hard to define a writers’ style in words. But every writer’s style changes a little from book to book depending on the subject matter, characters and genre of the book.

How did you come up with the title?

I can’t settle down to write a story until I have a title for it, unlike some authors who don’t decide on one until after they’ve written the book. At the time there was a series of articles in newspapers and on TV with the banner headlines ‘The Real Truth Behind…’ which revealed scandals in the private lives of great artists, actors or composers. It was as if the program makers were trying to suggest that these people’s art was a lie, because it didn’t reveal their private life.

I thought that was so unfair, because no in the world reveals everything about themselves to every person they meet. You don’t tell your car mechanic your deepest wildest fantasies. You might not even tell your partner. So in that sense everyone lies, even though they tell ‘the truth and nothing but the truth’, they rarely tell the whole truth about themselves.

Besides, isn’t fiction itself just beautiful and wonderful lie, and wouldn’t it be sad if we lost those lies? Each of the characters in Company of Liars: A Novel tells a story about themselves which is a lie in one sense, but also contains a very deep truth. Stories often communicate a far greater truth than facts, which why so many religious leaders of the world have used them.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I don’t believe it’s a novelist’s job to deliver a message. I think our function is primarily to entertain, but all art also has the role has of encouraging people to question things. You used to get competitions in which a familiar object like a pencil was photographed at an odd angle and people had guess what is was; novels are a bit like that. Sometimes, the novelist can hold up familiar subjects at a different angle for the reader, such as disability, love, judgement, truth and lies, which causes the reader to view these subjects in a new light. Maybe the reader will decide that their own opinion was right along, or maybe they will question what they thought in the past. That doesn’t matter; the point is that you’ve given them space to think about it.

How much of the book is realistic?

I’ve tried wherever possible to make the details of life at the time historically accurate, although the characters and plot are purely fictional. The facts about the Black Death and the kinds of superstitions people practiced to try to ward off the plague such as the “Cripples Wedding” are based on documented events and the places the Company of Liars: A Novel travel through are real.

Although today we think of “Sendings”, rune magic and monsters as myth, people at the time believed they were real. In fact the Church itself declared that werewolves really existed. Medieval people didn’t distinguish between the natural and the supernatural, as we do today. It was all real to them, and I’ve tried to reflect that in the novel, so that readers are plunged into a world of fear and superstition where the Plague was regarded as Divine Punishment not a natural biological illness, and where angels and demons were just as much part of their everyday lives as harvesting crops or lighting a fire.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

You might say I lived the medieval life for real. I worked in Nigeria for over a year and lived without electricity, running water, sanitation, or any means of preserving food over night. Water for washing and drinking came from the river. I had to bargain in the market place for food. I couldn’t plan what I would cook. I just had to make a meal out of whatever I could get on that day. I just hoped there would be some food to buy and I could find some fuel to cook it with.

The nights were very long and dark. All I had to see by was a light of a candle flame or oil lamp, which was bit unnerving if I heard an animal prowling around outside or someone trying to break in. As in the Middle Ages, I couldn’t ring for the police or an ambulance if I had an accident, or if there was a knife-welding maniac on my doorstep. So believe me, I know the terrors of the dark.

What books have most influenced your life most?

Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory. It was the first adult book I read as a teenager and through it I realised the power of an author to create such an atmosphere that would transport the reader to another time and place. It was also the book in which I first discovered that novels could be written about real people, who weren’t impossibly handsome, brave heroes defying death, but human beings with bad teeth who were scared witless and quite understandably just wanted to survive. Other books which have really had a profound effect in teaching me what is possible in literature are Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse, Midnight’s Children by Salmund Rushdie and the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

That’s so hard. In terms of novelists whose books I so greatly admire and there would be such a long list. Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Angela Carter, Isabel Allende, Sarah Dunant, Patrick Suskind and Stephen Fry to name just a few. One brilliant novelist and poet who really has been a mentor to me is William Bedford. He gave me some very sound advice about writing historical novels – Remember first and foremost you are telling a story, not writing a history textbook. Also more recently the historical crime writer Michael Jecks, whose books I love, has advised me on all kinds of practical things I didn’t know about being an author, like which societies to join.

What book are you reading now?

