I’m pleased to announce the publication of my latest short novel No Good Deed.
“Charlotte and Henry’s quiet retirement is upended when a medical school reunion forces Charlotte to confront a long-buried trauma. Her search for closure takes a sinister turn, and meanwhile Henry’s heart condition is getting worse. A tragicomic tale with a chilling final twist.”
The old saying “No good deed goes unpunished” gave me the idea for this book, and the storyline evolved gradually over a year or two. Although it’s not directly autobiographical it draws on my experience as a medical student, practising doctor, patient, patient’s wife – and life coach. It touches on some serious themes but has humerous aspects too.
No Good Deed is available in ebook or print formats from multiple online retailers. Please have a look: https://books2read.com/u/b5Exvk.
My husband sometimes asks me why I write a blog. I usually reply “Because I like doing it”, which probably is the main reason but not the only one. For myself, it is a way of widening my knowledge and views about different subjects, and providing a record of significant events and aspects of my life. For readers, I hope it provides some information and entertainment. I’ve had many interesting comments, with no unpleasant ones so far, and made a few online friendships with people from around the world – a modern equivalent of “penpals”.
I started with Google Blogger many years ago, then changed to WordPress where I have published almost 300 posts. At one time I ran four separate blogs on specific subjects, but this system proved too cumbersome to manage so I put them together and my “category cloud” now includes a wide range:
I don’t have a huge readership but am satisfied with several hundred followers from different platforms, and a handful of visits every day always including archived posts, those about Bach flowers being most popular.
I only post when I have a new idea to write about, which is seldom more than once a month. Ideally I would like to post once a week, provided that I could come up with worthwhile content rather than cluttering up the internet with boring trivia or embarrassing personal details. Some of the people whose blogs I follow maintain a much more regular and frequent schedule, and I admire them. For example a new post from The Cricket Pages, by Rachel, arrives in my inbox at the same time every Sunday without fail. And The Mindful Migraine, by Linda, posted every single weekday for its first year and now three times a week. Both these blogs are always worth reading.
Writing a book – in my opinion – is much easier than marketing it. As stated in an article on Draft2Digital, crafting the blurb requires a switch from “author” mode to “copywriter” mode, which may not come naturally. Their recommended structure for a fiction blurb begins with a “hook”, and ends with “social proof” such as excerpts from reviews.
My own forthcoming novel No Good Deed is not directly autobiographical, but in keeping with the advice to “write about what you know” it draws on my own experiences ranging from sexual harassment at medical school, my husband’s heart attack, and on a lighter note life coaching and cookery. I’m currently working on the blurb, and here is a draft version. Any suggestions about how to make it more compelling would be welcome. I haven’t (yet) sought help from ChatGPT.
Marriage. Memories. Medicine. Poison. Charlotte and Henry, a married couple in their sixties, live a comfortable but monotonous life somewhere in the English midlands. Henry recently retired from his post as a consultant pathologist at the local hospital. Charlotte once hoped for a medical career of her own, but following an experience of abuse during her student days she had a “nervous breakdown” and did not complete the course. She now combines being a homemaker with doing good works in the local community, although her efforts tend to misfire. She has recently started seeing a life coach who is encouraging her to be more assertive. When Henry insists that she accompanies him to a medical school reunion she attempts to confront her abuser, with sinister consequences. This tragicomic story ends with a dark twist.
From Amazon reviews of Jennifer’s earlier novels:
You Yet Shall Die: I found the book both intriguing and unusual. I could hardly wait for the story to unfold as family secrets, crime and murder came to light – the ending was totally unexpected. An absorbing read.
Cardamine:This is a gripping mystery which keeps you guessing until the end, with twists and turns up to the last page.
Three Novellas: Jennifer brings together all her experiences from previous work to produce a superb trilogy finishing with an interesting twist.
I’m now singing with the Harbour Voices choir on Auckland’s North Shore. Our next concert will include some songs from one of Edward Elgar’s lesser-known works, From the Bavarian Highlands (Op 27).
I’ve always loved Elgar’s music. In the long-ago days when I was a young single woman with an old-fashioned record player for company in the evenings, I repeatedly listened to the Cello Concerto, Enigma Variations, and the Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 better known as Land of Hope and Glory.
My interest in Elgar grew when I started visiting Malvern many years later. He was born in 1857 into a musical family living in the nearby village of Lower Broadheath. Their modest house is now a small National Trust museum called The Firs.
