Jacquie Rogers is away...
But still busy writing while riding pillion on a motorbike.
[Image credit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/] Danish beach
By the time you read this, I’ll be looking over a towering mound of essential personal belongings, plus the iPad, and wondering how I’m going to fit all this stuff into a single modest pannier of our Triumph Tiger motorbike. Next week we’re heading across the North Sea for Scandinavia. We’re so taken up with the C4 series Seaside Hotel, we’ve decided to go on a hunt for our very own Danish seaside hotel.
But before we depart on the ferry, trailing clouds of glory, a quick catch-up on June.
The Bath Curse
The first thing to tell you is I’ve typed THE END on The Bath Curse. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve finished the first edited draft, and sent it off to my line editor and my beta readers. But barring dreadful feedback from my faithful betas, the story is done. Hopefully when I get back at the end of July, it will be just dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s. Then begins the hard work of finding a new publisher, or even an agent. That’s a whole other story, which I’ll go into more when my post-book fatigue has ebbed.
[One of the few citizens of Bath left alive at the end of The Bath Curse. I’m kidding.]
Castleford (Lagentium) Roman Festival
My costume was on display on 1 June, at this delightful West Yorkshire heritage festival. I had a terrific day, joined by fellow Roman author and great friend Fiona Forsyth and her lovely husband.
In the evening, thirty wonderful people paid good money (by northern standards — hell, by my Midland standards) to come to Castleford library to see my presentation about Lagentium, and why I chose to feature the town in The Loyal Centurion. I was accorded a really warm welcome, and asked terrific questions by the knowledgeable audience. The icing on the cake were the people who bought all three of my books. Many thanks to Natalie, Kaya and Marcia who made the whole day run so smoothly.
I was very pleased to be asked by BBC Radio Gloucestershire to join Jon Smith on his 19 June breakfast show, to talk about Roman roads. It was short but sweet, as you would expect on a primetime show. Blink and you’ll miss it!
This is just a screenshot, but to listen to our chat, go to BBC Sounds, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, 19 June, 7.55 am.
Talk by Natalie Marlow
As part of National Crime Reading Month, I went to see fellow crime writer, Natalie Marlow, whose crime novels are set in 30s Birmingham. It was very interesting to hear about her career, and how she researches her books. Since the 30s Birmingham has changed so much, thanks to the Luftwaffe and subsequent reconstruction, that she has similar challenges to me when I’m tracing the Roman origins of our modern towns.
Exciting new read
My friend and fellow Roman author Alex Gough has a splendid new book in his Mark Antony series out, entitled Caesar’s General. Enjoy!
Upcoming events
I’ll be appearing at my local arts festival at Colwall in Herefordshire 17/18 August. More on that to come.
And finally, I’ve got a (very) short story appearing in the Crime Writers’ Association 2024 anthology, Midsummer Mysteries. This will be something a bit different — I’ll tell you more in August when the fancy hardback-only book is published.
If you’re away on holidays yourself soon, I hope both weather and airports are kind to you. Have a lovely summer — I will!
And if you’re going miss me, you could follow our perambulations round the Nordics in my travel blog. I’ll be trying to update it every three days or so. Just don’t be surprised if the Danish seaside becomes a Sardinian mountain. Our motorbike trips often turn out like that.
See you in August!
[Jacquie’s latest Roman mystery, The Loyal Centurion, is out in ebook and paperback now. You can follow Jacquie on social media, watch her research videos, and read her non-fiction articles at Linktree.]
Happy holidays Jacquie x
It sounds like we are both at the same stage with our books - still work to do, but the end is in sight! Have a great holiday.