I always have at least two novels I’m reading at the same time. Currently one is Molly’s Millions by Victoria Connelly, a light-hearted romp about a woman who wins the lottery and tries to give it all away before her family finds out. The other novel in complete contrast is The Best of Men by Claire Letemendia, about a plot to assassinate the king during the English Civil War in 1642.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

I love the comic detective novels of Ruth Dudley Edwards. She’s been writing for a good while, but I only recently discovered her and fell in love with her work. Anyone who reads regularly or writes will love her novel Carnage on the Committee about murder on Literary Prize Committee and be able to spot disguised references to several well-known writers and literary types. It’s wickedly funny.

What are your current projects?

I’m putting the finishing touches to the novella for the Medieval Murderer’s novel The Sacred Stone. Then it’s back to writing The Mandrake’s Tale and at the same time doing the research for The Falcons of Ice and Fire.

Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

My brilliant agent. You need an agent who is tough enough to fight your battles for you, but also one who will be a “Mary Poppins” to the author and will not only give the author confidence, encouragement and good sound advice, and but knows when he or she needs a spoon full of sugar to make any nasty medicine go down.

Do you see writing as a career?

In as much as I write fulltime and hope to do so until I drop dead, it is a career, but it is really an obsession, a passion. Ever since I was a small child I used to make up serial stories at night in bed to tell myself. In fact I couldn’t wait to go to bed to dive back into my stories. Writing them down is just an extension of that. I don’t think I could not write. In fact if I don’t write for a day or so I start to get fractious and irritable.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Once a book is finished and the editor wants no more changes, I don’t think about the novel again. By then I am totally immersed in the next world of characters. All I can think about is the story I’m writing at that moment, not what I’ve written in the past.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

The Mandrake’s Tale is set in the reign of King John, when the whole of England was under sentence of excommunication (among other issues, King John wouldn’t accept the Pope’s choice of Archbishop). Can you imagine the chaos—all the churches closed, King John in retaliation arresting every priest who hadn’t fled and the people terrified of dying in sin without the last rites? No burials were permitted on consecrated land, no marriages were conducted, no babies baptized. But I don’t want to reveal much more, except to say the plot involves people-trafficking, murder and oh yes…a very feisty dwarf and a eunuch with a hunger for revenge.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Each book provides its own challenges. In The Owl Killers: A Novel it was finding a natural way to help readers to understand what a beguinage is, knowing that many people haven’t heard of them, without putting in a detailed description or slowing down the thriller plot. In the Medieval Murderers novel it was solving the puzzle I’d set the characters.

Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?

I travel all over Britain and Europe to do the research for the books, as there are many surviving medieval buildings and artefacts in mainland Europe. I also travel all over Britain to give talks on the books, which I mostly do by train and I discover the most wonderful facts and characters by talking to fellow passengers. When I was writing Company of Liars: A Novel, I took a train journey and found I was sitting opposite a druid bard and rune master, who taught me lots of things I couldn’t get from books about runes.

My British publishers are hoping to send me to the Caribbean later this year to speak to a Reading Group there. I haven’t yet been to the States, but I’d really love to do Book tour in America. Fellow authors come back in England raving about it, and tell me the conventions there are fantastic and the readers are so enthusiastic.

Who designed the covers?

Not me. As with most authors, cover design is entirely in the publishers’ hands. And it’s is always fascinating to me to see how the covers vary for the different translations of my books. Each designer pulls out something new from the story. I love the idea of a new work of art in the form of a book cover being inspired by a story I’ve written. In the past I’ve written poetry for dance performance and it’s wonderful to see dancers interpret your words in a way you never imagined. It’s a similar thrill with book covers.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Stopping the research and starting the writing. I love the research and I’d go on doing it forever if I didn’t stop myself. The toughest part of the actual writing is getting the bare bones of the complete first draft down on paper. Once the bones are there, you can start to put flesh on it and play around with the words. That’s the really fun part.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

With every book hopefully you learn a little more about your craft. I actually started to write The Owl Killers: A Novel before Company of Liars: A Novel. I had one character, Camelot, in The Owl Killers: A Novel who was only supposed to deliver the Prologue and the Epilogue, but as I began to write this character’s background story, I realised that Camelot was far too interesting to be relegated to a minor role and was demanding his own novel. So I had to put The Owl Killers: A Novel on hold and write Company of Liars: A Novel, just to shut him up. From that experience I learned to listen to my characters.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write what you want to read. Write what a story you are passionate about, not what you think is fashionable. It’s a long hard slog to write a novel and if you don’t want to write that story with all your heart and soul, you won’t finish it, or if you do it will feel phony to the reader.