Elgar’s birthplace
Elgar loved walking on the Malvern Hills, as I do, and perhaps it was the proximity of Alpine walks that led him and his wife Alice to spend a holiday in Garmisch, Upper Bavaria in 1894.
Garmisch
Inspired by the lilting melodies of the folk songs and dances from the surrounding mountainous regions, the Elgars composed From the Bavarian Highlands between them. Edward wrote the music, in the form of songs for SATB voices with a piano accompaniment, and Alice wrote the lyrics. The Dance, with its tuneful joyful rhythms, is followed by the wistful False Love, the soothing Lullaby, and the gently spiritual Aspiration.
For any local readers of my blog who would like to attend the concert, here is the poster with the details.
Many fiction writers include similar characters, settings, plot lines and underlying themes in different books even if they are not part of a series. This may be deliberate, if they have already found a successful formula and want to give readers more of the same. At other times it happens less consciously, and reflects personal experience or psychology.
In my last post I wrote about entering my eligible novels, through Draft2Digital, into Apple’s trial of digitally narrated audiobooks. Cardamine was first to be published in this format, and Carmen’s Roses is now available too. These two books were originally written several years apart, and until I listened to the previews of their first chapters I hadn’t quite realised that they both begin with an Englishwoman taking a holiday in New Zealand. Not surprising really, because such holidays were a significant part of my own life before I moved permanently to Auckland. Cardamine and Carmen’s Roses are quite dissimilar otherwise although their plots both involve a missing woman. This is the case in some of my other writing too although I don’t know why. I also realise that several of my novels feature unpleasant male doctors. These characters are not based on any one real individual, but are informed by various interactions I have had during my own medical career and as a patient myself.
I’m pleased to announce that my novel Cardamine: a New Zealand mystery is now available from Apple’s Audiobook Store.
Producing an audiobook in the traditional way, with the text read by live actors, is so expensive and time-consuming that I have never considered doing it. But I was recently invited through Draft2Digital to submit some of my fiction books for inclusion in Apple’s trial of using digital voices. It was free for me to take part, so I decided to accept.
Cardamine is set in New Zealand in the summer of 2019. Kate, on the last day of her backpacking holiday, loses her bag in a vineyard and misses her flight home to England. An eccentric elderly man comes to her rescue and invites her to stay on as his paid companion in his country home. The man’s wife is away, said to be back in her home country, but Kate comes to suspect that her absence has a more sinister explanation…
My digital voice, called Amberley, has a British accent appropriate for the character of Kate. She’s not very good at pronouncing Māori place names, but otherwise I think she does a good job of telling the story. I am interested to see that Apple has set the price at twice that of the e-book, even though it was presumably very cheap to produce, and it will be interesting to see if anyone buys it.
Some years ago, a local Italian restaurant displayed a placard reading “A day without wine is a day without sunshine”. That message would probably attract disappproval nowadays, when there are so many warnings about alcohol-related damage to health. While the risks and benefits of drinking continue to be disputed I continue to have a glass of wine with dinner on most evenings, though I intend to give it up for Lent.
Image from Unsplash
In 2022 the World Health Organisation (WHO) published a statement in The Lancet to the effect that no level of alcohol consumption is safe, primarily because even small amounts can promote cancer growth. However many published studies have reported that light to moderate drinkers have lower mortality than teetotallers, and a reduced incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia. The research methods have sometimes been criticised and the evidence is conflicting. Perhaps it is too difficult to generalise because the effects of drinking vary so much between populations, and between individuals, depending on genetic makeup and lifestyle factors.
Heavy drinking is obviously harmful and people who are pregnant, have a history of alcoholism or of certain medical conditions are advised not to drink at all. But for those of us with no contraindications, any risks of light-to-moderate intake (up to 14 units a week) must be weighed against the benefits of pleasure, relaxation and sociability as well as possible cardiovascular protection. And the Mediterranean diet, widely recommended as a healthy eating pattern associated with longevity, includes red wine with meals.
After Easter I will go back to drinking wine, though not too much of it. As I get older I agree with the saying that one glass is medicine but two are poison.
***
On a different topic – nine of my ebooks are currently FREE in this year’s Smashwords sale. They are listed on the site https://books2read.com/jenniferbarraclough. Please note the promotion will end on March 8th, and only applies to the Smashwords versions – from other retailers they are still full price.
I couldn’t stop crying when the time came to take our latest foster kitten, Nico, back to the rescue centre. We have fostered many kittens before and I have never been seriously upset about saying goodbye to them. Indeed it has been rewarding to see them grow in health and confidence while in our care, and be passed as ready for adoption. But Nico was somehow different.