Secondly, read as many modern novels as you can in all kinds of genres; you learn something different from every author. I love audio books because I can get through twice as many novels if I have an audio book on in the kitchen when I’m cooking or ironing. With audio books you learn to hear the rhythm of language and it makes you more aware of the structure of the novel and chapters. It’s a brilliant training for a writer.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Every book is a unique reading experience for each individual, because each reader brings to that book their own personality, experiences, likes and dislikes, personal hang-ups, dreams and fears. So only half the book is written by the author, the other half is written by the reader from their own imagination. That’s of course why some readers will love a book which leaves others cold and vis versa, but that is also the joy of reading. No one else can read the book like you do, or can imagine the characters the way you do or experience the same feelings as you do as a reader. The novel is just as much the reader’s creation as the author’s. Without a reader, there is only a half a novel, so thank you for reading my stories and making them complete.

How long does it take you to write a book?

A year, but that doesn’t include the research which, in the case of The Owl Killers: A Novel I started twelve years before I wrote the novel.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

I try to be at my desk at 9.30am. I take an hour for lunch when I usually do domestic things like gardening, or preparing the evening meal whilst listening to an audio book. Then after lunch I write again until about 6pm or 7pm. But a large chunk of that time will be answering emails from readers, publishers etc. I try not to edit my work, until the next day, when I begin by editing what I did the day before. In the evening I usually spend time checking facts in references books which I’ve made a note that I need to check as I’m writing.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I know when characters are coming alive because I start to dream about them. In my dream I’m doing something ordinary in the modern world like sitting on a bus and I look up and one of my medieval characters is sitting opposite me watching me. That’s not so bad when it’s a nice character. But if it’s a nasty character my dream can quickly turn into a nightmare.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

I try to visit locations because that always helps if you can touch, smell and listen in building or place. I obviously use a lot of historical reference books, but if I have specific questions, say about the size and design of a medieval boat, I will visit a specialist museum. I wanted to describe Red Kites scavenging in Company of Liars: A Novel so I went to the Red Kite Feeding Station on the Welsh border to observe the birds, even though it is only one paragraph in the novel. Watching the birds, I learned that Red Kites work with ravens when they feed. I hadn’t found that detail in a reference book. For the scene set in the glassblowers works in Company of Liars: A Novel, I went to watch several glassblowers at work, because if you talk to craftsmen they often tell you about problems you wouldn’t have thought of, which gives you ideas for scenes.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love traveling abroad and that always generates ideas, not necessarily about the country I’m in, but about characters and plots. I have three dolls house – A Medieval Hall, a Georgian rake’s town house and a Victorian country cottage with garden. I enjoy hunting for tiny items in junk shops that will fit the dolls’ houses and also collecting old toys that were given away as advertising gimmicks. I love ballet, opera and the theatre, but don’t get to go as often as I’d like. I do enjoy visiting gardens and growing herbs, fruit and vegetables, though in my garden it’s a case of survival of the fittest – if they can survive my attempts at caring for them, they can stay.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

How advanced medical knowledge was in the Middle Ages, although there was a great deal of magic and superstition mixed in with sound medical knowledge. They knew effective ways to prevent wounds getting infected. They could drill and fill teeth. They had crude anaesthetics and performed quite advanced operations, including a form of skin graft, but all of that knowledge was to be lost during the Reformation.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

I’ve written three novels, and seventeen commission non-fiction books. My favourite is always whatever I’m working at that moment.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

It’s wonderful to get emails from readers. They sometimes ask questions about some detail in the books linked to something they are interested in, such as strangely the use of sulphur. Others just write to say how much they enjoyed the books which, if I’m having a bad day or self-doubts, really gives me the most tremendous boost. Some people write to say how much they relate to one of the characters. Recently I’ve had a Readers Group ask me for Medieval Recipes they can make for their group meeting, as they always tried to produce food which is linked to the book they are discussing, which I think is a brilliant idea.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

A dancer or an actor. I think in many ways, fiction writing and acting are quite similar, because like an actor, when you are writing you have to get inside the characters’ heads and think about what motivates them and how they would speak. You also have to use a form of Method Acting when writing emotional scenes. You may not have had a miscarriage like your character, so you draw on the experiences of friends who have been through it, and combine that with recalling times of loss and grief in your own life to create the emotion in the character. This is what many actors would also do.

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