He came to us at four months old, an unremarkable-looking tabby kitten, very thin because he had been suffering from bowel infections and presumably been malnourished in earlier life. He thrived while he was here, and quickly made himself at home, being let out of the foster room during the day if I was there to supervise him. He was energetic, playful and affectionate and he won our hearts.
We have two cats of our own, both 10 years old now. Leo, the male tabby, made friends with Nico right away. He enjoyed grooming him, and the two of them ate side by side.
Leo and Nico
But Magic, our black and white female, reacted quite differently. She always knows when there are kittens here even when they are shut away in the foster room, and leaves the house for long periods, refusing to eat unless her meals are served outside. It has been worse this year and she has been completely absent from the property at times.
My husband Brian doesn’t usually get involved with the foster kittens, but he took to Nico so strongly that he suggested adopting him. We had long discussions about this. I wanted it too, because I had become so fond of Nico.But logically I knew it would be a mistake. I think we are too old to take on a young kitten who is likely to outlive us. Looking after three cats is a big commitment and expense. And a major barrier would be Magic’s mental health. Even now that Nico has been gone for several days, and I have given the foster room a thorough clean, she is reluctant to come into the house again. Al least she was back in our garden today, but didn’t take kindly to having her photo taken. “No good deed goes unpunished”, and by caring for foster kittens I have caused much heartache for Magic.
Magic
Fostering is a lot of work and after doing it for a month, first for the two timid kittens and then for Nico, I am glad to have a rest and be free for other things. But I still miss Nico very much and do hope that he, along with all the many other cats and kittens currently in the shelter, will find the right forever home.
Update5 days later: Nico has been adopted, and Magic has returned home.
Every year during January, I volunteer to foster kittens from the SPCA. I clear the best furniture out of the dining room, which for the next few weeks becomes known as the foster room, filled with feeding bowls, litter trays, climbing frame and cat toys.
Kittens may require fostering for a variety of reasons. Some are healthy but still too young to be desexed and vaccinated prior to being adopted into forever homes. Some are recovering from an injury, or from illnesses such as cat flu and giardia. Others are frightened of human contact because they have been neglected or abused, and need a period of socialisation. And this year there are so many cats and kittens being brought in that the rescue centre is full to capacity, meaning that some animals need accommodating in private homes.
My current charges, a brother and sister about nine weeks old, were on anti-anxiety medication when they arrived. They were extremely timid, hiding in inaccessible places for much of the time, and it was very difficult to touch them. What a contrast to my previous kittens who have been desperate to escape from the foster room and explore. They did however seem physically healthy, eating and drinking well and have grown fast. Their confidence has gradually improved and now, two weeks later, they are lively and playful and purr loudly when stroked. I’m not allowed to post photos of them online, but they do look very attractive, with their white and tabby coats. It has been lovely to watch their transformation from frightened little kittens into thriving young cats.
Fostering requires quite a lot of time and effort. The least pleasant aspects are having to keep changing litter trays throughout the day, and the potential for damage such as torn curtains. It is also a bit hard on one of my own cats, who clearly dislikes having kittens in the house even though they are in a separate room. My other cat is quite happy to have them here.
These two kittens will be returning to the SPCA in a few days and will hopefully be adopted soon. I will miss them, but am going to exchange them for another litter which will bring new challenges and rewards.
I’ve been exploring Modern Stoicism for a while now. Reading about the theory is easier than putting the ideas into practice, so this January I decided to subscribe to the New Year Challenge course run by dailystoic.com. It involves a series of assignments sent by email every day for 21 days. Most of them are not just one-off tasks, but are designed to introduce new habits to be continued long term. Some are practical, for example taking cold showers, doing pressups, and keeping to a regular bedtime. Others are more psychological, for example visiting a cemetery to aid the practice of memento mori, resuming a project that has been abandoned, and choosing a word to focus on all year – my word is PATIENCE.
Now half way through the course, I find some of the assignments easy because I am doing them already. But the challenge that I haven’t even tried to attempt is spending 24 hours without my iPhone. I do have some excuse, because I genuinely need it to deal with important messages throughout the day. But I have to admit to being quite addicted, and was absolutely devastated on the recent occasion when I thought it was lost (I found it some hours later under the duvet). I plan to compromise by spending a day without online games or social media, and even that will demand great self discipline. I obviously have symptoms of the condition popularly called “nomophobia” – fear of having no mobile.
Jennifer Barraclough 